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Snæfellsness peninsula
In the meantime, 0.8TB of photo data has accumulated. It will be a challenge to process all these photos. Fortunately, I am concentrating on a few compositions, each of which will be studied in more detail. The themes of geometry, lines and planes stand alongside the theme of colour contrast, which is easy to focus on in Iceland.
The basalt rocks of Arnarstapi are ideal for this. With moderately homogeneous cloud cover, they lend themselves to long-term studies. The Phase One camera is able to do without the grey filter through frame averaging, which otherwise often leads to slight shifts in the composition.
Arnarstapi basalt cliff. 2s, Automated Frame Average. LTE © Julian Köpke I’m still not sure whether the basalt rocks of Lóndrangar look better in colour or in black and white. We had drizzle and fog again and again, but also very brief sunny moments. Icelandic weather has returned to normal.
Lóndrangar basalt cliff. 10s, Frame Average; LTE © Julian Köpke -
Amaryllis
I’ve been experimenting with macro shots or portraits that have a black background. For this I reduce the roomlight with the help of the electric shutters, the exposure time and the ISO value are increased. To improve the quality of the shots, I also used the method of frame averaging to get the RAW image with a single shot and sufficient quality.
Yesterday I was able to admire my friend Harold in a tutorial how he created LowKey HDR macro photographs using an exposure series from -4 EV to 0 EV. I tried all paths today with my Amaryllis, which I had bought 2 days ago.
Salmon pink Amaryllis. Two exposure series at two different aperture values. © Julian Köpke The exposure series can be performed for LowKey pictures and HighKey pictures. Through the systematic under-exposure one can create a beautiful black background. The use of a surface spotlight creates transparencies with HighKey effect.
Amaryllis. 25s, Automated Frame Average, longtime exposure © Julian Köpke 
Salmon pink Amaryllis on a lightbox © Julian Köpke The LED lightbox can be placed vertically on the wall. With two clamps you attach the black velvet as a background and loosen the clamp gently to create the HighKey image after switching on the lightbox.
Black velvet in front of the lightbox © Julian Köpke 
Black velvet dropped behind the bouquet © Julian Köpke A series of exposures with 5 shots between -4 EV and 0 EV is sufficient to capture the set in high quality.
Bouquet with Amaryllis © Julian Köpke -
Valle Verzasca
The valley of the Verzasca is famous for its clear water, which makes its way through rocks and takes on a characteristic green colour. Correspondingly, many people are attracted to it. Actually, you’re here for hiking. The Postbus stops at manyplaces and spits out large groups of hikers.
The first day I wanted to try out different locations to see what to expect.
The bridge, named Ponte dei salti, with the two arches is from Roman times and is good for many selfies. With a long-term exposure one can see the arcuate construction with its reflection in the water. And the many visitors who flock on the bridge are miraculously invisible.
Arcuate reflection of Ponte dei salti, Lavertezzo © Julian Köpke Swirling water can be found everywhere, in a natural way picturesque photographs are created.
Verzasca water play © Julian Köpke To my surprise, the sun was seen and felt in the valley for along time. It got really hot. Only in the evening, when the rocks gave off their heat, did it become less agitated.
Light and shadow in Verzasca Valley © Julian Köpke -
Sylt
Two more days on the island. I had secretly speculated before the start of the trip to be able to make interesting longtime exposures of the sea. We went to the sea once very early and often late at night. On Friday, the 13th, the weather was particularly stormy. I felt that half a second exposure time was the optimal value to capture the dynamics of the sea’s motion and at the same time to get structure.
La mer © Julian Köpke Many of the photographs I took with the quadrupeds, which were laid out as a coastal protection near Hörnum. Depending on the time of day and the weather, they are a fantastic backdrop. This image was taken early in the morning short after sunrise.
Shape of tetrapodes, Hörnum © Julian Köpke At the time of the highest water level during the flood, these concrete blocks almost disappear underneath the water surface. The next image is a combination of different exposure values to express the power of the incoming tide.
Tide is coming in at Hörnum beach, Sylt © Julian Köpke Without wind, the sea is so calm at low tide that you don’t want to imply anything violent to it anymore. To capture the calm of the low tide water I needed 30s of exposure time. However, the Moon would become blurred at that value. So I combined two shots into one picture.
Evening and waxing crescent Moon at Hörnum beach, Sylt. Longtime exposure 1s and 30s. © Julian Köpke Weather change is associated with stronger wind and light changes. This situation is often felt on the island in a rather pleasant way.
Thunderstorm building on the horizon © Julian Köpke -
Diamond Beach (Jökulsárlon)
With a slight disappointment we arrived at the Jökullsárlon for the third time. The weather forecast had promised sunshine and we were already there at 9 o’clock. We were alone at the location, a rare privilege. However, we encountered an almost closed cloud cover, which could not be pushed away by the strong downwind of the glacier. Only on the glacier itself was a remnant of blue sky to be found.
Common Eider in Jökulsarlon © Julian Köpke The name Diamond Beach comes from the small pieces of ice that come from broken icebergs that the glacier has calved into the glacier lake Jökulsàrlon. They glitter in the sun like fairy-tale diamonds – when the sun is shining.
