I rather call it a 3D cutout because I think it is a better description for the end result. Anyhow I like the effect a lot and more will follow

For me this was the first tryout and I still see many hurdles to take before I get the image that I want. But hey practice makes perfect. Just let me know what you think of this one.

NorthSeaJazz2011-50.jpg

North Sea Jazz Festival, July 10th 2011.
It was five years ago when I went to the North Sea Jazz Festival for the last time. So I was happy when I got invited by my mate. I looked forward to all the good music and the opportunity to take some nice shots

Most of all I loved the fact that Prince was doing a full show. It was many years ago that I saw a live performance by Prince, so just that, was already worth a visit. But also the other artists that we saw were more then just entertaining.

It all started with the preparation of my camera kit. What to bring, and where to put it. This year they only allowed compact camera’s or camera’s with fixed lenses. Personally i do not see the reasoning behind this. If you look at the quality and options of the modern compact camera’s. Some of them can easily compete with some ‘not so old’ DSLR’s. But anyways, I decided to take my Canon 5D Mark I body with a 50mm prime lens. (the smallest configuration), and my Canon G12. I gave my 70-200mm lens to my mate, who putted it in his bag.

The check at the entrance was though but I was terrible lucky that the doorkeepers were paying attention to some visitors that started a discussion. So they let me pass without a real check. So we were inside. We enjoyed Raphael Saadiq, Tea for 3 (with Dave Douglas, Enrico Rava and Avishai Cohen), and of course Snoop Dogg, one of my favorite subjects to photograph. Nowhere we were bothered whilst taking pictures. Below some examples of the shots, I was able to take.

NorthSeaJazz2011-1.jpg

NorthSeaJazz2011-11.jpg

NorthSeaJazz2011-24.jpg

NorthSeaJazz2011-26.jpg

NorthSeaJazz2011-7.jpg

NorthSeaJazz2011-9.jpg

For prince we had to leave the main building and went to the large arena. And again a checkpoint. This time they even warned that no audio or video equipment was allowed inside. So not even a compact camera. This was not how it was stated on the website of NSJ.

Again i was lucky at the checkpoint. We were inside. This time it was a lot harder to take some nice shots. Mostly due to the light that Prince used during his show. I managed to take shots, and for the setting we were in I am more then happy with the result. But all was nothing compared to the show. I loved it, and I was real happy that I was part of it

NorthSeaJazz2011-31.jpg

NorthSeaJazz2011-34.jpg

NorthSeaJazz2011-45.jpg

NorthSeaJazz2011-46.jpg

NorthSeaJazz2011-48.jpg

NorthSeaJazz2011-55.jpg

For more photos, just click on one of them to go to the gallery

Nicki Studio 2011-10.jpg

Nicki Studio 2011-2.jpg

A year has passed and I thought it would be fun to re-shoot a studio session I did with Nickita, my daughter, a year ago. Unfortunately we were not able to let her wear the same dress (little girls grow fast), but at least I was able to use the same props.

The biggest difference I noticed was the fact that she was more aware of what we were doing. At moments this resulted in her playing a role as she was acting. Another side effect was that it was even harder to keep her attention. There were moments she wanted to walk away to start playing with her toys. So we had to dose the amount of time we were actually shooting.

With a little help of mom we managed to get the required shot (for her birthday card). Below there are a few more shot made during the shoot. If you want to see more just click on one of the photos to go to the gallery.

Nicki Studio 2011-7.jpg

Nicki Studio 2011-12.jpg

Nicki Studio 2011-3.jpg

Nicki Studio 2011-6.jpg

Keeps me wondering why I never received instructions with the product……

IMG_3468

[Canon 5D Mark I, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L USM Macro, 2 Speedlight flashes]
Click in the photo the see the complete gallery

IMG_3793

I have been playing again with my little puppets. I still have this idea in my head, but it doesn’t seem to come out the way that I imagine. So I keep fooling around and I am sure that at the end I will get the image from my head to the screen.

Last autumn my daughter found a branch in the forest with a little mushroom attached to it. We took it home, and I could borrow it from her to take some shots. Again I tried to get the setting right and hoped I could get the picture from my brain to the screen. And I am pretty pleased with the end result.

The light comes from my desk-lamp (halogen light) and the blue background is a blue piece of carton. So no fancy stuff in the actual setup. The photos are shot with my 100mm macro lens and the Canon 5D Mark I.

IMG_3922-bewerkt

IMG_3946

IMG_3958-bewerkt

In Adobe Lightroom is adjusted the saturation and the blacks to get a bit more spice. Again I do like the end result but it is still not the same picture that lives in my head. So I will keep trying and am sure I will get there in the end.

IMG_3215

We also went to the zoo (Artis in Amsterdam) where we visited the butterfly garden. This is paradise for the close-up fans. Sometimes the butterflies even land on your shoulder, which can be frustrating and wonderful at the same time. (You have a nice close-up view but it is impossible to take a nice shot) We went together with Nicki, my daughter, so it was not really possible to concentrate on the pictures, so this is definitely a place to go back to (when i am alone)

Nicki 2jaar 10mnd A [97] 2011-0238

Click on the photos to go to gallery

Nicki 3jaar 4mnd A [109] 2011-0538.jpg

[Canon 5D Mark II - Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM - Canon Speedlite 580EX II with diffuser]

So here it is. I have been busting my head for a long time on how to get around the issue of spending way too much money on an expensive drip installation and an electric trigger system.

And finally I saw the light. I needed a medical drip. So I started my search on the net and it took me a while to realize that it was a quest with no end. III asked around if someone knew somebody that had access to medical supplies. But no luck.

IMG_6224.jpg

IMG_6225.jpg

IMG_6226.jpg

IMG_6227.jpg

Finally I found a website here in Holland that would sell drips to private an address. But only the drip system and not the bags that you need to fill up with liquid.

I decided that I would figure something out and ordered two sets. When I received the package I opened it as soon as possible and examined the system. Never paid any attention to stuff like this so did not know what to expect. Luckily one end had a thick sharp end, and I figured that I would be able to push this thru the cap of a lemonade bottle. And so I did.

I filled the bottle with water and found out that it was not working. I took a while to realize that I needed an extra hole in the other end of the bottle to let air in. And guess what, I had a system that produced drips that I could regulate.

So still no trigger system. I decided to go with the old fashion system – good luck.

See below for my first umbrella drops. Next phase will be to get the lighting right and the background / color. So still more to discover.

IMG_3719.jpg

IMG_3725.jpg

IMG_3736.jpg

So basically you have two ways to approach this. (In this example I used a single shot HDR.)

1) Make a HDR of the original and then edit that to black and white
2) Make a black and white edit of the original(s) and turn that to HDR.

In this example I went for option one. Just because that way I only had to produce one black and white edit instead of three. To be honest I can’t tell the differences in result between the two options but that is for a later moment to try out.

See below for the results. (click on the images for the larger versions)
From left to right the original – the original to B&W – HDR – HDR to B&W

rooster_original.jpg

rooster_original-B&W.jpg

rooster_original_HDR.jpg

rooster_original_HDR-B&W.jpg

I love the way how you get the detail back when you use HDR. Just compare the trees from the original edits with the HDR edit (both B&W and color version).

Make sure you get your transformation to B&W correct. I personally am a lazy bastard and have a preset that I use in Silver Efex Pro from NikSoft. (one of my favorite tools) It also gives you the old fashion look by adding the original film grain (based on type of film).

I also like to add extra drama to the image during the B&W transformation. Just play with contrast , levels, etc…

original_crop.jpg

I was looking for a good noise reduction tool. When I looked on the internet it was not clear to me what would be the best program, so I did some testing.

My main goal is to reduce most of the noise without the use of all the fancy settings. Personally I do not hate some noise in my pictures. Probably because I own a Canon 5D which doesn’t generate much noise at all. But the main reason why I’m looking for noise reduction software has to do with HDR. When I generate a HDR image I always get more noise in my images then I wished for. So I am in need of some good noise reduction tool

Don’t expect too much of this mini test. Basically what I did was the following, I opened the original photo with the appropriate program or plug-in (within Adobe Photoshop CS4). If the program or plug-in had an automatic setting I used that. If not I only used the most basic adjustments/settings to get a decent result. Maybe I am just lazy, but hey I don’t want to spend my precious time with reducing noise.

So the image on the top left is a crop of the original HDR file. (the un-cropped image can be found in the following article "HDR Curacao – misty water"). The other images are the results of one of the following tools:

• Noise Ninja 2.2.1 (Stand Alone)
• Noise Ware 2.6 (Stand Alone)
• Noise Ware 4.2 (Photoshop plug-in)
• Photoshop CS4 (Stand Alone)
• Lightroom 3 (Stand Alone)
• NikSoft Dfine 2 (Photoshop plug-in)
• Neat Image Pro 6.0 (Stand Alone)
• Topaz Denoise 4(Photoshop plug-in)

The most important thing for me is that I don’t loose any important details in the photo, so that is one of the things I based my conclusion on. The other important one is of course the reduction of noise. So I used the images below to pick the best tool (for my use)

Conclusion
The build in functionality in Photoshop and Lightroom affect the details too much, so does Dfine from NikSoft and Topaz Denoise. Noise Ninja and Noiseware (the standalone versions) do a good job. For me the Plug-in version of Noiseware disturbs the details a wee bit too much. (which is strange in my opinion because you would think it would give the same result as the standalone). Neat Image was a disappointment to me. I read some good reviews on the net but in my test-case it doesn’t reduce much noise but does affect the details.

So I need to choose between Noise Ninja and Noiseware. Based on the images below I would say Noiseware 2.6 (standalone). Maybe I need to do some more testing with different photos.

