Bulgarian Stockphotos

Caption:
Russian Church
Description:

The Russian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas the Miracle-Maker is commonly known as the Russian Church and is one of the most distinctive and decorative buildings in Sofia.

It was built on the site of the Saray Mosque as the official church of the Russian Embassy

the story is that this beautiful church was built on the orders of a Russian diplomat who considered the local churches did not meet his standards of faith or beauty.

If you want to use this photo of the Russian Church, go to PhotographersDirect.

Photo Comments:

This is one of my favourite buildings in Sofia

I often photograph it looking for new angles and details at all times and all seasons.

For this photograph I chose to concentrate on the Domes.

The bright sunshine meant that reflections were a problem and I checked the exposure very carefully using the histogram to prevent burning out the highlights.

Caption:

Rose Festival Girl

Description:

This portrait shows the traditional appearance of a rose picker at the Rose Festival in Kazanluk.

If you want to use this photo of a girl at the Rose Festival go to Alamy.

Photo Comments:

Most years in the summer I go to the Rose Festival in Kazanluk.

Festivals provide many good photographic opportunities and the Rose Festival is no exception.

Singers, dancers and traditional performers come from all over the Balkans and provide a lot of colour and action.

The only downside for me is that the crowds get bigger and bigger every year.

It’s worth noting that rose growing is very important to the Bulgarian economy as rose products provide the basis for a lot of the world’s perfume industry.

From the purely photographic point of view the main problems are the crowds and the harsh sunshine.

For this photo I found a few rose pickers relaxing and I was able to deal with the harsh lighting by shooting in the open shade.

This meant that I avoided harsh shadows and the girl was able to keep her eyes open!

I used my 75-300 zoom on my Canon 5D Mark 11.

I was aiming for a traditional three quarter portrait which meant focussing very carefully on the nearer eye.

I was also looking to throw the background out of focus by limiting the depth of field.

As usual I took quite a few pictures but I think this is the one I like best

Caption:

Female Bungy Jumper

Description:

Female bungy jumper in the Boris Gardens, Sofia, Bulgaria

If you want to use this photo of a female bungy jumper, go to Alamy.

Photo Comments:

Bulgarians enjoy quite a number of National Holidays and all sorts of events are planned for these.

It’s not always easy to know what’s happening but many events take place in Sofia’s largest park, the Boris Gardens.

Luckily I live just across the road and so can always stroll over and see what’s going on.

This time on a fine summer’s day a Bungy Jumping construction was set up in the park and any members of the public brave enough to have a go could take their turn.

From the purely photographic point of view there are obvious challenges:

Exposure is critical but you get only one chance for each picture so you can’t bracket.

It’s worth knowing if your camera is likely to under or over expose.

Overexposure is the greatest problem here because blown highlights can ruin a shot like this.

To counter this I used the spot metering option on my Canon 450D.

Focussing is also a problem.

My experience is that auto focussing is great but works least well when you need it most.

With a picture like this is hard to use manual focus as well because there’s no obvious target.

Timing is also critical and this type of photograph really shows the importance of the concept of the “Decisive Moment” which the great French photographer Henri Cartier Bresson adapted from the thoughts of the 17th century Cardinal de Retz.

Too early or too late and you’ve missed the shot and of course it’s all too easy to forget that photography is about capturing the ephemeral for ever.

I decided to rely on the autofocussing but used the smallest aperture consistent with an action stopping shutter speed and an avoidance of camera shake.

I base my judgement on camera shake on the old photographer’s rule that the shutter speed should roughly correspond to the focal length of the lens – i.e using a 300mm lens means using at least 1/300th of a second.

Of course as there’s subject movement as well fast shutter speeds are essential.

For this reason I used the shutter priority setting on my camera.

There’s been quite a bit of talk about crop sensor cameras and telephoto lenses but one point sometimes overlooked is that crop sensor cameras have greater depth of field than full frame and this can be an advantage in situations like this.

Of course there were quite a few brave souls to jump so I was able to get a number of “keepers”.