From Austria
 

In the South east of Austria at the moment in the city of klagenfurt on the banks of Wörthersee the warmest of the Alpine lakes (apparently it's 27 degrees in the water!) this is a view from close to my hotel across crops towards the Corinthian mountains:

Pentax 645D FA 33 - 55 at 33mm and f/16 1/80 ISO 200

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7568981952/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8284/7568981952_c369472416_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7568981952/]Looking-towards-the-Corinthian-mountains[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/singingsnapper/]singingsnapper[/url], on Flickr

Wow what a veiw to have.... likeing DOF as well in this keep enjoying the weather though :)

The weather changed this evening and had 6 hours of lightning while I was busy. Got back to my otel and while I have a balcony which faces where the storm was, the storm has fizzled out

What a shame i bet it was a veiw i love thunder storms so i be quite happy and the picture well its a shame but i am sure there be more thunder and lighting storms to come the way our weather system has seem to changed :)

Lovely image, nice low angle.

Thank you -

Weather has now improved a great deal and temperatures in the mid 70's so nice and c comfortable. We took a drive today up two of the main mountain roads in the Kärnten area of Austria - The Goldeckaplenstrasse and Villach Alpenstrasse.

This is on our way back down the Goldeckalpenstrasse which goes up to 1900 metres (the temperature went from 24C to 9C) and the mountain road is just under 10 miles long.

Pentax 645D FA 33 - 55 at 43mm and f/16 (33mm 35mm equivalent) ISO 100 1/60

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7586898424/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7138/7586898424_41676f4241_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7586898424/]Towards-the-bottom-of-the-Goldeckalpenstrasse[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/singingsnapper/]singingsnapper[/url], on Flickr

This is a 3 landscape panoramic shot from one of the viewing platforms of the Villach Alpenstrasse at 1500m

Pentax 645D FA 33 - 55 at 33mm x 3 (26mm 35mm equiv) 1/40 ISO 160

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7586898650/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7125/7586898650_f80a4f0795_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7586898650/]austrian-panoramic-2012[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/singingsnapper/]singingsnapper[/url], on Flickr

Heading back to the UK from (mostly) sunny Austria will be daunting weathewise, but it's been a good few days. I have done several trips to Austria and have extended a few to see a bit more of the country and have found myself scheduling holidays there after. It's easy to see why as the scenery is very dramatic. We had another day in the hire car heading up mountain roads and I made a point of heading through Feldkirchen again as on the way through yesterday, I saw a shot in my mind's eye but by the time I had thought it out we had gone too far and the shot was gone. Even today we had gone past as there was no lay-by to stop in, so we turned back and parked in a driveway and this is the result:

Pentax 645D FA 33 - 55 at f/16 and 39mm 1/60 ISO 100

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7593543442/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8431/7593543442_576e0865d9_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7593543442/]Looking-down-to-Moosburg,-Kärnten,-Austria[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/singingsnapper/]singingsnapper[/url], on Flickr

Today we headed up to the dam at the top of Malta almalpenstrasse. At a height of just under 2000m (6400 feet) while it was 26 degrees in the valley, it was 8 degrees here and there was snow on the tops of the mountains. There was a hotel exhibition and a restaurant with a boat shaped observation terrace.

Pentax 645D FA 33 - 55 at f/16 and 33mm 1/80 ISO 200

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7593542962/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7266/7593542962_9357dc4f5a_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7593542962/]looking-over-the-Alms-Dam,-Austria[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/singingsnapper/]singingsnapper[/url], on Flickr

in black and white

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7593545604/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/7593545604_206d7ab1d5_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7593545604/]looking-across-the-bw-dam[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/singingsnapper/]singingsnapper[/url], on Flickr

When I need speed, the 645D just isn't built for that so bird shots will nearly always be done with the Canon. I do find that the Pentax has much better dynamic range than the Canon, although the inbuilt HDR is good and even better as it retains the RAW files. Here are some more shots including some of the Maltatal Dam, which is Austria's highest at about 700ft high.

Canon 5D mk III EF 16 - 35 at 17mm and f/14 1/30 and ISO 400

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605686040/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8002/7605686040_52672715cc_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605686040/]Malta-dam---Canon[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/singingsnapper/]singingsnapper[/url], on Flickr

The view from the top of the dam:

canon 5D mk III EF 16 - 35 L at 20mm and f/14 1/40 ISO 400

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605691646/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7264/7605691646_69951df05c_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605691646/]View-from-Alms-Dam[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/singingsnapper/]singingsnapper[/url], on Flickr

Looking from the top of Villach Alpenstrasse - this is a handheld HDR using photomatix to blend the three exposures taken using auto bracketing on 5D3:

Canon 5D mk III Carl Zeiss 35 f/2 at f/8 ISO 100

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605691042/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7263/7605691042_b209d0a814_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605691042/]View-from-the-top-of-the-Vallach-Alpenstrasse[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/singingsnapper/]singingsnapper[/url], on Flickr

An alpine bird - not sure which one could be a kind bird from the crow family, possibly a raven:

Canon 5D mk III EF 70 - 200 f/2.8 IS L at f/8 and 200mm 1/1250 ISO 400

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605688328/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7280/7605688328_ca09579856_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605688328/]alpine-bird[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/singingsnapper/]singingsnapper[/url], on Flickr

An alpine cow complete with bell:

Canon 5D mk III EF 70 - 200 L at f/8 and 200mm, 1/400 ISO 400

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605689018/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7256/7605689018_c8b5cb059b_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605689018/]Alpine-Cow-with-bells-on![/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/singingsnapper/]singingsnapper[/url], on Flickr

Pentax 645D:

The view from the side of Maltatal Dam:

Pentax 645D FA 33 - 55 at f/16 and 33mm 1/60 ISO 250

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605686902/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8006/7605686902_af94e75e10_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605686902/]maltatal-dam[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/singingsnapper/]singingsnapper[/url], on Flickr

Two from the Villacher Alpenstrasse:

Pentax 645D FA 120 f/4 macro, f/8 1/200 ISO 200

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605690228/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8014/7605690228_af833ccebd_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605690228/]river-canal-and-autobahn[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/singingsnapper/]singingsnapper[/url], on Flickr

The view over the town of Villach with Ossiacher See in the top left and Wörthersee in the right hand side

Pentax 645D FA 33 - 55 at 55mm f/16 1/100 ISO 200

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605687824/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8021/7605687824_e45daf0640_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/singingsnapper/7605687824/]Looking-over-Villach[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/singingsnapper/]singingsnapper[/url], on Flickr