Neat Image Pro 6.0.jpg

NikSoft Dfine 2.0 CS4.jpg

Noiseware 2.6 Standalone.jpg

Noiseware 4.2 CS4.jpg

Photoshop CS4.jpg

Topaz Denoise CS4_crop.jpg

lightroom 3.jpg

noise ninja.jpg

Waterdrops mei 2010-022.jpg

Another experiment that I have been working on, water drops. This is still a huge challenge for me. I keep doing something wrong.

The results I get are alright but that is where it ends. I have been reading many tutorials and this has improved the results but I am still not satisfied. There is always something (little) that prevents me of getting the result that I want.

For example, when you look at the pictures in this gallery you will see little white spots in the water. These are little air bubbles that were sticking to the bottom of my glass bowl. And I couldn’t find a way to get rid of them. I do realize, after reading a few more tuts, that I need to use the duration of the flash as exposure time and not the actual exposure time from the camera. So this will be something to play with. I also know now that you don’t need to light the actual water drop but that you need to use the reflection of the light. All little things that you need to be aware of…

Will be continued….

Flowers april 2010-003-bewerkt.jpg

Flowers and Close-up. A nice and relaxing subject…. It is just a way to work and test my close-up objectives and try to improve my Macro skills a wee bit. During spring and summertime we have some nice flowers in the garden which are good subjects to play with. And over and over again i keep getting surprised by the beautiful images you get when you crawl into the heart of flowers.

When I bought my first macro lens (Canon 100mm f/2.8) I started with photographing flowers, and now with the Canon MP-E 65mm in my possession it is even more intriguing to see the wonders of mother nature. In this article just a few examples. Most of the time I am looking for the tiny flowers opposite to the larges species. Just because it is more of a challenge for me to work with these.

Flowers april 2010-004-bewerkt.jpg

Flowers april 2010-014.jpg

Flowers april 2010-017.jpg

What I do know for sure is that there will follow more flower photographs in the future, due to the fact it is so much fun to do. Just click on the photo’s to see the larger versions.

Flower Drops Sept 2009-012.jpg

More experiments with drops of water on flower petals. Or as I like to call them ‘Flowerdrops’.

Don’t ask me why but I love to play with this concept. For starters it is fun to do, and I can learn a lot while trying to beat the problems that I will encounter.

It gives me the opportunity too play with several aspects of photography, think about; Close-up shooting, light setup , composition, and color. So in a very tiny space I can work with all these different factors. Just see it as my mini studio on the dinner table in the kitchen. The only thing that you need to remember is to keep your flowers fresh…

Flower Drops Sept 2009-016.jpg

• Close-up shooting: Static objects, so no moving bugs and other influences from mother nature
• Light setup: You can use small flashed and little pieces of paper, so no big studio lights and soft boxes.
• Composition: It is very important to set the right position, (otherwise the water drop will not show the image of the flowers in the background) So I need to think about composition which is a nice challenge. But also possible because of the small setting
• Color: Most flowers are very colorful, which gives me the opportunity to play with these colors, and the small setting gives me the freedom to easily change backgrounds.

If you keep the above in mind you will be able to create nice pictures. For me it is looking for that little bit extra. And I do realize that I still have many roads in front of me.

Flower Drops Sept 2009-003-bewerkt.jpg

Flower Drops Sept 2009-064.jpg

Flower Drops Sept 2009-033.jpg

Curacao-2010-1631.jpg

While visiting Curacao during our holiday, I had the perfect opportunity to experiment with long exposures and try to get the misty water effect. An effect of which I am a huge fan. I also wanted to combine this effect with another effect, HDR. So I needed long exposures and at least three of them for each photo.

Before we left I have been thinking about buying a variable ND filter, but after reading many reviews on the internet, and learning that the Fader ND from Light Craft Workshop wouldn’t work with most of my Canon lenses and the Singh-Ray was way above my budget, I decided that I should be able to do without.

Curacao 2010-1604_5_6.jpg

I have to say that I wished I had more cash to buy the Singh-Ray filter, because I did miss it. An on the other hand, the people a Light Craft were telling me that they were working on a new version of their filter, but I didn’t know if that would fix my problems (showing a black cross on wide angle Canon lenses) and it would not ship before our departure date so that was no option.

So I had my tripod set on the beach and tried to block some light with my Cokin ND filters. Unfortunately they have a purple color cast so I didn’t try to combine two of these (which will intensify the color cast). You can adjust the white balance to minimize the color cast but you can only do so much. So I ended up with only one Cokin ND8 filter and at the end I achieved 30 seconds for the +2 stop shot on the smallest aperture.

Curacao 2010-1639_40_41.jpg

But only 2,5 seconds for the -2 stop shots. And 2,5 seconds is just too short for the nice misty (long exposure) effect.

So all I could do was hope that combining the the 30 sec. exposure with the 2,5 sec. and the 15 sec. exposure during the HDR process would solve my problem. And at the end it dis, but I am still convinced that I would achieve better results if I can extend the exposure times. So maybe I need to save more money, or set my hopes on the new Mark II filter form the guys at Light Craft. So more reviews to read.

Curacao 2010-1058_59_60-2.jpg

We went on a holiday to Curacao and there I found an old quarantine house on the edge of a cliff it was an abandoned building with rotten floors, but the light was beautiful, so a nice situation for some HDR shots. I was the only person at the location, probably due to the extreme temperature during the day.

Curacao 2010-1015_6_7-bewerkt.jpg

I love the way how the color of the light is effected when the HDR technique is used, especially the shot on the left is a good example of what i am talking about. All shots are three shots (-2, 0, +2 stops) combined in Photomatix. I know it is not standard to have such huge color shift but when you play a bit in Photomatix it is an option at least. In in some situation I just love the effect.

I used a tripod for all the indoor shots. Most shots taken without tripod failed miserably, just because of the simple fact that it is almost impossible to combine a good HDR is you don’t use a steady base.

Curacao 2010-1024_5_6.jpg

Also outside where is enough light to achieve a faster shutter speed it is recommended to use your tripod. Personally I always mess it up and keep thinking that I will survive without. Dumb thought!. I hope I will learn eventually (LOL).

I always try to get the best result from Photomatix without the need to do more adjustments in Photoshop or Lightroom. Some of the photos in this series needed small corrections because I used a width angle lens and I don’t like the curved lines. But that was basically it. Want to see more? Just click on one of the photos and you will be taken to the gallery where you will find more from this serries.

Curacao 2010-1036_7_8.jpg

Curacao-2010-1002.jpg

IMG_2729.jpg

I was lucky today. I stood on the balcony and saw a Small White butterfly. It was relaxing in the sun on the glass border of the balcony. I walked upstarts to get my camera with the MP-E 65mm Macro lens and Macro flash. It gave me about 15 minutes to work with it.

Unfortunately it was very hard to use the flash on the glass background, and too dark to work with the MP-E 65mm without flash. So I had to improvise. I disconnected the flash from the lens and used it handheld, this gave me the opportunity to move the flash to the back and control the light that way.

IMG_2771.jpg

Personally I am very pleased with the result. Just click on the image to go to the gallery to see more.

Later that day, still my gear on the kitchen table, I noticed a few bugs in the garden. All I want to say is I just love to phoograph bugs in their natrual habitat, but that it is hell to do so especially with the Canon MP-E 65mm. For me it is like a bug-hunt and it give me extra credits if I succeed without any animal unfriendly tricks.

IMG_2790.jpg

After reading a very good tutorial (I won’t share the link here) about how to control bugs for macro shots I have to say that I agree in the comments that were placed on this tutorial. You just do not control bugs, if you don’t have to. And if you have enough experience and skill there is no need for this.

The guy wrote about freezing insects, using vinegar, using sticky tape and more. I think that the pictures in this article prove that there is no need for bug control. And that it is more then possible to shoot bugs in their natural environment.

[Canon 5d, MP-E 65mm, Sigma Macro flash]

IMG_9803.jpg

While I was setting up the studio for the shoot with Nickita and Mick I made some test shots. I used myself as subject to get the light the right way. When I transferred the images o my PC I noticed that some of them were actually quit nice. So I started to play with them in Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop. To see more just click on the images.

What did I do? First of all I got my exposure on the correct setting in Lightroom, then I opened it in Photoshop. Played with contrast and brightness.

IMG_9776_tonemapped.jpg

When I was satisfied I copied the main layer and set the layer mode of the copied layer to “Soft Light’. What this does in a B&W photo is make you edges more vivid, and this will give you the idea that you have sharpened your photo. That’s all I did to all but one.

The one on the left was actually a single HDR (HDR made from one single shot) that was tonemapped and then set to B&W. From there I did the same actions as I did on the other photo’s

HDR_Boat_2010-3.jpg

On one of my trips through the country side I saw two rowing boats filled with water laying the waterside. And I thought these were a good subject for HDR. Brought my tripod and 16-40mm lens and made some shots. Back home, after trying a few settings in Photomatix I did not like the results at all. Then I remembered an article I read on the internet which showed an example of black and white HDR photography. (link). The article shows an nice example that appealed a lot to me. So I decided to try it myself (on my own way – not following the tutorial) and I must say that I am very pleased with the result.

HDR_Barn_2010-4.jpg

For many months I have been driving by this barn, even plotted it on my GPS. But never took the time to stop and take some pictures, until now.

I can’t explain why but I just like the whole scenery and always had the feeling that I needed to photograph this, in HDR. So finally I did.

I had a lot of dust on my sensor and because this is not normally the case, I experienced something new. The HDR process emphasizes the dust spots in a way that it is almost impossible to remove them. So to make sure that I could still use the images I decided to give them a old-fashion look and feel and applied a sepia filter to it. Personally I like the result and it fits the idea I had in my mind.

