Istanbul, I need to go back.

JacobovsJacobovs Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
edited October 7, 2011 in Journeys
Spent 4 days in Istanbul and needed so much more. This was a great time of year to avoid the crowda and still have decent weather. I have lots of shots so hang on.

1 The Blue Mosque
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2 Haig Sophia used to be a church and then converted to be a mosque
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Inside:

This is inside the mosque, you can see the mosaic of Jesus and Mary at the top.
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Two of the Christian mosaics in the moscque

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3 The Blue Mosque at sunset

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Inside:

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Mosaic tiles
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4 Small mosque in Sultanhamet square

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5 Cool juxtapositioned mosque along the Bosphorus

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6 Baroque mosque along the Bosphorus

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7 An unexpected find was Sultan Hamet's toumb in Sultanhamet square. It's nice and almost no one goes there. Don't adjust your screens, it's a funky green

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8 The Topkapi Palace Harem rooms are the highlight. Take a wide angle lens, the ceilings are astounding!

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9 The views at night were also amazing

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Night view from Galata tower

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10 The Markets are a feast for the eyes, mouth and walet.

No joke, the kibble and pet market

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you an get anything from this bird( he had his eye on me too)

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to leaches ( not sure they make good pets)
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The Spice Market
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The Grand Bazaar

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Main street in the bazaar, it's enormous

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11. The people are the highlight. They were very friendly and helpful

The Dervish, no trip to Turkey would be complete without them

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Local talent was nice

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No trip would be complete without street people.

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Sorry for the length but I just got back and am still very enthusiastic.

All CC is always welcome.
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Comments

  • adbsgicomadbsgicom Registered Users Posts: 3,615 Major grins
    edited October 28, 2009
    What a great set of memories. Loved the Blue Mosque at sunset, gorgeous!!! The B/W in the mosque is wonderful. Your street shots are fantastic as well, esp the couple of older ladies in the park, those three gents and the guy washing his feet. You should post some of the street shots in the steet/pj for better feedback on those. Wow.
    - Andrew

    Who is wise? He who learns from everyone.
    My SmugMug Site
  • grimacegrimace Registered Users Posts: 1,534 Major grins
    edited October 28, 2009
    adbsgicom wrote:
    Loved the Blue Mosque at sunset, gorgeous!!!

    I agree. The lighting and color on the Blue Mosque is perfect. Wonderful, wonderful series.
  • Awais YaqubAwais Yaqub Registered Users Posts: 10,572 Major grins
    edited October 28, 2009
    Amazing Photography ! clap.gifclap.gifclap.gif

    You can publish whole book on Turkey using these photos.
    Thine is the beauty of light; mine is the song of fire. Thy beauty exalts the heart; my song inspires the soul. Allama Iqbal

    My Gallery
  • dadwtwinsdadwtwins Registered Users Posts: 804 Major grins
    edited October 28, 2009
    Thank you for posting, great imagesclap.gif
    My Homepage :thumb-->http://dthorp.smugmug.com
    My Photo Blog -->http://dthorpphoto.blogspot.com/
  • t-revt-rev Registered Users Posts: 76 Big grins
    edited October 28, 2009
    Awesome!
  • JusticeiroJusticeiro Registered Users Posts: 1,177 Major grins
    edited October 29, 2009
    Fantastic stuff. I just got back from Istanbul 3 days ago, and I'm looking throuhg my photos- they just can't compare. How did you get that great, noise freeil ghting inside Aya Sofya? That place is a bear to shoot, particularly now with all the scaffolding. Dark as can be. What's your technique?
    Cave ab homine unius libri
  • ChatKatChatKat Registered Users Posts: 1,357 Major grins
    edited October 29, 2009
    Istanbul
    Istanbul was one of my very favorite places to shoot. I hope to go back again someday.

    Loved your images. Thanks for the mini-vacation.
    Kathy Rappaport
    Flash Frozen Photography, Inc.
    http://flashfrozenphotography.com
  • Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited October 29, 2009
    WOW great images......I would be in HOOKAH heaven in the grand bazaar.......:Drolleyes1.gifrofl
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

  • JacobovsJacobovs Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
    edited October 29, 2009
    Justiceiro wrote:
    Fantastic stuff. I just got back from Istanbul 3 days ago, and I'm looking throuhg my photos- they just can't compare. How did you get that great, noise freeil ghting inside Aya Sofya? That place is a bear to shoot, particularly now with all the scaffolding. Dark as can be. What's your technique?

