I more or less stumbled upon this little deer, just about a year old I think. I was tracking a herd of one big male and at least 5 females by tracks alone when I heard something besides the path. This little girl was there with a bigger female, possible the mother. She noticed me and didn't feel much like running. Instead she did two paces and though she was hidden enough since she couldn't see me anymore and started cropping these greens.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Blacksmith
A lot of people will convert to black and white purely because this is an old trade. I didn't, I converted because it was a low colour image to begin with and I wanted to emphasize certain aspects of the image.
Shots like this do make me realize how much of an art black and white really is. I wish I could do images like this out of camera. I'd be very interested in something the size of a small DSLR body or even an evil camera that could do a dozen different types of black & white film and do that very well.
Shots like this do make me realize how much of an art black and white really is. I wish I could do images like this out of camera. I'd be very interested in something the size of a small DSLR body or even an evil camera that could do a dozen different types of black & white film and do that very well.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
bored now!
Took a bit of tweaking but this pic just looks so right to me. The colours really reflect what I saw at that time and still the deer pops out of the picture really well.
I'm slowly getting the hang of Nik's Viveza to make a subject pop.
The behaviour is really typical of a fallow deer buck, it's stared at me for a few minutes and now it has decided to wander away.
I'm slowly getting the hang of Nik's Viveza to make a subject pop.
The behaviour is really typical of a fallow deer buck, it's stared at me for a few minutes and now it has decided to wander away.
HDR Efex pro 1.0
Apparantly I'm not the only one who thinks this piece of software is not as good as it could be.
Yesterday at 21:06 I sent the following message to Nik Software:
Perhaps HDR efex was released a bit too soon.
I'm running it on an AMD x2, 240 @2.8 ghz with windows 7 and 3gb ram.
I'm on day 5 of my trial now, I've processed maybe a dozen pics so far.
HDR efex has crashed 4 times, invariably taking CS5 with it. On 3
counts it acted wonky and vivenza crashed twice (which it never does)
Processing from selecting 5 images in bridge until a completed image
takes 5 minutes easily.
OK, granted, you guys have show the world, including the people behind
photomatix, that it is possible to produce good HDR software with a
nice user interface. Shame it's still very buggy and requires a very
high end intel box to run.
I don't think I'm going to buy it, this is not 160 euros nice.
Now, within an hour I got this reply from Josh, a product manager at Nik (note the misspelling of my name, this makes me believe it's no autoreply)
Dear jereoen,
Thank you for contacting Nik Software.
We have run into a few issues that we are currently working to resolve. The issues you indicated you are having with HDR Efex Pro are affecting a small number of our users, however the update that we currently have planned for early next year is planned to resolve these types of issues.
Please keep an eye out for when this new version comes out, as it should be both much faster as well as much more stable for your system.
So... I'm curious to see how early next year this may be.
Since HDR Efex pro 1.0 runs fine on a friend's Intel based laptop I would advice anyone to try the trial version before buying this. If it runs it's very nice.
Apparantly I'm not the only one who thinks this piece of software is not as good as it could be.
Yesterday at 21:06 I sent the following message to Nik Software:
Perhaps HDR efex was released a bit too soon.
I'm running it on an AMD x2, 240 @2.8 ghz with windows 7 and 3gb ram.
I'm on day 5 of my trial now, I've processed maybe a dozen pics so far.
HDR efex has crashed 4 times, invariably taking CS5 with it. On 3
counts it acted wonky and vivenza crashed twice (which it never does)
Processing from selecting 5 images in bridge until a completed image
takes 5 minutes easily.
OK, granted, you guys have show the world, including the people behind
photomatix, that it is possible to produce good HDR software with a
nice user interface. Shame it's still very buggy and requires a very
high end intel box to run.
I don't think I'm going to buy it, this is not 160 euros nice.
Now, within an hour I got this reply from Josh, a product manager at Nik (note the misspelling of my name, this makes me believe it's no autoreply)
Dear jereoen,
Thank you for contacting Nik Software.
We have run into a few issues that we are currently working to resolve. The issues you indicated you are having with HDR Efex Pro are affecting a small number of our users, however the update that we currently have planned for early next year is planned to resolve these types of issues.
Please keep an eye out for when this new version comes out, as it should be both much faster as well as much more stable for your system.
So... I'm curious to see how early next year this may be.
Since HDR Efex pro 1.0 runs fine on a friend's Intel based laptop I would advice anyone to try the trial version before buying this. If it runs it's very nice.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
What I see on a sunday morning
Not an over the top HDR but a shot that more or less captures my sunday morning. Including, I like to think the verry chilly temperature this morning.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Some old shots from august I just got around to processing. Legio II augusta from the UK visited.
A Roman archer, something you don't see often. Even rarer, a Syrian auxilia
A Roman archer, something you don't see often. Even rarer, a Syrian auxilia
Now I'm not sure if this is also an auxiliares or a barbarian. The dagger suggests Gaul to me.