Mick

Did a new studio shoot last weekend with Mick. And again, learned a few new things about shooting kids. Had to do a lot of retouching due to the fact that I used the small background paper. My initial thought was – small kid, small background, but a little 3 months old will not listen to any directions, so you need to have enough room to play in. Ergo, a bigger background would have given me more playground. And will prevent a lot of Photoshop work afterwards.

Another lesson learned was that I need more time. As soon as the little rascal decides that it is enough, you have to listen. And a curious Nickita to my side wasn’t a good idea either. All that Mick did, was observing Nicki and he did not pay any attention to the camera. So we already talked about a new date for a more relaxed photo shoot. And this will take place at Mick’s house, so if he decides that it is enough and he gets tired, this won’t be a problem. Overall I am more then happy with the results. So I placed a few examples in the gallery.

[Canon 5D, 24-70mm, Soft box, Standard flash head, silver reflector]

flowergirl-mrt10-001.jpg

This weekend I decided to do another shoot with Nicki. I had this idea of a High-key photo shoot combined with flowers. So for the preparation we went shopping for a nice white dress and some artificial flowers. I had the idea to use roses and thought it was to risky to use real roses because of the thorns. So we went for fake flowers.

Set up the studio with a white background, a soft box, a standard flash, and a hand held reflector. First we did some test shoots so Nicki could adjust to this new environment that suddenly appeared in her living room.

flowergirl-mrt10-015.jpg

The moment she was comfortable in the new environment we dressed her up and let her play with the props. And what a fun that was.

After a while she understood that she could smell the flowers, or at least she could act that she was smelling them and we could even direct her into the right position (all I used was a small background (1,25 meters wide)) The moment she started to loose interest we gave her a new flower to play with and this worked really well.

Ad the end we even introduced a whole lot of fake pedals to play with. Or should I say to throw with. That was the moment the fun for her really kicked in.

Some tech info:
All photos were shot with my Canon 5D, 24-70mm USM L, on 200ISO. I had to do a lot of polishing in Photoshop due to the fact that the background was very small. And as a final touch I used Scott Kelby’s 7-point system to enhance the images. (Levels, LAB-colour trick, and contrast adjustments)

[Canon 5D, 24-70mm, 200ISO, Studio Flash(soft box, standard light, reflector)]

So the general idea is that you can show an Gallery 2 image on a WordPress post with a mouseover effect. See the example on the right. (just move your mouse over the photo to see the what I am talking about).

With this option it will be easier and more fun to show the difference between pre and post processing.

So to stick to the example on the right: Following the 7-point system by Scott Kelby I first corrected the white balance (WB) and added some Blacks in Lightroom. Opened the image in Photoshop and did some adjustments to the levels and curves (added more contrast). Upped the saturation (+9) and sharpened a little bit.

I’m not completely satisfied with the result but it was good enough for a small print, and when I have the time I will retry the whole process.
Then I created a layer mask which I used to darken and blur (Gaussian) the background.

I’m not completely satisfied with the result, so when I have some spare time I will retry the whole process.

IMG_8095-HDR_tonemapped

IMG_8095-Original

Photographing in the snow can be very difficult for some people, while this is not necessary. With a few simple pointers you will improve your snow photos.
First you must be aware that snow is white and reflects a lot of light. To correct this you need to tell your camera to overexpose. You need to experiment to find the right setting, in my own experience it differs between 1/3 stop to 1 1/3 stops. It all depends on the total picture. There are more than enough resources on the web that will explain how to deal with this.

For now I want emphasize that there is another technique that can help a lot to improve your photos in a snowy situation; HDR High Dynamic Range images.

When you shoot in RAW (as you always should do) you can make two copies with different exposure settings of one photo. So you make a -1 stop and a +1 stop version of the original. Together with the original you can use these copies to create a HDR via Adobe Photoshop or Photomatix (there are other programs that will work as well, but I do not have any experience with these).

Make sure that you don’t go over the top with your HDR settings, just some subtle extra definition in your shadows and you whites should do the trick. I have included an example. On the left you see the HDR version and on the right the original RAW 0 stop version. The HDR version has more detail in the snow areas without losing too much contrast and brightness.

windmills2010-14.jpg

There fell a lot of snow just after new yearsday. So I decided to get up early so I would catch some nice light. Not knowing that I had to remove ice from my windscreen for almost 30 minutes. But it was worth to get out of bed at this early hour.

The light was beautiful and the fog added just that little bid extra.

It was good to see, that many people could appreciate this beautiful view and they went outside armed with their camera gear.

I used my Canon 5D, and overexpossed 1 stop to get the nice looking white snow.

So a merry christmas and a happy new year to you all.

kerstkaart2009-2

kerstkaart2-ENG

kerstkaart1_eng

A book about the use of small flashes (Speedlights). Joe McNally describes how he uses these small flashes in real life situations. He has a pleasant way of writing and seems to have more than enough experience to deal with most problems which you can encounter while in need of light during a photo shoot.

For me this was by far the best book I’ve ever read on flash photography. Written in a very educating way, while it keeps you very well entertained, so you are hungry for more.

Are you into flash photography? Then you need to have this book in your collection.

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: New Riders Press; 1 edition (March 13, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0321580141
ISBN-13: 978-0321580146

To visit Joe McNally’s website follow this link

Flowers August 2009

I have been playing with water and flowers (again). I love how these little water drops act as lenses.

Equipped my Canon 5D with the MP-E 65mm and handheld the 580EX mark II connected to my 5D with the new E-TTL off shoe cable.

Got the plant spray and started to spay some sunflowers. Behind the sunflowers I placed some Spanish daisies. Everything ready to go.

The trick is to make sure that you get enough light on the flower that you are looking at trough the water drop while you also have sufficient light to light your foreground. Focus trough the water drop and your done. Be aware that the drop actually acts as a lens so everything will be upside-down. And they act as a wide angle lens so make sure you get your background cleaned up. (Something I tend to forget once in a while)

In the gallery you will also find some other shots from the same session. Hope you like them.

HDR Cyprus 2009

While we were in Cyprus I was looking for a subject to test my new mini travel tripod from Redged. This little tripod is only 20 centimeters when folded and is strong enough to hold my 5D with battery grip. I bought it with a mini ball head which is also strong enough for my 5D.

But the question was still unanswered, what to do?

On Cyprus there are many locations that have a rocky landscape or even caves. Also many monasteries and churches can be found. All good subjects for HDR.

So I tried some different locations, some worked better than others, but I had some good results. My main issue is to get the right settings in Photomatix and Adobe Photoshop. Sometimes I get it completely wrong, and once in a while (when I am lucky) I get it right. So I still need to practice more.

_MG_5757-Edit.jpg

When we returned from our holiday our house was invaded by insects. (my mom likes to leave all the doors open). Even the toilet was occupied by a new little friend.

A weevil decided to start living there. I managed to capture him and held him till the next day. We had some sunflowers on the kitchen table and I just bought an E-TTL sync cable of 2 meter to time to play.

Took my gear – Canon 5D, 580EX II Flash, 100mm macro 1x, and the MP-E 65mm.

I placed the weevil on the yellow petals of the sunflower and started to experiment with the position of the flash. My little friend didn’t took long to gain enough energy to become very active and after a while he started to look for a new house between the petals. So hard to light with the 580EX. But I still managed to get some good shots.

I was just wondering why I always manage to get yellow backgrounds when I photograph weevils…..? Dunno, maybe I just like the color combination of weevil brown and yellow. This reminds me; make sure you never forget to pay enough attention to your background. It is very simple to use the color of nearby flowers or the blue of the sky. If it is not possible to use these you can always use colored paper or anything else with color. Personally I prefer a bright color instead of the black background you see most of the time in close-up photographs.

_MG_4752-Edit.jpg

While I was packing for our trip to Cyprus I doubted if I should bring my 100mm 1x Macro lens. I’m glad I did, because in the area surrounding our apartment there were a lot of mantises.

I never had seen one before in real life and at first I was real careful, not knowing if I would scare them or if they would scare me…

As soon as I approached them, they would turn their head into my direction so I had to move slowly otherwise they would flee. I was amazed by their appearance and it was a joy to photograph them. Especially because it looked like they were looking you straight into your eyes.

I only brought my Speedlight so no macro flash. So the lighting is not what I hoped for.

The only option I had was to equip my omni bounce and hope that the light would spread enough. This was not always the case but luckily I also had some good results.

[Canon 5D, 100mm f/2.8, no flash]

Travel

Finaly I took the time to update my travel gallery. Almost everything is in there dating back to 1988. Just follow this link to see the gallery. I still need to update 2007 but that will be done soon.

Untill 1994 it’s all black and white, and from there on I started to use color. I actually can’t remember the moment when I decided to make the switch but it is cool to see the difference, and also the switch to digital in 2000 (first compact and later DSLR(2004)). All memories….

Nicki-1jr-0mnd-jun09-314.jpg

Last week I did some editing on old photo’s of Nicki, and I decided to combine them in a collection on the site. (Just click on the photo to see the collection.) I did not much editing, just transformed them to black and white with Adobe Lightroom. For some I used the Silver Efex Pro from Nik Software

selfportrait-edited-mei08-001.jpg

Found some tutorials on the net and started to play with them. Not the result I was hoping for, so again, I need more practice. I still thought that the end result was worth putting on the site.

I do like the rough look that is generated by using the high pass filter in Photoshop. But you can read more on that in the tutorial. I’m still thinking about doing this with a female portrait. Hopefully without offending the lady…

The tutorial can be found here link.

There are actually several tutorials and most of them are interesting enough to spens some time on

moth-jun09-004.jpg

This month the weather was good enough to enjoy shooting outside and this gave me the opportunity to get some macro work done.

