Photos

Revised note - Thank You valemeco and cobraphil8 for your help!

There are times when I would like to rip my brain out of my skull and jump on it for not having written down the name of the place I took a picture of. And those moments are made better by fellow TE members who are kind enough to help out in case of a memory shortage :D

About the location: Rome is a city of amazing juxtapositions: the old ruins out and about, be it high rising ruins or ancient piazzas, freely exposed to whatever may be passing; new buildings, clean and polished, they seem to keep the wealthiest as the poorest within their walls; and trees, amongst which these amazing and somewhat strange trees, popping up here and there and everywhere...

A city of wonder and amazement, the monuments beyond any of comprehension and belief. I'd never been so blown away by old buildings but in Rome they were amidst everything else and just somehow so other worldly.

Here we are looking at Largo di Torre Argentina (in Campo Marzio one of the 22 Rioni of Rome), a sacred area occupied by temples, porches and other monumental edifices throughout the centuries.

About the shot: I fell in Love with these trees and the walls of old crumbling houses in Rome. As we came to this area and I saw these trees lit up by the street lamps and went some steps lower to be able to get this main one in its entirety while keeping the monument below visible. I had no tripod with me so it was quite tricky to get proper exposure and a sharp enough picture. I used the railing to somewhat fix my camera but had a really hard time with the proper exposure time. I decided to underexpose by a lot instead of having to work on a fuzzy picture afterwards.
Here I have lightened it up with the curves function and then adjusted colours to take a veil of red off the shot. I didn't remove it all as I tried to keep the colours the same as they are on the properly exposed but 'moved' picture. I'm a bit unhappy with the loss of detail on the bottom of the image, but to make it better I think I'd have to go back to Rome ;D

You'll also notice an evil flare on the upper left. I didn't have my usual lens cap on (forgot it home) and apparently sheltering the lens with one hand didn't do the trick. I left it because I simply don't know how to remove it (Thanks go to AmiBe for doing an excellent WS!). And finally, I left the slight tilt on purpose, but Thank You for noticing it anyway ;D

If you wish to know more about Rome in general I recommend you visit this Wikipedia page.
If you wish to know more about my stay in Rome... well, I can tell you a few words to sum it all up: impressive, awe inspiring, strange, hazy, beautiful, exciting, another worldly, fun and in hindsight quite worrisome...

A big Thank You in advance to all those amongst You who take the time to comment and/or criticise!

Nikon D200
2006/11/23 18:18:04.1
RAW (12-bit)
Image Size: Large (3872 x 2592)
Color
Lens: 18-70mm F/3.5-4.5 G
Focal Length: 18mm
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
1/3 sec - F/3.5
Exposure Comp.: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Optimize Image: Normal
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-S
Flash Sync Mode: Not Attached
Color Mode: Mode I (sRGB)
Tone Comp.: Auto
Hue Adjustment: 0°
Saturation: Auto
Sharpening: Auto
Long Exposure NR: Off
High ISO NR: Off