Holiday in Barcelona, Spain - C&C please

[marp]

Hi everybody,

I spent a wonderful time in Barcelona in July, took a lot of pictures and finally finished editing the best of them. Most of them are just holiday snapshots, but I think these four look better. What do you think? Please be harsh, I really wanna learn and take better pictures next time.

Click for larger version and complete EXIF on Flickr.

1)
During an evening walk in the port, we saw these ships from Audi MedCup regatta circuit (never heard on it before). Unfortunately, it was getting dark quickly, so the conditions were not great for photography. Despite that, I like this one a lot.

1/40s | f/3.2 | ISO 800 | 25 mm

Audi MedCup ships in Barcelona by Martin Pilát, on Flickr

2)
On the day of the opening ceremony of the European Athletes Championship we walked around the Olympic stadium with the flags of European countries. Took a few of similar pictures and this one came out the best.

1/200s | f/7.1 | ISO 100 | 47 mm

Flags on the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona by Martin Pilát, on Flickr

3)
I know, this is generally a photo of someone other's art, but I still like it a lot.

1/800s | f/4.5 | ISO 100 | 30 mm

Te quiero... by Martin Pilát, on Flickr

4)
And this is my favorite one. Taken in the Aquarium in Barcelona. These little creatures were swimming there in almost complete darkness. When I saw the picture in camera, I knew I love it, and knew what I want to do with it. Oh, and I always wanted to take a picture, which would look well on square format .

1/30s | f/2.8 | ISO 1600 | 17 mm

Medusas in L'Aquarium in Barcelona by Martin Pilát, on Flickr

So, please, what are your thoughts on these? I know I am biased and have some feelings about them, as they bring up memories...

Thanks for looking and your comments.

Oh, and if anybody wants to see the rest of pictures I took in Barcelona feel free to visit Barcelona - a set on Flickr.

 

[ChristinaW]

I personally love 1 and 4... I went to Barcelona when I was 16 and wish I had a nice camera at the time.. I came back and more than 1/2 of my pics didn't come out!! err..

 

[marp]

Thanks for your reply, Christina.

For me, the trip to Barcelona was a reason to buy a new lens (that Tamron 17-50), I wanted to be sure that I will the one to blame if the pictures wouldn't come out.

Now, I counted it: took 630 pictures, and at home I edited only about 70 of them. So, 1/2 seems a pretty high number to me. (But I generally tend to take a lot of pictures and hope, that I can choose the best ones later).

Nevertheless, I hope, I will return to Barcelona eventually.

 

[marp]

No more comments and ideas?

 

[hazeleyes1992]

I think they are amazing. Ive always wanted to go to Spain, but i am afraid of heights, so I don't see me going there unless we would go by boat. And that would take a while. lol

 

[Raian-san]

Yeah love all of them, great job.

 

[DanFinePhotography]

Really like #1 wouldn't mind seeing the saturation turned up just a tad

 

[marp]

hazeleyes1992: Thanks. I must say Barcelona is a very nice city, I can greatly recommend visiting it.
Oh, and they have a port, so a boat trip is definitely possible. I have no idea how long it could take, but it could be quite interesting and romantic sailing across the Atlantic.

Raian-san: Thanks.

DanFinePhotography: Thanks for the suggestion, I tried that and it looks a bit better. I was kind of afraid of noise, as I shot the picture in the evening, with not that much light and my camera is not that great in handling that "high" ISO. Almost anything I did with it in PP increased the noise above an acceptable level (which for me is no noise).

 

[LaFoto]

Barcelona still is on my list of "places I need to go to"!
And your photos make obvious that it would definitely be worth the while going!

"I love you for your being the only star in my sky" is what the graffiti says. How lovely!

Getting a good photo of those jellyfish in their dark tanks is not easy, so congrats on that one!

Yes, I like them all, boats (elements of repetition and vanishing point well spotted and used!), flags, so colourful against the blue sky, and all opened up in the wind!, the wonderful declaration of love on the wall and the jellyfish. All nice.