I managed to place a moth in my little terrarium so I had a few moments to get some shots.

spiderattack-jun09-005.jpg

Later that weekend I managed to capture a big spider. Joan started to feed him little insects which the spider enjoyed a lot. Unfortunately the distance between the spider and its dinner was too large which made it impossible to shoot with my MP-E 65mm macro lens. The DOF was way beyond the lens’ limits

The MP-E 65mm keeps amazing me, but I also still love my 100mm f/2.8 macro is still a favorite. I Also added some shots made with this lens to the gallery.

Insects gallery

insects-jun09-004.jpg

insects-jun09-006.jpg

insects-jun09-012.jpg

Flowers gallery

flowers-jun09-001.jpg

flowers-jun09-002.jpg

flowers-jun09-006.jpg

[Canon 5D, MP-E 65mm and 100mm Macro, Macro flash]

nicki-1jaar0mnd-jun09-006.jpg

Just a tryout with my 16-35mm lens and flash while my daughter was eating a sandwich with apple syrup. (one of her favorites). I love the (slight) fisheye effect that the 16mm produces on my full frame Canon 5D. And I really like the fill-in effect caused the flash.

nicki-1jaar0mnd-jun09-013.jpg

Basically the same technique I used while I was shooting Nicki with her sandbox toys in the garden. Set (in manual mode) the right exposure for the surrounding on your camera, and you the flash (also in manual mode) to make sure that you light your subject correctly. You can leave the flash on ETTL (auto mode), but I prefer to have full control over my camera and flash.

Next day I tweaked some settings in Adobe lightroom (exposure, clarity, and vibrance) to give it a little bit a vintage look.
Click on the images to see the larger version and the other photos from the same series.

[Canon 5D, 16-35mm, Flash]

Onderweg-apr09-002.jpg

Onderweg-mei09-004.jpg

Onderweg-mei09-005.jpg

Onderweg-mei09-007.jpg

Onderweg-mei09-010.jpg

Treinrit-mei09-002.jpg

Treinrit-mei09-024.jpg

Treinrit-mei09-025.jpg

[Canon 5D and Canon IXUS 75]

SandboxTools-jun09-003.jpg

I have been playing with my Flash while my daughter was playing in the garden.

The Idea was to use the flash as a fill-in flash. But when I was trying to set the right settings, I saw the dark sky and decided to go a different route.

I had set my camera to 1/120 sec., f/22, 50 iso. Then I started to make some tests while I reduced the output of the flash till the face of my little lady was lit correctly. Then I used Adobe Lightroom to adjust the exposure, vibrance, and clarity. Just click on the photo to see a large version and the other photos.

[Canon 5D, 16mm, Flash (M-Mode), 50 iso]

nicki-week44-04-2009-2038.jpg

[Canon 5d, 24-70mm f/2.8, flash polarization filter]

test-04-2009-1125.jpg

[Canon 5d, MP-E 65mm, macro flash, 400 iso]

First scale models

For our Christmas card 2008 I used some scale models (H0). I bought more models then I needed for the creation of the card, and also more different types that had nothing to do with x-mas.

This will give me the opportunity to play around, and what I had in mind was, to create little fantasies and little scenes. I do realize that this is not a new idea, and you will find several examples on the internet, but hey, who cares. It is fun to do and it gives enough room for creativity. So I will keep you updated on any new ‘model’ shoots

April 2009

We had a wonderful weekend, with a lot of sunshine. So I grabbed the MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens and put down a plaid in the garden. There was a lot of activity on the ground and plenty of opportunities to practice with the MP-E.

I still find it very difficult to work with this lens but you know what they say, “practice, practice, practice!” The biggest problem that I encounter is that I find it hard to get the focus right. It is almost impossible to shoot living insects while using a tripod. And if you exceed the magnification of 2x it is almost impossible to shoot without a tripod.

macro-04-2009-135.jpg

The first example is an ant that is examining a sugar grain. So you have an idea of the magnification. If you click on this photo you will enter the insects’ gallery. I still have this idea that I want to try with ants, but first I need more practise.

The second photo is a picture of a snail. I actually encountered two snails; the one with the house on its back was only 4 mm, while the other one was around 2 centimeters. So good material to practice on. If you click on this photo you will find the others in the snail gallery.

First I emptied the eggs with a syringe, cleaned them with warm water and let them dry. These empty shells were easy to manipulate. And I’m still making up my mind on what to do with them.

Below you will find the first photos.

diversen-01-2009-034.jpg

diversen-01-2009-039.jpg

diversen-01-2009-037.jpg

More will follow when I have enough time to setup the mini studio.

The first is filled with the most recent photos, the second is filled with the most viewed photos, and the last one is filled with random photos. Use the links on the top of this page to see the content.

1984

Old school, very old school. As in 25 years old.

I have been scanning my old negatives and I have almost finished. (15 years of analog photography, including my years at the academy. In total up to 16000 negatives.) It brings back old memories.

When I was twelve years old, my neighbor introduced me to photography. His main subject was trains and trams, and for me as a young boy that was an interesting subject. He also taught me everything about processing film and developing prints.

1985

But my first official encounter with a SLR (Praktica B100) and home developed film was when the pope visited my home country. I actually never had the change to take a picture of the pope but it was a great adventure, and I was caught by the magic that happened in the darkroom and got infected with the photo-virus.

Click on the photos to see the galleries (I have added 1984 and 1985)

diversen-03-2009-1006-Edit.jpg

After reading many articles on the internet I decided to buy an Infrared filter. Based on my camera I had two options; the expensive Hoya 072, or the cheaper Cokin P-007 (89B). Because I was not sure if I would like the whole IR thing I decided to go for the cheaper option only 1/8 of the price of a Hoya filter. (Hoya 77mm costs 200,- Euros, and the Cokin only 25,- Euros (if you already own the filter holder and adapter rings)).

diversen-03-2009-1015-Edit.jpg

The first try outs were not as expected; it took me a day to figure out that I did not use the correct white balance.

So the next day I took some outside shots and I am not really sure if I like the results. The problem is that I am not sure if I am doing something wrong. Or if the cheaper filter is not providing the expected result, or that maybe my camera body is not capable to shoot IR.

According to articles found on the internet, I should be able to get some good results with my canon 300D body. So that should rule out that possibility. Unfortunately I have not been able to found any articles that describe the 300D in combination with the Cokin P-007 (89B) filter.

I did found a Dutch website with examples of what I am trying to achive. Cklck here to go to this website and click on ‘infrarood’

Diversen HDR 2009

Sunday I took the car and went for a drive to the IJsselmeer. It was a beautiful day, clouds and a bright sun. So the right situation for a HDRi. Actually I was going to test my new Cokin P-007 (89B) Infrared filter, but more on that in a later article.

While I was driving through the flatlands of Holland I noticed this church in Nibbixwoud. A nice scenery for both IR and HDRi. Unfortunately there were also moments when it was raining. I did not notice this in time, so my lens got hit by a raindrop. But I still think the photos are worth showing you.

Later I arrived in Ursum where this lighthouse is located, again a nice setting for IR and HDRi. On my way back home I encountered a flower field with only white flowers. I was curious how this would work on HDR so again I parked my car. Click on the image to go to the gallery and see the results.

diversen-03-2009-108.jpg

Last weekend here in Holland we had a careful start of the spring, so I decided to get some field work done (in the garden). Grabbed my Canon 5D body, macro ring flash, and my new MP-E 65mm lens. The hunt for insects has started.

Again, I am telling you that it is not an easy job to work with the MP-E 65mm lens, but damn, I love it. Focusing is hell, DOF is less than nothing, and visibility is zero, when light gets blocked by lens and the flash mounted on front of lens. But hey you need a challenge.

I managed to get a few good shots in the pocket of a rain worm, a woodlouse, and an unidentified insect that was caught in a spider web (spider also included). So I think I need to get myself an insect encyclopedia, due to the fact that there will be a lot of unidentified insects passing my lens.

diversen-03-2009-095.jpg

diversen-03-2009-117.jpg

diversen-03-2009-129.jpg

test MPE-03-2009-064

Today we had a beautiful sunny day, so time to go outside and try my new MPE 65mm.

And it was hard work. First I thought that all the reviews on the internet were a bit exaggerated, when the spoke of a difficult lens, but it was all true. And I loved it.

I can’t say that I have a great result from the beginning, but hey it’s a start. And it looks very promising. I can’t wait to start this journey.

I tried some insects but I’m not experienced enough with this lens at the moment to get the results I’m aiming for. So I tried this little screw which is only 10mm long, and I was surprised by the result. This is only a 1x magnification. I also tried the larger magnifications but they were out of focus.

Test MPE DOF Stack Pyramid

Next was this violet. The photo shown here is a stack of 7 photos. (DOF Stack, I will explain more about that in a later article.) I stacked the image with a program CombineZP.

In short; what such a program does is combine several images with a different focus point so that the final image has a wider DOF. With this lens set on 5x magnification you only have a DOF of 0.048mm at f/2.8 and 0.269mm at f/16. So that is not a lot. So you take several shots in which the focus point shifts by 0.25mm (if lens is set at 5x f/16) and CombineZP merges these images into one.

The last pictures show a Woodlouse. The picture on the left is a handmade stack (I used Adobe Photoshop) out of the two photos on the right.

test MPE-03-2009-142

test MPE-03-2009-142 Stacked

test MPE-03-2009-143

When I shot these I did not had the intension to make stack, so I had to pull some tricks out of my sleeve to get to this result. If you look closely you will see al the imperfections, but hey I am happy with the result.
More to come…

Features
Focal length and maximum aperture: 65 mm f2.8
Lens construction: 10 elements in 8 groups
Diagonal angle of view: 18°14”
Focus adjustment: Manual
Closest focusing distance: 0.243m 5X
Filter size: 58mm

What Canon says:
A unique manual-focus lens designed exclusively for macro shooting

This is the first macro photo lens designed to achieve a high magnification greater than 1x without additional accessories. It is ideal for small subjects. The newly designed optical formula and UD-glass elements suppress chromatic aberrations which become apparent at high magnifications. For flash photography, Macro Ring Lite ML-3 can be attached to the lens.

