Dublicator

Today just a few shots taken this morning when the full-moon was just illuminating Vouliagmeni from the west.

Once more, the fascination of the full moon drove me out early taking just my point and shoot camera along to see what is possible with low end tools in a high end scenario.

This first shot is right out of the window shot as follows with the point and shoot
Leica V-Lux 20:

f/4.9
300 mm equivalent on 35 mm
1/80 of a second, handheld
ISO 200

You can vaguely see the neighbors roof top on the lower part of the image, meaning that I needed to get out of bed for a better position.

Also, a few minutes later, the daylight would start to kick in and I just wanted to get a view of the Vouliagmeni Bay under that beautiful light of the moon.

Just to give you an idea about the situation: my neighbor, then the Vouliagmeni Bay and on the other side, Astir Beach and the Astir Hotel complex, then the sea and in the very background the island of Aegina. Note on the horizon the big ferry boat driving in from the left towards Piraeus Port which is at about 35 km north from here.

Same camera shot at  6:04 am:

f/3.6
35 mm equivalent on 35 mm
1/5 of a second, handheld
ISO 800

Now it’s just about waiting and hoping for the right light when the day meets the full moon:

This is about as good as I could get the shot with the help of Photoshop and the Perfectly Clear plugin.

f/4.4
11mm on 35 mm equivalent
1/3 of a second, handheld
ISO 200

Luckily the passenger ship is still in the frame as well as a second, red painted transporter.

Once more we see: even a point and shoot camera can come home with nice shots in difficult light. Note that the last shot was just taken in Automatic mode (!) while the previous ones were taken with manual settings.

Of course one could work the image in Photoshop to make it more attractive by intervening on the foreground, the temperature and more; however, this is where we reach quickly the limits of the files. These pictures are just not good enough for heavy manipulation in Photoshop, the more that we cannot get rich RAW files from that camera.

I like them anyway :-).

Early this morning. The full moon was announced for 6:18 a.m. and the moon set for about an hour later, just before sun rise. What a good reason to get up early and to get into position on the roof terrasse of the house.

The night sky was clear and the moon bright. I did some shots in manual mode forcing low ISO, bracketing +-1. Of course I needed to exploit the full optical zoom range of 300 mm equivalent but the result was surprisingly good for a point and shoot. For better results I shot some 35 mm film with a Leica R4 and a 250 mm f/4 tele lens – but those need to be developed this week.

So, just for the fun some point and shoot images:

Now that shows how small the object is on the 4000 by 3000 frame.

While I was focused on the moon, a cruise ship passed by at the horizon making it’s way to Piraeus port:

The smear in the background represents the movement of the ship during the 8 seconds of exposure; note also the naturally blurred water.

A shot towards the Marina where there is a lot of light:

And another shot featuring our new church:

The closer the moon gets to the horizon the more pink, red and orange tones become visible:

… another one:

… and just before the sun rises and the moon fades out …

The testing and exercising was well worth the while and if it is just for the magic moment spent on an early Sunday morning :-).

A day at the beach is one thing, a day at Limanaki in Vouliagmeni is another. Far from crowded sandy beaches, Limanaki is just a small bay between Vouliagmeni and Varkiza. There is no beach infrastructure, just a small kiosk to grab a coffee or a beer and have some snacks. There is no internet connection and there is no mobile phone; what a pleasure.

Can you imagine sitting at the beach without all these people around you hooked to the mobile and competing with each other for decibel?

Limanaki is the retro beach par excellence and the good news: 5 million Athenians don’t know the place!

There is always a welcoming smile and no wonder YorgoMan made a friend right at the source:

Best of all, you always meet cool people, friends and the clearest water you can imagine. Far from the city, the noise, the hassle, the feel of an island.

Relaxed people have a relaxed attitude and that shows on the faces.

And as I like to shoot faces, Limanaki is a great playground for snaps:

And more faces:

And another one:

How about a swim?

…or a dive?

No doubt, a day at Limanaki is a day in paradise!

For the first time in weeks (or months) we have seen some raindrops  in Vouliagmeni yesterday morning. As the sky was partially covered with heavy clouds, a rainbow stretched over the town and the beautifull colors revieled nice contrasts.

