Stained Glass Window

A few days ago I took a walk to downtown of Aalborg and payed a visit to Budolfi Church. The church is really worth visiting and what drew my eyes when walking inside the church was this beautiful stained glass window full of colors. In some way I think that this is quite an interesting photo. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon EF-S 60mm macro 2.8, F5.6 @ 1.125, ISO 400.

Color Structure

I took this photo on my way to work several months ago. It is a very simple picture with no dynamic lines and the factory at the background adds a little bit of irregularity. Still, it was attracting my attention every time I saw it in my gallery, so I decided to post it. I believe that there is some interesting structure in the photo. And yes, I have boosted the colors little bit in Lightroom. I have also recently read an on-line article related to this issue called "What Makes a Great Photograph" at KenRockwell.com and it really speaks from my heart; a highly recommended to take a look at! Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon EF-S 60mm Macro 2,8 at 60mm, F8 @ 1/500, ISO 200.

Ireland's Potato

This is a photo I took about a half year ago at my trip to Macao. It is one of the busy streets downtown and what drew my attention were the signs decorating the street. The only one I could understand were "Ireland's Potato", so this became the title of the post. The colors photo were modified little bit in Lightroom to add little bit of nostalgic feeling. This is the kind of photo that brings back my memories from the trip. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 USM 3,5-4,5 at 72mm, F5,6 @ 1/125, ISO 800.

On the Air

I took this photo last year at a job fair. The squares at the backdrop were full of color and very bright, which allowed me to make the background behind the man with the phone very dark. The main subject was lit with my off-camera flash Canon 580EX II with Lumiquest Softbox III positioned to the left and slightly behind the subject, creating a more dramatic Rembrandt light pattern. An on-camera flash was used for a little bit of fill on the axis of the camera. The lighting diagram is outlined to the right (click on it for a larger view). And yes, this was not a candid shot, I simply asked him to stay at the place and pretend a phone call. I liked already the original photo but then decided to use the gradient tool in Lightroom to make the right third of the picture black and white and it turned into an even more interesting photo. For completeness let me say that I used the brush tool with exposure set to -4EV to clean up a few distracting objects behind my subject. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 47mm, F5,6 @ 1/100, ISO 200.

Abandoned Home

Today I am posting a photo from the city of Ruse in Bulgaria. The city has a sad history. First in 1980's the close by chemical factory located in Romania had been polluting the air to such a degree that many Ruse inhabitants were forced to leave and even more people left after the economical decline in the forthcoming decades. As a result, even though the city is growing again these days, one can find many abandoned houses and blocks of flats as on today's photo. The picture was taken with my favorite lens Tokina 11-16 2,8 at 11mm which allowed me to get quite close to the building and capture this unusual perspective adding to the impression that the building is about to collapse at any moment. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Tokina 11-16 2,8 at 11mm, F9 @ 1/60, ISO 100.

In the Rythm of Tango

This photo a took a few years ago at a ballroom dance competition in Brno in the Czech Republic. I really enjoy the diagonal lines of the legs and arms and the expressions in the dancer's face. Luckily the light at the ballroom was quite strong, so I used the on-camera flash just for a minor fill. And how can I tell they dance tango? Well, this is clear from the holding of the couple and most clearly from the position of woman's left hand. I was self a competitor in standard and latinamerican dances and this really helps me to estimate the right moments where a photograph shall be taken. I might post more dance photos in the future. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 F3,5-4,5 USM at 93mm, F7,1 @ 1/250, ISO 800.

Close Together

I think it is time to finish the series of images from India and return back to Denmark. Today I have decided to present one of my favorite photos that I took in autumn last year. Whenever I take a look at this photo I recall the amazing connection between this young couple. I tried to analyze what attracts my eyes to this photo and I believe that these are the two diagonal lines. One is connecting their faces and the other one is the line of the man's shoulder continued by the horizon in the left upper corner. These lines meet in the center where the couple is looking too. The focus was on girl's eyes which happen to be in the same distance as the man's eyes; hence the photo looks so sharp even though the depth of field is quite narrow. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 149mm, F5.6 @ 1/320, ISO 100.

