Around Hohenfels- Bamberg

Hello, Volks, welcome to Hohenfels Volks. Another weekend is rolling into Hohenfels, bringing cold, frost, and icy fog. I hope you’re staying warm and getting some great pics.

Today we’re traveling to Bamberg. Located on the Regnitz River, and near the Main River, this city is full of great sights and history. If you bring your camera, you’re almost guaranteed to bring back a winner!

The town started attracting notice about 902, and was under the authority of the Diocese of Würzburg. In about 1007, it became independent and for a while was the seat of the Holy Roman Empire.

Some of the sights to see are:
The Cathedral, which contains the tombs of emperor Henry II and Pope Clement II
The new Residenz, where the Bishops resided during the 17th century
The Old Town Hall built right in the middle of the Regnitz River
"Little Venice" which is a colony of cool old fishermen houses from the 19th century
Michaelsberg Abbey, which is no longer an abbey
Altenburg castle, a former residence of the bishops.

The Old Rathaus is very interesting to note, as it is smack in the middle of the river. It also cool because along the outsides of the building, statues and paintings seems to merge and come alive, as seen below.


ISO 400, 1/100, f/8
The statues in the wall seem to be coming out and alive!


ISO 400, 1/400, f/8
Dead in the middle of the river!

The cathedral is an amazing piece of work, and features the tombs of the Emperor, his wife, and Pope Clement II. The Gothic architecture and art are worth the time you spend in here. Removing many of the non-Gothic pieces to St Michaelsberg during the purification of the Dom back to its Gothic styling, allowed the church to maintain its original Gothic feel. Another feature of the cathedral is the “Bamberg Ritter,” a statue on one of the columns in the church. No one really knows who it is, but it serves as the symbol of the city. Make sure you bring a flash or 2, and shoot a little higher ISO to get the image that you want!


ISO 1600, 1/60, f/5.6
The Bamberg Ritter and surrounding features

Michaelsberg Abbey, on one the hills, presents an amazing view from below, and is even more impressive inside. The monastery is now a retirement home, restaurant, and brewery, but the church remains in use. This church is unusual and very impressive. It contains numerous skull, death, and skeleton statues and carvings, including one blowing bubbles! There are medicinal plants and herbs painted all along the high vaulted ceilings, as well. Inside you will find the Holy Grave Chapel, featuring a tomb for Jesus and other statuary throughout the small space. It’s amazing! You can touch the tomb of St Otto, and if you walk through it, they say your back pains will go away.


ISO 1600, 1/30, f/5.6
A tomb or marker of one of the bishops from the 30 years war, unusual style for a church!

I know this city, with its Gothic, Baroque, and Renaissance styles will provide you with enough photos to make it more than an ordinary day out! Remember to share your pics and post your questions at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page, and or by commenting here!

Composition- Seeing in Color

Hello, Volks, welcome to Hohenfels Volks. Another week is almost over here in Hohenfels, and we’re onto another post!

Following up on yesterday’s post about color, today we’re going to talk about how color theory can work for you. Using complimentary and adjacent, or analogous, colors can really improve your compositions. The masters, including the painters and old time photographers knew how to get the most from the colors available to them.

Color theory is an extensive subject, and involves a lot more than we’re going to discuss. If you remember back in grade school, you learned there are 3 primary colors, red, yellow, and blue. They are primary because they cannot be made from combinations of other colors. Here’s a basic primary color wheel.


The 3 primary colors

The secondary colors, made from equal parts of 2 primary colors are orange, green, and purple. Here’s another chart showing the relationship between primaries.


The 3 primaries with the secondary colors

Colors opposite each other on the wheel are called complimentary colors. If you stare at one of the colors for some time, and then shift your view to solid white, the compliment, or opposite, of the stared at color will appear.

Beyond that, you have tertiary colors and other more complex blends and hues. Here is a 12-color wheel showing some of the basic ones.


12 colors, including primary, secondary, and tertiary.

Just as colors opposite each other are complimentary, colors next to each other are analogous, which means they are analogs of or for each other.

In normal human color vision, red focus beyond the focal plane, green directly on it, and blue focuses short of it. This is why red appears to advance and blue seems to recede. Another effect of normal human color vision is that the same color appears brighter and larger against a dark background than against a lighter one. Another interesting fact along that same line is that Da Vinci observed, "Colors appear what they are not, according to the ground that surrounds them." Handy stuff for the photographer!

With all that information, feeling overwhelmed can be a problem. So, to make this subject easier, we’re going to show a couple example of how to combine colors into a harmonious composition, and have them add to your image rather than distract from it.


Analogous color scheme. Using this scheme can create calm scenes and photos. Make sure you have enough color contrast, though, to keep your image interesting.


Complementary. Very vibrant and exciting images. Don't overdo it and you can get something really appealing.


This is called a split complementary scheme. This has a strong visual appeal like complementary colors, but with less risk of overdoing it.

Remember, there are other schemes as well. You could do a three color scheme using colors equally spaced through the wheel, which can create a dynamic image, especially when one is given a greater weight in the composition. A great way to get more information is to use Google "color theory." Another great source is Tiger Color. They also have some nifty software and such that will help you understand color.

Look for an assignment related to this post on Facebook in the next couple days. Hopefully we can get everyone posting a couple photos, and get more assignments going. Drop us a comment and let us know what you think of the idea.

Remember to share your pics and post your questions at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page, and or by commenting here!

Elements of Composition- Color

Hello, Volks, welcome to Hohenfels Volks. I hope everyone is having a decent week. The weather on Monday and Tuesday was excellent getting out and shooting some pics weather. Even in this time of shorter days and less time to get the shot you want, you can still get one or two that will make you feel good.