Using the widest angle possible on my point and shoot camera I could not fetch the whole scene. I therefore took two shots in panorama mode and stitched them together in Photoshop using the native Photomerge tool (File — Automate — Photomerge) for a quick edit.

Of course I wanted to add some drama and grain to the image which originally was quite low in contrast and vibrance. In fact the intention was to create a scenario for Bianca’s Alien’s Story :-).

After the drama some extraterresral glow needed to be added …

Now we just need to wait and see … ET is on its way.

Related posts:

1. Flowers from Vouliagmeni Beach
2. Vouliagmeni Beach
3. Vouliagmeni Lake Dance
4. Vouliagmeni Back to School
5. Vouliagmeni Kavouri Beach

For the first time in weeks (or months) we have seen some raindrops  in Vouliagmeni yesterday morning. As the sky was partially covered with heavy clouds, a rainbow stretched over the town and the beautifull colors revieled nice contrasts.

Using the widest angle possible on my point and shoot camera I could not fetch the whole scene. I therefore took two shots in panorama mode and stitched them together in Photoshop using the native Photomerge tool (File – Automate – Photomerge) for a quick edit.

Of course I wanted to add some drama and grain to the image which originally was quite low in contrast and vibrance. In fact the intention was to create a scenario for Bianca’s Alien’s Story :-).

After the drama some extraterresral glow needed to be added …

Now we just need to wait and see … ET is on its way.

It’s always a joy to drive through the countryside of southern Attica where good soil produces some of the best fruits and vegetables around Athens. Here small business still means small business!

Farmers offer their production from hand-built stalls along the often dusty roads.

Greeks have their preferred farmer and will drive across Attica just to get the real stuff from the trusted source year after year.

Others would just stop at a place because of an attractive display of fresh veggies, inviting colors of fruit or just to have a chat with locals. Some of these small businesses also sell other home made products from the farm, honey, spices such as origan, sweets, jam and more.

Of course the offer depends on the season and the shopping habits are far from those cripling our minds in super markets.

My friend Costa has been a long term customer of farmers from the Loutsa Area, on the other side of Attica, about a 40 minute drive from Vouliagmeni. That’s where you get the best Figs in Attica, he claims.

So,  a few days ago, we drove across Attica to get some of those delicious products. While I was expecting to end up at a small family owned farm, I  could not hide my surprise when we stopped at that small stall featured on the picture above, off the main road but still on a connection between villages …but still: middle of nowhere.

The stall was as handcrafted as you could imagine and the equipment quite standard: basic. A balance hanging from the roof, the table to display the fresh vegetables and fruits, another table in the back to sort the products as well as a few improvised chairs to have a sip and a chat with friends. Electricity, what’s that?

Interestingly the figs on display are packed and labeled FRESH FIGS is good old English, whilst the farmers often don’t speak a word of that language. Also we are not really on a touristic trail. My silent conclusion is, that imported packaging materials must be cheaper that the local stuff.

Having a closer look at the box, I find the address of an exporter from Athens and in fact, our very modest stall owner, is in fact supplying figs for export by air world-wide! Of course Greek Figs are the best in the world and those from Panagiotis are the best in Greece … what else?

Out in the Greek countryside, supermarkets, e-commerce and such likes are just distant nightmares. There is only one commerce and that is S-Commerce, standing for Social Commerce. Greeks never needed any social networks, facebook and twitter to be social, it’s just in their nature to socialize as an important part of Greek lifestyle.

The same applies to commerce out in the countryside. Buying and selling are social acts and you would disappoint your Greek farmer, if you just got off your car and quickly bought your veggies without a word, chat or as the case may be, without tasting some of the home made foods.

Of course, Costa immediately gets into a heated discussion with the farmer’s wife about this year’s quality of figs, while tasting the various varieties available to create a good climate for s-commerce, that is, aiming at getting the best price for the best fruits.

This back and fourth takes a while and even a good while, but it’s part of the game, part of the transaction, the s-commerce.

Sure, the discussion is not just about figs and irrigation, rain, sunshine and farming; the discussion hits the weather in general, the crises, the difficulties to farm today, the problems of small scale farming, national politics, global warming and God and the world.

Time passes and you spend a great moment selecting your figs and veggies.

