details

Perast – Montenegro

Jeff

“One of the most beautiful towns on the Adriatic coast, Perast, is my favourite place on the Bay of Kotor…

With 17 Baroque palaces, 19 churches but scarcely more than 250 residents, Perast is a tiny town packed with history and legend.

It might be just a 20-minute drive away from popular Kotor, but Perast has a totally different vibe.” – 13 Things to Do in Perast, the Loveliest Town on the Bay of Kotor – Emily Lush

I have no doubt that the quote above is true. Perast certainly is a beautiful city.


Beautiful seaside view of Perast

Our visit to Perast had a defined purpose and that was to see what many would claim is the number one attraction, Our Lady of the Rocks Roman Catholic Church.

There are two islands directly off the coast of Perast. The Benedictine Monastery of St. George can be seen on the left which is not open to the public and Our Lady of the Rocks is on the right.


the two islands off the coast of Perast

Our Lady of the Rocks is constructed on a man-made island. Two fishermen apparently discovered an image of the Virgin Mary at that location in 1452 and this was enough to convince the town that there was destined to be a chapel on that site. Read more about the legend of Our Lady of the Rocks Chapel and its development HERE


the island with Our Lady of the Rocks

Though small, the beautiful landmark is full of charm and worthy of careful exploration.


A view of the wall and dome of Our Lady of the Rocks

The most notable feature is the distinctive blue dome.


Another view of the distinctive blue dome and gardens

The sanctuary is very well appointed with attractive religious statuary and ornaments and the detailed altar is aesthetically framed against deep red walls.


The Altar of the Chapel at Our Lady of the Rocks

Perhaps hoping to garner blessings for recent nuptials, brides hang bouquets above the sanctuary doorway.


Bridal Bouquets left above the doorway

The picturesque surroundings encourage visitors to walk around the perimeter of the island.


The tower of Our Lady

It was fun to seek out the interesting details such as sculptures of muscular ancients holding the bench for those seeking a place to rest.


Statues of ancient musclemen holding up a bench

Tourists are tempted to look back toward Perast through the windows and gates to take in the beauty of the town from a distant perspective.


Looking through a large security door toward the town of Perast

The island is a bustling place with numerous boatloads of people coming and going.


Boats arriving and leaving the island of Our Lady of the Rocks

Another beautiful scene unfolds while looking southeast from Our Lady of the Church toward St. George Island.


St. George Island

This was a spectacular day visiting Kotor and Perast!


Heading back toward the town of Perast

 

**********

Notes:
See previous posts in this series:

Dubrovnik, Croatia – Pearl of the Adriatic
Old Town Dubrovnik – Above it all
Old Town Dubrovnik – The Low Down
Dubrovnik from the Adriatic and Mt. Srd
Montenegro & The Walled City of Kotor

 

 

HDR – Often Misunderstood and Under Appreciated

Jeff

Somehow the HDR, High Dynamic Range, style of photography has gotten a bad reputation in the eyes of some people. Let me explain why I like and use HDR when I can. Now I must admit, I am an HDR novice so I am not speaking from a point of expertise.

Were you ever in the presence of a beautiful scene and you grabbed your camera, adjusted the settings, created a very nice composition and then pressed the shutter release to capture the beauty of what you were witnessing? I think most of us have been there. Have you ever gotten home and looked at that beautiful scene to realize that it doesn’t look as wonderful in the picture as it did in reality? I think many of us can identify with that as well.

One of the reasons for this is that our eyes are capable of capturing a far larger dynamic range of color and detail than a camera is able to record and therefore some of the beauty is lost to the technology. That is where High Dynamic Range helps me. By taking several exposures; one at the correct exposure, one at two F-stops over and one at two F-stops under, and then combining them, we are able to help the camera “see” what we see once the images are combined. We add highlights in the dark elements of the pictures as well as in the brightest parts of the picture. That is what HDR is to me.

Just like everything else, there are those who like to carry things to the extreme and they may over-process a picture and it may look gaudy to us, but that is their vision and that is what makes photography a creative medium. If you don’t like it, that is your prerogative, but let’s not paint all of HDR with the same brush.

Now…let me refer you to Blake Rudis who is considered and HDR expert because of his body of work. He just released a video (also embedded below), Are you an HDR Photography Hypocrite?, explaining the difference between HDR and Tone Mapping and what the relationship is to one another. He addresses those among our peers who might be HDR Hypocrites. I encourage you to watch this short video to understand this point of view and to see how HDR can help capture a scene as it appeared to the photographer.



As the video points out, if you do any processing on your images after they are captured, you are probably using some aspect of HDR even if you don’t think so!

If you liked the video and/or you would like to learn more about HDR photography Blake has created a worthy introduction course that he offers free to subscribers. You can check this out at his website:

Everyday HDR Thanks Blake!