Forests and Meadows
Being in the shade under trees is beautiful not only in summer. Seemingly endless motifs and compositions lurk in forests and other arboreal landscapes, which is why I always enjoy going out into the woods to photograph.
Somewhere in Pandorra
Diese Szene an einem wunderbaren und gut versteckten, kleinen Wasserfall verzauberte mich. Die Komposition des Bildes lebt von den geschwungenen grünen Farne, die in die Bildmitte zeigen, der Wasserführung und den Felsen, die im unteren Bereich des Bildes ein Dreieck hin zum Wasserfall erzeugen. Obwohl dieser Flecken Natur mitten in Deutschlands liegt, so könnte sie doch genau so gut in einem Urwald oder einem anderen, dem Menschen unbekannten Planeten liegen.
Secluded and mysterious
A waterfall in the middle of the Black Forest that I discovered by chance. It is somewhat remote and hidden, but when you get close to it, you can hear the sound of the water falling down its gorge. The descent to the waterfall is a bit of an adventure. But it was worth it, because behind each rock you could discover another secret. A beautiful spot of almost untouched nature.
Solid und Volatil
On location, I was not entirely satisfied with the conditions I found. The result of this photo, however, convinced me completely at home in front of the computer. The beautiful green of the moss on the large rocks and the well-chosen exposure time for beautifully soft water with a light texture finally convinced me to show the picture to the public.
Dynamik
| Top 32 Naturfoto des Sommers 2023 | Die Bekanntheit dieses Wasserfalls bei Todtnau im Schwarzwald macht es nicht gerade einfach, Bilder ohne Menschen von ihm aufzunehmen. Die Suche nach einer besonderen Komposition, ohne dass mir Touristen vor die Linse laufen würden, verschlug mich dann unter eine hölzerne Fußgängerbrücke, wo ich die Dynamik des herabfallenden und fließenden Wassers aber erfolgreich in einem Bild festhalten konnte.
Rhododendron bloom in forest
I took this beautiful scene at a stream in the Black Forest. The fern in the foreground, the stream and the rhododendron in the background form a great work of art.
Stream near Geroldsau
This beautiful stream can be found on the way in the direction of the Geroldsauer waterfall.
Out of the Woods
This beautiful section of the Triberg waterfalls would be worth a visit on its own. The composition is deliberately chosen so that the viewer’s gaze is guided up the river, to where the water flows out of the forest.
Tall and Fall
This raging waterfall is another cascade of the Triberg waterfalls. A large bridge leads over it, which was beautifully decorated with autumnal forest colors on the day the photo was taken.
Triberg cascades
Germany’s highest waterfalls exude a very special magic as soon as the leaves are colored in autumn. In this picture you can see the lower cascades of the waterfalls of Triberg.
Autumn magic at the Gertelbach
Some pictures need no description. Fallen orange leaves, moss-covered stones and trees, an idyllic stream and a magical atmosphere. That’s autumn in the Black Forest.
Autumn at the Geroldsau waterfall
The beautiful early autumn color of the leaves frame the Geroldsau waterfall in a romantic way.
Tranquility and solitude
Especially on stressful days, some people long for peace and solitude to find a little peace within themselves. The people of this house in the seclusion of the Black Forest certainly have enough of this peace and solitude.
Blue hour over winter Mummelsee lake
For this photo we already left in the middle of the night and arrived at still pitch dark night. After a short walk over 100 meters of altitude through the snowy forest, we arrived at this well-known viewpoint. With the naked eye, you could only see the lights of the Mummelsee Hotel in the distance, but with the camera I was able to take a wonderful picture.
Mystery of the darkness
Ein Bild, dass für mich persönlich, für eine dunkle Zeit meines Lebens steht. Aber gerade deshalb so eine enorme Aussagekraft hat. Nach der Diagnose der Krebserkrankung unserer damals nicht ganz zweijährigen Tochter stellte man sich so viele Fragen. Unter anderem, warum konnten wir nicht früher sehen, dass in ihr ein Tumor heranwächst? So wie dieser kleine Baum inmitten der großen Bäume des Waldes langsam, aber unbemerkt heranwächst. Die dunkle, mystische Nebelstimmung vor Sonnenaufgang ist sinnbildlich für unsere unklaren Gedanken über eine ungewisse Zukunft in dieser Zeit.