During the whole process you are pushed to taste this and try that and if you have not had lunch yet, there is no point planning for it any longer.

Inevitably there comes the moment of the truth; has it been worth the while to spend all this time to get the price down by may be a few cents per kilo? And if all of this was not about the few cents at all?

Costa finally thought the time was right to conclude the deal as the farmer’s wife was in increasingly good mood and put a nice smile on her face carved by hard country life.

Now the highlight of the technical infrastructure, the balance, becomes the center of attention and that’s just yet another good reason for discussion and while the farmer’s wife talks the quality and price up, Costa uses now the general arguments of crises and the resulting hardship for Greek people to limit the damage.

As an observer you become quickly aware of the importance of the issue: we are talking here about the very best figs in this world which are traded in one of the worst economic contexts.

You need to be at least a university professor to sort out such complex issues or a politician to talk them out of the world.

But our two negotiators are by far beyond the primitive arguments of macro-economics and political short-sight.

The issue is a matter of consensus, not just consensus about kilos and Euros; it’s about a global consensus on matters discussed and the trade is just the materialization of that consensus when reached.

You may not be able to negociate the price down but you will find a satisfactory consensus on some important matters where both parties exit the negociation heads up.

The consensus is important, not the material exchange of Euros against figs. The satisfaction to extract from all discussed matters those, where there is agreement, and the ability to build the widest possible consensus is the purpose of the dealing.

The fig deal is just the trigger for readiness to compromise: Costa wants figs and the farmer wants to sell them; as they both want to reach their respective goals, they are prepared to find that bases of consensus which makes this deal for both parties an enriching experience and therefore a great deal.

Modern terminology like “shopping experience” are part of day to day Greek life and modern marketing experts can invent whatever they want, they will never come even close to a real social  shopping experience as described above.

Is time a measure for social commerce at all? In my opinion, it’s pretty irrelevant and in fact, I could not answer that question based on the above experience.

All I know is that we left with different varieties of figs, zucchini, eggplant, peppers and all the wheeling and dealing was interlaced, subject to discussion and finally a happy global consensus.

I also remember that it was happy hour when we finally got back to Vouliagmeni …

What is relevant, is to have met the farmers, spent some good time with them and remembering a great social shopping experience, where something has happened, something beyond figs and Euros.

It’s always a joy to drive through the countryside of southern Attica where good soil produces some of the best fruits and vegetables around Athens. Here small business still means small business!

Farmers offer their production from hand-built stalls along the often dusty roads.

Greeks have their preferred farmer and will drive across Attica just to get the real stuff from the trusted source year after year.

Others would just stop at a place because of an attractive display of fresh veggies, inviting colors of fruit or just to have a chat with locals. Some of these small businesses also sell other home made products from the farm, honey, spices such as origan, sweets, jam and more.

Of course the offer depends on the season and the shopping habits are far from those cripling our minds in super markets.

My friend Costa has been a long term customer of farmers from the Loutsa Area, on the other side of Attica, about a 40 minute drive from Vouliagmeni. That’s where you get the best Figs in Attica, he claims.

So,  a few days ago, we drove across Attica to get some of those delicious products. While I was expecting to end up at a small family owned farm, I  could not hide my surprise when we stopped at that small stall featured on the picture above, off the main road but still on a connection between villages …but still: middle of nowhere.

The stall was as handcrafted as you could imagine and the equipment quite standard: basic. A balance hanging from the roof, the table to display the fresh vegetables and fruits, another table in the back to sort the products as well as a few improvised chairs to have a sip and a chat with friends. Electricity, what’s that?

Interestingly the figs on display are packed and labeled FRESH FIGS is good old English, whilst the farmers often don’t speak a word of that language. Also we are not really on a touristic trail. My silent conclusion is, that imported packaging materials must be cheaper that the local stuff.

Having a closer look at the box, I find the address of an exporter from Athens and in fact, our very modest stall owner, is in fact supplying figs for export by air world-wide! Of course Greek Figs are the best in the world and those from Panagiotis are the best in Greece … what else?

