Lisbon Area – PauloBizarroPHOTOBLOG

A Sunset Walk in Ursa Beach, Sintra.

About 1 km north of Cabo da Roca lies what the Michelin Guide has considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Ursa. The name means “female bear” in Portuguese, and supposedly comes from the shape of one of the local sea stacks. Even though I live about a 40 minute drive away, I have not been to Ursa for many years. The area has become a tourist magnet, with countless buses stopping at Cabo da Roca, which is part of the Cascais – Sintra touring route. There are countless interesting places to visit in the region, with Cabo da Roca being the westernmost point in continental Europe.

Still, the place is indeed beautiful, so I planned for a visit when the tide would be low, just before sunset. Quite often such plans are challenged by the typical fog that covers the region of Sintra, but such is part of its charm. For this visit a few days ago, the sky was a nice clear blue, which is actually not very interesting for photography, but as photographers we have to adapt to any conditions. It was also nice to have my daughter for company, so I considered myself lucky. While I had my 2 cameras and 2 lenses, she carried her smartphone; sign of the times.

Stopping at Cabo da Roca is mandatory, and I took the opportunity to make a panorama of the amazing view over the mountains and sea.

View over serra de Sintra from Cabo da Roca. Panorama from 5 photos. Fujifilm X-T5, Fujinon 16mm f/1.4.

From there, we made our way to the beginning of the trail to Ursa; for the first few hundred meters, the path is generally flat, following along the plateau. After reaching the edge of the cliffs, it steepens considerably, and due care is necessary. Do not rush, because the view over Ursa is really nice. Given that the access is difficult, this beach is never crowded, and such was the case on this afternoon. Still, there were people around, many taking photos, and also enjoying the sunshine and the surf. I walked around for a while, exploring the area and looking for interesting compositions. The famous sea stacks are the obvious subjects, but other smaller details are also worth your attention. Like the dark vertical volcanic lodes that have intruded into the surrounding rocks, during the opening of the Atlantic ocean.

Intrusive. Fujifilm X-T5, Fujinon 16mm f/1.4.

As the tide was going down, other parts of the beach became accessible, so I headed into its southern part and made a few more photos. The sunset was approaching, so the light was quite good. I used my 10 stop neutral density filter to smooth the water, and to really make the rock formations stand out; one added benefit was to also make the people disappear in the long exposure. The conspicuous lighter sea stacks make a good contrast with the surrounding darker and orange rocks.

On the rocks. Fujifilm X-T5, Fujinon 16mm f/1.4, Lee 10 stop ND filter.

Framed. Fujifilm X-T5, Fujinon 16mm f/1.4.

Looking around, I noticed a cormorant perched on a rock, silhouetted against the sun.

Sunshine. Fujifilm X-T4, Voigtlaender X Nokton 35mm f/1.2.

Low tide. Panorama from 2 photos. Fujifilm X-T4, Voigtlaender X Nokton 35mm f/1.2.

I wanted to be back on the top of the cliff to watch the sunset, so after a couple of hours, it was time to head back. Again, it is impossible not to stop and make a few more photos. Especially as the light was getting really good, changing fast from golden into softer mauve tones.

Golden rocks. Fujifilm X-T5, Fujinon 16mm f/1.4.

Soft light. Panorama from 2 photos. Fujifilm X-T4, Voigtlaender X Nokton 35mm f/1.2.

And there was also time to see the light being turned on in the Cabo da Roca lighthouse, framed against the early night. What a great way to end this nice afternoon.

The light in the distance. Fujifilm X-T4, Voigtlaender X Nokton 35mm f/1.2.

The Bright Side of the Moon

This is a short piece about a photo walk I did this morning, near my house in Carcavelos. Since it was the day before being full, the moon would set a few minutes before sunrise. This is always a good opportunity to photograph the moon as part of the landscape, with some early natural light in the sky. It permits a better balance between the moon’s brightness and the rest of the composition. Furthermore, the moon is closer to Earth than normal, by about 27,000 km, which makes it a little bit brighter than normal – a so-called “super moon”. In practice, and with the naked eye, the difference is barely noticeable, so forget the social media hype; it is worth it to go out and photograph even when the moon is not “super”. Oh, and “blue moons” are more common than people think.

I left the house about 1 hour before sunrise, with the plan to head for the coast, near the beach of Carcavelos. My plan was to photograph our satellite as it descended towards the ocean in the horizon. I was hoping for clear skies, and I was happy to see that there were only a few wispy clouds; also, the usual fog bank coming from the Serra de Sintra was further away than normal, which was good news.

For these photos, I used the Fujifilm X-T4 camera, Fujinon 56mm f/1.2 lens (I wanted a short telephoto lens) and tripod. During the first few shots, the sky was still dark, creating a large brightness contrast with the moon; even with a negative exposure compensation of 5 stops, it was a challenge to try and preserve some detail on the moon. Still, I made some interesting photos, by including passing cars.