Metaphysical Twilight
A scene from a wintry forest. There was dense fog on the spot, because the clouds hung so low in this forest that it always seemed to be raining, then again only misty moisture surrounded us. Before sunrise in the twilight, deep in such a large, dark forest, surrounded by silence and quiet birdsong, you experience moments again and again that you can’t explain. That’s how I came up with the title of this photograph: Metaphysical Twilight. I also pondered a lot that morning about things I could not explain.
Echoes
In forest photography, you have to look for compositions with an open eye and a steady step. A few centimetres to the left, right, up or down can change a scene greatly. In this shot it becomes particularly clear. Just a few centimetres to the side and it would have been a completely different image of a single tree. When I discovered the trees almost perfectly lined up, however, I wanted to photograph them so that they continued into the depths of the forest like a kind of echo of the foremost trunk.
Blooming wild garlic avenue
It is always a pleasure to walk into a spring forest where the wild garlic blossoms are in full swing. The spicy smell, the fresh green colors of the leaves and the chirping of the birds in the early morning always put me in a kind of “short vacation” every time I visit. On this morning after a downpour the night before, I was particularly lucky, as a light misty haze in the forest made the atmosphere seem even more enchanted.
Crossed
The blooming wildflower carpet of this woodland is crossed by a fallen tree trunk and its branches. The light mist in the forest gives the image a special aesthetics.
A Moment in Springtime
On this spring morning, conditions were not necessarily the best one would wish for photographing wild garlic in bloom. But the mist outside the forest gates and a brief moment of piercing sunlight provided incoming, wonderfully difuss light that literally made this scene glow. Luckily, I was there at the time and was able to capture this wonderful shot on my sensor.
Fresh green in spring forest
Even though the carpet of wild garlic in this section of forest on a small hill was not particularly dense, the morning atmosphere was beautiful. The sun still managed to shine through the leaf canopy that morning, a few weeks later, this was already too dense.
Tales of Wild Garlic Forest
A forest scene, as if from a fairy tale. Those who still have some childlike imagination will recognise the face in the trunk of the tree and possibly ask themselves, who is or who was that? An old witch who was defeated by a glorious hero and is now banished in this tree trunk? Fittingly for the scene, I was able to catch the right light some time after sunrise to give this scene the necessary dreamy glow.
Zerbrochen
Die letzten Tage waren ziemlich stürmisch. Bei solchen Windgeschwindigkeiten und da viele Bäume noch belaubt waren, erwischt es schon hin und wieder einen Baum, dessen Stamm die Belastung nicht mehr aushält, oder gar entwurzelt wird. Dieses Exemplar liegt hing vielleicht schon länger in den Seilen, aber dennoch passte er zu der Wetterlage und zur Bildkomposition. Ich habe eine etwas längere Belichtungszeit gewählt, als bewusstes Stilmittel, um den Wind in den verschwommenen Blättern sichtbar zu machen. Mal etwas anderes, als immer alles pin-scharf zu machen.
Magic morning light in the forest
Wenige Minuten nach dem Sonnenaufgang verwandeln die ersten Sonnenstrahlen des Tages den dunklen Wald in einen magischen lichtdurchfluteten Ort, der alle seine gespenstischen Züge verliert.
Autumn colors
This bird’s eye view of an autumn woodland shows the diversity of our wonderful native forests and the beauty of our natural world.
Autumn forests
Germany’s forests are particularly beautiful to look at in autumn, as the mixed forests change color in different facets. Paired with evening soft side light, great shots of these autumn forests are created.
Transience
A beautiful scene of nature showing some wonderful facets of our breathtaking world. The forests in the early Hersbt, the clouds on the horizon, illuminated by the setting evening sun, the rising moon and in the middle this bare tree, which is synonymous with the transience of all creatures here on earth.
Im Raps-Meer
Im Frühjahr kommt Farbe ins Spiel. Ein Grund dafür sind die Rapsfelder in der Umgebung meines Heimatdorfes. Wunderschöne Kontraste entstehen zwischen ihnen und dem klaren blauen Himmel. Das ergibt immer wieder schöne Bilder. In dieser Aufnahme nutzte ich einen etwas erhöhten Standort, um den bereits leicht blühenden Baum etwas intimer mitten im Rapsfeld zu fotografieren.
