Austria

The Pyramidenkogel is an observation tower in Carinthia with views over mountains, lakes, and sight to Slovenia. The typical landscape has mixed forests on hills which surrounds lakes; embedded are neat villages with bathing jetties. In the broader horizon higher mountain chains are visible, the begin of the Alps. At sunset, you get warm light from the sinking sun behind the mountains.

Post processed with: Aurora, Photoshop

• Camera: ILCE-7S
• Aperture: ƒ/4
• Shutter speed: 1/80s
• Focal length: 70mm
• ISO: 100

The Wachau, an area in Lower Austria, has an exceptional landscape. The river Danube, some fields for corn and wheat and wine terraces where fine white wine is ripening. Some smooth hills surround villages and give an opportunity for hiking tours where you can visit old ruins and castles. Wine taverns offer bread with liver paste, sheep-cheese and first class wine like Riesling Smaragd (Emerald). I tried and can wholeheartedly recommend it. 🙂 

Post processed with: Aurora, Photoshop

• Camera: FC6310
• Aperture: ƒ/2.8
• Shutter speed: 1/1600s
• Focal length: 8.8mm
• ISO: 100

My wife Karin and I were driving on the West Autobahn in the direction of Vienna. On the height of Upper Austria, we were near the Salzkammergut, a famous area for its lakes and beautiful villages like Hallstatt. We decided to make a stop a lake named Traunsee. The water was crystal clear, we took a rest of about 3 hours with some bathing and then ate a Wiener Schnitzel in the neighboring village Traunstein.

Post processed with: Aurora, Photoshop

• Camera: Pixel 2 XL
• Aperture: ƒ/1.8
• Shutter speed: 1/11765s
• Focal length: 4.459mm
• ISO: 88

On the photo is the fortified church of Weissenkirchen in Lower Austria. It’s a church with a castle wall and defensive positions, built in the medieval times, a mixture of church and ancient castle. The location is on a knoll, one of the higher points in the city, which underlines the position for defense against horse attacks and knight troops. 

Post processed with: Aurora, Photoshop

• Camera: LEICA X VARIO (Typ 107)
• Aperture: ƒ/4
• Shutter speed: 1/320s
• Focal length: 18mm
• ISO: 100

I took all the way up, to the higher levels of the wine gardens to get the magnificent view over the hills, the river Danube and the village called Spitz. The area is named Wachau and got its Unesco World Heritage status in 2000. When visiting, don’t forget to taste the excellent wines, like Riesling, Chardonnay, Weißburgunder or Grüner Veltliner. For the photo, I took handheld panorama shots, where I overlapped at about 30% to give Photoshop enough room tho photo merge. With this process, I always got good results, and Photoshop stacked the panos nicely.

Post processed with: Photoshop

• Camera: ILCE-7RM2
• Aperture: ƒ/16
• Shutter speed: 1/40s
• Focal length: 31mm
• ISO: 160

I started my DJI Phantom 4 Pro from the peak of the Manhartsberg. This mountain has a height of 500 meters, the highest pike in Lower Austria. I flew over wine-terraces and then entered that broad landscape of agriculture, fields, and woods. I caught the panorama with the built-in 20 MP camera of the drone. I had to be careful that I didn’t “touch” any villages; otherwise I could lose my flying-permission. I have to stay away from any residential complex for 150 meters. 

Post processed with: Aurora, Photoshop, Color Efex Pro

• Camera: FC6310
• Aperture: ƒ/6.3
• Shutter speed: 1/640s
• Focal length: 8.8mm
• ISO: 100

If you are in Tyrol, Austria I would recommend visiting the Swarovski Crystal Worlds. The exhibition area has an outside complex and interior viewing rooms. Andre Heller is the designer of the art installations and homogenous connected exhibits, galleries, and sculptures. You should plan a half day to get an overview and sufficient impressions of that art spectacle. To gain insight, I added a photo, more from the abstract side.

Post processed with: Aurora, Photoshop

• Camera: ILCE-7S
• Aperture: ƒ/4
• Shutter speed: 1/1250s
• Focal length: 24mm
• ISO: 100

You reach the peak of the Schafberg (“sheep mountain”  🙂 ) via a cog railway. On the summit, you get a 360-degree view of mountains, valleys, and lakes of Salzburg. I took a trail between mountain peaks to get some photos of the steep scarps. You have to be careful, the unprotected paths have on one side an abyss of hundreds of meters and on the other side steep rocks and alpine meadows. So I positioned with regard when taking the photos.

Post processed with: Aurora, Photoshop

• Camera: X-T1
• Aperture: ƒ/6.4
• Shutter speed: 1/500s
• Focal length: 26.6mm
• ISO: 200

The heavy rain caught my wife Karin and me. We flew into a historical building where we hid from the water masses. Inside we climbed a circular staircase until we reached the peak of the tower. There was a great view of the surroundings. I started to take some photos in the rain, no problem with a Fuji X-T1.

Post processed with: Aurora, Photoshop

• Camera: X-T1
• Aperture: ƒ/7.1
• Shutter speed: 1/60s
• Focal length: 104.2mm
• ISO: 400

My ingredients for star-photography: a tripod, shutter speed at 15-20 seconds, higher ISO 800-1600, wide-angle lens and low f-stop, here I used 2.8. The photo was shot on a mountain plateau near Vienna, called Hohe Wand (“High wall”) where you have an unlimited view of the sky and no light smog of surrounding cities. The best receipt to get shots from a clear night sky with a vast amount of stars.

Post processed with: Luminar, Aurora, Photoshop

• Camera: ILCE-7S
• Aperture: ƒ/2.8
• Shutter speed: 20s
• Focal length: 14mm
• ISO: 1600