And last, the Aquilifer, I think. The person carrieng the Legion's standard. An important and well paying job.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
I love VR!
D300 on a monopod, 70-300 VR on 250mm, iso 1600 and 1/4 shutter speed and I get this:
Not too shabby I think. OK, granted, this was one of about a dozen but still...
A bit further on I got this.
Now, pictures like this will never draw in the crowds, certainly not on flickr but I like it. I'd found this doe and was tracking her for a few minutes in my viewfinder waiting for her to raise her head briefly. She did when a walker some distance away stepped on a twig.
This one took some more effort, this buck is camera shy, doesn't run but strolls away taking care only to show his rear towards the camera. Waling a big circle and doing a slow approach work
All in all some nice work I think but still not the fighting bucks I'm hoping for.
D300 on a monopod, 70-300 VR on 250mm, iso 1600 and 1/4 shutter speed and I get this:
Not too shabby I think. OK, granted, this was one of about a dozen but still...
A bit further on I got this.
Now, pictures like this will never draw in the crowds, certainly not on flickr but I like it. I'd found this doe and was tracking her for a few minutes in my viewfinder waiting for her to raise her head briefly. She did when a walker some distance away stepped on a twig.
This one took some more effort, this buck is camera shy, doesn't run but strolls away taking care only to show his rear towards the camera. Waling a big circle and doing a slow approach work
All in all some nice work I think but still not the fighting bucks I'm hoping for.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
HDR Efex Pro, a very quick review.
Yes, it's out and you can grab a trial here. Review is perhaps a bit too strong, first impression would be better.
I downloaded the 27mb trial and first surprise, even though it is apparantly a 64 bits plugin it still works well with my 32 bits Photoshop. You can call it from bridge but all that does is open CS5 and start the plugin with the files you selected. I have not yet tried it from lightroom
On my humble dual core 2GB AMD phenom box it's somewhat sluggish, more sluggish than Photomatix although it does seem to take roughly the same amount of time.
What it does fairly well is aligning, Photomatix seems slightly better in aligning my handheld shots. It does beat photomatix in one critical aspect, usability.
Photomatix has an interface with a load of rather cryptic settings on the left. HDR efex has about 30 presets that are all quite different. Each can be finetuned. For each preset a preview is rendered which takes a bit of time. I tested it on three images and it ran out of memory and crashed once.
Perhaps it's my test shots but right now it doesn't blow me away in output just yet but, honestly, I did a rather quick and dirty processing job on just two sets. It does excel in usability, it makes you feel in control, makes you feel like getting a good looking HDR is relatively simple.
HDR efex:
Photomatix (slighty different shot)
And this was a weird idea that seemed
More to come soon, certainly before my trial period runs out.
Yes, it's out and you can grab a trial here. Review is perhaps a bit too strong, first impression would be better.
I downloaded the 27mb trial and first surprise, even though it is apparantly a 64 bits plugin it still works well with my 32 bits Photoshop. You can call it from bridge but all that does is open CS5 and start the plugin with the files you selected. I have not yet tried it from lightroom
On my humble dual core 2GB AMD phenom box it's somewhat sluggish, more sluggish than Photomatix although it does seem to take roughly the same amount of time.
What it does fairly well is aligning, Photomatix seems slightly better in aligning my handheld shots. It does beat photomatix in one critical aspect, usability.
Photomatix has an interface with a load of rather cryptic settings on the left. HDR efex has about 30 presets that are all quite different. Each can be finetuned. For each preset a preview is rendered which takes a bit of time. I tested it on three images and it ran out of memory and crashed once.
Perhaps it's my test shots but right now it doesn't blow me away in output just yet but, honestly, I did a rather quick and dirty processing job on just two sets. It does excel in usability, it makes you feel in control, makes you feel like getting a good looking HDR is relatively simple.
HDR efex:
Photomatix (slighty different shot)
And this was a weird idea that seemed
More to come soon, certainly before my trial period runs out.
There's a big chestnut tree that has been claimed by a very dominant male. Usually he's there alone bellowing to the other males in the area. On Monday morning he finally had company, quite a lot of company in fact. I counted at least 4 somewhat interested females and a score of young males that the big guy would sometimes chase away.
Also present, and that's something I don't see all that often, is these two very young males. Born this year and so young they don't even have antlers yet. Also so young that the big buck didn't feel threatened enough to chase them away.
All these are tricky shots. Half an hour after sunrise there's not that much light reaching trough that big chestnut tree. To get this relatively unobstructed view I had to move very slowly and ended up kneeling on a gravel path for almost 15 minutes before I caught these.
Photography like this can be improved by throwing money at it. Any of the more expensive bodies with a clean iso 3200 or even 6400 would have been nice to have. A longer and especially faster lens would have helped. But, the D300 with a humble 70-300 does a decent job as well.