First try outs were difficult, but I was warned that this would not be an easy lens. So I need a lot of time to practise and do test shoots. As soon as I have some results I will share them here

On the left you see a picture of the lens in 1x and 5x magnification setting. In both extremes the lens acts completely different. So a new big adventure lies ahead.

diversen-01-2009-088

Still many ideas, but again, not enough time. While I was working on an idea for which I had setup all the gear, I used the opportunity to shoot some new shots of Nicki our daughter.

January 2009

I arranged a black background on the studio table and used two soft boxes. One placed on the right side, and the other placed in the front, high above. On the left side there is a window that produced a bit light from outside.

It was a tough job due to the fact that the little lady moves around a lot more compared to a few months ago, and by placing the whole set on the studio table it was a bit risky. But at the end we managed. But the next time I will ask someone to assist with the little lady.

I chose to make the images mono-tone (sepia) in Photoshop after I made them black and white, just because I think it adds more to the whole atmosphere. But that is a matter of taste.

Click on the last image to go to the gallery.

[Canon 5D, 28-70mm f/2.8, 2 soft boxes]

U.F.O.

The answer is yes…., or actually I should say no.

The object in this photo is not flying but hanging on a wooden stick by it’s power cable. And therefore it has been identified.

What you are looking at is a wheel cap which I found on the street, rigged with Christmas lights, dangling on a wooden stick outside the window of my old student home in Rotterdam.

This shot is an old analog negative which I found while I was scanning the year 1993 for my archive. It was made for an art school assignment. I can’t remember what the actual assignment was. Al I remember was it had to do something with flying. But I liked the image enough to show it here on frozentimes.net.

So to get things straight, no photoshop edit other than removing dust and scratches….

Click on the photo to see the large version and see a few more photo’s in the gallery from the same shoot.
[shot with Nikkormat on Ilford FP4, 125 asa]

fire-8.jpg

After the first experiments with smoke I thought it would be a logic step to also try fire. So while I still had my product table setup I placed some matches in front of my lens and was thinking about how to light them and make sure that I would release the shutter on the exact right moment.

First I thought it would be a good idea to use a heavy duty laser. I was able get my hands on a 100mW green laser. But unfortunately it was not powerful enough. It would make the wood of the matchstick smoke but it would not actually light the match. So I had to use a lighter. Light the match, remove my hand with lighter from the scene, and press the shutter.

fire-5.jpg

Light setup was the same as with the smoke experiment, with the only difference that I bounced the light from the opposite side where the flash head with barn doors and grid was located on a small piece of white paper. So hard light to make sure we will see the smoke and a small diffuser to make sure we get some softer light on the match.

Make sure you set the right shutters speed to sync with your flash and try to get a small diaphragm (f/22) so you get enough depth of focus (DOF). And then…. Just as with the smoke pictures. Shoot as much as you can and waste a lot of matches…

[Canon 5d, 70mm, f/22, studiolight, Grid + Barndoors]

Check it out via this link: http://images.google.com/hosted/life.

In this collection you will find photos that were published in Life magazine and also many unknown, never published before photos. Many of my favourite photographers can be found in this collection. It is a delight to scan thru the immense database.

smoke-dec-2008–002

As planned I tried to shoot smoke pictures. I created a gallery were you will find the first results. I definitely will try more often, to see if I can get a better quality. For now I am satisfied with the result but I wish I would be able to get the smoke a bit clearer. So I’m still looking for some incense that produces lighter smoke.

For those who do not know how to make this kind of pictures:
Use an incense stick to create smoke (smells nice as well while you work), and put some hard light from one side. Use a snoot or barn doors to keep the light from hitting the background. Use black paper as a background and start shooting.

Due to the fact you can’t control the smoke you just shoot (you’ve got to love digital) a lot of shots and hope you are lucky. Make sure you use a small lens opening (large f number i.e. f/22) And set you shutter to the sync speed of your flash (differs from 1/60s to 1/200s).

When you are done, import your photo in Photoshop (or similar program) and inverse the image ([CTRL+I]. If you are happy with the result you are done. If not you can play with the curves [CTRL+M] which can help you to make the smoke more clear. The images on this page were also rotated 180 degrees. (smoke travels up in most cases) Enjoy when you will try for yourself.

smoke-dec-2008–001

smoke-dec-2008–003

[shot with Canon 5D, 24-70mm f/22, studio light]

And yes I got lucky, here you see a photo of my 6 months old daughter underwater.

nicki-underwater-dec-2008–001

[Canon IXUS 75, underwaterhousing]

kerstkaart-dec-2008–001

Not long ago I came to the idea to make a Christmas-card which involved our little baby girl. But before I would end up with the standard card, like a portrait with Christmas hat, or baby wrapped up as a present. I decided to try something else. I have been playing around with scale models. You know the little figures that are used on the model train tracks. And I came to the idea to create a Christmas cartoon. A little story that involves our little girl, Santa Claus, and little fairies.

How was it done? I set up a product table and my studio lights. Did some test shoots with just the scale models. And then we placed Nicki (our daughter) on a sheep skin on the table. By now she is getting used to the lights and starts smiling as soon as she sees the camera.

kerstkaart-dec-2008–002

The little fairy was hanging on elastic invisible magic thread. This is something you can buy at any magic supply shop. And it is better than nylon fishing thread because it is elastic. So when something (or some little baby) pulls it, it won’t break.

Light was one single soft box and for the background I used a piece of black background paper which was taped to the table and the wall.

No photoshops edits or any other manipulations were needed. What you see is what you get….

Here are the first shots that involved the fairies. I thought the title was a perfect match.

[shot with Canon 5D, 24-70mm f22, studio light (softbox)]

94063-014.jpg

When I was searching my old archives, I found some old favorites. I made this series during my time at the academy. I named it “Desperate Housewives”. The idea was to photograph beautiful women doing the household. While doing their chores they were showing the dissatisfaction with their lives.

94090-003.jpg

The shoots were made in my old student home. The old kitchen had the perfect setting. I had some other locations in mind, but this was not an assignment from my teachers and they kept me busy with other tasks, so I never managed to do more than these two shoots. I asked the models to dress up in black dresses, and not to wear shoes. (I can’t remember why) Personally I like the shots a lot and maybe I should find the time to finish the series.

[Photos were shot with a Mamiya 645, 80mm, on Ilford HP5, and then scanned from negative.]

Nic-underwater-14

I have been playing with my new underwater housing for my Canon Digital Ixus 75. And I love it. The main reason why I bought it was because I started swimming with my daughter, and I wanted to capture these wonderful moments.

Here are some first try-outs. I have to admit that it is a pain in the @#$ to get the right images when you have a 6 months old baby in one hand and a camera in the other.

So I do realize that I have to wait until she will be a bit older and can float by herself without my direct help. Till then I’ll have to be happy with the ‘lucky’ shots from close by.

underwater

The main problems that you need to be aware of are the fact that you build-in flash is very limited and has a short range. Second is that you need to be aware of the fact that light diffuses differently underwater then above water. There is an example in the gallery where the lens is halfway under and the flash is completely submerged.

Last but very annoying is that every little particle in the water will be emphasized by the flash light, and therefore becomes visible.
But maybe I will figure out how to bypass these issues.
…to be continued.

You need an ICC printer profile. And you need to activate it in Lightroom.
Tested on a Canon Selphy ES-30 (but should give same result on older models)

Here is what you need to do:

1.)    Download the profile canon-selphy.icc.

2.)    Save it somewhere on your PC where you will be able to find it again.

3.)    Go to the file and double click it. (or right click and choose ‘install profile’)

4.)    Then open Lightroom and select the photos that you want to print to your Canon Selphy.

5.)    Got to the print module and on the right side scroll down to ‘color management’

6.)    There you can set your profile, click on the arrows next to ‘managed by printer’ and choose ‘other’, the ‘Canon Selphy.icc’ should be in the list. If not something went wrong at step 3.)

7.)    Make sure you set the other settings like ‘page setup’ and everything else you want to change

8.)    Press print.

You should have a photo printed by your Canon Selphy that has the right colors and the right contrast.

Hope this helped.

And if you want to read more about ICC profiles then follow this link International Color Consortium.

UPDATE:
I have found an ICC profile for the Selphy CP720. I do not have that model but maybe you do and is this file helpfull. Use the file following the method described above.
Download the profile Selphy-CP720-OK.icc.

The first test was a print from a memory card that can be plugged into the device. And I have to say I was slightly impressed (looking at the price / quality ratio). Then I decided to place the photo on my PC and connect the Selphy via an USB cable and print via the Lightroom print module. I used the included software, Ulead Photo Express LE. I got the same result as when I printed from the memory card.

After toying a bit with Photo Express I decided to try printing via Adobe Lightroom 2.0. I used the printer module in LR and I was shocked by the result. The photos were too dark, did not had any contrast, and the colors were too flat. Huge problem! All my work is stored in Lightroom and if I want to print something, I would like to do this via Lightroom.

Several searches via Google did not bring my any result. So I decided to call the Canon service center, big mistake! Total waste of money! A very rude conversation via the telephone, and no solution was given. But I will spare you the details.

After several more searches I found an article that described a similar problem but for an older Selphy model. They writer suggested to use an ICC profile. I could have figured that out by myself. But the problem is that you need expensive hard- and software to create a good profile.

Then in another article I found suggestion to use a completely different ICC profile (made for another printer, I assume). And you know what? It worked!

So at the moment I’m using an ICC profile created for a completely different printer, suggested for a very old Selphy model and it works perfectly fine.