As the eastern horizon started to slowly brighten, so the light began to change very quickly, entering the blue hour period.

Even though I was paying attention to the moon, on my back the light was becoming increasingly golden, and the clouds were reflecting this light, with pink and orange colours. I was in the middle of the transition between night and day.

Turning my camera back to the west, I framed the moon between some rocks, adding interest and context to the composition. The moon and the surrounding clouds were now also reflecting this golden light. I was feeling lucky, because the clouds were adding interest in the sky, but they were not obscuring the moon.

As I said, it was fortunate that the fog bank was really far away, so I could follow the moon almost until it disappeared in the distant horizon. Once the moon was gone, I packed up and went back home for a well deserved breakfast. I always enjoy these photo walks very much.

Note – the title of this article is my homage, with an obvious twist, to one of my favourite albums, that turns 50 this year.

Up in the air over Coruche

One of the activities that I have always wanted to try was to fly in a hot air balloon. After a few cancellations due to bad weather conditions, a few days ago I embarked on such an adventure. There are several companies that provide this type of activity in Portugal, selling tickets for flights over various areas of the country. I bought a ticket with the company Windpassenger for a 1 hour flight over the town of Coruche, which is located about 100 km to the East of Lisbon, in the river Tejo plain. This type of activity starts very early, before dawn, and the participants had to assemble at 6 am on a Sunday.

Arriving at the location, I saw 4 balloons that were getting ready for the flight. The air was being heated with large torches to fill up the large balloons, which is a slow process. I took the opportunity to walk around and make a few initial photos. For this trip, I had with me my normal kit of 2 cameras and 2 prime lenses, a wide-angle 14mm and a standard 35mm, which offered enough flexibility. The wide angle lens was a good choice to include the large balloons in the frame, and the standard lens was used for the more general views.

The balloon I was in was the first to take off, allowing me to make some photos during the initial ascent. We went up at sunrise, so the light was quite nice. The interior of the balloon reminded me of a kaleidoscope, with all the various colors. Our pilot, Guido, occasionally had to engage the gas burners, to control the altitude. For a brief moment, the flames and the heat could be felt.

The morning was very still, with no wind, and our course took us over the village of Coruche and the surrounding fields. This is an area of rice crops in the flat lands that surround the river Sorraia, a tributary of the Tejo. The dominant feeling among the passengers was one of tranquility, as the balloon quietly floated in the atmosphere. The visibility was good, thanks to the clear skies.

Coruche from above, with the Sorraia river below.

Unfortunately, 1 hour passes quickly, and soon Guido started to look for a place to land. There are supporting teams on the ground to assist in this phase of the flight, communicating with walkie-talkies. Once the location was chosen, the balloons slowly begun their descent.

After an uneventful landing, the passengers had the opportunity to celebrate their first balloon flight with a glass of champagne, to follow the tradition. Flying in a hot air balloon is no doubt a wonderful experience, and I have especially enjoyed the quietness and the sensation of being part of Nature. Of course it is also an excellent opportunity to make unique photos. At closing, I would like to endorse Windpassenger and their staff for their friendly and professional behavior.

Sunset at Guincho, Cascais

This short essay follows on the footsteps of previous ones, describing another “quick photo outing near home during confinement“. This time, after finishing my working day, I went to Guincho beach, a few kilometres after the town of Cascais. This beach lies inside one of the most touristic areas in the Lisbon region, because it is located between Cascais and Sintra.

After leaving Cascais, the road stretches along a wind-beaten coastline, where the strong ocean surf keeps eroding the limestone rocks. There are several dune fields, covered by low lying vegetation that clings to the ground. Because of the constant wind and strong waves, Guincho is very popular with surfers. Normal beach going people should beware the dangerous currents and strong sea.

This character is partly due to the beach being open to the westerly winds, but also to the presence of the serra de Sintra, a large geologic igneous massif that dominates the landscape to the North. This mountain creates a barrier to the humid air coming in from the Atlantic, generating an almost perennial cloud cover along the coast of the region. In clear days, from the beach, it is possible to see the Cabo da Roca lighthouse (the westernmost point of continental Europe) and the Pena palace.

Several years had passed since my last time visiting the beach, so it was nice to go back. After parking the car, I walked down to the beach to find a good spot and proceeded to make several photos. As the sunset approached, the light was changing very fast; for the last few photos, the light level was low enough to allow exposure times around 1 second, which smoothed the water a little. My photo kit for this little trip was quite simple, consisting only of the Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujinon 23mm f/2 lens, and a small tripod. Once again, I felt thankful to be able to visit such beautiful places not very far from where I live, which helps to endure this pandemic crisis.