Also present, and that's something I don't see all that often, is these two very young males. Born this year and so young they don't even have antlers yet. Also so young that the big buck didn't feel threatened enough to chase them away.
All these are tricky shots. Half an hour after sunrise there's not that much light reaching trough that big chestnut tree. To get this relatively unobstructed view I had to move very slowly and ended up kneeling on a gravel path for almost 15 minutes before I caught these.
Photography like this can be improved by throwing money at it. Any of the more expensive bodies with a clean iso 3200 or even 6400 would have been nice to have. A longer and especially faster lens would have helped. But, the D300 with a humble 70-300 does a decent job as well.
Friday, October 08, 2010
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Run away!
Some fallow deer exhibit a typical gait, almost bouncing, just like Pepe le Pew in the old cartoons. The one on the right here is doing just that.
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
fallow deer season
It's the beginning of the fallow deer mating season. I'm spending as much time out in the woods as I can squeeze in. This year I've set myself the goal of getting a good action shot of two males battling.
Unfortunately I've had no luck just yet. I did get a male jumping a canal twice and I've managed some good shots of female deer.
This one violates a few rules. There's really too much foreground in focus and the background is not as quiet as I would have liked it. Despite that I like it, the contrast in colours between foreground, deer and background work for me.
Unfortunately I've had no luck just yet. I did get a male jumping a canal twice and I've managed some good shots of female deer.
This one violates a few rules. There's really too much foreground in focus and the background is not as quiet as I would have liked it. Despite that I like it, the contrast in colours between foreground, deer and background work for me.
Saturday, October 02, 2010
I didn't expect this
Normally I get maybe one stream crossing per year. This is the second one in a week or so. This guy was drinking and suddenly he decided he wanted to be on the other side.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
How did a deer cross the stream?
Is this too dark?
I was tracking this guy trough my viewfinder hoping for a nice silhouette when he disappeared behind a few trees. Heard him grunt and expected him to wander off when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw him amble towards the canal, turned around and just had time to fire a few quick frames.
I was tracking this guy trough my viewfinder hoping for a nice silhouette when he disappeared behind a few trees. Heard him grunt and expected him to wander off when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw him amble towards the canal, turned around and just had time to fire a few quick frames.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
helmet
I like shots like this. Relatively easy and stil fun. Metered on the helmet and knew I would get the guy in the dark.
Friday, September 03, 2010
Nokia 5800 ebook reader
ZXReader, the only decent choice for reading ebooks on a touchscreen nokia such as the 5800 has reached the 2.0 version.
I've just done some quick testing. Default screen font is very big but once you set that to something smaller it's very readable.
Initial testing also indicate that it now (finally) allows you to read fb2 files without character set issues.
Now if only that project managed to translate their webpage.
You can get it here: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fzxstyles.allnokia.ru%2Fzxreader.php
ZXReader, the only decent choice for reading ebooks on a touchscreen nokia such as the 5800 has reached the 2.0 version.
I've just done some quick testing. Default screen font is very big but once you set that to something smaller it's very readable.
Initial testing also indicate that it now (finally) allows you to read fb2 files without character set issues.
Now if only that project managed to translate their webpage.
You can get it here: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fzxstyles.allnokia.ru%2Fzxreader.php
Monday, August 30, 2010
If you can shoot a swallow feeding it's fledglings without landing then this should not pose much of a challenge. And it wasn't. Only real challenge was pointing my camera at the right spot of water, you never really know where they will jump.
Since this was some distance away I just went manual focus and set the lens to infinity.
Settings:
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture f/10.0
Focal Length 200 mm
ISO Speed 400
I just had to ignore some annoying people in front of me that couldn't appreciate a D300 going at a high speed burst.
Since this was some distance away I just went manual focus and set the lens to infinity.
Settings:
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture f/10.0
Focal Length 200 mm
ISO Speed 400
I just had to ignore some annoying people in front of me that couldn't appreciate a D300 going at a high speed burst.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Doesn't that sound like a ubuntu version?
I was in the Dolfinarium, our dutch version of seaworld but a lot smaller.
Anyway, places like that where food is sold and eaten you find house sparrows. Usually mangy little birds that clearly show they live on junkfood. Not this little lady, a healthy looking bird taking a few seconds to enjoy the sun while the whole clan is busy getting the seeds from these plants.
I really like this shot, it's extremely rare for me to find a small bird such as this relaxed enough to display this kind of behaviour.
I was in the Dolfinarium, our dutch version of seaworld but a lot smaller.
Anyway, places like that where food is sold and eaten you find house sparrows. Usually mangy little birds that clearly show they live on junkfood. Not this little lady, a healthy looking bird taking a few seconds to enjoy the sun while the whole clan is busy getting the seeds from these plants.
I really like this shot, it's extremely rare for me to find a small bird such as this relaxed enough to display this kind of behaviour.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Back to shooting deer
Or, sometimes it comes together. After my earlier success I did something really well when I came back from vacation and did my first sanity walk.
