Around Hohenfels: 3 in 1

Greetings and welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place!

The last of the leaves are rapidly disappearing from the scene, leaving us with the dark, twisted branches of winter. The last few days have provided some opportunities for getting out and making your autumn shots a reality, so I hope you’ve managed to bring home some nice color! I’ve managed to shoot 3 rolls of Provia 100F from Fuji. The colors on this film are incredible! I hope to have some to share before too awfully long! I also managed to get in 10 sheets of Kodak’s Ektar 100 in large format. While a punchy, saturated film, the right shots take on a life of their own, which I hope to present.

Now, on to today’s topic. We’re going to give a quick rundown of 3 places to visit within 30 minutes drive of Hohenfels. There are quite a few other places, and most have information available online.

First on our list is the Thurn und Taxis palace in Regensburg. This is a palace in the heart of Regensburg, near the train station. It is occupied by the Prince of Thurn and Taxis. The family created the postal service for Europe some 300ish years ago. A lovely place with regular tours, the tour also includes some of St. Emmeram's, an old monastery. The gardens of the palace are beautiful, and the little park just outside the actual palace grounds is quite nice, also.
More information is available at this site.

Next up is Walhalla. Walhalla is just outside Regensburg, on the Danube. Built as a replica of the Parthenon, Walhalla is a tribute to Germanic speaking people who have contributed to the world in general. There are many busts and statues inside, and the view outside is incredible. It’s also a great place for a picnic and fall colors.
Click here for more about Walhalla.

Here are some pics from our next site, Kelheim.


ISO 100, f/16, 1/25
This is one of the many views from atop the Befreiungshalle in Kelheim. One can walk around the entire outside from 2 upper levels, which give you a 360 degree view of the surrounding area. It's worth the climb, but don't don't forget your camera!


ISO 1250, f/5.6, 1/80
This is inside the Church at Weltenburg. A 20 minute ferry ride from Kelheim, this monastery is the perfect place to enjoy a nice lunch and some photographic treasures! The meals served here come in extra large sizes, so bring your appetite.

Kelheim is a fantastic little town on the banks of the Danube, where it meets the Altmuhl River. Above Kelheim is the Befreiungshalle. The Befreiungshalle was built to commemorate the victories over Napoleon. The Winged victories inside have shields made from melted down canons and the door is cased in metal from melted canon balls. The town has some beautiful scenery, and is a great place to have some iced chocolate on a summer afternoon at one of the sidewalk cafes. You can even hop a ferry to the Weltenburg Abbey, where they brew some fantastic beer and enjoy a wonderful meal while waiting to catch the next ferry back.
Of course, to get the full scoop about the Befreiungshalle, click here

While none of the information is exhaustive here, I hope it will give you some ideas about how close things are. A wonderful afternoon with friends or family, or making some great shots, are all within a short distance of our place!

We want you to share your photos, especially of our place, with us on our Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. You can also e-mail questions, photos, or comments to HohenfelsVolks(at)tks-net.com, and we’ll get them posted!

Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!

Autumn Leaves

Greetings and welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place!

“Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile.”
William Cullen Bryant

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."
Albert Camus

“On this autumn mountain,
Tumbling yellowed leaves,
For just a moment
Cease your scattering
For I would see my beloved's home.”
Kakinomoto No Hitomaro

William Cullen Bryant was a famous 19th century American poet. Albert Camus was a French philosopher and member of the resistance during the war. Hitomaro was a famous poet and court noble in the 7th and early 8th centuries, and is revered as one of the “36 Poetry Immortals” of Japan.

All 3 quotes are reminders of how autumn can be a wonderful season. The Season of color and clarity is upon us, preparing us for the dark and cold days ahead. The joys we experience in autumn can last a lifetime! Childhood memories are always rekindled with the tasted of fresh cider or just picked apples. Pumpkin pie and Halloween, not to be outdone compete with colored leaves and apple pie!