A Woman from Bangalore

I have one more photo from India to show you today. Again, it is from the time I was shooting on film. We were on a trip to natural preservation close to Bangalore and just before we were about to leave to our hotel, this older women showed up and was asking for some money. She kindly agreed to be photographed too. When I shot the photo, I knew it will be a strong one. Canon EOS 300 with Canon 28-105 F3,5-4,5 USM, film Fuji Superia ISO 200, scanned on Canon MP980.

Daily Life in Bangalore

Here are a few more photos I took in Bangalore in India. I have to admit that India is one of my favorite travel destinations. It is colorful, contrasting and full of personal characters that simply ask to be captured on a camera. Camera spec: Canon EOS 300 with Canon 28-105 F3,5-4,5 USM, film Fuji Superia ISO 200, scanned on Canon MP980.

A Man with a Snake

This is one of the photos I liked most from my trip to Bangalore. As the photos before, it was taken with an analog camera and scanned but the colors and sharpness are quite nice. The reason I like this photo is because it is giving lots of information in one shot, a good story telling photo. The man is sitting on the ground and showing his snake in order to get some money. I assume that the woman sitting at the background is his wife. Guessing from the golden ring on man's finger, they probably have a decent life. I gave the man a few rupees and he kindly agreed to be photographed. This was the first shot I have taken. I wanted to take a few more pictures but the man proved to be a good businessman and kept asking for more and more money. So I was shooting as long as I had some coins left but this first photo remained the best of the series. Camera spec: Canon EOS 300 with Canon 28-105 F3,5-4,5 USM, film Fuji Superia ISO 200, scanned on Canon MP980.

On the Way Home

I captured this photo on one of my walking trips in Bangalore nine years ago. The woman was bringing some pieces of wood to her home, she turned when she saw me and I pressed the shutter at that moment. As a result I got a nice portrait of this woman with some auto rickshaw in the background as a bonus. The light was also coming from the right direction to provide a subtle illumination on her face. Camera spec: Canon EOS 300 with Canon 28-105 F3,5-4,5 USM, film Fuji Superia ISO 200, scanned on Canon MP980.

Mother and Child

Another photo from Bangalore which brings some memories. This is a nice story telling scene of a mother holding a child in her hand and walking up the hill. The colors of the sky didn't come up as expected during the scan but otherwise the photo is compositionally pleasing as both the main object of the mother and child and the secondary object up the hill are placed according to the rules of third. What makes the image pop up for me is its simplicity. Camera spec: Canon EOS 300 with Canon 28-105 F3,5-4,5 USM, film Fuji Superia ISO 200, scanned on Canon MP980.

People of India

Out of the many photos I took in India I was mostly fascinated by the different characters of people that one can meet in India. Most of the people gladly accepted to be photographed and today I am presenting a photo of two young ladies, most likely university students, because the picture was taken close at the university campus of Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. The colors are beautiful and the quality of the scan is surprisingly good. I have actually noticed that the dynamic range of a film is much higher than that of today's digital cameras. This photo was taken in a full sun and the exposition is fine both in highlights and shadows (except for sharpening and some basic color adjustments the scan was not improved in any other way). What a pity I don't own any film camera any more ... maybe I should get one :-) Camera spec: Canon EOS 300 with Canon 28-105 F3,5-4,5 USM, film Fuji Superia ISO 200, scanned on Canon MP980.

Incredible India

As I already mentioned, I have found some old films that I recently scanned on my Canon MP980 scanner. I was positively surprised of the quality of the scan and in particular the pictures from my trip to India from 2001 brought back many memories. Today I want to start with a photo of street life in the streets of Bangalore. It was taken from an auto rickshaw and shows a typical busy day in December. I will soon post more photos of people in India, so stay tuned. Camera spec: Canon EOS 300 with Canon 28-105 F3,5-4,5 USM, film Fuji Superia ISO 200 (most likely), scanned on Canon MP980 and converted to BW.

Bye, bye

Well, after presenting a few photos from the carnival, let me close this topic for a while with this detail photo. I like the expression in her eyes and the small catch lights created by the on-camera flash used as a fill in. I have also finished scanning some older films on which I captured my trip to India in 2001 and they came out quite nice. I will present a few of them in my next posts, so check out my blog soon again! Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon 28-105 F3.5-4.5 USM at 83mm F7.1 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

Brazil, Brazil, ...

