Author: Waldmeister

Winter Twilight Photography

At the end of the year 2013 it was most of the time cloudy or it was raining in the Berlin area, but in-between there were impressing sunsets when the sky cleared up for some hours. Cold days and a clear sky in winter offer interesting possibilities for photography, mostly because the air is very dry then and the horizon appears very clear without dust. Shortly after sunset, which was at 4.00pm on Dec.30, the first stars were to be seen. In the southwest there was still a rest of daylight but most of the sky was already very dark. This might be not a spectacular weather situation but I found it a good opportunity to do some long exposure photography. Some pictures of the series below where taken with 10 seconds time of exposure. Of course, the stars don’t appear as dots but as small streaks then and airplanes leave a big streak but with a wide angle the effects seemed tolerable. To me it’s a better option rather than to use ISO’s over 800 since even with a good DSLR noise becomes a problem. Minimum light also suggests normally an open visor but my experience is to try F16 or even F22 is interesting for desired effects and for more detail. It’s worth to do some experiments.
The only must is a tripod and preferable a remote release. If temperatures drop below zero you must both think about the equipment and of course the photographer. Battery power gets reduced as we know from car batteries (the best idea would be to have a spare battery and keep it warm inside your jacket) and if a camera is brought from a warm environment into the cold check first if there is fog on the lens. If it gets really cold it’s important to keep your hands and body warm. It’s worth to wait how the light situation changes and what opportunities come up, but standing around for an hour or much longer when the temperature drops below zero is not fun. I use for example a North Face jacket which served me well for some years, since it kept me always warm and is very light and thin at the same time. It’s also important that the jacket doesn’t make movements difficult and has some bigger pockets. Finally a flashlight is very important since it’s getting dark very fast in the winter.

This is not a guideline but mostly a collection of experience when I repeatedly did pictures after sunset in different situations in winter. The majority of the pictures were taken at lake Wannsee in Berlin. During the summer ships pick up tourists in this harbour for sightseeing tours on the several lakes around Berlin. The bridge is the famous “Glienicker Brücke” between Potsdam and Berlin where KGB and CIA exchanged captured agents during the Cold War.

The pics in Berlin where taken in a moonless night on December 30, 2013. At 5.00 pm there were still the summer star-signs as Lyra visible in the west. The following days proved that clear days are still rare in this winter. A series of depressions coming from the west and which created a lot of storm damage in England and Western Europe led to cloudy skies most of the time in North-East Germany.

by Waldmeister Categories: Photography Tips And Tricks, Uncategorized

Misty Days Before Christmas

After the storm on December 5, 2013, a high pressure system led again to quiet but grey days in Berlin with many hours of mist as before the storm. Sunlight became very rare during the following days till December 14. Only in some areas the mist retreated for some hours. These conditions are not the kind of weather photographers and video-makers are looking for. Some people head for the mountains where they could look at the mist from above and where they often find an impressing atmosphere. From the tops of the mountains the mist looks like the sea. This happens when air at the ground is cold and there are layers of warm air on top of the pool of cold air which work like a cap. The air below is trapped. Of course the quality of the air below the cap in not very good, particularly in areas with a lot of emissions. Nevertheless there is something about even these grey days where you couldn’t see very far (and if you don’t have a chance to go to the mountains). In the city before Christmas countless lights used for decoration at Christmas markets can create very interesting effects. The mist reflects the lights and it is astonishing how bright the city looks at night. If you spend some time you will find that mist can be very different and it changes constantly. Sometimes it seems that thick white clouds are close to the ground, then it becomes more clear and the layers of clouds are more around the skyscrapers. It’s further remarkable that at a certain high there can still be wind. Of course it’s very chilly with temperatures not far from zero. If the temperatures drop further below zero conditions can became very dangerous and these weather condition is often responsible for car accidents particularly on the countryside where streets close to a river for example can become wet and slippery with a sheet of ice. It also depends on the amount of humidity in the air. Outside Berlin there were droplets of water falling from the trees as if it would be raining (which wasn’t the case). It’s a bit like if you have too much humidity in your bathroom and droplets appear on cold metal.

So many days in December with mist are indeed a bit unusual since we might expect snow or windy days before Christmas in Middle Europe. Usually long lasting high-pressure systems appear more often in January here. However weather is always unique and it might be much too early to speak of an anomaly here. Nevertheless the increasing numbers of extreme conditions and new weather patterns over the last years make steady improvements in weather and climate research more and more important.

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by Waldmeister Categories: Uncategorized

Storm Xaver Berlin, December 5, 2013

Four weeks after the disastrous storm Christian another storm system hit Wales, Scotland, Middle Europe, Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea. For over two days there were also strong winds in the Berlin Brandenburg area. The damage was minor but snowfall and ice in the morning of Dec 6 lead to several traffic accidents. A tube was stopped because a tree threatened to fall. Compared to destruction in England and Denmark however there were only smaller problems. For coastal areas like the Northern Sea region the challenge was the long lasting wind and the North-West-direction where the wind came from, which lead to a flood combined with the high tide. In Berlin the christmas tree at the Christmas market in the center of the west had to withstand the force of the storm. On Saturday there was still wind but the weather calmed down after the temperatures felt below zero during the night. Xaver again proved that even with modern technology weather is still difficult to predict precisely. As storm Christian was a surprise because of it’s devastating winds, this storm was fortunately in the Berlin area not as strong as some weather forecasters thought (it still did terrible damage for example at the coast-line or the island of Sylt).

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by Waldmeister Categories: Uncategorized

City In The Mist

Between autumn and winter there is usually a time in Berlin when the city looks enchanted. Often between the last weeks of November or first days of december a similar weather pattern occurs with days of mist. It’s already pretty cold and you need warm clothes if you want to take some pictures out there (when the air is wet and moist it feels even colder). If the mist doesn’t lift it creates a really unique atmosphere. For example the high rise at Potsdamer Platz looks like a frame from Ridley Scott’s legendary “Blade Runner”. The pictures were taken with long exposure and for the picture with the lantern I used f 22. Keep ISO low (100) and use a tripod since the mist could itself create a bit of a grainy impression.

The trick is to have mist but it shouldn’t be too thick so you can’t see your own feet. In Berlin you have these weather conditions sometimes lasting for a couple of days when the region is under influence of a high pressure system. Conditions could change during the course of the day. Sometimes you have mist in the morning then some hours with the sun shining and the fog coming back after sunset. When these pictures were taken conditions where pretty much the same within the city limits but sometimes there are interesting differences. As long as the water in the lakes is warm there are better conditions for foggy weather there when the nights are cold enough. Earlier in autumn wet meadows could create their own misty atmosphere. These conditions could be sometimes very dangerous for drivers if you have suddenly a bank of mist in front of you that seems to come out of nowhere.


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by Waldmeister Categories: Uncategorized