For the moment, though, we’re leaving the memories for later, when we’re each on our path. We’re going to give a few short pointers for dealing with autumn colors and shooting.

The easiest thing one can do when dealing with autumn’s majestic colors is to simply underexpose by 1/3 to 1 stop. Meter the area you’d like to see an increase in saturation, then set your exposure 1/3 to 1 stop less. To do this successfully, you have to make sure the rest of the scene is within the range of your cameras sensor. When you desire to increase saturation, underexposing will always help. This is because saturation, in simple terms, is generally inversely proportional to the reflected light. A lower luminance value will usually appear more saturated than a higher luminance.


ISO 100, f/16, 1/15
Lanu Mimita, Samoan for The colors are bold. This was shot in Dietldorf, a couple years ago. By underexpsoing slightly, and lowering the levels using the levels adjustment tool, saturation is increased. With some slight tweaking of color temperature the scene can be rendered to replicate the feeling of that wonderful day, time spent with family, and the big, hot, cocoa that followed the making of this image!

Another important thing to try is changing up your compositions. Since you’re likely to be shooting color, you’ll want to use composition to enhance the brilliance of your image. This can be used to either increase your subject’s importance or bring a saturated subject in line with an element having a lower saturation, while maintaining the distinction. Composition needs to be strong with higher levels of saturation to prevent the color from creating distractions or becoming a crutch.

If you wish to shoot black and white, autumn is a wonderful time to try it. If possible, use real filters on your lenses, as they will give you better renditions of the contrast inherent in your image than software alone. Editing your image should be done on multiple layers, especially if you desire to simulate different filters. A red filter will leave your reds, oranges, and yellows bright and your greens and blues very dark. An orange filter will have less impact but the results are similar. It's all about how you visualize it! Filter pack plug-ins for Photoshop are available, and Tiffen makes one for stand-alone use.

While these suggestions are a good place to start, I highly recommend getting out and making some shots. Try these suggestions, and any others you come across and feel comfortable with. Also remember, you’re the determining factor in your image’s value. If you like it, than show it off, definitely share it here, and be proud of your work.

We want you to share your photos with us on our Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. You can also e-mail questions, photos, or comments to HohenfelsVolks(at)tks-net.com, and we’ll get them posted!

Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!

Improve Our Seeing

Greetings and welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! Hohenfels is getting ripe for photographic opportunities. Within the next couple weeks, the “autumnal fireworks” will really be in swing. Time to explore our areas and get your images made!

Today we’re going to provide a couple exercises to get you thinking about your photography and small ways to improve.

First up, we’re going to look at the use of tone and tonal variations to improve our shots. The exercise is simple enough. You’re going to need a couple lightly textured items to photograph. A couple differently colored towels or pillowcases will suffice. The object is to learn how our exposure impacts our tonal ranges, and how tones translate into an important element of our final image.

It’s best to use red, green, and blue items, but whatever you have at hand will work. Set up your item and meter it. In manual mode, set your exposure to give you –3 stops exposure and make a photo. Repeat for every full stop between –3 and +3 stops. You’ll have 7 photos. Do that for the other colors. Compare them in your image editing application, and see how the saturation, texture, and feel of each color changes with the different exposures and colors. Then take the same series of photos, but put your different items in the same frame. Finally, convert the last series to monochrome, and review one last time. After reviewing them all, you can see the difference in tones and moods. This is a big part of visualization, knowing how your camera’s rendition of color and light will present itself in the final image. It’s a simple exercise that does more than give you that knowledge; it also shows you what your camera can do. By knowing that there should be texture through all the shots, you can identify where your camera begins to lose that texture. Hey, since it’s autumn, you can combine the shots with more than all you colors into making something to hang on your wall by shooting something of the autumn around you.


ISO 100, f/15, 1/25
One of my older photos, taken just outside Hormansdorf. The track to the field was dappled and the tonal range of the colors brought to mind something from childhood, a reminder that God's beauty is everywhere. Notice how dark and light tones of the same color come into play here, creating contrast and enhancing the feeling of magic.