Want to know more? Want to know how? Read the following article – "Dark and flat colors when printing via Canon Selphy?"

Until now I only used it once but I love the whole concept of experimenting with underwater photography. And especially now, since I started to swim with my baby daughter, it will offer me many opportunities for great shots. I am totally convinced by that.

In the past I use to buy one of those disposable underwater cams, but now in the digital era it is good to own a digital version.

When you buy the underwater housing, it comes completely with straps, flash diffuser, silicon gel, o-ring and manual. So you can start straight away. First shot I made was one in the sink to make sure it was really, really waterproof. (40 meters, as stated in the manual). The day after I took it to the swimmingpool. But more on that in a later article.

Like:

-The nice thing is that all the features are still accessible and function.

-At first it is scary to use your camera underwater, but after you have seen that it actually keeps the water out, it gives you a comfortable feeling when you know your camera is safe and protected

-It is a complete package, no need for accessories.

Dislike:

-You need to remove the wrist cord from the camera when you place it in de underwater housing. And because we always carry it on our wrist this is a little bit annoying.

-The price, the underwater house is actually more expensive then the camera. I was lucky that I could order it in the United States which was a huge price difference. (220,- EUR vs. 115,- EUR)

Conclusion:

It looks like a solid underwater sollution, and in my opinion worth to buy it. (if you have the option to buy in the United States, and ship it to Europe.) I can’t wait to start working with it.

Results will be posted soon… and if I really like it I probably will create an underwater gallery…

Or you can use this as a starting point. Enjoy!

Corus-HDR-panorama-25-10-2008-web.jpg

Click on the image to see the large version.

herrinneringen-2008-10-004.jpg

Exactly 1 month ago my father passed away. This happened during night-time. After we left the hospital it was 6 a.m. It was still dark outside (the sun just started to rise.) We drove by some farmland that was crowded with horses. My father has been busy with horses his whole life. So of coarse this scenery reminded us of my father.

It was a foggy morning and there was a full moon, so plenty of light o see the horses in the fog. Both my wife and me loved the view. Last night I decided to go back and bring my camera. I got up really early so I would be there before sunrise. This morning also was a foggy morning. When I arrived there were a few horses but the were grazing on the other end of the field so it was almost impossible to photograph them.

herrinneringen-2008-10-002.jpg

It was new moon so I also missed the additional light. And as I could have expected, it was not the same scenery as the one in my memories. But I made the 90 minutes trip and it was a beautiful morning. I brought my gear so why not take a picture. And I did. Actually is shot several that I think are worth showing you.

But lesson learned is that it is almost impossible to photograph these kind of emotions or memories if you wait too long, during time they evolve in your mind and you will loose track. The last picture is actually a HDRi.

herrinneringen-2008-10-001.jpg

herrinneringen-2008-10-003.jpg

click on the images to go to the actual gallery.

test-2008-okt-033-Editexport

I read several tutorial about how to make ‘fake tilt’ photographs or ‘fake scale model’ photographs. And I decided it was time to try for myself. Also due to the fact that I still want to experiment with scale model photography and combine these with ‘fake scale models’ (looks like an interesting subject to play with).

So here are my first ‘fake scale model’ shoots. The whole idea is that you create an image that shows the viewer a scenery that looks like a scale model but is in fact a real scenery.

test-2008-okt-005-Editexport

Just imagine that you combine these images with ‘real’ scale model photographs…. This will give you numerous options to play around with. You can mix reality with fiction and the other way around.

The pictures seen here were taken at the entrance of Corus Steel IJmuiden and I think I’m getting the hang of it. All it comes down to is taking the right picture (high viewpoint, scenery that fits model world, and awareness of disturbing objects in your scenery) and then a lot of tweaking and toying in Photoshop. How-to’s can be found at several sites on the internet (google on; ‘tutorial fake tilt’)

I am thinking about writing my own how to, but more about that later.

Corus Steel IJmuiden

Yesterday after work I decided to make a little trip to the lock gates of IJmuiden and take some photos of Corus Steel IJmuiden from the outside (due to the fact that it is forbidden to take photographs within the gates). While standing on the lock gates of IJmuiden I noticed that the light was to extreme to take a well balanced picture.

With no tripod at hand I decided to shoot a HDR (3 shots) out of my hand. And give the latest version of Photomatix a test run. (click on the thumbnail to see the result)

There was a lot of noise in the picture (very disappointing due to the fact it was shot on only 400 iso) so I also let Noise Ninja do it’s work and personally I am pleased with the result. So one of the earlier menthioned project finally has been started.

I also tried a panorama.

Panorama1.jpg

But in this photo there are too much alignment problems so I need to go back and start using a tripod.

HDR combined with stacking photographs
Alright, I still need the perfect HDR shot but I also want to combine this with stacking. Basically what it comes down to is that you shoot on a busy location for an HDR photo and with stacking you eliminate all moving object.

Scale model photography
Use H0 scale models (used for the model trains sceneries) to created your own set-up and situation. Too many ideas in my head, but the main idea is that it needs to be humorous situations. Or situations that are impossible in a real world.

Fake scale model photography
Okay this is the opposite of the above. And actually this is pretty cool. You take a real life photo and make it look like if you shot a photo of scale models. So you let a real photo look like a fake situation. This all is done via several manipulations with Photoshop or a similar tool.

Planet shaped 360 degree photography.
When you shoot a panorama photo that covers 360 degrees horizontal and 180 degrees vertical you will be able manipulate this in Photoshop and give a planet shape. (Google on: ‘360 degrees photography planet’, and you will find several examples)

Macro photography (Insects)
This is pretty straight forward, close-up photography of insects. I am still chasing that perfect macro shot. Funny thing is that I have this idea in my head of shooting ants. But the shitty thing is that we do not have ants in our garden. And I refuse to use and methods that hurt or harm animals (like putting them in the fridge or freezer) So I need to be patient, and that doesn’t mix well with lack of time.

Self-portraits.
Also a long-term project, just look at the gallery to see what happened until this moment. Always looking for that portraits that has the right lightning, composition, emotion, and setting. As stated before, long-term and ongoing. And the easiest model is you.

And last but not least my daughter Nicki. But for her I always manage to find the time to make excellent shots. Most of these shot can be found on www.pisajunior.com. Feel free to pay a visit.

As you can see, there are too many ideas and not enough time. I will keep you updated.

This data is stored in the EXIF data of your digital photo. Several programms and websites can extract this data and use it to plot your images on a map. See below.

Good examples are, Picasa, Flickr, Locr, Google maps and Google Earth. I wouldn’t be suprised if Virtual Earth by Microsoft is also offering this service. (But I still need to investigate)

When I have had the time to do some experiments, I will let you know what I think of the little nifty device

nicki-week6_studio-2.jpg

Did some studio work with my baby daughter Nicki. Most was done with natural light from the left and a white paper background. When these shots were taken she was 6 weeks old.

If you click on the thumbnail you will be taken to the gallery where you will find the other photo’s of this shoot.

Luckely it was a warm day so it was not a problem to let the little one out in the open for a while, so she was calm and relaxed during the whole shoot. Actually the whole shoot did not take more then 10 minutes. It is important to make sure that you work fast. When you loose the baby’s attention it’s better to stop and try an other time

nicki-week6_studio-3.jpg

[shot with Canon 5D, 24-70, f/2.8, 100 iso, daylight, mixed with softbox]

RWmexico 2002-209.jpg

This shot was made in Mexico while Joan and I were dolphin trainer for a day. So what yo see is two dolphins that were instructed by Joan to jump simultaneous.

[shot with waterproof disposable camera]

mei_2008-2008-05–009

mei_2008-2008-01–007

zwanger_mei_2008-05–001

Here you will find some portraits of her with a big belly. If you click on the image you are taken to the gallery that shows more photos from the serie.

Most of them are edited in Photoshop and adjusted to black and white. I thought the it was a better match to set them to b&w. But that is a matter of taste. I tried to experiement with high-key and low-key, but this did not worked out as I had in my mind. So I need more time to get the setting right. Later this week I will try to edit a bit more in Photoshop to tune the images a bit better.

mei_2008-2008-05–020

mei_2008-2008-05–018

mei_2008-2008-05–019

mei_2008-2008-05–021

They were taken with the use of a tripod and release cable. I used a 24-70mm f/2.8 by daylight.

The background is a tempered glass door which I used frequently in my photos due to the fact it gives a nice neutral colour and has sometimes some nice abstract side-effects.

The fun part about making self portraits is that you do not see the result before you click the the button. You have to check afterwards, so it is bit of a guess at the moment when you take the shot. So I take a lot of pictures and wait untill I see them on the computer. By doing so I am not affected by the result in an early stage what gives me more freedom in the faces that I make. I know that is something between my ears, but for me it works.

Ask an ‘assistant’ to help when you do not want to use AF (auto focus). Make some test shots to check the light. And in my humble opinion the most important part is the use of a shutter release cable, or a remote shutter release. If you have to wait everytime on the self-timer on you camera, you will get frustrated. And it is harder to get the right moment….

[shot with Canon 5D, 24-70mm f2.8, daylight]

poppy

Today I stopped by the road when I saw some poppies. Last summer I already had this idea in my head but never had the opportunity to take the right picture. This one gets close to the initial idea.

The picture has been adjusted in Lightroom, end set to monochrome colours. Then I combined the monochrome image with te original image in Photoshop with the original on top of the monochrome. With the eraser I erased everything from the top layer except the red poppy. You see the result on the right.

This is what I love about digital imaging. 15 years ago I used to get the same result by printing a black & white photo and then colouring with transparant ink. Hell of a job to achieve. And now the result is way better. I will try to scan some of the old photos that were ink coloured, and place them on the site.

