This morning in Brasil, a large part of Africa, Turkey and Russia was been visible a total solar eclipse. When a total eclipse occurs, there are some zone on earth (like Rome, exactly) where the solar eclipse is partial. This picture was captured during this partial phase of the eclipse on the flat roof of the phisics’ building at the University ‘La Sapienza’ with some friends of mine.

To realize this picture I used a orange solar filter, a tripod and I set the ISO speed to 400, a time exposure of 1/80 seconds and f/4,9.

This experience has remembered to me, with a lot of wistfulness, the total eclipse of 11 August, 1999 I saw in Hungary.

This summer I met a nice cat in a street in the North-East of Italy. This cat:

Using the flash, light was reflected through the iris. Probably a difference of angle of refraction between two eyes creates different colors.

How can I comment on this picture? I can only say that I love the light that (I don’t know how) I’ve successfully captured, especially on the water, and the smallness of the two principal subjects: the angler and the lighthouse.

If you want to know some technical notes: an exposure timing of 1/1600 seconds, ISO 50, an aperture of f/8.3, focal lenght of 17 mm. Image was obtained at 9 o’clock along the northern Adriatic coast (not so far from Venice).

Rome. High on the Aventine hill in Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta (the Square of the Knights of Malta) is the knights’ private garden and the way into the garden is through a huge entranceway with a locked wooden door. There is a tiny keyhole in the center of the door through which one is able to view an arbor way of trees, which frames the Dome of St. Peter’s in the distance. (text from thetravelzine.com)

This picture was realized overlapping two frames, made with two different exposure timing: 1/15 seconds (for a good exposure of the garden) and 1/100 seconds (for a good exposure of the dome). I fixed the aperture to the same value f/4,9 to obtain the same field dept. In computer post-production I overlapped the two frames only in the central zone with a feather on the levels. Finally I applied the unsharp mask.

This is a picture of St John in Lateran, the first cathedral of Rome, where Emperor Constantine allowed the Pope to set up the episcopal chair after 312.
I’ve taken this photo last sunday, when I passed by the church while I was sitting on the rear seat of my brother’s car.

Yes, I know! I’ve currently the tendency to shoot pictures from moving means of transport. But I do it also to have speedly different points of view.

After the shooting, I’ve applied a number of graphical correction as the Curves adjustment, the highlight level and the unsharp mask. Doesn’t the result seem to have an atmosphere of a panting, now?

Is she trapped in a fishes’ carafe? Or we can see her through a crystal ball like a tolkienian Palantir?

As almost everybody have yet understand that it’s just a shot taken through a spyhole when my friend Silvia was coming chez moi to study Structure of Matter.

Despite the evident deformation due to a fisheye lens that creates a virtual spherical space, this kind of lenses do not distort perspective, as also Andrew says.

This scenery show bright green fields with hills in background. It was taken from a running train going through the Lazio’s countriside.

Note, like in the Running past the dawn’s photo, how the close-up grassland appears “dragged” because of motion of the train (hint: put camera lens to the window to avoid nasty reflections).

I would have liked to apply some levels correction only in the top of the picture, to underline the shape of clouds. So I used a layer mask to apply this correction in a chosen part of the figure, brushing white to activate the correction and black to deactivate it.

Yes, it’s really spring! This picture can prove it.

This picture was taken in the early afternoon, and I used the flash technique to soften the shadows due to sun light. Of course I used super macro mode too.

Leo (the latin for Lion) is the funny dog of my girlfriend. Here one can see Leo sticks tongue out.

This photos is simple to all appearance, but because of the proximity of the subject I have brought correctly into focus only Leo’s eyes. To resolve such problem, I have applied the unsharp mask to adjust contrast in the whole picture and, in addition, in a overlapping layer over the Leo’s muzzle. All this to obtain a virtual, but visible, uniformity of focusing.

This effect is made by rifraction of sun light on lens. Any lens creates a similar effect, depends on internal structure of itself.

Anyway are always present circles or ellipses with some colors coming from the principal source of light in the photo, the sun in this case. This creates a nice composition also thanks trees that frame all this effect.

One technical note: ISO-50 is the best for sun photos.