First I met this big fallow, ehh, fellow:
Exposure 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 300 mm
ISO Speed 1600
And a few minutes later this nice roe deer male came out of the undergrowth, stood there looking at me and continued it's way.
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 300 mm
ISO Speed 400
It's these things that the 70-300 VR does very well on the D300. Not too small, not too far away. I am quite proud of these. The fallow deer stands out well from the background and the roe is so typical for the way you often see this species.
Or, sometimes it comes together. After my earlier success I did something really well when I came back from vacation and did my first sanity walk.
First I met this big fallow, ehh, fellow:
Exposure 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 300 mm
ISO Speed 1600
And a few minutes later this nice roe deer male came out of the undergrowth, stood there looking at me and continued it's way.
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 300 mm
ISO Speed 400
It's these things that the 70-300 VR does very well on the D300. Not too small, not too far away. I am quite proud of these. The fallow deer stands out well from the background and the roe is so typical for the way you often see this species.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Sandisk Sansa Clip+ review
A review of the Sandisk Sansa Clip+ 4gb mp3 player.
Over the last year or so my taste in music has changed dramatically. From a lot of pop, rock and country I've shifted to classical, opera and jazz. A taste in music that my old player, a Creative Zen V plus, could not cope with well. So it was time for a new device.
Last of a dying breed?
At least, so it sometimes seems to me. Look around in any shop and you will see multimedia devices in abundance, capable of playing videos, games and who knows what else? Devices dedicated to playing just music are becoming a rare breed.
Sandisk? Don't they make memory cards?
Yes they do, good and expensive cards. But they also make a series of fine mp3 players. I found this particular model trough a lot of searching and settled on it after reading this:
http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2009/08/sandisk-sansa-clip-plus-review.php
So, what do you get?
Well, for not quite 50 euros I got a player, a set of cheap earbuds and a standard look usb-mini usb cable. Oh, and a manual in just about every European language.
What does it look like?
Tiny. A very prominent screen, slot on the right for a micro sd card, the same card used in almost all mobile phones, headphone connector. Tiny powerswitch on top and that's it. Oh, and a clip of course, integrated in the player.
Using it
Well, that's what's important isn't it? If you bought it for the looks you should have bought an ipod.
At first power-on it asks you the language you want to use and the region of the world. If you select Europe then you will get a volume limiter to prevent hearing damage.
There's a few free tracks included which I wiped immediately.
Transfering data is a matter of hooking it up to your computer, waiting a few moments and that's it. After that you can either use mediaplayer or another specialized tool such as mediamonkey or you can simply copy/paste with a file manager like windows explorer.
I loaded the device with a mix of medium and high quality mp3 files and a few flac files, plugged in my trusty sennheiser pmx-60, fiddled briefly with the album selector and settled down for a good listen.
OK, wow! Or WOW! Now, this bit is hard to describe. Clarity, pureness, depth. Suddenly a 192kb mp3 file sounds a bit mediocre, higher bitrates sound a lot better but with FLAC it really shines. This unit can easily give the kenwood set in my living room a run for it's money.
I compared this with a current generation Ipod touch. It's very close, mainly a matter of taste. Personally I think the Clip+ sounds just a bit better, crispier.
Sound quality aside, there's more to like. The clip is designed very well, you will not loose this, even in the gym. The control buttons work, providing just enough feedback. The screen is readable enough in the sun. The player charges with every standard mini-USB charger. Unlike the creative players which force you to buy a special charger this works with everything.
Conclusion
Costing only 40% of an ipod touch the Sansa Clip+ brings impressive sound quality in a very manageable package. If you just want to listen to your music and you value sound quality more than buying the same mediaplayer everyone else has then this is highly recommended!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Swallows in flight
I've seen swallows in flight quite a few times. Up until recently they proved to be very elusive models since the average swallow has a very erratic and rather random flight path. Combine that with their small size and high speed (I am going to do my very best not to quote Monty Python in this post!)
So, what I ended up with was a lot of blurry pictures of landscape where a swallow had just passed.
Untill a few weeks ago during our holliday in Somerset. There on the roof of a pub I noticed three fledgling barn swallows making an incredible amount of noise. Then I saw one of the parents swoop down and very quickly stuff a morsel of food into the fledglings. Despite having consumed most of a pint of Cotleigh's "snowy" ale already on an empty stomach I managed to get my camera out of the car and shoot a few frames.
Now this was at 1730 on a very overcast afternoon. Not much light. I quickly found out that I needed 1/2000 to freeze the action which ment shooting at high iso and almost wide open. Even at 300mm I had to crop so I ended up running Dfine 2.0 to remove the worst of the noise.
(all pics clickable)
Despite the obvious shortcomings I think these are excellent examples of behavioural pictures, they show behaviour that you don't see all that often or easily.
