Thanks folks, glad you liked em
Is Italy as Wonderful as it always looks on TV, how did you find picking up Italian.
Italy is really nice, it was our second time there but we still preferred Sorrento in the south to Rome. My wife didn't really feel safe walking around Rome at night. You shouldn't have any difficulty using English, most people you will have dealings with will usually have a few words of English, enough to get by. They do appreciate you using whatever Italian you have though, especially hello's, goodbye's and thank you's.
The millenia of entertainment for the Roman people, not limited to intense gladitorial combat and gruesome slayings of vicious beasts, still strikes apparent in these pictures... It looks like a building from Las Vegas with the extravagant lighting, a reasonable comparison if I do say so myself.
A shrewd comparison there
Even back then they knew once you could amuse or divert the people to frivilous and meaningless things you can pretty much do what you like with the stuff that really matters. In those days it was gladiators, beasts and blood, now its sports, superstitions and soap operas (and Las Vegas
)
What type of camera, settings and lenses did you use to get these shots?
The camera is a Nikon D70, the lens is the Tamron 11-18 Super Wide and the settings are pretty straightforward. I always use aperture priority or manual with a constant aperture of F8 @ISO 200, adjusting the shutter time to get a good exposure. Getting there just after the sun sets is crucial, once the sky has gone black you've lost the best shots. You can see the gear I use here:
http/cianmcliam.smugmug.com/gallery/614909
Same stuff as the Pompeii shots, yes