New Diana Krall album out

I’ve waited quite a few months for this but Diana Krall’s latest album quiet nights is out now. Diana Krall is one of my favorite jazz artists, I just wish she’d release more live material. She’s good in the studio but really shines onstage.

It’s a lovely, very relaxed bossa nova album. Mostly classics done very well. One nice twist is that she’s recorded the boy from Ipanema.

If you’re into Diana Krall I’d certainly check it out.

My love

Snapshot
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

I've taken the trouble to map yesterday's walk in google earth. It's about 8km long and starts and ends at the zandvoortselaan entrance of the waterleidingduinen.

Everyone can enjoy nature!

Everyone can enjoy nature!
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

When I was finishing my walk I encountered this couple. To me it shows that everyone can enjoy nature.

vintage klm scheme

vintage klm scheme
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

Here's something you don't see every day. A Klm 737-800 in the old color scheme as was used in the 1950s and 1960s.

Dad

Dad
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

Pic I'm proud of. Light from three fluorescents above the table. Shot at iso 1600 with a 40 year old 135mm 2.8.

And of course I love the model here, after all, it's my dad!

misty trees

misty trees
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

Went to work today, noticed it was a foggy morning so I grabbed the camera. Noticed this on my way to the office. Did a bit of cropping to get the thirds working here. I do need to work on exposing these properly, I had to push contrast and correct a stop of underexposure.

Yellowstone park has just made it on my list of places I'd like to visit before I die. I am watching a documentary on BBC about winter in yellowstone. Impressive is a massive understatement. Wow, the animals, the vast landscape empty of anything manmade! And come on, who wouldn't want to take a picture like this:

layered clouds

layered clouds
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

Boring perhaps at first look and I like it. Three layers there, a few diagonals, nice colors. Works for me.

DSC_2983 copy_kodak_t-max_3200_sepia-gold
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

DxO Filmpack, lovely plugin! It allows you to emulate film in photoshop and does so very nicely. This shot was done with the Kodak t-max 3200 emulation and a sepia gold toning. Lovely effect, I wish I could shoot film this well.

The light here was all natural, trough the window, trough the hallway and between the stairs. I was inspired by some 1930s soviet pictures. Next time I just have to remember to take down that picture in the background.

Shot was with a 100mm tokina 2.8 on my trusty Nikon D50.

chasing your dream

chasing your dream
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

Esther has wanted a saxophone for quite some time now. Today she bought one. I was amazed that she could play scales within a few minutes.

Came home today

in his room
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

Went upstairs and noticed Bas sitting at his table. Ran back down to grab my camera and managed this. Lousy light of course so I kicked it to iso1600 and opened wide.
Tried a bit of crossprocessing to see if it works.

Sunday morning rowing

Sunday morning rowing
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

A pair of rowboats in the ringvaart on a sunday morning.

I made a metering error which resulted in an almost monochrome picture. To add a bit of variety I've used capture to add a tobacco colored gradient to the sky.

Not my best work but I sort of like it. I also realize it's definitely going to be too understated to appeal to the flicker masses. Well, so be it.

D50 vs D300 part 2

D50 vs D300 part 2
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

And with the D50

D50 vs D300 part 2

D50 vs D300 part 2
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

D300

It's all a matter of taste.

DSC_2751 copy
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

D300 test revisited.

Thanks to some very nice people I've had a chance to do some more comparative testing between the D50, D90 and D300 and with various telezooms on all three. We did some test shooting on a dark indoor kart circuit and on a living room table filled with nikon gear.

Initial impressions:

D50:
AF system performs surprisingly well with a 70-200 2.8 VR in near darkness. iso1600 is somewhat noisy but the noise is nicely distributed.

D90:
Straight out of the box the blacks seem somewhat over intense. Costs detail, especially in shadows.


D300:
Lovely neutral colors, almost identical to the D50, little less warmth. AF system performs well, even with a simple telezoom such as my 70-300 Sigma. Seems to have just that bit more detail if you look closely.

More tomorrow.

dynamic range

dynamic range
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

Went for a walk in the waterleidingduinen. Blistering cold wind, remains of a hailstorm still on the ground. Lovely! Then I looked back and saw this.

what to think of this

grass
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

I took it very deliberately. Did a fine job processing it if I say so myself. Stuck in on flickr and it hardly attracts any attention. Is it boring or soothing? I'm not sure yet.

went for a walk in the forest

for a walk in the forest
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

This morning and suddenly I noticed this. Took a quick snapshot and this is what I got. A second or two later the situations had totally changed.

I did push the contrast a bit.