Stay safe everyone.

Close to home

After one month under confinement due to the third wave of the pandemic in Portugal, and with probably another month to go, it has been difficult to make any sort of photography. Compounding this, the weather has been bleak, with overcast skies and lots of rain. Still, I periodically check the weather and tide forecasts, for possibilities near my home.

Because I live near the coast on the outskirts of Lisbon, in Carcavelos, there are several beaches within walking distance of my house. A few days ago, I finally had the chance to make a small outing and take some photos during the sunset. The location is about 3 km from home, where one small creek reaches the ocean, with the water dropping off the cliffs. This is the ribeira de Caparide, and due to the recent rain, there was plenty of flowing water.

After finishing work, I simply packed my camera, lens, and tripod, and walked to this location. The weather was finally nice, with wispy clouds. The sea was still rough from a recent depression, with waves crashing against the cliffs. The coastline here has a rocky nature, which results in an interesting scenery. After reaching the place, I walked around a little, looking for possible places to set up the tripod. I tried some long exposures, but I also wanted to photograph the waves as they crashed against the rocks, casting out a good amount of spray.

It was quite good to be simply out of the house doing some photography. It helps me to keep my spirit doing these difficult times. As for gear, these photos were made with the Fujifilm X-S10 and Fujinon 16mm f/1.4 lens.

Stay safe everyone!

Sunset coast, with Cascais in the background.

Sunset walk with the Fujifilm X100V

I recently wrote about the latest iteration of the X100 series of cameras in the article below.

Fujifilm X100V – initial photos

I have been using the camera whenever the opportunity arises, in short walks, or even on long trails. One of these recent short walks in the beach near my house, Carcavelos. Since June I have been working under a mixed regime, one week in the office, one week at home. Thanks SARS-COV-2… anyway, one of these afternoons, after work, I went for a sunset stroll on the beach. The little Fuji X100V is a perfect companion for such occasions, so I took it along.

The weather forecast included some rain showers and clouds, courtesy of storm Alex, so things were looking promising in terms of potential photographic interest. Looking through the window, there were indeed some clouds, but also occasional sunshine. Upon arriving at the beach, the weather was great, with golden light that with time turned to the typical post-sunset blue hour. I simply walked along the surf, making some photos here and there.

There were several surf schools operating at the time, and they always signal their position with flags. One of the attractions of the X100V is the fast f/2.0 lens, so I tried a close shot of one flag with the lens wide open, so the background would melt away. It’s nice to have these options in a small camera. This camera is small but quite responsive, so this type of unplanned photography on the go is easy to do. The fact that the X100V looks like some old film camera also helps in being unobstrusive when among people.

I stayed in the beach until after sunset, as the sky started to show magnificent colours. I did not have a tripod with me, so I had to raise the ISO more than I am used to, but even so, the quality of the RAW files was quite good. At the end of the day, it was an enjoyable and relaxing walk, and I was able to make some interesting photos with this nice Fujifilm camera.

Next time I will write about my experience with it when hiking on a trail along the Vicentina route in southwest Portugal.

A morning walk with the Fujinon XF 90mm f/2 lens

When considering the subject of “landscape lenses”, normally the consensus converges towards lenses with a wide angle of view, that is, below the typical 50mm standard lens. Of course, such lenses are very useful for providing “depth” (foreground to background relationship) and including the grand vistas often associated with landscape photography.

But many interesting landscape photos can be made with normal and telephoto lenses. The latter can provide a very different photo, by isolating or drawing the attention of the viewer to a particular detail in the scene. This article provides some examples that I made during a short early morning walk in Carcavelos beach, near my house. It is a location I visit many times, which poses the challenge of trying to obtain different photos from the ones I took before.

I used the Fujinon XF 90mm f/2 lens, which is labeled as a portrait lens. On this occasion, I wanted to see what type of photos I could make on the beach, looking around for interesting subjects. There is a large fort on the eastern end of the beach, and normally there are many surfers that arrive very early. So I simply mounted the lens on the camera, grabbed the tripod, and went out.

The first shots I took were simply playing around with the shape of the lens’ aperture: rounded wide open, polygonal stopped down.

As expected, there were already many surfers in the water, plus some others doing their warm up. I made a few shots of them, using long exposures to capture the ambiance.

The next photos show the fort in the distance, and the pontoon up close. The tighter angle of view from the lens provides a different result from using a wider angle lens.

I had a great time simply walking along the beach, enjoying the pre-dawn light, the changing colours, and the breaking waves.

As for the lens itself, it is no surprise that it delivers excellent results, and it is another high quality tool in my landscape kit. Delivers sharpness, great colour, and contrast.