Out in the Greek countryside, supermarkets, e-commerce and such likes are just distant nightmares. There is only one commerce and that is S-Commerce, standing for Social Commerce. Greeks never needed any social networks, facebook and twitter to be social, it’s just in their nature to socialize as an important part of Greek lifestyle.

The same applies to commerce out in the countryside. Buying and selling are social acts and you would disappoint your Greek farmer, if you just got off your car and quickly bought your veggies without a word, chat or as the case may be, without tasting some of the home made foods.

Of course, Costa immediately gets into a heated discussion with the farmer’s wife about this year’s quality of figs, while tasting the various varieties available to create a good climate for s-commerce, that is, aiming at getting the best price for the best fruits.

This back and fourth takes a while and even a good while, but it’s part of the game, part of the transaction, the s-commerce.

Sure, the discussion is not just about figs and irrigation, rain, sunshine and farming; the discussion hits the weather in general, the crises, the difficulties to farm today, the problems of small scale farming, national politics, global warming and God and the world.

Time passes and you spend a great moment selecting your figs and veggies.

During the whole process you are pushed to taste this and try that and if you have not had lunch yet, there is no point planning for it any longer.

Inevitably there comes the moment of the truth; has it been worth the while to spend all this time to get the price down by may be a few cents per kilo? And if all of this was not about the few cents at all?

Costa finally thought the time was right to conclude the deal as the farmer’s wife was in increasingly good mood and put a nice smile on her face carved by hard country life.

Now the highlight of the technical infrastructure, the balance, becomes the center of attention and that’s just yet another good reason for discussion and while the farmer’s wife talks the quality and price up, Costa uses now the general arguments of crises and the resulting hardship for Greek people to limit the damage.

As an observer you become quickly aware of the importance of the issue: we are talking here about the very best figs in this world which are traded in one of the worst economic contexts.

You need to be at least a university professor to sort out such complex issues or a politician to talk them out of the world.

But our two negotiators are by far beyond the primitive arguments of macro-economics and political short-sight.

The issue is a matter of consensus, not just consensus about kilos and Euros; it’s about a global consensus on matters discussed and the trade is just the materialization of that consensus when reached.

You may not be able to negociate the price down but you will find a satisfactory consensus on some important matters where both parties exit the negociation heads up.

The consensus is important, not the material exchange of Euros against figs. The satisfaction to extract from all discussed matters those, where there is agreement, and the ability to build the widest possible consensus is the purpose of the dealing.

The fig deal is just the trigger for readiness to compromise: Costa wants figs and the farmer wants to sell them; as they both want to reach their respective goals, they are prepared to find that bases of consensus which makes this deal for both parties an enriching experience and therefore a great deal.

Modern terminology like “shopping experience” are part of day to day Greek life and modern marketing experts can invent whatever they want, they will never come even close to a real social  shopping experience as described above.

Is time a measure for social commerce at all? In my opinion, it’s pretty irrelevant and in fact, I could not answer that question based on the above experience.

All I know is that we left with different varieties of figs, zucchini, eggplant, peppers and all the wheeling and dealing was interlaced, subject to discussion and finally a happy global consensus.

I also remember that it was happy hour when we finally got back to Vouliagmeni …

What is relevant, is to have met the farmers, spent some good time with them and remembering a great social shopping experience, where something has happened, something beyond figs and Euros.

Related posts:

1. Mobile Developments for Small and Home Business
2. The best Beach in Greece
3. Greece under Fire 2
4. Vodafone by iPhone 4 Greece
5. Inside Small Church

It’s always a joy to drive through the countryside of southern Attica where good soil produces some of the best fruits and vegetables around Athens. Here small business still means small business!

Farmers offer their production from hand-built stalls along the often dusty roads.

Greeks have their preferred farmer and will drive across Attica just to get the real stuff from the trusted source year after year.

Others would just stop at a place because of an attractive display of fresh veggies, inviting colors of fruit or just to have a chat with locals. Some of these small businesses also sell other home made products from the farm, honey, spices such as origan, sweets, jam and more.

Of course the offer depends on the season and the shopping habits are far from those cripling our minds in super markets.

My friend Costa has been a long term customer of farmers from the Loutsa Area, on the other side of Attica, about a 40 minute drive from Vouliagmeni. That’s where you get the best Figs in Attica, he claims.

