Cologne Gold

Cologne Gold

Cologne Gold

I don’t know if there ever was Gold in Cologne, but if there was, they must have put it into this bridge. When I got close, I could see there is is another kind of gold on the bridge. It’s full of padlocks hung by lovers. I have never ever seen so many padlocks in one place, as on this bridge. It’s from one end to the other. It’s golden love!

Shooting this bridge, with the Köln Dom (or Cologne Cathedral) in the distance is a classic shot. I tried to find some different variations though I have the classic shots too. This is one of my variations. What I like about this one, is the strong leading lines, with the strong focus on the curves of the bridge, and yet the Cathedral is still an important ‘actor’ in the composition.

I started at the view platform of the skys craber right behind this vantage point called LVR Turm (LVR Tower). There is no problems using a tripod there – for a change!

Trees In The Window

Trees In The Window

Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany is the most georgeous middle age city, surrounded with a city wall with beautiful towers and buidings. This particular photo is from St. James church.

About the processing.
I did a double tone mapping in Photomatix on a three exposures HDR. This is done by first doing one tone mapping, and when it is done, you just press the Tone mapping button again. The second time you have to push the saturation and the luminosity a good way into the negative area. That gives this funky and gritty look, which is quite far from how it looks, but is kinda cool.