[shot with Canon 5D, 24-70mm f2.8, daylight, polarization filter]

may2008

Played with Lightroom to get the light color temp, contrast and sharpness. When this was set correctly, I decided to use Photoshop to remove the gray background and switch from RGB color to black and white. At the end I shifted the whole composition to the left to hide the collar of my t-shirt. Peronally, I am happy with the result.

I’m thinking about doing a whole serie, the same way I have done while I was on the academy. so in the near future there will be more to come. My first idea is to start with all different faces, all black and white, in a low key setting. So we have to wait how it will workout.

[shot with Canon 5D, 24-70mm f2.8, daylight]

When you click on the thumbnail on the left you will find a screenshot of the website. It is the series of my mum that people voted on.

The final score was a 9.8 out of 10.

It is a Dutch site so not really fun for the english visitors, but for those who want to visit my plofile please follow this link.

2007-12-ijmuiden-042-HDR.jpg

And for a first shot I have to say that I am pleased with the result. For those who are not familiar with HDR please come back later. I intend to write an article on this subject.

But in short I can explain the principle. HDR stands for “High Dynamic Range”. Black is not just black and white is not just white. There are different shades of black and white. In photography we refer to different shades of grey (stops).

Film sees the world differently than our eyes do. One of the challenges of photography is learning what those differences are so we can successfully put our vision on film. The human eye sees millions of colors and color variations at the same time. The eye sees all shades of white: off-white, cream, egg, ecru, soft-white, etc. Same for colors such as purple, magenta, pink, auburn, fire engine red, orange, sunset orange, and so on. The palette of colors available for oil paints is not as varied as the eye can see. Film is more limited.

2007-12-ijmuiden-025-HDR.jpg

Unlike our eyes, film sees across a range known as the exposure latitude. This is the range of “tones” film can see between absolute black and absolute white. Film sees about 7 stops, and the same goes for a digital sensor. So what does HDR do in relation to this.

You shoot multiple frames of the same subject (typically 3 shots) with different exposure settings (-2, 0, +2) so this gives you a higher range of light and dark. With special software you combine these images into one picture that shows more that the standard 7 ‘shades of grey’ So you get more detail in your shadows and more detail in your highlights. But as said before, more on this subject in an other article.

On my list were also several new lenses, because i had decided that I would upgrade my glass to F/2.8 all the way. So I did my research on the Internet and made a short list of combinations that I could buy.

I was eager for the Canon EF-S 17-55mm F/2.8 iS USM, and the Canon EF-S 10-22mm F/3.5-4.5 USM, in combination with my new 40D. But this left a gap between 55mm and my Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8 USM. So I also had an eye on the Canon EF 24-70mm F/2.8 L USM.

When we arrived at the camera shop (Kamera-express.nl), (Yes, we. My wife accompanied me for moral support), we were welcomed with a nice cup of coffee in the prof room at the back of the shop. And I was sitting at a large table looking at three bodies. My own 20D (which I brought for comparison), a new 40D and a 5D.

I had this idea in my head that the new digi III processor would produce more colorful picture then my current digi II processor. So I made some tests with all three bodies. the 20D to see what I had up to now, the 40D because I was eager to buy this. And the 5D because the guys from the shop (let’s call him Gijs) told me that this was nice with colors as well. I never had the idea to buy this 5d due to the difference in price.

To my big surprise there was almost no difference in color, but there was a huge difference in quality. Not directly between the 20D and the 40D, but with the 5D. I never thought that the difference between an aps-c and full-frame sensor was this big. And as a bonus with the 5D my need for the 10-22mm lens disappeared. So it was an easy job for Gijs to convince me that the 5D was a better option and a step up instead of a step forward. I was convinced that I needed the 5d. But this messed up my whole plan regarding the glass I was going to buy.

To make a long story a little bit shorter: I went for the top of the bill and decided that my new body would show best with the top of the range lenses. So I bought the Canon EF 24-70mm F/2.8 L USM, in combination with the Canon EF 16-35mm F/2.8 L USM mark II. No need for the 10-22mm and all lenses where L lenses.

To complete the set I bought a new backpack for the whole set and ordered a battery grip and some UV lenses. Doubled my budget, but went home a happy man.

We boarded the plane Friday morning and flew back to the Netherlands Sunday evening. So we had three days to explore the city. And we were lucky, only on the friday nigth a few raindrops but the rest of the weekend was sunny and sightly warm. I booked a nice hotel in on the edge of the centre, and the moment we arrived we bought a weekend-pass for the public transport. In other words we were ready to discover Vienna.

Don’t get me wrong, we had a great weekend, lots of fun, food, and a few nice things to see, but we both came to the conclusion that you shouldn’t visit Vienna when you just went to Roma or Firenze. We had expected more beauty, and more ow’s and ahhh moments. But instead we found a city that was, or dirty, or being renovated, or crowded with party-tents because they had organised a sport event of music festival.

The few moments we encountered beauty we tried to capture the moment as you can see in the gallery. Please click on one of the photos below to enter the gallery.

I never went to Rome before, don’t ask me why, it just never happened. And the same for Firenze. But after these two weeks I am wondering why not because it was worth the trip. We saw so many beautyful things, too  much to describe. So I do hope the photos will say enough.

The photos will be added later this week

2007-07_NSJ2007_008.jpg

2007-07_NSJ2007_002.jpg

I went to the North Sea Jazz Festival 2007 in Rotterdam. On Friday and Sunday. On the Internet there were a lot of warnings not to bring a professional camera. So stupid me, listened to this advice. And there I was watching and listening to these wonderful acts. But no real camera. Completely surrounded by other people who did bring their dSLR cameras. Okay not real big lenses (besides the press-photographers) but still they did bring their cameras.

So I decided that I had to take my chance and go again. Bought tickets for the Sunday and two days later we were standing with my Canon 20D at the entrance of North Sea Jazz. And no security check at all.

I left my big lens in the car and started to play with my 50mm f/1.4 to see what result I would get. Luckily I was able to walk all the way up to the stage and enjoyed Ronald Snijders.
After a funky show we decided to go back to the car and get the ‘big’ lens, my 70-200 1:2.8. Again no checks at the entrance and I was able to get through the gate with no problems at all.

Then the fun realy started. We went to The Misha Mengelberg trio, and I managed to get my first shots from a nice distance. Still fumbling to find the right settings, but at least I was able to take some decent photos. There was a short moment of panic when I saw the security guard approaching a ‘colleague’ photographer and told him to move out of the way. So for now I stayed on my seat and enjoyed the jazzy sound of Misha. Then we were hoping to go to Amy Winehouse, for the second time this year she decided that she would enjoy the house-wine more then a visit to Holland. So she decided to stay home. So we visited some other acts but it was not what I was looking for.

2007-07_NSJ2007_022.jpg

2007-07_NSJ2007_016.jpg

Until we walked in to the SFJazz Collective. That was nice and had an excellent sound. And managed to get our mood back into the right state. With this act I thought it would be nice to be a little bit more bold and I decided to get all the way up to the front. Right in between of the press. As this was allowed for three songs or 20 minutes max, and shot as much as I could. I had a great time, and my mate managed to get a good seat so even after the 20 minutes were over I managed to get a good spot to continue shooting

2007-07_NSJ2007_018.jpg

2007-07_NSJ2007_026.jpg

As we arived at the stage for what we had set as our our final act we could enjoy the funky sounds of Sly & the family Stone

I have to admit that I did not know the name but when I heard the music I started to recognize some songs. Unfortunately we were standing all the way on the left so I did not get many changes on a good shot.

2007-07_NSJ2007_045.jpg

2007-07_NSJ2007_041.jpg

Then came the grand finally. Snoop Dogg. I never imagined that I would ever see this guy live. But I have to admit that he put down a hell of a show. The bad thing was the he also attracted a different kind of public which resulted in the fact that a very irritating boy jumped in front of me and started to wave with his hand as he had spasms. My luck was that my mate was able to get in front of me and took the most blows so I could finish my shots. Just 5 meters from the stage wasn’t a spot that we would give up easily.

If you want to see the other photos, just click on one of the above and you will linked to the gallery. In this gallery you will find the complete serie.

Start using keywords…..

Many programs that act as photo library offer the option to set keywords or labels to you photos. So start using this option and it will make your life a lot easier.

Personally I use Adobe Lightroom which offers to set keywords, but there are other programs available that you can use. An other program I have used is Picasa, this program uses labels, which is almost similar to keywords. Just search for ‘photo library software’ on google and I’m sure you will find many options. (a page with a big collection that i found: click here)

When you are using a library program that offers the option the add keywords make sure that you are using keywords that make sense to you. Yes I know that I am repeating myself, but maintaining a library all comes down to setting up a system that does make sense.

So pick your keywords (or labels) carefully. I’ll give you an example: If you make a close-up serie of flowers, let say red roses. You could use the keywords, roses, red, flower, close-up. This should be enough. If you add words like nature or garden it wouldn’t harm, but if you start to add more keywords, it might get confussing. So don’t start giving a full description of your red roses in your keyword list.

Okay I do hope these articles will help you to get your library organized and give you the overview you need. Good luck with it.

previous:"Organizing your photos (part 2)"

When you copy your photos from your memory card to you PC you will end up with the files on your PC that still have the names as provided by your camera. (ex. img_12345.JPG) Now that is a useful name, isn’t it? Nope! We can do better.

Basically it is similar to setting up your folder-structure. You should name your file in such a way it makes sense to you. Again, amongst you there are very exeptional and gifted people who will be able to memorize all the numbers linked to the images, but again. I’m not one of them, and I need more logic in my file-names.

So when I import my photos, I use a template that sets the filenames of my photos while they are being imported. There are many programs in the market available that will be able to do this for you. And there are also programs that can do this after you have imported your files (I used to use ACDSee, which had a batch rename function.)