Today we’re doing a quick post on one of the unexpected elements of composition. We’ve talked about chiaroscuro and shadow, and subject placement. There are general guidelines for most situations. Today we’re going to talk a little about using light and color to bring in your viewer.

As you can see in the photo below, there is a lot of shadow in the right side, set for zone 3 at best, which amounts to a lot of unused space. At least it would seem that way.


I shot this photo on a little side road about 15 to 20 KM from Hohenfels.
ISO 400, f/11, 1/40

By leaving so much in deep shadows, it really makes the light streaming in from the left pop out and creates almost a set of diagonal shafts crossing through into the road. It also amplifies the magnificent autumn colors of the trees and the shaft of light green grass. The blend of greens and oranges just makes it seem to jump out from the woods and the shadow.

Pick out a color in a scene and try to find one that either complements or contrasts your chosen color for an extra bit of eye drawing appeal. This even works in black and white, only instead of showing the colors, it creates tones and textures that will pull the viewer in. Remember color is a major part of your composition!

Keep your eyes open, walk around, and believe in your abilities. That will bring home some keepers and treasures, and isn’t there so much around Hohenfels that we can find to treasure? Remember to share your pics and post your questions at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page, and or by commenting here!

Tools of the Trade, Powering Up

Welcome to Hohenfels Volks. I hope Monday was good to everyone. I was off and went to Regensburg to buy some gear and a hamster for the princess. Of course, time limits prevented getting the gear, so I’ve ordered some online. The weather was extremely nice today, and made for some great photo ops. Tomorrow should be some great autumn pics coming! I’m hoping to get out and check out some areas between Hohenfels and Regensburg I discovered today.

Speaking of gear, today we’re going to do a paragraph about battery grips and their benefits.

DSLRs use rechargeable batteries, and those batteries are good for somewhere between 300 and 900 shots usually. I’ve gotten 600 in one night, and 300 more the next. It sounds like a lot, eh? Sometimes, though, the extra power comes in handy. If you chimp a lot, then that extra bit helps. It also helps when shooting bursts, as the buffer can clear a little faster.

Another advantage of the battery grip is that using 2 batteries means half the charging. If you have either 2 chargers or a dual charger, you have the same time to charge them, but get twice the shots between charges.

The other big advantage is the addition of controls to portrait mode shooting. You have full access to your camera controls from portrait orientation, allowing for continued shooting without rotating your camera to make changes or view settings.

An unsung plus is the weight. For some volks, the extra weight is too much. The reality is that having the extra weight, adds anywhere from 1/3 stop to a full stop of stability to your handheld shots. It’s a trade off, the choice is yours to make. I like the thought of extra stability. If you’re using a string-pod, it’s even better in low light!

Well, that’s it for today. Thinking about traveling? Check out the battery grip for your camera and keep shooting longer.

Keep shooting, both Hohenfels and beyond. Remember to share your pics and post your questions at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page, and or by commenting here!

Ride Along Shot

Welcome to Hohenfels Volks. I hope everyone is having a great weekend. The day is chilly, but the sky is blue, and the light is there. Today we’re going to try something new based on a suggestion by my friend Darris. We’re going to look at a photo and go over how and why it was made, and what kind of thoughts went into it.

I’m going to use a photo taken in Bamberg at the Residenz.

Here’s the image and the settings


ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/60. Canon EF 28-135mm IS

The imperial hall is a magnificent room, from which you start your tour. It’s also the only room where flash photography is allowed. I wanted to capture something of that grandeur without taking it to the point where there is too much of the room,

Choosing something that would be pleasing and have a point led to this image. Visualizing something with the windows leading to the door gave several possibilities. I liked having something lead to an interesting and mysterious item or subject. The door was the way to go, as it increased interest and curiosity.

By moving around the room, and visualizing several ways of getting the picture I thought placing the door at one of the thirds, and leading in with the chairs would be a great way to draw the viewer in. I set my flash to cast a small amount of light to toward the entry into the main part of the palace. I thought that including some of the windows would be a nice touch, but realized that closing in the window frames toward each other added another way of leading the eyes into the door.The contrast between window light and the dark chairs creates more interest in where they lead.

Creating diagonals with the chairs, I’ve created one set of leading lines. By closing the windows together, the converging parallels created another set of diagonals. All the diagonals converge at the door, leading one into the apartments. What’s in there, what is the light, and where does the door lead? These questions can be created with placement of the subject and leading lines. Keeping it in glorious color helped show the glory and majesty of the hall and increase some curiosity and tension.

The short focal length allowed me to shoot at f/5.6 and keep the DOF needed to bag the shot I visualized and keep the shutter speed high enough to handhold the camera. I knew that a large aperture would be need to get the light from the flash to record properly, and somewhat slower shutter speed to get the ambient light. 1/60 allowed the ambient to record at the desired level, while f/5.6 allowed the flash exposed areas to match the ambient levels.

When shooting manual with a flash, your shutter speed controls the ambient exposure and the aperture controls your flash exposure. This will allow you to adjust either part, as ambient lighting often cannot be changed, and running between your flash and camera can make things tricky.

Remember, with shots like this, you have to include the negative lighting and added lighting in visualization. Include the impact of your counters to the poor lighting, and see the end result. If you know your camera and your exposures, you'll get the shot you want.

Painted beautifully with wonderful scenes and colors, I’ve included a pic of the ceiling.


ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/60

I love the color, detail, and majesty of this painting.

I hope this post can be of some help. Enjoy your weekend. Today’s golden hour begins at 4 pm, so get out and get shooting! That golden light will make your shots, and you surely can find any number of subjects to photograph in it! Remember to share your pics and post your questions at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page, and or by commenting here!