Indeed, you can see Brazilian samba danced in the streets of Aalborg once every year. I particularly like this photo because of the expression in the dancers face and the nice colors. As usual, I used an on-camera flash to soften the shadows. In these situations I normally put the flash compensation to -1 EV or more to make the flash "invisible". Too much flash would destroy the picture. I believe that I used the Lumiquest Mini Softbox as mentioned in the previous posts. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 43mm, F5,6 @ 1/250, ISO 400.

Carnival Parade

Here it comes, the carnival parade! Beautiful colors, happy people, loud drum music and lots of dance ... enjoy. Again, a little bit of on-camera flash was used to fill in. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon 28-105 F3.5-4.5 USM at 43mm, F7.1 @ 1/250, ISO 200.

Out of the Blue

I could not resist to post another photo similar to the previous one. I like the drama expressed in the picture and the nice colors dominated by the blue sky at the background. I used my on camera flash, probably with the Lumiquest Mini-Softbox, to fill in the shadows. The leading lines on both sides of the photo really help to guide the attention to the main subject. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon 24-105 4L at 24mm, F16 @ 1/250, ISO 400.

Aalborg Carnival

Let's post some photos from Aalborg Carnival today. The carnival takes place every year in May and it is an exciting event (if you ever travel around, make sure you don't miss it). I chose to start with this picture, while not a typical carnival photo, as it shows a nice atmosphere and is compositionaly pleasing. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon 24-105 4L at 24mm, F7.1 @ 1/250, ISO 400.

Playing with Shadow

Here is another photo I took during the recent pregnancy session. I wanted to cast a shadow on the wall in the background to emphasize the shape of the belly. I placed the 580EX II speedlite with a homemade grid to the camera right and by carefully changing the distance and the angle I achieved the desired effect. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 70mm, F8 @ 1/125, ISO 400.

Pregnancy Fashion

While travelling light with a single camera and one lens, I was asked to take some pregnancy photos. I was quite constrained with the location (a small apartment with lots of furniture) but luckily I found a piece of a white wall that I could use as the background. I had only one 580EX II flash with me with the new Pocket Wizards. So I placed a large white towel to the right and bounced the flash against it. Little bit of work in Lightroom produced a very pleasing result. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 67mm, F6.3 @ 1/200, ISO 400.

What's That?

Today I was on a photo-trip with a friend of mine and again, I have hardly ever taken my Lensbaby Composer off my camera!!! This shot is the one I liked most thanks to the composition and the nice cold colors. The photo was not manipulated in any way, I only added little bit of contrast and vibrance in Lightroom, that was it. Love this lens! Can you guess what is on the picture? Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Lensbaby Composer at 50mm, F5,6 @ 1/320, ISO 100.

Edgy

The more I play with my new Lensbaby Composer, the more I like it. The focusing is still quite tricky; I have become better in manual focusing on closer subjects, however, at longer distances using the life-view option works better for me. The photo above I took today during a short walk and I am amazed to see what possibilities this lens offers. It stays constantly on my camera these days. What I like probably most is that it forces me to think hard before taking a picture and manual focusing helps to slow me down. Today's photo was enhanced in Lightroom, I simply used the preset PH Edgy Church and adjusted little bit the curves afterwards. I think that it adds quite some artistic mood to the selective focus and I am happy about the final result. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Lensbaby Composer at 50mm, F5.6 @ 1/100, ISO 640.

Merry Christmas

Yesterday I have got a new toy: a selective focus Lensbaby Composer. This is one of the very first pictures I have taken with it. I am surprised to see how sharp this lens is! Take a look at 100% crop from the area in focus. It is pretty amazing but also quite tricky to achieve a good focus with this lens (manual focusing is the only option here). I am looking forward to more experiments with this new piece of equipment. I have a feeling that it has quite some potential. By the way the lighting was achieved by my on-camera flash pointed to the wall on my left. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Lensbaby Composer at 50mm, F5.6 @ 1/30, ISO 800.

Tropical Island

I am now safely back in Europe and when browsing through the photos I took in Rio de Janeiro, this one kept popping up. I like the colors and the simplicity of this tiny tropical island. Good bye Rio! Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 50mm, F9 @ 1/400, ISO 200.