I've seen swallows in flight quite a few times. Up until recently they proved to be very elusive models since the average swallow has a very erratic and rather random flight path. Combine that with their small size and high speed (I am going to do my very best not to quote Monty Python in this post!)
So, what I ended up with was a lot of blurry pictures of landscape where a swallow had just passed.
Untill a few weeks ago during our holliday in Somerset. There on the roof of a pub I noticed three fledgling barn swallows making an incredible amount of noise. Then I saw one of the parents swoop down and very quickly stuff a morsel of food into the fledglings. Despite having consumed most of a pint of Cotleigh's "snowy" ale already on an empty stomach I managed to get my camera out of the car and shoot a few frames.
Now this was at 1730 on a very overcast afternoon. Not much light. I quickly found out that I needed 1/2000 to freeze the action which ment shooting at high iso and almost wide open. Even at 300mm I had to crop so I ended up running Dfine 2.0 to remove the worst of the noise.
(all pics clickable)
Despite the obvious shortcomings I think these are excellent examples of behavioural pictures, they show behaviour that you don't see all that often or easily.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
It's diffiicult to avoid
A black and white conversion if you're dealing with steam engines. However in this case it wasn't because I wanted to emphasize the mood. No, I just had to deal with a high contrast and a blown sky. I n color I just didn't get the emphases on the three guys.
Monday, August 02, 2010
Intense pictures from the Vietnam war
Found this via nikonrumors which featured it because #19 is a photographer with a Nikon. All the rest is interesting as well.
And a free documentary on frontline photograhper Robert King:
Watch more free documentaries
Found this via nikonrumors which featured it because #19 is a photographer with a Nikon. All the rest is interesting as well.
And a free documentary on frontline photograhper Robert King:
Watch more free documentaries
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Crossing the channel
After our summer holliday in Cornwall last year turned out to be very nice we decided to go back this year.
First thing to solve is how to cross the channel. Last year's ferry crossings where somewhat less than a spectacular success. On the crossing from Calais to Dover we had to wait aboard the ferry for more than an hour because of a problem with the moorings in Dover.
Add to that the fact that you are herded from your car to the upper deck where there's a load of overpriced shops and restaurants and bars and very little possibilities to sit quietly. Throw in a mix of unwashed truck drivers who lie down wherever they can and busses full of schoolkids, half of them acting like getting an ASBO is a more important ambition that actually graduating school.
Oh, and most of the family gets seasick on a ferry.
So, this year the train, the tunnel or the chunnel or whatever else you want to call the eurotunnel. I loved it. You drive up, your number plate is scanned, you confirm your departure time. There's time to visit the toilettes in the terminal building (unlike the ferries the terminal building is cleaned at least a few times a day) and you drive your car in the train just like this. Relax for half an hour and drive away in Dover.
First thing to solve is how to cross the channel. Last year's ferry crossings where somewhat less than a spectacular success. On the crossing from Calais to Dover we had to wait aboard the ferry for more than an hour because of a problem with the moorings in Dover.
Add to that the fact that you are herded from your car to the upper deck where there's a load of overpriced shops and restaurants and bars and very little possibilities to sit quietly. Throw in a mix of unwashed truck drivers who lie down wherever they can and busses full of schoolkids, half of them acting like getting an ASBO is a more important ambition that actually graduating school.
Oh, and most of the family gets seasick on a ferry.
So, this year the train, the tunnel or the chunnel or whatever else you want to call the eurotunnel. I loved it. You drive up, your number plate is scanned, you confirm your departure time. There's time to visit the toilettes in the terminal building (unlike the ferries the terminal building is cleaned at least a few times a day) and you drive your car in the train just like this. Relax for half an hour and drive away in Dover.
Saturday, July 03, 2010
Esther staring out the window
Somehow my 50mm f1.8 and the light in my kitchen work so very well together. Like this shot. Focussed on the eye. Ran the pic trough capture nx, applied a touch of skin softner and a bit of glamour glow and this is the result. I like it!
Friday, July 02, 2010
Reality check
For lack of a better word let's call it that.
Anyone who spends any time around the major photography sites on the internet will notice there's an almost insane obsession with gear. We want top notch, a lot of us are willing to pay a lot of money for it and when we don't get what we want the first reaction is to throw money at it.
Now take a look at this:
Of course it's not serious, it's poking fun at a certain kind of photographer. But, let's be honest, how many of us haven't been in this frame of mind a little bit at one time or another?
Now let's take this one.
It's kinda long but this guy says a few very good things.
Of course sometimes the conclusion that you are expecting unreasonable things from your gear. Take this one.
Shot at iso 800 and a severe crop. ISo 800 will already show noise. A high contrast situation such as this will only make that worse. At a crop and you will see even more noise.
Conclusion. Lower the iso and bring my monopod. Or get closer. Or replace the 70-300 by something longer.
For lack of a better word let's call it that.