At the moment I’m using Adobe Lightroom for importing my photos from my memory card and this program offers a rename functionality during import. You have to realise that it is a batch rename (whole bunch of files in one single go), so it won’t offer you the possibility to rename the files one by one on import (but you can still do this afterwards). My advice is not to rename every single file. By doing so you will loose the overview. So let’s say you went on a trip to the zoo on a sunny day during the summer of 2007. Then you could create a folder in ‘Days out’ named ‘Zoo-summer-2007′ and in this folder you store your photos which you can name ‘zoo-summer-2007-###.jpg’ where the hashes ‘#’ stand for a number. This number will be auto generated by most program which offer the rename functionallity.

Okay, you still have a system based on numbers within this folder but at least you will be able to find you set of photos that were made during the summer of 2007 in the zoo.

But for this there is also a sollution, if you use the right program. Keywords! More on this in the next article

previous:"Organizing your photos (part 1)" next:"Organizing your photos (part 3)"

I could go for the f/1.8, the f/1.4, or the f/1.2. But the main drive was the price which ranged from €100,- to €1300,-. Knowing that €1300,- would be way too much and I probably would be unsatisfied if I bought the cheaper one. I went for the f/1.4. And I have to say that I am very satisfied. Please find the specs below.

Features

-Focal length and maximum aperture: 50 mm f1.4
-Lens construction: 7 elements in 6 groups
-Diagonal angle of view: 46°
-Focus adjustment: Overall linear extension system with USM
-Closest focusing distance: 0.45m / 1.5ft
-Filter size: 58mm
 
 
Crisp images with little flare are obtained even at the maximum aperture
 
This standard lens features superb quality and portability. Two high-refraction lens elements and new Gaussian optics eliminate astigmatism and suppress astigmatic difference.
If crisp images with little flare are important to you, they can be obtained even at the maximum aperture with this robust lens..

And my journey is still going on. So for the time being you shouldn’t expect too much. But I just wanted to share the things that I have encountered.

before you start trying to make macro or close-up photographs I think you should understand what the theory behind it is.

The definition of close-up photography is that the image projected on the “film plane” (i.e film or a digital sensor) is close to the same size as the subject. In the last few years they have used the term ‘Macro’ for lenses that make it possible to show your subject in real size on the actual print, this only requires a magnification of 1:4. Most most lenses at the moment are able to get a magnification of 1:2. A real macro lens will get you a magnification of 1:1, which matches the definition of macro.

When you have an all-round lens that has a macro setting you will be able to get close to your subject but the performance will be less. This means that the focus quality will be less then when you use a ‘real’ macro lens.

Macro lenses come in different focal length. The longer the lens the further you can be from your subject while you still get the required magnification. So if you are only shooting stills you will more then happy with a short focal length. If you are trying to shoot a live object like insects it might be handy to use a longer focal length, so you can maintain more distance to your subject. But you have to understand that a longer lens is also more expensive.

 to be continued…..

Hmm I’m reluctant to answer the latter, but I do have some ideas on the first issue.

Get organized, it is that simple.

You can do this several ways, but before I continue I have to make a distinction between a digital and an analog collection. I see no reason to explain how you could organize your films, negatives and prints. Because for me it would be a simple sollution because I am used to do it this way for 25 years. Put them in a cabinet and make sure you make contact sheets and don’t forget to number them. How you number them, how you place them in your cabinet, thats all up to you.

So lets focus on your digital work:

• Every time you use your camera you download your pictures to you pc
• Your library starts to grow
• One day you want to show that very special photo to your grandma.
• But you get lost in your own archive.
• Nightmare!

So you need to get organized. You can do this on a simple way and most digital camera’s and their software offer an option to add a date or timestamp you your digital image. So now all you need to do is remember when you took the photo and look for that date and time…… Some programs even offer the option to download you images from your camera and place them on your PC in separate folders based on the date. So now you have a bunch of folders that look like this: “12th of March 2007″. Wow you got organised, of course you will remember the date of you wedding or your birthday. So if your best photos happen to be taken on those dates you are a lucky person.

Even one of my favorite writers on subjects like photoshop or lightroom, Scott Kelby, advices to structure your work in folders based on years (2001, 2002, 2003, and so on). I just don’t get it. I can’t remember what I did 1 year ago! And I don’t want to hurt my brains by going back even more. You need to find a way that makes sense to you. And for me it is hard to believe that this will be a date-based structure. But hey there are of course exceptional people in this world.

Think about what will trigger your brain when you are thinking of a photo. In my case it is the following:

• Cars 
• En route
• Experimental
• From Cam
• Houses
• Nature
• Parties and Days out
• People
• Pets
• Scans
• Travel
• Various
• Webwork
• Work

This list is in no particular order. And it is far from complete, but lets use it as an example. Most of the names will make sense to you, and you will be able to imagine which photos go where.

There are two folders that I want to explain. First is the folder scans (image on the right). Here I place all my scanned negatives and within this folder there is my old structure based on the numbering I used for my analog pictures. That was a system that worked for me for over 20 years and is still working. So why change a good process?

The second folder is my “From Cam” folder. This is the folder that I use for downloading my photos from my camera to my PC. In this folder I create a new folder every time I save images from my camera. And I try to name them so I still know what the subjects are when I start to process them (in some cases weeks later). From this folder they will be placed in the main library, where my standard structure is.

So within every folder I create new folders. For example the folder People, contains “Friends”, “Family”, “Joan” (my wife), “Mom and Dad”, “Strangers”, and so on. As you can see the most important part is, that it must make sense to you.

next:"Organizing your photos (part 2)"

And even worse, every time you want to show off to your friends your dust allergy sticks his head up and you will be sneezing all over your valuable work.

So what to do? I don’t know what you should do, but I can tell what I have done. I bought a film-scanner and started to scan my old negatives. By doing so I am sure that I have a back-up of my work and that I will make my life a lot easier when I want to work with my photos or when I want to show them to other people. Plus at the moment we do not have the space to build a darkroom so developing my photos is a no-go anyway.

In the beginning I started with scanning my negatives and processed them in Adobe Photoshop. Hell of a job and after 50 rolls of film you start to dislike the whole process. Of course I had my share of digital photos already on my HD, so my digital collections started to grow. When I had a substantial amount I created a website and started to upload my work. For every picture I uploaded I had to adjust my HTML code. Again not a very nice job.

Then I got introduced to Gallery2, a PHP, open source (so free), already build web gallery. I loved it. And I started to upload my photos. There I made the first mistake. I uploaded everything that I got. Forgetting one of the first lessons I had learned on school. Don’t show all, only show the best!. You can still see this gallery here. It was slow, and way too much. In the meanwhile I was introduced to WordPress, an open source blog. And I started to use that for several of my sites. Easy to set up and very easy to maintain.

In the meanwhile some smart guys had build a plugin for WordPress, which made it possible to combine WordPress and Gallery2. WPG2 is its name and it works like a charm, you upload you photos to Gallery2, and you use them, in combination with text, in WordPress. And when the visitor clicks on the small photo he is being re-directed to you gallery.

So sounds easy, doesn’t it? You need to realise that you will need some web-space to publish a website. This can be hosted from your home or by a hosting provider like Servage.net. I am not going to tell you how you should arrange that, there are plenty of articles available on the net the can show you how to get your own space.

I do you that the link in this article will help you on your way. And feel free to post any comments or questions.

I had my mind set on the Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX, Canon’s macro flash. But €500,- was a bit too much. I got the advice to go for the Sigma Flash, which only costs €330,-.

Luckily this was a good advice. I am very happy with my purchase. Already started shooting the first test shots and I like the option to add shadow to my composition very much. Especially on such a short distance.  But more on this in a later article.

Please look below for the specs:

-Ideal for Close-up photography, especially medical and scientific applications.
-Fully dedicated with the latest TTL auto exposure systems.
-Dual flash tubes can be switched on or off for creative flash control
-Wireless TTL Flash Control
-High Speed Synchro Flash
-Guide Number of 14/m, 46/ft (ISO100)

Multifunctional Macro Flash designed to work with Digital & 35mm Film SLR cameras (2004.9.10)

Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the new ELECTRONIC FLASH MACRO EM-140 DG. ELECTRONIC FLASH MACRO EM-140 DG is designed to work with both AF 35mm film and Digital SLR cameras of all-popular manufactures. The EM-140 DG Macro Flash is ideal for photographing subjects in fine detail when the shadowless mode is used, and is extremely effective for scientific and medical applications. Dual flash tubes can fire simultaneously or separately. Using only one flashtube creates modeling, which can give a three-dimensional feeling to the subject. The flash features a guide number of 14 w/ISO 100. The Modeling Flash function makes it possible to check for reflections and shadows before actually taking the flash picture. A wireless flash function is also available, where the EM-140 DG is used as master and the EF-500 DG SUPER as a slave unit for creating fine shadow details. High Speed Synchro and Exposure compensation functions are also available for advanced flash photography. 55mm and 58mm adapter rings are included with the flash. 52mm, 62mm, 67mm, 72mm and 77mm adapters are sold separatly.

Below you will find the specs for this new lens. I can’t wait to start playing with it. 

Features

-Diagonal Angle of View: 24°
-Lens Construction (elements/groups): 10/9
-No. of Diaphragm blades: 8
-Minimum Aperture: 32
-Closest Focusing Distance (m): 0.31
-Maximum Magnification (x): 1
-AF Actuator: USM
-Filter Diameter (mm): 58 
 
Auto-focus lens for macro photography up to life-size (1x) magnification
 
Medium telephoto lens with a macro feature for 1x magnification. Fluctuations in spherical aberrations caused by focusing are suppressed, and high-quality images are obtained at all focusing distances. With eight aperture blades, good background blur is obtained even when the aperture is decreased by one or two stops. A focusing limiter which limits the magnification to 0.25x is built-in.