Guilin

A little break in my Jiuzhai Valley series. We are now in the village of Xingping, province of Guangxi, China. I spent 7 days in the region with my flickr buddies Rajesh and Jo-Ann. We had such a great time!

Many thanks to Bart Batsleer who organized the whole trip very professionally.

During this trip and thanks to Jo-Ann and Rajesh, I went out of my comfort zone and attempted a few portrait/lifescape shots that I will post in the future. But of course you'll also continue to see landscapes & cityscapes! ;-)

One more of the old cormorant fisherman!

The whole series: Cormorant Fishing BluesThe Old Fisherman and his Cormorant[2]The Old Fisherman and his Cormorant[1]

Taken during an awesome photo trip in the region of Guilin, China, with my my flickr buddies Rajesh and Jo-Ann, masterfully organized by Bart Batsleer.

A blue hour view of the Mulong Lake in Guilin, China. Shot from the Diecai Mountain.

Many thanks to Bart Batsleer who organized the whole photo trip. This is definitely the best way to explore and photograph this region, he will take you to the most scenic places.

I posted a similar shot last year, but the wing of the bird was slightly cropped. I think this composition is more balanced. It required more processing as there was another boat and fisherman on the right of the bird's wing which I had to clone out.

Surreal processing on purpose, I wanted to get some heroic fantasy atmosphere.

7 handheld exposures HDR tonemapped with Photomatix 4, bird from a single exposure, post processed with the new Nik Color Efex Pro V4 and AutoFX Mystical 2.

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Another one from the cormorant fishing series, at the blue hour this time! ;-)

The main exposure used for this digitally blended shot was 1/2 sec, f/4 at ISO 800. This was shot with a tripod, and obviously the fishermen/birds/boats were not moving much! ;-) These guys are real pros for photographers!

Many thanks again to Bart Batsleer who organized the whole trip, and this photo session with the fishermen was definitely the highlight of this trip for me!

This one was a real challenge to process, given the lighting conditions, handheld shot, and the bird moving slightly.

Photomatix 4 helped a lot with its improved de-ghosting feature, but it still required lots of post-processing including digital blending. I must have spent more than 2 hours on this one. Still some imperfections, but I've decided to post it!

7 exposures HDR tone-mapping + digital blending.

Please have a look at The Old Fisherman and his Cormorant [1] taken later that day, after sunset.

Yangshuo, Guangxi province, China

Yangshuo is a moderate sized town set in the heart of the Karst limestone mountains in Guangxi province. It is...