So,  a few days ago, we drove across Attica to get some of those delicious products. While I was expecting to end up at a small family owned farm, I  could not hide my surprise when we stopped at that small stall featured on the picture above, off the main road but still on a connection between villages …but still: middle of nowhere.

The stall was as handcrafted as you could imagine and the equipment quite standard: basic. A balance hanging from the roof, the table to display the fresh vegetables and fruits, another table in the back to sort the products as well as a few improvised chairs to have a sip and a chat with friends. Electricity, what’s that?

Interestingly the figs on display are packed and labeled FRESH FIGS is good old English, whilst the farmers often don’t speak a word of that language. Also we are not really on a touristic trail. My silent conclusion is, that imported packaging materials must be cheaper that the local stuff.

Having a closer look at the box, I find the address of an exporter from Athens and in fact, our very modest stall owner, is in fact supplying figs for export by air world-wide! Of course Greek Figs are the best in the world and those from Panagiotis are the best in Greece … what else?

Out in the Greek countryside, supermarkets, e-commerce and such likes are just distant nightmares. There is only one commerce and that is S-Commerce, standing for Social Commerce. Greeks never needed any social networks, facebook and twitter to be social, it’s just in their nature to socialize as an important part of Greek lifestyle.

The same applies to commerce out in the countryside. Buying and selling are social acts and you would disappoint your Greek farmer, if you just got off your car and quickly bought your veggies without a word, chat or as the case may be, without tasting some of the home made foods.

Of course, Costa immediately gets into a heated discussion with the farmer’s wife about this year’s quality of figs, while tasting the various varieties available to create a good climate for s-commerce, that is, aiming at getting the best price for the best fruits.

This back and fourth takes a while and even a good while, but it’s part of the game, part of the transaction, the s-commerce.

Sure, the discussion is not just about figs and irrigation, rain, sunshine and farming; the discussion hits the weather in general, the crises, the difficulties to farm today, the problems of small scale farming, national politics, global warming and God and the world.

Time passes and you spend a great moment selecting your figs and veggies.

During the whole process you are pushed to taste this and try that and if you have not had lunch yet, there is no point planning for it any longer.

Inevitably there comes the moment of the truth; has it been worth the while to spend all this time to get the price down by may be a few cents per kilo? And if all of this was not about the few cents at all?

Costa finally thought the time was right to conclude the deal as the farmer’s wife was in increasingly good mood and put a nice smile on her face carved by hard country life.

Now the highlight of the technical infrastructure, the balance, becomes the center of attention and that’s just yet another good reason for discussion and while the farmer’s wife talks the quality and price up, Costa uses now the general arguments of crises and the resulting hardship for Greek people to limit the damage.

As an observer you become quickly aware of the importance of the issue: we are talking here about the very best figs in this world which are traded in one of the worst economic contexts.

You need to be at least a university professor to sort out such complex issues or a politician to talk them out of the world.

But our two negotiators are by far beyond the primitive arguments of macro-economics and political short-sight.

The issue is a matter of consensus, not just consensus about kilos and Euros; it’s about a global consensus on matters discussed and the trade is just the materialization of that consensus when reached.

You may not be able to negociate the price down but you will find a satisfactory consensus on some important matters where both parties exit the negociation heads up.

The consensus is important, not the material exchange of Euros against figs. The satisfaction to extract from all discussed matters those, where there is agreement, and the ability to build the widest possible consensus is the purpose of the dealing.

The fig deal is just the trigger for readiness to compromise: Costa wants figs and the farmer wants to sell them; as they both want to reach their respective goals, they are prepared to find that bases of consensus which makes this deal for both parties an enriching experience and therefore a great deal.

Modern terminology like “shopping experience” are part of day to day Greek life and modern marketing experts can invent whatever they want, they will never come even close to a real social  shopping experience as described above.

Is time a measure for social commerce at all? In my opinion, it’s pretty irrelevant and in fact, I could not answer that question based on the above experience.

All I know is that we left with different varieties of figs, zucchini, eggplant, peppers and all the wheeling and dealing was interlaced, subject to discussion and finally a happy global consensus.

I also remember that it was happy hour when we finally got back to Vouliagmeni …

What is relevant, is to have met the farmers, spent some good time with them and remembering a great social shopping experience, where something has happened, something beyond figs and Euros.