Close to home

Here in Portugal, as in many other countries, we are under a “state of emergency” to combat the pandemic. This means that all non essential personnel was sent home. Some manage to keep working from home, and all schooling is also home based. People can only go out for specific reasons: work, groceries, pharmacy, and local walks. Always keeping a safe distance and avoiding gatherings. So far, after 1 month, the results are encouraging.

Of course, one of the things that I miss is going out and making photos, so I thought about planning a few outings within a reasonable walking distance of my house. I live very close to the beach in Carcavelos, one of the most popular ones on the coast near Lisbon. It is a place I regularly visit to photograph all year round, especially at sunrise. But, as part of the current measures, all beaches and walkways have been closed. My first planned outing was to Carcavelos beach, but this time I would have to choose a different viewpoint; I normally would go to the beach proper at low tide to make photos, which was impossible now. The path that exists along the beach front is also closed.

I then decided to try and scout a few places and viewpoints on the sea side of the road, especially over the rocky outcrops that exist along the coastline. These are quite safe to walk on, and before sunrise, I was sure of not finding anyone else, so all was fine. With this plan in mind, I left the house about 1 hour before sunrise, with my photo backpack and small tripod.

Weather was good, with a few clouds and the Moon still high. My first stop was near a cross that exists by the side of the road, on a dangerous curve of the road, where many accidents used to happen in the past. Today, a traffic radar and lights moderate driver’s speed. I managed to make a photo of the cross with the Moon in the background, under the predawn light. I actually made a few more photos around this location, some long exposures of the sea and waves hitting the shore. Some of the rocks resembled ramparts and castles in my imagination.

After getting some interesting photos in this spot, I walked back towards the beach. I decided to try a few shots and compositions from various places, including the nearby rocks descending into the sea, the fort in the distance, and the interesting sky. It was around 7 am by then, and even this early, normally Carcavelos is already busy with surfers and joggers (I usually jog in the beach). Since the beach is closed, there was an eerie feeling over the area. Below are some of the photos that have resulted from this session. As you can see, the light was changing fast, and I had to work quickly. The colours were transitioning between the blues typical of pre-sunrise, to the warmer pinks and yellows of sunrise.

Receeding tide – I like the black and white version

In the coming weeks, my idea is to continue to explore these beaches around my house, from a less conventional perspective. Always abiding to the safety measures, of course. As an hobbyist landscape photographer, I am used to be out of the house when most people are sleeping, so from this angle, things have not changed (much).

Keep safe everybody.

ZEISS Loxia 35mm f2 lens – walking around Lisbon

The Loxia line of lenses for the Sony Alpha ILCE camera system consists (so far) of two, the 35mm f2 and the 50mm f2. These lenses are manual focus, but provide electronic comunication with the cameras. Thus, manual focus aids like peaking and automatic viewfinder magnification are provided, should one desires to enable them.

I have always liked shooting with a 35mm lens, so trying out the Loxia, when it became available in Portugal, was a natural thing to do. The lens is robustely built of metal, with a typical Zeiss buttery smooth focus ring, plus the traditional aperture ring. This is a lens that combines purist tradition with modern day electronics. The design is probably borrowed from the ZM lens line, where 35mm and 50mm have always been rangefinder afficionados favourites.

With this in mind, I set off shooting for a day in the streets of Lisbon, with the lens on my Alpha 7II camera. The Loxia 35 f2 is a pleasure to shoot with, thanks to the simple operation and the manual focus aids provided by the camera. The lens performs as I was expecting, in a traditional way. It is not bitingly sharp from corner to corner wide open (for that, there is the Batis 25), but stopping down to normal street shooting apertures (say between f4 and f8), it provides plenty of sharpness, plus the typical Zeiss colour and microcontrast.

I shot various types of subjects – people on the street, buildings, details, even close-ups. The light varied from soft cloud cover to direct sun light, but the image files (RAW) came out very well, with more than enough latitude for my usual processing.

In summary, I can highly recommend this lens if you want a fast 35mm to shoot in a classical way. Below are some images from this day.

Some images from the ZEISS Batis 85 f1.8 lens

After the (excellent) Zeiss Batis 25 lens, I also managed to grab one Batis 85, thus completing my lens set. My plan is to use the Batis 25 mostly for landscapes, and the 85 for portraits. However, this first set of images from the 85 comes from spending some time on the streets of Lisbon with it. Granted, an 85mm lens is not the first thing it comes to my mind when going out on the street, but I was surprised how versatile the lens turned out to be.

In one afternoon, I shot some street portraits (of course), but I also used the lens to shoot some details inside a church, some street scenes, and some city views. The lens performed very well, responding quickly to find the focus on moving people, and not missing focus in poorly lit venues. The detail and rendering I am seeing in the files is pure Zeiss, with plenty of detail, microcontrast, and colour fidelity.

Below, are some images that came out of this first session. These were shot on the A7II, using aperture priority, which is my default shooting mode.