Austria

Flying with a quadcopter can be adventurous like happened here, shortly after I took that photo. Suddenly the DJI app on my iPhone got black, with the red message “Connection Lost.” What to do? Tipping on the screen, didn’t help. Sweat was pouring on my forehead, had I lost my drone? About 2 minutes later, the screen was back, and I could maneuver the copter again. Maybe stronger wind or so could skip the connection?  In the forefront, you can see the Mauerbach Charterhouse, founded in 1314 and rebuilt in 17th and 18th centuries.

Post processed with: Luminar, Photoshop

• Camera: FC6310
• Aperture: ƒ/5.6
• Shutter speed: 1/400s
• Focal length: 8.8mm
• ISO: 100

The endless vineyards of the “Weinviertel” bring mostly white wines like, “Grüner Veltliner,” Riesling, Chardonnay, and Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains. The last two are the sweeter ones; those are more my taste. 🙂  In the little wine houses are cellars which go deep into the earth with the natural temperature for ripening of the wine in hogsheads.

Post processed with: Analog Efex Pro 2, Photoshop

• Camera: FC6310
• Aperture: ƒ/5
• Shutter speed: 1/320s
• Focal length: 8.8mm
• ISO: 100

Castle Kreuzenstein was built back in the 12th century. It is located on a hill  265 metres (869 ft) above sea level, surrounded by mixed forest. It is very popular for castle tours and highly frequented on weekends. This is the reason why I started early on Saturday forenoon, beginning with filming the fields of the area, coming nearer to the castle and getting it more and more in focus.

Processed with: Apple iMovie 

As far as the eye can reach, mountains and mountaintops, the Alps. My place was a comfortable observation deck, where I could catch the rocky nature with my lenses. 🙂 Mountains and snow, an ever classical motive.

Post processed with: Aurora, Photoshop

• Camera: ILCE-7RM2
• Aperture: ƒ/3.5
• Shutter speed: 1/1250s
• Focal length: 35mm
• ISO: 100

This golf tournament was the playground for my new Samyang 14mm 2.8 AF lens. It brings excellent exposures of that vast meadow combined with the blue sky on the top. While my friend Christoph did the people shots, I did the landscape and the sceneries. I was lucky, my Sony A7R II with the wide angle lens was only a fraction of his two Canon DSLRs and Canon 70-200 lenses.  🙂

Post processed with: Luminar, Photoshop

• Camera: ILCE-7RM2
• Aperture: ƒ/22
• Shutter speed: 1/60s
• Focal length: 14mm
• ISO: 100

During shooting, I didn’t realize which effect the bright sun had on the mountaintops. It looks like painted in orange and yellow, with some fog in the foreground, which lies over the valleys. A nature spectacle of its own. Because of that shooting session, my wife and friends had to wait for a longer time, in a nearby cafe-restaurant. It was freezing that day, so for them, it was tea time. 🙂

Post processed with: Aurora, Luminar, Photoshop

• Camera: ILCE-7R
• Aperture: ƒ/10
• Shutter speed: 1/30s
• Focal length: 55mm
• ISO: 100

Velden in Carinthia is a touristy destination; there you will see this cool lighting of the buildings and streets in the night. They bring accents of pink on house fronts, yellow on the streets, light bands wounded around the trees. Since my hotel was middle of town, it was easy to take the tripod with me, which allowed those night shots with longer exposure. Although nearly nobody likes to carry tripods, the outcome is worth it. 🙂 I prefer to place it on the middle-back of my photo backpack, with a bag where you have to place the tripod on the side, gives you an unbalanced feel with time, the more easy, the bigger the chance that you get it with you.

Post processed with: Aurora, Photoshop

• Camera: ILCE-7R
• Aperture: ƒ/5.6
• Shutter speed: 2.5s
• Focal length: 15mm
• ISO: 100

Do you remember the Beatles song, “Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly…” 🙂  Some black birds were sitting on the observation deck of the glacier “Hoher Dachstein,” I used the opportunity to take some birding shots. They flew with high velocity, doing curves up and down, approached to descent flight, got straight up; I had to raise the shutter speed to get sharp pictures, you had to be very fast to follow them during flight.

Post processed with: Photoshop

• Camera: ILCE-7RM2
• Aperture: ƒ/6.3
• Shutter speed: 1/2500s
• Focal length: 116mm
• ISO: 400

At our company’s golf tournament in Adamstal, I was an onlooker. I don’t play golf and made the decision in advance, to rely more on photography. I took my camera and quadcopter and drove with the golf caddy between the courses to take some shots of the gorgeous green lawns and trees which encircled some golf courses. The weather was beautiful and hot, so I had to stop at the lodges for some drink and food, more often than I thought. 🙂  I had my friend Christoph with me, he is a wedding photographer and did some people shots with his Canon 5D Mark III. For me, it was an excellent opportunity to test the Samyang FE 14 mm 2.8 AF lens, which is a good and sharp wide angle lens.

Post processed with: Luminar, Photoshop

• Camera: ILCE-7RM2
• Aperture: ƒ/22
• Shutter speed: 1/20s
• Focal length: 14mm
• ISO: 100

On a Saturday 2 months ago, I asked my wife to accompany me at a drone shooting session. We drove about 20 minutes outside Vienna, where it was “safe” to fly, without interruptions of neighbors or residents. Only some farmers looked up from their tractors  🙂 I had to drive slow on the stony country lane; I tried to avoid that stones jump against my car. Then I found a wooden table and bank near some trees, which was placed there for hikers as a relaxing area, here I could unpack the DJI drone and started to fly.

Post processed with: Luminar, Photoshop

My wife with me, “self-portrait” from the drone

Post processed with: Photoshop

• Camera: FC6310
• Aperture: ƒ/5
• Shutter speed: 1/200s
• Focal length: 8.8mm
• ISO: 100