Painted With Lights: The Xmas Markets of Slazburg

Painted With Lights: The Xmas Markets of Slazburg: Elise and I spent Thanksgiving in Salzburg, Austria.  Below you can see a quick time-lapse that I put together of the Christmas markets.  It...

Malta

Yes, Malta! A small island country in the middle of the Mediterranean with compact and friendly population and own language which is an interesting mixture. Anyway, English is the official language as well as their own Maltese so travelers have no problems getting along with locals.
So, why am I writing about Malta anyway? I don't have much of a choice really - it's a wonderful place for photography. Back in my days as a cruise ship photographer I would visit Malta on a schedule and it became my favourite port.

The old stone buildings that survived turbulent
 timesare a great opportunity for
 photographers and film
makers.

Tourists can book a round-the-island trip and
 enjoya view from above. I didn't
 have time for this unfortunately.

For such a small place the island presents just too many opportunities for sightseeing. One could just wander around on foot, get a regular bus, use a hop-on hop-off transportation or get a round-the-island trip by plane. I just didn't have the time for the air trip but I enjoyed myself a lot just taking random turns and ending up at where people were just having coffee or resting from busy tourist routes.
To my great surprise, there are parks with fat cats that just stand there eating. They have small wooden houses and just walk about all day. It's not the Indian cow cult but still... a little weird.

Sometimes you have to take the photo.
I  used some HDRretouch technique
to boost the sky here. I hope I didn't
overdo it.

So, they have imaginariums
in Malta? I don't know
how this works but it
looks kinda weird.

So, here was I walking around in Malta with my trustworthy dSLR thinking "Oh, what a great place to shoot a movie!" but so many people have walked around with the same idea and you can click here for a list of movies shot Malta.
Let's get back to photography and let the guys with deeper pockets shoot some great movies. Malta is not only spectacular on the outside but it's great to enter some of the old buildings too, like the St. John co-cathedral. Don't miss it! It's full of artifacts and history from Templar times!

The altar of the co-cathedral
 seemed
rather
spectacular.

The wall and ceiling paintings astonished me
even after my visit to theVatican.
It was amazing even though
the scale was smaller.

I really spent a lot of time visiting places on foot. It was a great experience especially for a man like me who likes taking unexpected turns and ending up in off-the-course places. I wish I could stay and take photos at just about every corner but I can't... You know, going back to work is something we all have to do.

Going on foot gives you a different
view of things and
takes you interesting places.

Some streets you just take
without knowing what's
on the other side of the hill at all.

I will visit Malta again soon, that's a promise! I will take lots more photos and return to tell. My stay there was so enjoyable I just didn't want to leave. All I have now is a bunch of photos, nice memories and a good friend who lives there.
If you get a chance to visit, please do! If get a chance to stay longer, go ahead! Bring your camera along and lots of big memory cards, you'll need them. Oh, what a nice place for photographers.

All the best,

Kamen Kunchev

Shooting Portraits Outdoors - Update 1

Alright, I'm done post-processing the photos of some shoots I had over the past weeks. As the title brings the spoiler, this is a short update on outdoor photography. I will add a few samples here from my latest shoots and have a little talk with you guys and girls that stumbled upon this article regarding shooting nice outdoor portraits.

Choose your background wisely and you'll be able
to control the mood and the overall feeling that the
photo brings.

Sometimes the slightest interaction
with the environment could make
the photo really interesting.

Looking at the camera is not always necessary. Try and create a mood while taking the photo which will remain captured there forever.

When I do photography I like keeping things simple and come up with the concept first - the type of photos, the location and the model. Later, I do some research and get acquainted with the place and the model before shooting. I want to know for sure that she'd be comfortable with all the details and we can just go ahead and take some nice photos.

I do not like bringing all my "tools" when shooting out in the open so I travel light and bring only what's needed. I pick the light (time of the day) in a way so that I won't need too many flashes (if any at all) and grab one or two reflectors to get the natural skin tone (white balance with natural/available light).

Shoot different styles, poses and at various locations
that match a certain mood. Use backgrounds that
separate the model from the background.

Let me know your thoughts on outdoor portraiture in the comments below! Share, comment and enjoy!

You can read more tips, tricks and view more samples in the original article by clicking here.

All the best,

Kamen Kunchev