The next exercise is patterns. Learning to recognize patterns is something we all naturally do from an early age. But, patterns can be subtle or glaring. Stucco has a nice texture, and can have something of a pattern to it if you observe it long enough. Decorative tiles, clothing, and even bark will present something to create the feeling of a pattern if you open yourself to it.

The exercise is shooting 5-10 photos of patterns around you. This can be the tracks from a tractor in a just harvested field, the still tall rows of corn, your hounds-tooth pants, anything presenting a pattern. Corn on the cob present a nice pattern that can be presented and intensified by including the green of the husk and the golden caramel brown of the outer silk. They’re everywhere once you open up to them! It’s a great way to add interest to your photography, and bring you into a closer relationship with the scenes we take for granted every day. There is so much in God’s green Earth to see and feel, that an entire lifetime isn’t enough to experience it all!

I hope everyone will get out and make some photos, both for the exercises and to celebrate autumn’s beauty. There’s no time like now to get shooting! Figure out where and when, the rest will follow. Then, make your shot and share it with us on our Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. We’d love to see your work.

Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!

Jaunty in Hohenfels

Greetings and welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! Several days of beautiful weather have made life comfortable here in Hohenfels and our surrounding areas. Bayreuth last weekend was especially beautiful, as the clouds and lighting made for some magnificent wooded shots. Yesterday’s clear skies made the Nuremberg flea market, scattered throughout the old parts of town, a place full of photographic treasures.

Today’s post is short and simple. We’re going to talk about day jaunts to local areas. We’re not going to expound too much on places, it’s more about finding and making photos we like. Expressive images make the creative process a reward in itself, and being prepared can make a big difference.

I’m planning a mid-Autumn trip to Bayreuth to make some photos. The intent is to make some beautiful photographs of the autumn state at a couple places there. The first one is the Hermitage. I fell in love with this place on my first visit. The lighting, textures, and wooded areas make for something magical. The second one is at the New Residenz, which is similar, but has a completely different feel. I also hope to make a portrait or 2, and shoot some slide film.

The reason I mention that, is our main reason for the topic today. When we make our jaunts and trips, it’s always a good idea to know what to expect. By making a trip or 2 in advance, and maybe some shots of our ideas, we can be prepared for the situations we’re likely to encounter. For instance, at the Hermitage a reflector is a good idea. On a sunny day, it can be used to fill in the shaded areas with light streaming through the trees. Because of the large volume of trees, autumn will increase the warmth of the light, and a clear day will help keep it from going to warm. In Regensburg, I might rely on a golden reflector or gelled flash, as the light in the park by the bahnhof feels quite different. In either place, flash and gels are vital to getting a portrait to be more in line with our vision and intent.

Around our area, going place to place is simply a matter of taking the train. A train to Bamberg doesn’t take too long, and can lead to some quiet contemplation of what our intentions may be. We can also relax on the way back and reflect on our efforts. Trains also provide an easy way to scout a location. They run close to our own schedules in most cases, and we can leave when we see fit, or stay as long as we want. Avoiding the traffic allows for more insightful planning and reflection.


ISO 1600, f/8, 1/30
Rebirth in Bayreuth. Green against orange. Leaves intensified by shooting with a yellow filter. Yes, black and white filters can be used on digital cameras. By bringing out the green slightly, the leaves are made to stand out. Just a small fraction of the beauty in Bayreuth. The leaves growing from amidst the decay of an older tree brought a sense of rebirth, and second chances, the shallow DOF allows a more meaningful contemplation. I plan to re-do this shot when the leaves are changing for a different mood.

On another note, I’m hoping we can get some volks to contribute a small article about a place they like to shoot, and maybe some pics. It’ll help flesh out our “Your Works” and “Our Places” pages, and help others out with their day trips.

I hope all of you will get out and plan a day trip to make some shots. I also hope you’ll share it with us on our Hohenfels Volks Faceboook page. We’d love to see your work.

Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!