Anyone who spends any time around the major photography sites on the internet will notice there's an almost insane obsession with gear. We want top notch, a lot of us are willing to pay a lot of money for it and when we don't get what we want the first reaction is to throw money at it.
Now take a look at this:
Of course it's not serious, it's poking fun at a certain kind of photographer. But, let's be honest, how many of us haven't been in this frame of mind a little bit at one time or another?
Now let's take this one.
It's kinda long but this guy says a few very good things.
- know your gear
- if you buy a new lens get to know it before buying another one
- visualize your shots
Of course sometimes the conclusion that you are expecting unreasonable things from your gear. Take this one.
Shot at iso 800 and a severe crop. ISo 800 will already show noise. A high contrast situation such as this will only make that worse. At a crop and you will see even more noise.
Conclusion. Lower the iso and bring my monopod. Or get closer. Or replace the 70-300 by something longer.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Sometimes techincal perfection doesn't matter as much as mood
At least, that's what I think when I view this shot. Early morning, not much light. There's noise, I probably didn't get the best out of it in photoshop and still..
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Getting out of your photographic comfort zone.
I think it's important to get out of your photographic comfort zone once in a while. Most amateur photographers, myself included, start out shooting absolutely everything they see. After a while they focus a bit more on a few subjects, take the occasional foray in unknown territory and find a niche they are comfortable with. For me that's nature and birds.
Recently I decided, together with a friend, to go to a motor cross event in a nearby village. Loads of people, noise, action, quite the opposite of what I usually do.
It took me a few minutes to get used to it all but then all the practice I put into shooting birds in flights started to pay off. I got an almost 90% keeper rate on most of the action.
But then the composition challenge started to hit me. How on earth do you shoot something that will interest other people? Get any sort of emotional reaction?
So I started to look for patterns.
But it's hard! Everything moves all the time.
In the end I decided to put it off as a learning experience. Technical proficiency doesn't mean interesting pictures. It takes some creativity and a good eye for what's going on around you. It also made me realize that I enjoy my niches much more. When I see this:
I get a sense of, well, fulfilment, joy, no matter what you want to call it. This is the kind of photography I want to do and excel at. And, since it's a hobby and not a profession I can do it and I can continue trying to improve myself.
I think it's important to get out of your photographic comfort zone once in a while. Most amateur photographers, myself included, start out shooting absolutely everything they see. After a while they focus a bit more on a few subjects, take the occasional foray in unknown territory and find a niche they are comfortable with. For me that's nature and birds.
Recently I decided, together with a friend, to go to a motor cross event in a nearby village. Loads of people, noise, action, quite the opposite of what I usually do.
It took me a few minutes to get used to it all but then all the practice I put into shooting birds in flights started to pay off. I got an almost 90% keeper rate on most of the action.
But then the composition challenge started to hit me. How on earth do you shoot something that will interest other people? Get any sort of emotional reaction?
So I started to look for patterns.
But it's hard! Everything moves all the time.
In the end I decided to put it off as a learning experience. Technical proficiency doesn't mean interesting pictures. It takes some creativity and a good eye for what's going on around you. It also made me realize that I enjoy my niches much more. When I see this:
I get a sense of, well, fulfilment, joy, no matter what you want to call it. This is the kind of photography I want to do and excel at. And, since it's a hobby and not a profession I can do it and I can continue trying to improve myself.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
I'd forgotten how much fun macro can be
I had a spare 20 minutes this morning and I decided to see if there was anything interesting to shoot in my garden. Now that the summer progresses it's becoming more and more difficult to get good bird shots. Foliage gets in your way and with the weather we've had the last few weeks there is an abundance of food so they no longer need to come and beg in my garden.
So, I decided to dust of my Tokina 100mm f2.8 macro and go insect hunting. Immediately I was reminded of the difficulties that you face when shooting insects. DoF is very, very shallow, with macro F8 is pretty much wide open. Your models don't sit still and even the slightest movement on the part of the photographer cause an out of focus picture.
I got out my monopod, adjusted the length and move the head far down and went hunting. Focussing tends to go best manually.
This is a bumblebee snacking on the chives flowers in my herb garden. Nice combination, chives is a tasty herb, goes great in an omelette, can endure harsh winters and it flowers intensely. Bumblebees are also good. Good natured little girls, won't harm any humans unless you really, really corner them.
So, I decided to dust of my Tokina 100mm f2.8 macro and go insect hunting. Immediately I was reminded of the difficulties that you face when shooting insects. DoF is very, very shallow, with macro F8 is pretty much wide open. Your models don't sit still and even the slightest movement on the part of the photographer cause an out of focus picture.
I got out my monopod, adjusted the length and move the head far down and went hunting. Focussing tends to go best manually.