Sunset over the Upper Rhine Plain
At this sunset in winter the sun set without evening red. This was due to a band of clouds behind the horizon that blocked the light rays of the sun that should have colored the clouds over Malsch. Normally such a sunset red appears 15–20 minutes after sunset, but in this case the coloring was before sunset. Since I was in time on the spot, I could still catch this scene. The setting sun over the Upper Rhine Plain. Due to the haze in the atmosphere, it turned into a red fireball and so did the clouds, which is actually not a typical evening red, but still resulted in a beautiful scenery.
Looked through
A beautiful sunrise above the thin layer of fog. The sun peeks through the large branches of a lone tree in the middle of a young field. Another shot that shows how beautiful our nature is. Even boring areas can create an epic moment in magical light.
Morning silence in the floodplain
This photo could not have been planned, but when I was on my way to a spot that I wanted to photograph that morning, this image composition literally jumped into my eye. The conditions were ideal. The golden-colored clouds, the fog, the just-rising sun. Perfect how the diagonal formed by the illuminated clouds and the forest in the background mirror and balance the image horizontally. The fog helped to separate the tree as a subject from the background.
Winter Sun Star
Towards the end of the winter 20/21 showed us in Kraichgau once again from its best side, with bright blue skies and sunshine from morning to night, with freezing cold but at least also with some snow, which has remained for several days. The combination fit well to be able to take beautiful pictures of winter here at home.
A touch of winter
No sooner had autumn passed than the first frost arrived. An inversion weather condition brought us fog in the nights during the first cold winter nights of the late year. Hoarfrost formed on the remaining leaves and branches of the trees. In addition, there was a little snow in some areas. This resulted in a beautiful wintry mood in nature, which I could record here on a beautiful morning at the edge of the forest.
Frozen
Interesting scenes resulted from a drop in temperature further below zero and nocturnal fog. This clash caused hoarfrost to form on the forests of my homeland. Deep into the woods, branches, twigs and remaining leaves were covered by white frost. Beautiful winter landscapes that had not seen a single snowflake.
Die Ermahnung
Bei der Aufnahme dieser Szene während Frost und Nebel kam mir sofort der Titel in den Sinn. Der große Baum im Vordergrund wirkte auf mich, wie ein Vater der seine beiden Kinder, die beiden Bäume im Hintergrund, ermahnt.
Elegance
A scene that you probably just walk past 99% of the time. But if you are looking for something special in the bare winter forest, this young tree, elegantly dancing around the big trees, can catch your eye. That’s how it caught my eye and I was able to bring it into a beautiful composition with a long focal length. The backlight and the prevailing fog in the forest naturally help this motif. It was exactly the weather condition it needed.
Flaking
On this winter morning in February, there was dense fog especially in the somewhat higher forests of my home region. So I set off to a place where I had been before in summer. There, in a larger clearing, I knew there were some interesting trees with a little more distance, which should help in finding a composition for the picture. This tree with its peeling bark caught my eye immediately. It was to become the eye-catcher in my picture.
Silver birch in fog
On my home hill stands this silver birch, which I hadn’t really noticed before. On this foggy morning, however, illuminated by the light of the sun, which came only hesitantly through the fog cover, it seemed to have a special charm.
The path into the fog
That morning I was walking along the path when I spotted this tree in the mist. Looking for a suitable composition of the image, I discovered the traces of a tractor in the field. The lines lead into the picture towards the tree in the fog.
Two friends
They could hardly be more different. And even in the low morning sun that gradually fights its way through the fog cover, the autumnal foliage is illuminated in different ways, which led to this special shot.
Light and Shadow
When sun meets fog haze special light moods are created. If the sun’s rays are interrupted by trees, as in this picture, they suddenly become visible.
Optimism
In der Farbenlehre steht die Farbe gelb für Optimismus. Diese wunderschöne Aufnahme zeigt die Spitzen einiger Bäume eines Waldes, der hinter einer wunderschönen Inversion liegt. Das warme Seitenlicht der gerade aufgehenden Sonne verleiht dem Bild diese wunderschöne warme Farbe und machen es zu einem schönen Minimalistischen Motiv.