    You are so right. I had a hard time with the lighting. Way too dark in some places and too bright in others. I took a few pictures with out good results. So, out of frustration I decided to bracket the shots and tonemap them later. So All of my ceiling shots and the shots in the mosques are HDR( hand held). I used the bracketing feature in my D3 set the frame rate to 9fps and did a 5 frame burst. Later i combined them in photomix HDR, sharpened and NR in Noise Ninja and Voila. Hope this helps.:D
  • Ed911Ed911 Registered Users Posts: 1,306 Major grins
    edited October 30, 2009
    Jacobovs wrote:
    You are so right. I had a hard time with the lighting. Way too dark in some places and too bright in others. I took a few pictures with out good results. So, out of frustration I decided to bracket the shots and tonemap them later. So All of my ceiling shots and the shots in the mosques are HDR( hand held). I used the bracketing feature in my D3 set the frame rate to 9fps and did a 5 frame burst. Later i combined them in photomix HDR, sharpened and NR in Noise Ninja and Voila. Hope this helps.:D

    These are incredible images. What a treat. A very nice documentary. I was looking at your shots and wondered if you had used an HDR trechnique...evident in some of them. It's nice to see that you didn't over do it...most people are familiar with the artsy side of HDR. I agree that you could do a book on Istanbul. And, by the way, I didn't think you posted too many images.

    What ISO's were you using for the HDR'd images? Did you ever use flash? Was flash even allowed in the mosques?

    Thanks for sharing.
    Remember, no one may want you to take pictures, but they all want to see them.
    Educate yourself like you'll live forever and live like you'll die tomorrow.

    Ed
  • RuiMLopesRuiMLopes Registered Users Posts: 336 Major grins
    edited October 30, 2009
    Really great stuff! Your Istanbul images are among the best I ever seen from there, so far.
    I can see that you visited a big part of the places I sugested some weeks ago. I hope that my information has been useful!
    Rui
    D300, D200 coupled with some fine Nikon glass

    My Smugmug galleries: http://ruilopes.smugmug.com/
  • JacobovsJacobovs Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
    edited November 1, 2009
    Ed911 wrote:
    These are incredible images. What a treat. A very nice documentary. I was looking at your shots and wondered if you had used an HDR trechnique...evident in some of them. It's nice to see that you didn't over do it...most people are familiar with the artsy side of HDR. I agree that you could do a book on Istanbul. And, by the way, I didn't think you posted too many images.

    What ISO's were you using for the HDR'd images? Did you ever use flash? Was flash even allowed in the mosques?

    Thanks for sharing.

    Thanks, I used iso 200 with no flash. People used flashes in the mosques but i did not think it was necessary.
  • choudhrysaabchoudhrysaab Registered Users Posts: 249 Major grins
    edited November 2, 2009
    SUPERB pictures - loved every single shot.
    def. one of the places on my "to visit" list :D

    thank you for sharing.
  • JacobovsJacobovs Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
    edited November 2, 2009
    RuiMLopes wrote:
    Really great stuff! Your Istanbul images are among the best I ever seen from there, so far.
    I can see that you visited a big part of the places I sugested some weeks ago. I hope that my information has been useful!

    Thanks for all of the tips!!! I used them as a guide for my trip. Your tips saved me a lot of time.:D
  • dlplumerdlplumer Registered Users Posts: 8,081 Major grins
    edited November 3, 2009
    Fabulous shots. clap.gifclap.gif Might I suggest you straighten some of your verticals. A few of them are quite slanted.:D
  • JacobovsJacobovs Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
    edited November 3, 2009
    dlplumer wrote:
    Fabulous shots. clap.gifclap.gif Might I suggest you straighten some of your verticals. A few of them are quite slanted.:D

    Thanks, I appreciate the CC.
  • JacobovsJacobovs Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
    edited November 13, 2009
    RuiMLopes wrote:
    Really great stuff! Your Istanbul images are among the best I ever seen from there, so far.
    I can see that you visited a big part of the places I sugested some weeks ago. I hope that my information has been useful!

    I did go to the places you mentioned. your ideas were very helpful.:D
  • justin24justin24 Registered Users Posts: 402 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2009
    :jawdrop I need to visit turkey now after seeing those!
  • JacobovsJacobovs Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
    edited November 19, 2009
    justin24 wrote:
    :jawdrop I need to visit turkey now after seeing those!

