More HDR experimentation, but this time I think I’ve found the right colours.

An inside view of my old Ibach piano, built in 1906. This is an older mechanic called Oberdämpfer or Overdamper because the dampeners are located above the hammers. Sometimes this kind of mechanic, which was not used anymore after ca. 1920, is said to be inferior than those in modern pianos, but the only difference for me is that my Ibach has a lot more sustain than other pianos even without using the pedal.

Since a couple of days, the blackbirds have begun snacking heavily on the streetside rowan.
Today, there was finally some sun and I was able to take some halfway decent photos.

Another cactus flower HDR experiment, this time a head-on view – but I’m not too sure about the colours.

It’s just the old wall at the lower end of the Eduardstraße in Mülheim – there is some evidence here that it once was part of a house. On another part of the wall, there is even a rest of door shape and more cellar windows even with some bits of window glass left. And yes, that’s barbed wire on the top to keep people crawling on top of it since it’s a pretty deep drop down on the other side! In the background you can again see the ever-present highrise buildings.

I’m fortunate to be the owner and inheritor of a 1906 Ibach upright piano – a friend over on Google+ inspired me to dig out and reprocess some old images from 2007 I took of this wonderful old instrument. Monochrome looked better with these old images, some more from the interior are coming in the next days!

To prevent this from getting boring, here’s something different: today’s freshly opened cactus blossom in HDR – which was quite difficult because the cactus flowers are quite colourful to begin with!

This is the elementary school just across the street where we live. Until 1998, it was simply called the Eduardschule, but it has since been renamed to Martin-von-Tours-Schule after Saint Martin, since it is actually a catholic school. This view is actually the back of the school facing the street, the entrance is on the school yard on the other side. The two big staircase towers with their two round windows on top are a very familiar sight to us, since we can see the left tower from our kitchen windows. I’m not entirely sure when the school was built, but it was sometime in the mid-1800s.

Just a typical neighbourhood street scene, although from an unusual perspective.

A quick photo of the second cactus flower opening this year.