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There’s something mystical about an empty road…

Which one do you like best? Both shots taken in Germany at our last trip. The second one is taken in Rudesheim, the first somewhere between the Rhein and the Mosel where there are brilliant landscapes.

Techs and postprocessing after the jump.

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A small tree in the wineyards at the banks of the Rhein in Rüdesheim, Germany. We spent four days at the Rhein and the Mosel last week and it was a lovely weekend: very relaxing, nice wheather, delicious white wines and tremendous amounts of flesh on the German restaurant menus. I think I gained a little weight back there.

I put some unprocessed shots from the trip in this Flickr set. Enjoy!

We had an enormous storm last weekend here in Belgium. Unfortunately, we were not at home but driving through it. Enormous rain showers made it almost impossible to see anything and the road was slippy as hell. Fortunately though, I had my camera with me (we were coming back from a short holiday trip) and was able to catch this lightning strike. On the technical side, this pic was made in bulb mode at f11. I held the camera steady at the dashboard and used the remote control. I closed the shutter right after the lightning strike. The stripes of the movement are caused by the fact that we are driving. I know this may not be the most photographically interesting lightning strike, but it is my first caught ever! And it tastes like more! Luckily, summers in Belgium are famous for there tremendous amounts of rain.

To be honest, though I took this pic in our garden, I’ve no idea about the name of this little flower. As so many in my archives I really need to ask the landlord all the names of his flowers. But it has the form of a clock, right? Oh come on!

One of the two beautiful eyes of my girlfriend.

We got nice orchid flowers from Martine last week when they were at our home. I love shooting flowers, so here we go!

I set the plant next to the window put a chair with a black sheet of cotton draped over it behind the orchids. This makes the beauty of the flowers really stand out.

Some moderate post-processing is done in Lightroom. I often apply a split toning on my colour pictures. It is an easy way to give your photo’s a nice atmosphere.

All pics were taken with the Canon 17-55 f2.8 at f2.8, fully zoomed in. I used to take my flower pics with my 50mm f1.8 prime, but it can’t focus as close as the 17-55. I tried the 50mm for a couple of shots, but quickly switch back to the 17-55. I like this lens so much, I’m thinking of leaving the 50mm at home for the next vacation. Except for a bit of CA’s the 17-55 is absolutely superb!

No visit without some appetizers. We spoiled our parents a bit with self-made bites.

First some cava with smoked salmon.

Tomatoes stuffed with prawns.

Some chicory with herb cheese.

And some lovely carpaccio.

Do I need to say my Canon 17-55 f2.8 is an excellent lens for this?

A nice little kiss from my girlfriend. This is also one from the evening our parents came to visit us and is basically the same setting as the portrait of Martine.