[fgates]

Riga is actually a fairly safe city full of photo opportunities. The weather was against me, but here are some shots from the Old Town.

This statue was in a courtyard that was filled with little shops and restaurants.



There were lots of churches





This building was decorated with a cat, there were lots of cats in Riga.

[jusu]

I like the second one which might be good shot for experimenting on HDR too

[fgates]

Thanks for the suggestion Jusu. I did not have a tripod, so I only took one picture. If I understand correctly you should have a number of differently exposed shots.

[Charlotte]

2nd one is my fave here, very nice The others all have bleached skies which detract, so I think cropping the sky out on each of these would benefit.

[fgates]

Thanks for the comments Charlotte. I cropped the sky as much as I dared (I thought it looked silly if the roofs were missing). Maybe I need to try AQ's suggestion of pasting in a blue sky.

[stupot]

Looks an interesting place, second one for me too.

Originally Posted by fgates

Thanks for the suggestion Jusu. I did not have a tripod, so I only took one picture. If I understand correctly you should have a number of differently exposed shots.

If you shot in RAW you could creative a number of differently exposed shots from the one shot!

[fgates]

Thanks Stu. It is an interesting place, but its attracting the wrong sort of tourist. There is a lot to see and the prices are reasonable (which is why the stag party crowd goes there).

[Charlotte]

Originally Posted by fgates

Thanks for the comments Charlotte. I cropped the sky as much as I dared (I thought it looked silly if the roofs were missing).

No it doesn't look silly if you can find logical places to crop to, see what you think of these :







They're a bit smaller now, but I think the compositions are improved by cropping. After cropping out the bleached skies, I was able to brighten them up using levels adjustments without fear of blowing highlights (sky).

[mountain wilderness]

I like 2 and 3 the coble stoned roads and high sided buildings make for great subject matter! - I wonder how they would look done as monos?

[fgates]

The first one works for me Charlotte.

Thanks Mountain. I'll give mono a go, when I get some time.

[jusu]

Originally Posted by stupot

Looks an interesting place, second one for me too.



If you shot in RAW you could creative a number of differently exposed shots from the one shot!

That is true and you can get pretty nice results. I also tried with jpg and adjusted in photoshop few differently exposed pics, its ok, but Raw gives far more satisfying results

[AQ]

I have only just seen these - been re-building my PC at home and using Pixalo from work.

It is probably a bit late to suggest this now but looking at that third picture a closeup of that puddle and a few surrounding cobbles might have looked interesting.

Apart from that I like the second one the best.

[simpbow]

Looks a very impressive place, nice shots.

[fgates]

Thanks for the comments.

AQ that's a good idea, we have plenty of puddles at the moment

[Rob Barron]

LOL Charlotte, the picture of 'A building decorated with a cat' is now a picture of a tree

I definitely think doing some discreet PS work with the skies here would be better than cropping them as the buildings are the most important part of the pics and the roof styles a major part of that.

Interesting set here and you obviously had a great time there even if the weather wasn't up to much. Have you got more? I'd love to see some as I like this kind of urban landscape.

I love visiting places like this with architecture that is different to what we find at home. I am looking forward to seeking out some French chateaus while I am in Vendee in a week or so from now.

I am also looking for shots of a giant mechanical elephant.... you'll just have to take my word for that and hope I can come back with the business

Cheers,
Rob

[fgates]

Thanks Rob.

I have load of pictures of Riga, some more of Pärnu and even some old ones from Tallinn. I'm just limited in the time I have to process them. There are some more posted in the galleries yesterday, but didn't bother sharing here (it was late).

If you like old cities, a visit to the Baltic States is definitely worth it. It is quite cheap to use public transport and the buses were comfortable. The only thing that we wished for was better weather. Ten years ago there were hardly any tourists and photography without crowds was easy, the numbers are increasing but its still nothing like the more famous places.

[Charlotte]

Originally Posted by Rob Barron

LOL Charlotte, the picture of 'A building decorated with a cat' is now a picture of a tree

Oops, I didn't see that

[fgates]

The cat was not that sharp (it was pelting rain when I took the picture). So you are excused for not noticing it