Related posts:

1. Mobile Developments for Small and Home Business
2. The best Beach in Greece
3. Greece under Fire 2
4. Vodafone by iPhone 4 Greece
5. Inside Small Church

It was again Full moon time on August 31 — September 1, and as it was the second one in the same month, it was a Blue Moon. Back in 2010 at about the same time of the year I went out to shoot the moon with my at that time new point and shoot camera, the little Leica V-Lux 20. I was just focusing on the moon and on the maximum detail I could capture with that camera.

This year in May, the moon was at it’snearest position to the earth and I went out to try to catch the moon as well as some landscape. In May the constellation was such as that the moon came up way after the sun-set and there was not much daylight left. My images turned out to be underexposed and there was not much material I could use to do an HDR merger.

This time now I was luckier in as much as the sun set at about the same time as the moon rose and heck, it was fun and I would have wished having a better camera with me.

As in May, I thought it was a good idea to drive along the coast, direction Varkiza, to see the moon rising over the Varkiza bay and then to head back and catch the scene from across the Vouliagmeni bay since the hill behind Vouliagmeni retards the rising of the moon by about 40 minutes.

The above image features the landscape with the horizon - the moon was expected to rise on the right slope of that pyramid shaped mountain. On August 31, 2012 the sun set about 30 minutes after the moon was supposed to rise, which was yet another challenge.

 When the moon showed up at last, the last sun beams left the landscape with a warm glow and offered a rather romantic sun-set-moon-rise scenario.

This picture was taken at the cam’s maximum focal length, equivalent to 400 mm and the distance to the town and horizon is about 8 km. I thought this was pretty cool for a small point and shoot cam.

Having taken a bunch of shots from the rising moon at that place, I then drove down to Varkiza town to give it another try. Within the two minutes it took me to get there, the sun had set and the light completely changed.

A fishing boat leaving the port contributed to the interest of the image.

The light had reached about the stage where you see about just gray tones and I thought it was a nice opportunity to produce one of those vintage type of images filtering with a gradient sepia map.

Again a sweet result and best of all, there is still some detail to the moon.

More realistically, the scene presented itself rather like the next image, whereas the moon is over-exposed and the landscape under-exposed, which shows the interest in working this out with an HDR tool.

The daylight was decreasing fast now and if I wanted to catch the rising moon in Vouliagmeni, I had to quickly head back to get ready for a spectacular show.

The spot selected for the images as just across the town center near the entrance to Astir Beach, from where I was expecting the moon to rise just above the town and its hills.

You might wonder how I had planned my timing and selected the locations from where I would get a nice angle for the images. The answer is: The Photographer’s Ephimeris, a tool helpful for landscape and other photography where light, sun (or moon) rise and set are of importance. The tool combines rising and setting times with a worldwide map. It’s a fantastic free tool you can grab from HERE.

Where ever you place the pin on your local map for a given date, the graphic will indicate the angle from where the sun or moon will rise and set as well as the time; you then just need to take into account the elevation and distance to the horizon to approximate the exact time for the given location. Try it, you will adopt it.

I reached my observation location just before the moon and had enough time to mount a tripod, which I did not use for the previous pictures as there was strong wind and still enough daylight.

This is how Vouliagmeni by night presented itself just after 8 pm:

The moon was supposed to show up from behind the hill on the right side of the above image and just a few minutes later the planning proved to be correct:

Now things went quickly; I am always surprised how speedy that moon rises!

The image is heavily under-exposed to catch some detail of the surface of the moon, which leaves the foreground painted in black.

Just a minute later we adore the beauty of our companion:

The town is under exposed but not enough to give the moon some texture. Bracketing helps and allows then to merge pictures using the HDR tool to get a well exposed moon as well as  a town featuring more detail.

Note the airplane crossing the frame on the left side.You can even see a few stars in the sky (click for a larger view).

Now, as the technical part is taken care of, there is no limit to play with artistic modes and test different HDR settings and filters as for example the below version:

The last image was exposed for 8 seconds at f/5.6 and a focal length of 90 mm equivalent, bracketing starting at +2 and ending at –2. ISO 400 and aperture priority.

