I know sunsets are done to death by every aspiring photographer as they manage to look good no matter how much one screws them up. But inspite of that cynicism I still like the magic of a sunset, the beautiful golden light making everything appear melancholic and soft. So here goes the first, more to follow in the days ahead.

Thanks for the nice comments yesterday, much appreciated. Coming to today, it’s a pretty dramatic title but to me that is what this scene evokes, that something big and sinister is about to happen, and the deliberate diagonal composition just adds to that effect imo. The original was not as dramatic as this but a little PP can make a world of difference. In the end, this is how I interpreted the original scene.

This can be a companion piece to the one I posted a couple of days [back here](http://www.visual.arthedains.com/index.php?showimage=160). It is from the same place but looking in the opposite direction. Don’t even ask me why I used such a shallow aperture for a photo like this. I think I shot this without thinking! And that tone is just the result of using a different white balance, cloudy in this case, as simple as that!

Oh, carnival starts here tomorrow so I hope I’ll be afforded some good photo opportunities! As they say here Kolle Alaaf!

Yesterday, after days of dreary rain, the weather here cleared suddenly. To not miss the window of opportunity I immediately took off with my cameras and went towards the Rhine river. I got a few pics which I’m happy with. You can expect to see them over the next few days.

This one is from the top of one of the bridges over the Rhine. This photo has gone through substantial PP as I wasn’t happy with the way it had come out. Mainly, I increased the dynamic range to make the clouds stand out better, which was the original intention behind taking this shot. In the end, I’ve to say I like the way this photo has come out. When I started PP I had no idea I would end up with this!

This is from the same shoot as [this](http://www.visual.arthedains.com/index.php?showimage=143). I could not come up with PP I liked on this until now so it was just lying idle in the folder from that day. Today, I revisited it and got something a little more to my liking. I think the main spoiler in this photo is the light. I used the on camera flash for this and it is just not good enough for macro shots. I wish I could afford one of those ring flashes!

Thanks for the nice comments on the previous photo. Today’s photo is from the same shop window as the one [here](http://www.visual.arthedains.com/index.php?showimage=129). Only this time, I included a whole lot more in the frame. Somehow, I’m not very satisfied with the PP on this. Something is missing. But I decided to post it all the same. Do let me know what you think.

This is the final photo in a series of three photos of the Dom. This was a pretty difficult photo to shoot as it was shot in the night, handheld, and using the dim available light. With any other camera it would have been impossible to get a sharp image. But as my 5D has anti-shake built in I decided to give it a try. I got a decent shot on my second or third try, not completely sharp but that was taken care of by some sharpening while PP.

As I’ve a couple of things that need to be done before Wednesday I’ll be very busy and unable to post a photo tomorrow. So see you on Wednesday again!

Second in a series of three. This is the Dom from a different angle. I don’t know how much this photo works as I was shooting handheld and because of the high ISO used there is noise. But I kinda like the angle and it is one of my rare night shots.

Today, after a long time, I managed to go out and shoot something. This is the magnificent Gothic cathedral of Cologne, also the tallest Gothic structure in the world. It is one building that overpowers your senses with its sheer size. Even after being in Cologne for more than two years now I never got around to photographing the Dom (as it is called in German) properly. So I’m glad that I finally got some decent shots. This will be the first in a series of three shots. This one was shot towards late evening. I blew out the sky during PP to let the building stand out better.

The Dom has a lot of interesting history behind it. Including interruptions, it took more than 600 years for the building to be completed (1248-1880). It was even the tallest structure in the world between 1880 and 1884! It’s Sarcophagus of the Magi is thought to contain the remains of the Three Wise Men. It was hit 14 times during aerial bombing in WWII but managed not to collapse. And it also has the world’s largest free-swinging bell!

One suggestion, this photo is best viewed full screen. Press F11 to go into full screen mode (and press F11 again to exit it).

This was just an experimental shot but I like the way the composition works. I cropped it a little to make the composition even tighter.