I've been to the Algarve for a week and was surprised to find that a great deal of the smaller towns away from the coast seem mostly unspoilt by mass tourism. It doesn't take long to find authentic old little alleys, houses and beautifully weathered old people.
This is an alley in the town of Monchique, which is located in the hills of the Algarve.

This is a tone mapped HDR composed of a handheld 3 shot burst bracketed 1/3 stop apart and assembled in CS3 later. It was a very cold winter's day at the beach and I didn't have a lot of time nor did I have a tripod. Due to the limited dynamic range of digital, making a HDR was the only way to reveal the beautiful texture in the wood.

I apologize for the long wait between posts but its been busy-busy-busy the past few weeks.
I've been experimenting with digital darkroom techniques and cross-processing.
Just to keep the creative juices flowing.
Image made with a Lensbaby 2.0.

As a dedicated strobist, I've been reading Light: Science and Magic : An Introduction to Photographic Lighting by Hunter, Biver and Fuqua which is pretty much the bible for all off-camera lighting techiques.
This is a study using bright-field lighting for glassware using a single strobe.
It actually turned out better than I had hoped.
Hope you like it.

Something different as a change from a series of heavily post-processed images.
The lovely bokeh is courtesy of my 17-55/2.8 nikkor. Lovely soft light from an overcast sky in the forest.

The high light ("Hoog Licht") in Knokke-Heist (B) which turns 100 years old this year. It is no longer operational and is classified as a monument.
It was used in conjunction with the low light ("Laag Licht") to determine the correct bearing for entering the harbor of Zeebrugge.
This is a tone-mapped HDR which gives it that painterly look.

Last one from the military hospital.
This is where the bad boys were treated.
Hope you like it.