This is a bumblebee snacking on the chives flowers in my herb garden. Nice combination, chives is a tasty herb, goes great in an omelette, can endure harsh winters and it flowers intensely. Bumblebees are also good. Good natured little girls, won't harm any humans unless you really, really corner them.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Nikon predictions 2010
If there's one thing common on all the gearhead forums (dpreview for example) it's the continuing debate of "when will Nikon release something new?" quite often in combination with "I want to buy a D-whatever but am afraid that something new will come out just after I bought it".
The latter seems silly to me, the current lineup (with the exception of the Nikon D3000 perhaps) is so good that any camera will still be good enough for 99% of the users even after Nikon has released their latest model.
Having said that, here are my predictions for 2010:
Based on history as I remember it and my gut instinct.
D90 follow-up
(your guess is as good as mine as to the name of that one) sometime mid this year. I'd expected it already but end September at the latest. Slightly more mega pixels perhaps, (14mpix Sony sensor perhaps) certainly a big jump in video capabilities to full HD. A stop more usable high iso if we are lucky but I doubt that.
D3000 replacement
In my opinion this is desperately needed. It's the black sheep in the line-up with that old sensor from the D60. Don't expect video there but it needs to beat the Canon 1000D. Knowing Nikon it may not materialize this year if at all. I suspect a lack of a proper camera is hurting them more than they may realize. On any gearhead forum people will advice against buying this so first time buyers go out and get a Sony or a Canon instead and stick with that brand if they like the hobby.
D700S:
Tricky to predict. I'd expect something that fixes the few flaws in the D700 and at the same time will try to hit the 7D/ 5dmk2 segment of the market hard but which will fail to compete on price.
Nikon EVIL
(EVIL stands for electronic viewfinder interchangeable lens. These cameras are now also being called m 4/3 even though that's Olympus' solution for this class.)
After the succes of the olympus Pen other companies jumped on this bandwagon. Sony has just entered this market with two cameras. Based on that and recent patent applications I expect Nikon to enter this market as well.
I'm 99.9% sure Nikon has prototyped this already. I suspect the first iteration encountered technical or marketing problems and had to have some major rework done. I still expect this in Q3. If it does reach the market by then it may very well mean the end of the D3000 part of the lineup.
Lenses
Difficult to predict. I'd expect a 80-400 follow-up and the rumours of a 24-120 replacement in f4 are too strong to ignore. Possibly a medium long tele prime early next year (135Ãsh with VR but without DC)
I expect no new kit lenses and nothing really surprising in DX although I suspect quite a few people at Nikon are wondering how they can exploit and repeat the 35mm f1.8 G success even further since the 85mm f3.5 micro doesn't seem to be nearly the success Nikon has hoped for.
Flashes:
A SB-600 follow-up is long overdue. Outside chance that if the EVIL does reach the market there will be a baby SB-400 especially for that.
Other goodies
Hopefully Nikon will realize there's a huge demand for good software as well. View NX is horrible as a catalog tool and Capture NX is expensive and not well suited for bulk work.
In an ideal world we would get a workable View NX and a free Capture NX lite and we would see the prices of a full featured Capture NX positioned to undercut Lightroom.
If you want more predictions head over to Nikon Rumors.
If there's one thing common on all the gearhead forums (dpreview for example) it's the continuing debate of "when will Nikon release something new?" quite often in combination with "I want to buy a D-whatever but am afraid that something new will come out just after I bought it".
The latter seems silly to me, the current lineup (with the exception of the Nikon D3000 perhaps) is so good that any camera will still be good enough for 99% of the users even after Nikon has released their latest model.
Having said that, here are my predictions for 2010:
Based on history as I remember it and my gut instinct.
D90 follow-up
(your guess is as good as mine as to the name of that one) sometime mid this year. I'd expected it already but end September at the latest. Slightly more mega pixels perhaps, (14mpix Sony sensor perhaps) certainly a big jump in video capabilities to full HD. A stop more usable high iso if we are lucky but I doubt that.
D3000 replacement
In my opinion this is desperately needed. It's the black sheep in the line-up with that old sensor from the D60. Don't expect video there but it needs to beat the Canon 1000D. Knowing Nikon it may not materialize this year if at all. I suspect a lack of a proper camera is hurting them more than they may realize. On any gearhead forum people will advice against buying this so first time buyers go out and get a Sony or a Canon instead and stick with that brand if they like the hobby.
D700S:
Tricky to predict. I'd expect something that fixes the few flaws in the D700 and at the same time will try to hit the 7D/ 5dmk2 segment of the market hard but which will fail to compete on price.
Nikon EVIL
(EVIL stands for electronic viewfinder interchangeable lens. These cameras are now also being called m 4/3 even though that's Olympus' solution for this class.)
After the succes of the olympus Pen other companies jumped on this bandwagon. Sony has just entered this market with two cameras. Based on that and recent patent applications I expect Nikon to enter this market as well.
I'm 99.9% sure Nikon has prototyped this already. I suspect the first iteration encountered technical or marketing problems and had to have some major rework done. I still expect this in Q3. If it does reach the market by then it may very well mean the end of the D3000 part of the lineup.