Santa Teresa View

Today I had a walk up to the Santa Teresa hill in Rio de Janeiro and photographed this stunning panorama. It was raining the whole day but luckily the sky cleared up little bit in the evening so that I could make six expositions that were stitched together in Hudin. I like the result also thanks to the composition: the panorama is bounded from both sides by the green and the U shape of the trees in the foreground does not allow the viewer's eyes to escape. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 28mm, F8 @ 1/100, ISO 200.

Sugar Loaf Panorama

Yesterday I decided to try a panorama photo of Sugar Loaf. I stichted together 7 expositions of vertical photos in Hugein. All expositions were in the manual mode and with manual focus. Hugein works flawlessly and the final result is very nice panorama photo. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Tokina 11-16 2,8 at 11mm, F11 @ 1/200, ISO 100.

A Tropical Paradise

Today I am blogging a photo I took two days ago after my arrival to Rio de Janeiro. The photo is taken from the top floor of the Military Institute of Engineering (IME) on a foggy day (unfortunately it has been raining cats and dogs since we arrived to Rio). I really like how the palmtrees are displayed over the ocean surface, giving it a nice contrast, complemented by the background hills partly covered in fog. The picture was enhanced in Lightroom, in particular I missed some element in the right-hand top corner, so I cloned there the three birds that add a final touch to the photo. In fact the original bird was at some other place on the photo, so I simply moved it to another position using the clone tool and replicated it tree times (see the original photo here). I think that the final result is very pleasing. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3.5-3.5 USM at 38mm, F8 @ 1/250, ISO 200.

Look at You

Here is another photo I have recently taken close by to the shot on the previous post. The girl was lit from the right by Canon 580 EX with 1/4 CTO through an umbrella. I think that the photo worked best in sepia toning. Note the two repeated S-curves at the background that help to bring the attention to the girl and make the photo more interesting. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 98mm, F5.6 @ 1/250, ISO 200.

A Man with Confidence

This is a recent portrait that I have taken on Saturday morning last weekend. The sun was just showing up so I placed my subject in the direction that created a nice loop lighting pattern on his face and used the negative space on the left to add drama to the photo. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 73mm, F5.6 @ 1/640, ISO 100.

A Girl with Roses

This photo I took with three studio lamps (two for the background and one key light with a softbox). I wanted to create a soft and eye pleasing portrait of this pretty lady with roses in the foreground. The photo was converted to black and white in Lightroom and the clarity slider was pulled quite a bit to the left to smoothen the skin. The details in the eyelashes and her mouth where brought back with a selective sharpening tool and by increasing slightly the contrast. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 105mm, F11 @ 1/125, ISO 100.

Foggy Stuttgart

Talking about landscape photos, whenever browsing through my pictures, this particular scene always pops out somehow. I took it in 2005 in Stuttgart near the university campus on a foggy evening during a nice sunset. The cool color toning contrasts nicely with the orange sky and gives it a moody atmosphere. A longer lens at 70mm (or rather 112mm on 20D body with 1.6 crop factor) allowed me to pick up the interesting part of the scene without any disturbing elements. I wish I had with me a tripod that time but still the result looked very fine in my eyes. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 70-200 F4 USM at 70mm, F4 @ 1/800, ISO 800.

Taj Mahal at Sunrise

Well, here is another photo of Taj Mahal in India, one of the side buildings, taken during the sunrise. I like the colors and the simplicity of the photo. Camera spec: Canon 20D with 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 80mm, F7.1 @ 1/1600, ISO 200.

Blue Sky of Macao

This is a nice photo of Macao taken a few weeks ago right after the sunset. I like the blue sky contrasting to the warm tones of the city light and the subtle reflections of the blue color on the roofs of some of the houses. The camera was placed on my Manfrotto mini-tripod, my best friend on all my travels. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 45mm, F8 @ 8s, ISO 100.

Highkey Wedding Photo

Let's take a look at how easy it is to take high-key photos with no extra equipment. Just wait for a cloudy day, position the subjects against the sky and dial up the exposition by something like +2EV or use the manual setting. No flash was used for this picture. I also think that sepia toning on this wedding photo works particularly well. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 65mm, F5.6 @ 1/125, ISO 400.

