Introducing photo friday @ ichimusai.org

Hi guys, my name is Jenny and I will post photo challenges here at ichimusai.org every friday from now on and at least until July 31th, 2011.

If you’d like to participate, please use the comments feature to link to your challenge image.

Here’s your first Ichimusai Photo Friday challenge!

Quietly sit down for fifteen minutes, and think about where you are
right now in life, and the feelings you have about this.  Describe
this in your photograph.

Good luck!

Shooting at night

[På svenska här]

I have gotten a few questions on how to set the camera up for good night shots and there is really nothing to it this is what I normally do is very simple things. If you check your camera manual you should be able to follow the same settings.

Here is an example of a night shot that I have taken with my old Nikon D70s:

Night Traffic
Nikon D70s, Taken from the roof top of the old tax building in the south end of stockholm using a tripod and long exposure. 30 second exposure and f/20.

Fortsätt läsa Shooting at night

Nikon D300

So finally I have upgraded to a new camera. After using my D70s for several years I had a careful look-around at what was out there and I decided on the D300. I have met many photographers, both beginners and professionals who have used the D300 in the last year and all of them seemed very happy with their investment, although some said they’d waited for the D700 FX sensor camera instead if they had known it was about to be released.

I decided against the D700 for several reasons and the most important one was the lenses. DX lenses won’t be able to work very well on the FX sensor in the D700 and I like the DX lenses for two reasons, they are sometimes half the price of the comparable FX lenses and they are lighter to carry. The last point is important because I love to hike and bring the camera gear with me. 

The D300 is also a fair bit lower priced than the D700 which meant I got a nice kit including three lenses and an SB-800 for just a little more than what the D700 house would have cost me so I am really happy with it. 

The main reasons for my upgrade was the following

  • The small display on the D70s makes macro work difficult
  • There is no mirror lock-up function meaning mirror slap shakes when using long exposures and tripod.
  • The noise at higher ISO on the D70s is shameful compared to the modern cameras, in reality anything above ISO 600 is unuseable.
  • D-Lighting exposure control in the D300 and newer cameras is fantastic in some difficult light conditions.
  • 14 bit RAW format (12 in the old cameras) meaning 12 dB better image dynamics per colour!
  • No vertical grip for the D70s (that is seriously useful), the MB-10 battery grip for the D300 is awesome!
  • Faster serial shots, lovely when shooting animals like birds. 8 frames per second on the D300 is a vast improvement from the D70s.
  • Larger buffer memory also helps with serial shots.
  • Easier controls on the camera – even if the D70s had nice controls the D300 is not only nice, they are seriously well laid out and though through.
  • Faster in every aspect.
  • Has PC sync connector on camera
I will still keep my D70s of course and likely it will become a pure Infrared camera, converted to take only IR pictures in the future.

Here are some test shots, these are taken handheld in the middle of the night just using existing light. Yes there is noise, but not much and the pictures are actually quite nice. The D70s would come nowhere near this and would not even reach ISO 3200.

Allén

Misty street lights

SLR Gear

This site is incredible. Really incredible. If you want to know how your lens is doing technically you must visit this site and check it out. Find out which aperture setting produce the sharpest images for each of your focal lengths.

SLR Gear >>>

Learning to read the diagrams here is a bit tricky but there is a wealth of information on almost any lens you can think of getting for your camera and also other stuff. But I really love it for their lens reviews.

Tripods and Ball Heads by Thom Hogan

Weird Tripod
Car mounted tripod

This article is something you should take a look at if you are considering getting yourself a tripod to stabilize your camera.

I am already down that upgrade road where my lightweight video cam tripod is not really that good any more for several reasons including getting closer to the ground.

Ken Rockwell has a very different opinion on tripods but I find that they are necessary for a number of reasons. It’s not only the low light conditions they are useful, I use them in any type of light.

The reason for this is that cameras are heavy and to work wth your composition in a nice way you need to move around try angles and zoom and various framing options and a nice tripod is a help here making it easier for you to walk about, find the right spot, mount the camera there and then adjust it properly and take a great picture.

Studio taking form
My low budget studio with cheap tripod

If you can’t afford a top of the line tripod and a really good head, then by all means get something cheaper. You will most likely upgrade eventually so it might be a waste of money but at least you have something. I think lots of photographers will nod in recognition to this.

Other useful items to stabilize the camera could also include monopods (although I personally dislike them) bean bags (great for macro photos since you can place anything on them) and clips and clamps that you can use to attach your camera to a handrail or similar on a bridge. Lovely stuff all of it.

Hair update

So it was Jeanettes birthday party last night and we went out to celebrate that. But before that she thought she’d spice me up a little bit and one way of doing that was to dye my hair a bit. "Just a tone, not a strong colour or anything, a bit of nutty brownish should do the trick" and I said yes. Apparently my very scandinavian blonde hair took a liking to the red tones in the colour and now I look like a proper carrot. Not that I suffer from it, I only see it when there is a mirror about.

I got red hairIf I look a little tired here it is because we had considerable to drink yesterday and I am a little bit tired today. For some reason I’m not 18 any more.

Winter Approaching…

The winter is approaching, already people are talking about how we never seems to get any decent winters here in Stockholm any more, it is all about global warming and how the effects of increased CO2, methane, water vapor or other such greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may affect the climate.

I like winters, when the temperature is reasonably, say -10 to -5°C or so, that’s lovely. A nice sun shining and that’s great. But to remind everyone that we do actually gett good winters now and then and avoid the ”I don’t know when we had some realy snow last time” here is the winter of 2005-2006.

In a galaxy, far away…

Mälarstrand
Stockholm across Riddarfjärden
DSC_0376
My street in the winter time.
DSC_1195
Bench
DSC_0736
Lake in Norberg

I am hoping for a winter with lots of snow because I want to test out IR photography in the winter time. I think it can be pretty awesome with the right light…

Autumn 2008

So the autumn here is nearing winter, the weather is getting colder and many trees have already lost their coloured leaves. There are still some brigh coloured trees around here and there but there are more branches becoming barren and winterlike every day.

The evergreens remains of course, the firs, pines and the spruce trees, the most common evergreens in Sweden. Here is a collection of some of my favourites for the autumn 2008, in no way complete but these are some of the shots that carry special meaning and rememberance for me.

Enjoy the slide show.

Photos and other rants