Field of Light
| Top 100 Naturfoto des Sommers 2023 | Dieses wunderschöne Licht an einem Weizenfeld in der Nähe meiner Heimat konnte ich im Hochsommer an einem schönen Sommerabend genießen. Das abendliche, kontrastarme Seitenlicht ließ das Feld im Vordergrund wunderbar weich erscheinen. Das Motiv, der einsame Baum auf dem Feld, ist da fast schon Beiwerk.
In der Karlstalschlucht
| Top 16 Naturfoto des herbstes 2022 | Die Karlstalschlucht in Rheinland-Pfalz ist bei Wanderern ein immer wieder beliebtes Ausflugsziel. Im Herbst lässt der Wald das Tal in wunderschönen Herbstfarben leuchten. Vielen ist das Motiv des Pavillons in Mitten des Tals bekannt, aber auch einige Stromschnellen des Bachs bieten sich an, als kleine Wasserfälle fotografiert zu werden.
Autumn forest in the Palatinate
In this photo I was able to capture a dreamy, beautiful light mood in the early morning in the Palatinate Forest in late summer. The blooming erica plants, the rocks and the sun star of the morning sun together with the pine trees form a beautiful photo.
Explosion des Lichtes
Nach einigen Jahren war ich mal wieder in der Mehlinger Heide und habe wunderbare Bedingungen vorgefunden. Vor Sonnenaufgang ein leichtes Morgenrot, dazu leichte Nebelschleier und nach Sonnenaufgang eine Explosion des Lichtes. Ich habe in kürzester Zeit viele Aufnahmen gemacht, diese gefiel mir ganz besonders.
Morning in the heath
The Mehlinger Heide is not quite as well known as its larger relatives, such as the Lüneburg Heath, but even here great morning moods can be captured. Like on this day, when the sun and the misty haze was just right.
Glowing sun in the heath
It was quite special to see how the rising sun formed an extremely strong red glow in the fog of the heath as it rose above the horizon directly behind the fir tree. Secondly, the red glow became stronger when it was suddenly no longer visible. A moment that had to be caught.
Magical morning in the heath
Another picture of my favorite trees in the heath. Looking at this picture with a little distance, I must say, the early rising, the hour journey and the wait in the cool summer night for the ideal conditions was worth it after all. A truly magical moment that we were able to experience.
Veil of fog in the heath
When photographing on the heath in the morning, timing and conditions matter. The light gets brighter by the minute, the fog is in constant motion. It’s a matter of fixing the composition as quickly as possible and waiting for the right moment.
Heath landscape in morning light
During the day, the heath landscape looks more like a green desert. For a few weeks in summer, however, the perennials bloom and especially in the morning hours, when a veil of mist forms over the meadows, there can sometimes be magical moments.
Nature rises
This heath landscape was a military training area a few years ago. Under the heavy equipment from the military, nature suffered particularly. Years after the “decommissioning” nature rises with a beautiful heath landscape, from which even the one or other young tree grows out in the meantime.
Lichtexplosion in der Heide
Aufstehen um 4:30 im Sommer. Eine Stunde Autofahrt. 20 min laufen zum Spot. 40 min lang Motive und Bildkompositionen ausprobieren und warten auf den Sonnenaufgang. Hat es sich gelohnt? Ich finde ja und ich würde es immer wieder tun.
Die Wächter
Auf der Suche nach einigen interessanten Landstrichen für ein paar Landschaftsaufnahmen stoß ich an einem Straßenrand an Sardiniens Westküste auf ein kleines Pinienwäldchen. Schon bei der langsamen Vorbeifahrt fielen mir 2–3 Ideen, bzw. Kompositionen ins Auge. Am nächsten Morgen, machte ich mich noch vor Sonnenaufgang auf den Weg, um hier einige Aufnahmen zu machen. Eine meiner liebsten Aufnahmen ist diese hier, in der sich die Strahlen der Sonne doppelt an einem Baum brachen und gleich zwei Sonnensterne erzeugten.