Rock, Feathers, Flames: The Pictures of Week

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Once again, the c’t photo community proves its impressive skill and creativity in the past seven days. The visual journey leads from dramatic alpine peaks across the nocturnal canals of Venice to intimate moments in the animal kingdom. Fleeting moments are captured, such as squabbling seagulls in the evening light or a lurking grey heron on the hunt. Experimental shots like a fox made of fire or a world in a glass sphere testify to the photographers' special perspective. Each shot captivates with technical finesse and tells its own compelling story. Let yourself be inspired by the diversity and quality of the selected works.

Karwendel Weather

The clouds got caught in the Karwendel mountains. A rugged mountain peak pierces the dense cloud cover, clearly indicating the impending change in weather. Kurt Seibt was hiking in the Soiern mountains when he noticed a bad weather front approaching from the Wetterstein mountains.

"It was a beautiful spectacle, how the situation changed minute by minute. You could only marvel at it. Goethe's sentence immediately came to mind: Mountains are silent teachers and make quiet students," reports the photographer.

The black-and-white conversion reduces the scene to its essentials. Forms, structures, and the dramatic lighting mood. Clouds and rock seem to be in constant interplay, giving the image a rough and powerful atmosphere.

Gannet

An intimate moment between two gannets, captured in an affectionate gesture. In the background, the shimmering water dissolves into a dreamlike bokeh of light circles. The shallow depth of field directs the focus entirely onto the birds and their interaction, while the blurred foreground adds depth to the image. This creates an almost painterly image of the billing birds by Herr_Sommer.

Rialto Bridge with colorful light strips

As the Rialto Bridge glows at night, light trails dance on the Grand Canal. Through long exposure, the movements of the boats are captured as colored bands, contrasting with the static architecture. This creates a dynamic and at the same time timeless view of this Venetian landmark.

"I wanted to capture the Rialto Bridge in Venice as a night shot and have little noise in the image to hang it as a print on a magnetic board on one of our magnetic walls. Since this is only possible with a tripod and long exposure under these conditions, I implemented it exactly like that with ISO 100," reports our gallery photographer Freidenker_m.

Seagulls in the evening light

Two seagulls are squabbling, captured at the perfect moment. The warm evening light models their feathers and sets them off from the calm water in the background. The short shutter speed freezes the rapid movements, making the elegance of their flight visible.

Regarding the creation process, Florian Dehn explains: "I watched one of the seagulls for a while in the evening sun. With the rangefinder, I focused on the seagull and took a few photos. I waited for it to fly away. Instead, a second seagull came into play, wanting to dispute its place in the sun. With a short shutter speed and the widest possible aperture of f/1.4, I took this one shot. The focus is not 100 percent, but at an aperture of f/1.4, the plane of focus is very narrow. Focal length, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO were deliberately chosen. In Lightroom, I only straightened the photo minimally."

Glass Sphere

A small world, captured in glass. The sphere bundles the landscape and turns it upside down – a fascinating play with the physics of light. The focus is clearly on the sphere and its sharp image, while the background remains blurred. The fact that Rontrus opted for a black-and-white representation draws attention to the forms and structures and gives the scene a timeless mood.

Fire Fox

For a fleeting moment, the fire forms the shape of a fox. The dancing flame appears almost alive, as if frozen in its elegant movement. Here, photography shows how to capture the perfect moment and discover the extraordinary in the ordinary. Against the deep black background, the luminous, organic form of the flame is impressively showcased.

Green

Crouched and highly concentrated, this grey heron waits for its next meal. The shot at eye level with the bird draws us directly into the action. Due to the shallow depth of field, the foreground blurs into a soft green, perfectly highlighting the heron. Its fine reflection in the still water completes the calm composition.

"It was a stroke of luck to see the grey heron in a small bay with access to the water and with green plants on the other bank. It had just unsuccessfully lunged for prey and then reorganized itself on its floating raft. This gave me the opportunity to try a shot at eye level. Taking such a photo with waterfowl is always a challenge, as equipment and photographer must get as close to the water as possible. A flip-out display is very helpful here, so the camera is almost on the ground or water and you never have to look directly at the birds, which they almost always react to with flight, which must be strictly avoided for ethical wildlife photography," says Jan Rothe about his picture.

The pictures of the week at a glance:

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Bilder der Woche 50 (7 Bilder)

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