    And I need to go back. There was so much more, and I did not even get to the Asia side of Istanbul.
  • LisaYangLisaYang Registered Users Posts: 61 Big grins
    edited November 21, 2009
    Jacobovs wrote:
    And I need to go back. There was so much more, and I did not even get to the Asia side of Istanbul.
    Oh god. Istanbul was a dream; sweaterweather and hagia sofia, oceanside and golden skies. Amazing shots; feel free to check out mine :)
    http://lisayang.smugmug.com/The-World-As-I-Knew-It/Istanbul/10324846_v5f2W#713789807_49T2y
  • JacobovsJacobovs Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
    edited November 29, 2009
    LisaYang wrote:
    Oh god. Istanbul was a dream; sweaterweather and hagia sofia, oceanside and golden skies. Amazing shots; feel free to check out mine :)
    http://lisayang.smugmug.com/The-World-As-I-Knew-It/Istanbul/10324846_v5f2W#713789807_49T2y

    Nice shots
  • Allan FGAllan FG Registered Users Posts: 492 Major grins
    edited December 5, 2009
    Stunning images of the Mosques
  • JacobovsJacobovs Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
    edited December 10, 2009
    Allan FG wrote:
    Stunning images of the Mosques

    Thanks Allan, they are a must see in Istanbul!
  • ProfessionalProfessional Registered Users Posts: 278 Major grins
    edited December 17, 2009
    Terrific shots from Istanbul!

    I never have been to Turkey before, but i am really thinking to go there someday, so how long did you stay there? and how much did it cost you there for almost everything [Accommodation, food, transport,...]?
  • JacobovsJacobovs Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
    edited January 22, 2010
    Terrific shots from Istanbul!

    I never have been to Turkey before, but i am really thinking to go there someday, so how long did you stay there? and how much did it cost you there for almost everything [Accommodation, food, transport,...]?

    Thanks, it was not very expensive at all. The food was relatively cheap. We ate at the small local restaurants. The hotel was roughly $150/night. It was a small boutique hotel. And the entry cost for some of the museums was minimal. All together it was less than $800 ground.
  • justin24justin24 Registered Users Posts: 402 Major grins
    edited January 24, 2010
    Jacobovs I keep coming back to this thread and it amazes me everytime. Beautiful Work.
  • DanspageDanspage Registered Users Posts: 196 Major grins
    edited January 28, 2010
    Jacobovs wrote:
    You are so right. I had a hard time with the lighting. Way too dark in some places and too bright in others. I took a few pictures with out good results. So, out of frustration I decided to bracket the shots and tonemap them later. So All of my ceiling shots and the shots in the mosques are HDR( hand held). I used the bracketing feature in my D3 set the frame rate to 9fps and did a 5 frame burst. Later i combined them in photomix HDR, sharpened and NR in Noise Ninja and Voila. Hope this helps.:D

    Thanks, this is one great post, thank you for the technique you used. I don't like the gray side of HDR but this post shows what you can do if you don't go to far.

    Do you think the cheep photomix HDR would have worked on this? Not sure yet what I need to get photos like yours. I do like larger file output, and wonder how big the the file would be?
    Daniel
    http://danspage.smugmug.com/
    Scratch Nikon I switched to
    Canon 5d mark II
  • JacobovsJacobovs Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
    edited January 29, 2010
    Danspage wrote:
    Thanks, this is one great post, thank you for the technique you used. I don't like the gray side of HDR but this post shows what you can do if you don't go to far.

    Do you think the cheep photomix HDR would have worked on this? Not sure yet what I need to get photos like yours. I do like larger file output, and wonder how big the the file would be?

    Thanks,

    Not sure what you mean by cheap photomix, the version I used was not expensive. The files were in the 35meg range. Im sure the jpegs are much smaller.:D
  • KianKian Registered Users Posts: 56 Big grins
    edited January 30, 2010
    Great stuff, iam hoping to head down to istanbul in march. any tips? :)
    Visit my smugsite: http://kian.smugmug.com
  • JacobovsJacobovs Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
    edited February 8, 2010
    Kian wrote:
    Great stuff, iam hoping to head down to istanbul in march. any tips? :)

    Thanks,

    I stayed at a small boutique hotel near sultanhamet square. I would recommend that. The view from Galata tower at night was cool. I would not ecommend the show, very cheesy. The Big mosques were very cool and worth the visit. I would not recommend the Bosporus boat tour. The Topkai palace was one of the highlights. The spice market was very cool( some of the surrounding streets were nice as well for people pics) and the grand bazaar.

    I did not visit the Asian side but will definitely go there next time.
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