Lenses
Difficult to predict. I'd expect a 80-400 follow-up and the rumours of a 24-120 replacement in f4 are too strong to ignore. Possibly a medium long tele prime early next year (135Ãsh with VR but without DC)
I expect no new kit lenses and nothing really surprising in DX although I suspect quite a few people at Nikon are wondering how they can exploit and repeat the 35mm f1.8 G success even further since the 85mm f3.5 micro doesn't seem to be nearly the success Nikon has hoped for.
Flashes:
A SB-600 follow-up is long overdue. Outside chance that if the EVIL does reach the market there will be a baby SB-400 especially for that.
Other goodies
Hopefully Nikon will realize there's a huge demand for good software as well. View NX is horrible as a catalog tool and Capture NX is expensive and not well suited for bulk work.
In an ideal world we would get a workable View NX and a free Capture NX lite and we would see the prices of a full featured Capture NX positioned to undercut Lightroom.
If you want more predictions head over to Nikon Rumors.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
One of the nice things of my new office location
Is a wooded area with a lot of birds. There's nesting blue tits. I've spotted a woodpecker. The most common waterbirds. According to http://observado.org/index.php there's even some rarer species of woodpecker and Kingfishers have also been spotted.
Of course shooting these small birds with a 70-300 in a densely wooded area at the middle of the day is tricky to say the least.
Of course shooting these small birds with a 70-300 in a densely wooded area at the middle of the day is tricky to say the least.
Friday, May 14, 2010
How I feel right now
Yep, this symbolizes it rather well.
I start therapy on Monday, bit apprehensive on one hand but also very looking forward to it. We'll see.
I start therapy on Monday, bit apprehensive on one hand but also very looking forward to it. We'll see.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Bird photography, putting in backyard practice.
Any regular reader must know by now that I'm trying to improve my nature photography and that I am putting in a lot of practice to get better at bird shooting. The reason for that is simple, there's a lot more birds, both in species and numbers, to shoot here than mammals or other big animals.
Last night after dinner I noticed that the house sparrows had managed to empty the feeder in 24 hours. Since I am low on seed for the feeder I decided to get some stale bread, cut it really fine and treat the birds to that. Soon after I noticed that this totally changed their flight patterns, from their usual hops to and from the feeder they now went on different routes. Why not put in a bit of practice? There wasn't much light left but I could still practice framing and focussing.
I was right, this is good practice and it's fun too!
I especially like these three showing typical house sparrow behaviour. After the young have left the nest you can still see them begging for food from their parents. Af first they will always give in to the begging but after some days they are left to fend for themselves. I think there's a bit of a teaching aspect as well, the chicks watch from a safe place and see their parents swoop down and pick up food.
Pics clickable for bigger version. Everything Nikon D300 + 70-300 VR
Any regular reader must know by now that I'm trying to improve my nature photography and that I am putting in a lot of practice to get better at bird shooting. The reason for that is simple, there's a lot more birds, both in species and numbers, to shoot here than mammals or other big animals.
Last night after dinner I noticed that the house sparrows had managed to empty the feeder in 24 hours. Since I am low on seed for the feeder I decided to get some stale bread, cut it really fine and treat the birds to that. Soon after I noticed that this totally changed their flight patterns, from their usual hops to and from the feeder they now went on different routes. Why not put in a bit of practice? There wasn't much light left but I could still practice framing and focussing.
I was right, this is good practice and it's fun too!
I especially like these three showing typical house sparrow behaviour. After the young have left the nest you can still see them begging for food from their parents. Af first they will always give in to the begging but after some days they are left to fend for themselves. I think there's a bit of a teaching aspect as well, the chicks watch from a safe place and see their parents swoop down and pick up food.
Pics clickable for bigger version. Everything Nikon D300 + 70-300 VR
Ridiculous contest rules.
As you can see at the top of the page I am trying to participate in a nikon sponsored contest. Unfortunately I made the mistake of choosing a contest where the first round is a popularity contest. And I just don't have the social network for that.
Take this shot: http://www.whoareyouwithnikon.nl/index.php?a=inzending&code=4be2a464a53bc still top of the list. And this http://www.whoareyouwithnikon.nl/index.php?a=inzending&code=4be42edc38d67 is stuck at 5 votes.
That's no photography contest, that's just a popularity poll.
I'll pull those widgets tomorrow.
As you can see at the top of the page I am trying to participate in a nikon sponsored contest. Unfortunately I made the mistake of choosing a contest where the first round is a popularity contest. And I just don't have the social network for that.
Take this shot: http://www.whoareyouwithnikon.nl/index.php?a=inzending&code=4be2a464a53bc still top of the list. And this http://www.whoareyouwithnikon.nl/index.php?a=inzending&code=4be42edc38d67 is stuck at 5 votes.
That's no photography contest, that's just a popularity poll.
I'll pull those widgets tomorrow.
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