Related posts:

1. How to shoot the Moon with a Point and Shoot Camera
2. Shooting at the Moon
3. Flowers from Vouliagmeni Beach
4. Vouliagmeni Kavouri Beach
5. Vouliagmeni Beach

It was again Full moon time on August 31 – September 1, and as it was the second one in the same month, it was a Blue Moon. Back in 2010 at about the same time of the year I went out to shoot the moon with my at that time new point and shoot camera, the little Leica V-Lux 20. I was just focusing on the moon and on the maximum detail I could capture with that camera.

This year in May, the moon was at it’snearest position to the earth and I went out to try to catch the moon as well as some landscape. In May the constellation was such as that the moon came up way after the sun-set and there was not much daylight left. My images turned out to be underexposed and there was not much material I could use to do an HDR merger.

This time now I was luckier in as much as the sun set at about the same time as the moon rose and heck, it was fun and I would have wished having a better camera with me.

As in May, I thought it was a good idea to drive along the coast, direction Varkiza, to see the moon rising over the Varkiza bay and then to head back and catch the scene from across the Vouliagmeni bay since the hill behind Vouliagmeni retards the rising of the moon by about 40 minutes.

The above image features the landscape with the horizon - the moon was expected to rise on the right slope of that pyramid shaped mountain. On August 31, 2012 the sun set about 30 minutes after the moon was supposed to rise, which was yet another challenge.

 When the moon showed up at last, the last sun beams left the landscape with a warm glow and offered a rather romantic sun-set-moon-rise scenario.

This picture was taken at the cam’s maximum focal length, equivalent to 400 mm and the distance to the town and horizon is about 8 km. I thought this was pretty cool for a small point and shoot cam.

Having taken a bunch of shots from the rising moon at that place, I then drove down to Varkiza town to give it another try. Within the two minutes it took me to get there, the sun had set and the light completely changed.

A fishing boat leaving the port contributed to the interest of the image.

The light had reached about the stage where you see about just gray tones and I thought it was a nice opportunity to produce one of those vintage type of images filtering with a gradient sepia map.

Again a sweet result and best of all, there is still some detail to the moon.

More realistically, the scene presented itself rather like the next image, whereas the moon is over-exposed and the landscape under-exposed, which shows the interest in working this out with an HDR tool.

The daylight was decreasing fast now and if I wanted to catch the rising moon in Vouliagmeni, I had to quickly head back to get ready for a spectacular show.

The spot selected for the images as just across the town center near the entrance to Astir Beach, from where I was expecting the moon to rise just above the town and its hills.

You might wonder how I had planned my timing and selected the locations from where I would get a nice angle for the images. The answer is: The Photographer’s Ephimeris, a tool helpful for landscape and other photography where light, sun (or moon) rise and set are of importance. The tool combines rising and setting times with a worldwide map. It’s a fantastic free tool you can grab from HERE.

Where ever you place the pin on your local map for a given date, the graphic will indicate the angle from where the sun or moon will rise and set as well as the time; you then just need to take into account the elevation and distance to the horizon to approximate the exact time for the given location. Try it, you will adopt it.

I reached my observation location just before the moon and had enough time to mount a tripod, which I did not use for the previous pictures as there was strong wind and still enough daylight.

This is how Vouliagmeni by night presented itself just after 8 pm:

The moon was supposed to show up from behind the hill on the right side of the above image and just a few minutes later the planning proved to be correct:

Now things went quickly; I am always surprised how speedy that moon rises!

The image is heavily under-exposed to catch some detail of the surface of the moon, which leaves the foreground painted in black.

Just a minute later we adore the beauty of our companion:

The town is under exposed but not enough to give the moon some texture. Bracketing helps and allows then to merge pictures using the HDR tool to get a well exposed moon as well as  a town featuring more detail.

Note the airplane crossing the frame on the left side.You can even see a few stars in the sky (click for a larger view).

Now, as the technical part is taken care of, there is no limit to play with artistic modes and test different HDR settings and filters as for example the below version:

The last image was exposed for 8 seconds at f/5.6 and a focal length of 90 mm equivalent, bracketing starting at +2 and ending at -2. ISO 400 and aperture priority.