Diamond Beach at Jökulsarlon © Julian Köpke Using frame averaging, I was able to get long-term recordings without using a neutral density filter. I left this one in the car. In 8 seconds, with around 45 pictures that are averaged, I achieved vivid results in landscape photography.
Diamond Beach at Jökulsarlon (8s, Automated Frame Average) © Julian Köpke -
Test results
It was impossible for me to sleep really long. The long day in Iceland and the tension about when the test result would arrive kept me awake. In the end, it was 12 hours that we waited. We spent the quarantine in the car on the way to the hotel as indicated. After12 hours of tiring waiting, the result – a negative test -was as a text message on our mobile phones.
The weather was constantly changing on the way. In addition to great photo opportunities, there were also boring sections with rain or dull views. At the end we arrived in Arnarstapi. Again along day with excursion to the basalt coast with finely distributed rain.
Black basalt coast at Hellnar (Arnarstapi) © Julian Köpke Despite the unpleasant rain, the sky was full of interesting light conditions that the eye was not accustomed to correctly estimate.
Snaefellsjökull © Julian Köpke -
Beach Westerland
The German philosopher Karl Jaspers described in his memoirs the boy’s experiences with the sea. The sea, he noted, is a symbol of philosophy, because it makes infinity present to us.
Is a photo on the beach enough to bring us closer to the infinity of thought? Maybe at that moment, I think, when we stop thinking focused when we look at the photo.
Different motifs are able to change our inner view. They don’t have to be pictures of the sea. But with these, our feeling is often more evident.
Technically I did three longtime exposure of 15s, which is a sort of time fusion. I used a 6EV Lee filter to photograph these three stones at the beach short after sunrise. You can see the colourful reflections of the morning sky in the sea and on the damp beach.
Colors of waves. Early morning near Westerland, Sylt. © Julian Köpke -
Time fusion tulips
Longtime exposures hold a special appeal for me. Again and again I try do do it. I found the idea for this picture in a book about modern photography. The photographer took a picture of flowers in a vase with a specially built camera for many days until the first petals fell. The passing of time, which often cannot be experienced directly by us, can thus be illustrated by a photograph. Due to the new corona virus we had plenty of time at home to make flower photographs.
With my macro lens I can only realize the aperture value f/32, which means that even at ISO 50 the exposure time dose not rise above 15s possible when the lightbox is turned on. As an approximation to a true long-time exposure, I started a series of 23 HDR images at irregular intervals over the course of 4 days, just as it became apparent that my tulips would rise wide.
Time fusion tulips in a vase © Julian Köpke Each HDR image was created from6 shots at f/32 and ISO 50 with exposure times of 0.5s, 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s and 15s. The biggest difficulty was to block off a part of our living room before Christmas so that the exposures could always be done in the same way. Furthermore, the camera was not allowed to be changed by switching it on and off, changing the exposure times or removing the memory card.
I processed the layer stack of 23 TIF images in two ways. First straightforward as a smart object and then change the stacking mode in Photoshop as an average. Or fade out the layers after the start shot using black layer masks and gradually paint in interesting parts of the later images with a soft brush to create an overall impression. This approach was more promising to me than averaging the layer stack, which in my eyes expresses the flow of time too weakly.
Just to do the math: each image of my camera has 151 million pixels with a file size between 125 and 180 MByte in RAW format and 866 MByte after a RAW conversion to a TIF file. The total size of the project is something above 300 GB. 138 RAW files sum up to nearly 21 Billion Pixels. The final image has 159 million pixels due to some added background at the top of the result.
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Autumn leaves
We are the end of a year with unexpected restrictions and new dangers. A walk with friends out in the forest with their dog with a lot of distance between them feels uncomfortable. Time puts its stamp on you wether you want it or not. The feeling of an unstoppable acceleration is spreading.
There is a well where the dog finds some fresh water. Behind the well broken stones and an old tree.
Strolling through autumn forest © Julian Köpke There are less and less leaves on the trees, so that the forest becomes more and more monotous. A few trees and bushes still have yellow, green and even some red leaves. These splashes of colors are are transformed by deliberate camera movement into areas of color and luminous islands that cheer up.
Strolling through autumn forest © Julian Köpke 
Strolling through autumn forest © Julian Köpke 
Strolling through autumn forest © Julian Köpke 
Strolling through autumn forest © Julian Köpke -
Old Bridge Heidelberg
The Old Bridge in Heidelberg has the same attraction to visitors as the Charles Bridge in Prague or th Bridge to the Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome. Not everyone that the connective building between the two white towers houses an apartment. You come to the bridge early in the morning, you’re almost alone. This lonelyness is especially emphasized by a single walker.
Old Bridge Heidelberg overcast © Julian Köpke The morning calm is reinforced by the fog. Even the car traffic is not so loud as usual. Maybe the noise will decrease even more with electric cars. That would do us good. The view form the bridge downstream shows ships tied up on the shore. Only a few rowers are on the river with trainers whose voices hardly penetrate.
White Fleet berthed on River Neckar in Heidelberg © Julian Köpke 
Old tub on River Neckar © Julian Köpke The castle exercises the rule over the city. The strong contrast of the castle ruins over the roofs off the Old Town on the river bank is attenuated by the morning mist.
Heidelberg Castle, Old Town and River Neckar © Julian Köpke
