Karluv Most, Praha, a photo from Prague, Bohemia

Photographer's Note

The Charles Bridge (Czech: Karlův Most) is a famous historic bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague, Czech Republic. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the beginning of the 15th century. As the only means of crossing the river Vltava (Moldau) until 1841, the Charles Bridge was the most important connection between Prague Castle and the city's Old Town and adjacent areas. This "solid-land" connection made Prague important as a trade route between Eastern and Western Europe. The bridge was originally called the Stone Bridge (Kamenný most) or the Prague Bridge (Pražský most) but has been the "Charles Bridge" since 1870.

The bridge is 621 meters long and nearly 10 meters wide, resting on 16 arches shielded by ice guards. It is protected by three bridge towers, two of them on the Lesser Quarter side and the third one on the Old Town side. The Old Town bridge tower (seen in this photograph) is often considered to be one of the most astonishing civil gothic-style buildings in the world. The bridge is decorated by a continuous alley of 30 statues and statuaries, most of them baroque-style, originally erected around 1700 but now all replaced by replicas.

At night Charles Bridge is a quiet place, but during the day it changes its face into a very busy venue with painters, owners of kiosks, and vendors alongside numerous tourists crossing the bridge.

(Wikipedia)

Didn't have a tripod with me (silly boy), so rested the camera on the parapet of the bridge.

mirosu, tyro, CLODO, mumek has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

dale54 (4932) 2012-05-07 4:16

will hi,very interesting work,love it.the shot has a magical feel to it,well done,the light is striking! tfs! dr

mirosu (5533) 2012-05-07 5:52

Very nice nightscape. Only the street lights are a bit too bright (also the bright building light in BG). Very well composed lively image.

tyro (13111) 2012-05-07 16:26

Hello Will,

You have given us a very interesting and comprehensive note about this place and an interesting picture by way of illustration.

Your picture is indeed interesting. It has, of course, been taken with a fairly basic compact camera over eight years ago and without, as you freely admit, the benefi of a tripod. Because of the lack of a tripod, there's a lot of the parapet of the bridge showing at bottom left and I think that spoils the composition somewhat. And SO 400 in a compact digital camera of that vintage was probably not the best for outright image quality.

The lighting I like and I particularly like the moonlight shining through the clouds at top right. But there is a lot of noise in keeping with the age of the camera and the high ISO.

I'm sorry to be so negative, but my own feeling is that people should be honest on this site rather than just coming out with platitudes like "Great shot" or "Super capture" which are meaningless. All I can say is that I know that if you were armed with your 5D and a tripod, this would be a stunning photograph. I suppose that a similar analogy would be that I really love driving around the country roads in my little 1935 Austin for pleasure but I wouldn't consider using it if I wanted to drive from here to London in a hurry.

The other thing, of course, to remember is that you will definitely notice here on TE that the number of positive votes you get for pictures bears little correlation to the quality of your photographs, but rather to how many positive critiques you give to other people!

But, as I said, a very interesting picture and certainly deserving of deux points for that!

Kindest Regards,

John.

jester5 (1620) 2012-05-17 8:07

Ok the quality is not your usual Will but the idea, is as usual, wonderful.An unusual view of the Charles Bridge with a really dramatic sky and some very good background outlines provide a lovely,slightly spooky, atmosphere for a film about letter drops and spies.I like it.

CLODO (24734) 2012-06-01 2:39

Hi Will

Only a few days at home! departure for Manchester to morrow!
The use of high ISO and a common body lead to a pixellised shot, but the moon effect through the clouds is the bonus of this image and is far away from the standard postcards.
Regards
CLODO

steph (398) 2012-06-11 13:46

Quite some noise on this picture but the exposure is well under control. The sky is marvelous. I like the colors and atmosphere. You could almost feel it.
Lower iso would have helped having a cleaner picture but the people would be blurrier... so it may have chosen the good compromise.
I like this picture.
Well done

dekanski (489) 2012-08-08 0:45

It happens to me also, to forget the tripod, so I use a similar techniques. A great shot. Pity that the nearest lantern is so strong. You might be able to hide it by something.
Just in a few days I will visit Prague. I will remember this photo when I should be on the bridge!

mumek (20190) 2013-01-11 16:47

Hi Will!
Very well taken and composed scenery.Excellent play of colours, light and shadows. You should reduce noise. Thanks for interesting and informative note.
regards
ziggy