Hello everyone! In this post I would like to show you my ten favorite photos, that I took in 2021. It's also my entry for the End of the Year Contest of the Photography Lovers community. If you wanna join the contest as well, you can find it here:
@badge-696969/photography-lovers-end-of-year-contest-announcement
So here we go, these are my ten best shots of 2021:
No. 1: St. Francis of Assisi Church - Reflection โช
I'd like to start with this picture of the amazing St. Francis of Assisi Church - one of my favorite buildings in Vienna. You probably think that I created the reflection in Photoshop, right? But that's not the case. It was much easier. I used something for this that you have with you almost all the time. Believe it or not, but you can create such a reflection just by using your phone display as a mirror ๐ฑ
No. 2: Autumn Vibes in Tirana ๐๐
๐๐ It was really difficult to take photos in the city centre of Tirana in 2021, as there are many spectacular building projects under construction ๐ข You can hardly avoid having construction cranes and half-finished high-rise buildings in the background. Even the skyscraper in this shot is not quite finished yet. Nevertheless, it was my absolute favorite building in the Albanian capital ๐ค So I gave it this shiny, metallic look in post-processing and added an autumnal appearance to the trees as a contrast. Hope you like this style โ๏ธ
No. 3: Akrobaten Bridge + Lensball ๐ณ๐ด๐ฎ
In August 2021 I decided to spend a few days in Oslo to explore the Norwegian capital with my camera and with the unique Akrobaten Bridge I found my first interesting subject for Lensball photography already on the first day ๐ฎ It's a 206 meter long pedestrian bridge that stretches across the tracks of Oslo central station.
No. 4: Danube Canal, Urania Observatory and Uniqa Tower ๐
It was terribly cold in Vienna for that time of the year, when I was standing at this amazing photo spot with my camera and my tripod at the beginning of May 2021. Nevertheless I was patient enough to wait for the blue hour and the right moment to take this shot which is still one of my favorites of this year ๐
No. 5: Oslo Central Station + Lensball ๐๐ฎ
This is my favorite crystal ball photo of 2021. So used it also as the cover image of my new book about this topic. I took this picture at Oslo Central Station ๐ I'm often asked if photos like this are composings of several shots because you can't see my index finger in the sphere, even though it's right behind it. Well, the answer is no - this is possible just because of the unique optical characteristics of a glass ball when held at the right angle. Just try it yourselves ๐ธ
No. 6: High Speed to Hรผtteldorf ๐ฅ๐
I was very happy with this shot of the U4 subway line in Vienna ๐ It was very easy to bring this speed effect into the picture. I didn't even need a tripod to do it. Instead, I used a radial blur filter in Photoshop and masked out the train. After that, I adjusted a few basic settings and the job was done ๐ฅ
No. 7: Pedestrian Bridge + Lensball ๐๏ธ๐ฎ๐ท
I love using long hallways and corridors for my glass ball photography - that includes pedestrian bridges. This makes it relatively easy to create leading lines in your photos. for this shot, I applied a radial blur filter in post-processing to bring the sphere even more into focus ๐ฎ
No. 8: Astrup Fearnley Museum ๐
The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art is an impressive example of modern architecture in Oslo ๐ The building is situated on Tjuvholmen in the centre of the city and was opened in September 2012. I really enjoyed the quiet and peaceful atmosphere there while taking a few long exposures just before sunset ๐
No. 9: Lensball + Bokeh Effects ๐ฎ๐
When I was in Oslo, I tried using my 85mm portrait lens with a maximum aperture of F1.8 for crystal ball photography ๐ฎ This allowed me to get huge bokeh effects in the background ๐ Since the sharp area is extremely narrow with this open aperture and long focal length, the reflections on the surface of the glass ball created some more small bokeh effects.
No. 10: Augmented Reality Composing ๐ฑ๐๏ธโช
Last but not least: If I had to choose only one favorite photo for 2021, it would be this one. I have seen and admired this augmented reality effect so many times on Facebook and Instagram ๐ฑ Now I finally tried it myself and I'm quite happy with the result. How do you like it? By the way, the building you can see here is the same like on the first picture of this post - the St. Francis of Assisi Church in Vienna โช
Thanks a lot for your support!
I'd like to thank everyone, who supported me and my photography this year by upvoting, commenting and reblogging my posts ๐ You can be sure to see a lot of new photos from me next year and I wish you all the best for 2022! Nevertheless I would like to finish with a question: Which of my 2021 shots did you like best? ๐
Greetings
Stefan