Getting creative in Copenhagen
Oh man, do I ever love Copenhagen! It's a beautiful city! And I'm inspired by my new use of split toning in Lightroom!
this is just outside of christiansborg palace, and i love this spot. it reminds me of amsterdam quite a bit. Very beautiful!
I really do have a thing for Copenhagen, as I have written about here before. The city is gorgeous and though it's rather pricey, I think it's worth a visit at least once. While there are some seriously awesome sights that I think everyone should go see (and here's a list if you are curious), for me one of the most rewarding things is to just wander the streets, nearly aimless.
You know, just meander the side streets and back alleys, and encounter interesting things to photograph. And believe me, there is a lot of that there! I admit though that I am a bit addicted to European street scenes, so that's part of why I enjoy wandering so much. Some of my favorite photos from Copenhagen are just the little things I see down side streets or back alleys, often when en route between the bigger sites. In addition to wandering being a great way to get to know a place, I also find it's an equally rewarding way to come home with great images.
one of countless street scenes that i photographed on my wanderings there.
I have visited Copenhagen three times now, and still have a massive backlog of photos to work through. On my last visit alone I came home with over 3300 photos. So, you can imagine what the collection of pics from 3 visits looks like! I guess I need some rainy days to give me the time to get to more of them. :-)
Today's selection of photos is all from my wanderings there back in March 2015 (when I spent a week there), and occurred over the course of just a couple of days, though obviously at different spots around town. It was cold out and a bit gray while I was there, and I kept feeling like Mother Nature just wanted to rain on me, but never did. Perhaps she didn't have the energy that day, or maybe she just wanted me to get my photos. Either way, it worked out rather well. No complaints - I'll take it!
hans christian andersen statue near tivoli gardens
st alban's anglican church, given a bit of a moody feel here.
nyhavn, which i photograph a lot!!
the path to st alban's as i approached - loved the trees framing it.
You may notice that, though I mentioned above that it was pretty gray out, these photos don't all show that, and it's because I have been having a little fun in the digital darkroom. As I mentioned in a recent post, I have been utilizing the "split toning" feature in Lightroom and trying to get more familiar with it. So far, so good. I'm really having a lot of fun, and it's giving me a new creative outlet to explore, especially for photos that are essentially "flat" to start with.
I plan to go into a bit more detail on split toning in a future post, but wanted to share that bit now since I thought it was fitting to do so. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! I will do my best to answer them. I'm no expert, but so far my experimentation with split toning is giving me a good feel for it, and I am beginning to recognize what will work on an image, and what will not.
I have found it is a GREAT way to take an otherwise dull image and give it some serious life. Not all of these were completely flat and boring (well, at least to my eyes!) prior to my editing. I just generally tried to bump up the interestingness of them a bit (except for that first photo, which was VERY dull, color-wise, so I made it look like sunset instead - fun!). Man, I love to jack around with my photos, that's for sure! ;-)
Anyways, enjoy the shots and let me know if you have any questions!
after shooting from the tower atop christiansborg palace, I wandered over here because I just love architecture. This is part of the royal stables there.
this is the entry to kastellet, which is a historic, star-shaped fortress in town. Very cool place to explore!