Balcony Life

Visiting Macao provides the tourist with two different views. Rich casinos and five star hotels in one part of the city and blocks of flats for ordinary Macao citizens in the other part. I definitely preferred to walk through the other, less known, part of the city and here is an example of a beautiful balcony I saw the other day. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 105mm, F5,6 @ 1/250, ISO 100.

Macao Catering

I loved walking at night through the narrow streets of Macao and observe the life of the local people. My camera was set at high ISO so that I can capture the atmosphere of the street life without any flash that would destroy the moody feeling. This was one of my favorites photos taken at a small restaurant near the harbor. I think it speaks best at sepia toning as it eliminates the otherwise busy surrounding. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 3,5-4,5 USM at 28mm, F5,6 @ 1/200, ISO 1600.

Macao Street Life

Here is one more photo of a street life, this time in Macao that I recently visited. I was walking through the narrow streets of the old city when I saw this old man sleeping with quite some interesting foreground which includes some dancing shoes. The colors were little bit manipulated in Lightroom in order to achieve a more dramatic look. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 83mm, F5.6 @ 1/100, ISO 800.

Hong Kong Rickshaw

Hong Kong is a city with many surprises, amazing places to visit and last but not least many interesting people to photograph. I quite like this photo of a riskshaw waiting for the next customer. Partly because of this awaiting expression in his face and partly because of the contrasting red and green colors filling in the negative space to his left. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 105mm, F5,6 @ 1/320, ISO 400.

Great Websites about Photography

Today I would like to post some selected sites related to photography that I follow. So here we start:

• http://digitalprotalk.blogspot.com/

This is the blog of David Ziser that I follow almost on a daily basis. David provides here top quality information about photography techniques, lighting, composition, business tips, photoshop/lightroom tricks. Every week a new video and a lot more. Highly recommended to take a look at and browse in the video archive. I have learned so many useful tips on these pages, thanks David!

• http://strobist.blogspot.com/

Another great site about using off-camera flash. A great source of inspiration and a must see place if you are into portable light technique using the small strobes.

• http://www.squeezethelime.com/

I really enjoy the articles and videos posted on this project page. Perhaps not updated that often as the other pages but high quality information. Do not forget the check the links to the blogs of Bert and Pieter!

• http://www.jasminestarblog.com/
• http://jeffascough.typepad.com/
• http://www.jerryghionisblog.com/

Here are a few blogs that I like to return to. Very inspiring photos. Do not forget to check also Jerry's educational videos. What an incredible energy he has, definitely worth seeing (chapter 13 is for free, don't miss it).

• http://www.interviewsbycrashtaylor.com/interviews/

If you are into wedding photography, you can read here interviews with top wedding photographers and hear what gear they use, what defines their style and other stuff.

And finally, if you are looking for some affordable gels for your little strobes, take a look here http://flashgels.co.uk/.

That's all for today, hope you have enjoyed some of these great places!

SMS Me

Here comes another photo I took during my recent trip to Hong Kong. I was passing through the streets of this amazing city and spotted this woman typing an SMS message. The lines on the right hand-side immediately caught my attention and I pressed the shutter button without being observed. I believe that this image demonstrates a strong composition as the lines bring all focus onto the woman while creating an interesting negative space at the same time. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 F at 80mm, F5,6 @ 1/250, ISO 800.

The Eyes of Love

This photo was taken about two weeks ago at a destination wedding in Macao in front of the Ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral. I really like how the viewers attention is drawn directly to the eyes of the bride. The couple seems very relaxed and enjoying the late afternoon after getting married. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 72mm, F5.6 @ 1/160, ISO 400.

A Wedding in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is indeed a great place to get married. I took this photo on my last trip there but unfortunately it was quite foggy so I had to use a graduated filter in Lightroom to give a punch to the skyscrapers at the background. The photo was taken with a natural only and I think that the colors play together quite well. If you plan a destination wedding in Hong Kong and need a photographer, let me know ... Camera spec: Canon 20D with Tokina 11-16/2.8 at 16mm, F11 @ 1/60, ISO 100.

Thinking of You

This photo is one of ma favorites. The light comes from the shoot-through umbrella with my old Metz 54 MZ 3 flash and 1/4 CTO gel to the camera right, providing a very nice highlight to shadow play on the right cheek. The closed eyes add to the mystery. The background was turned to BW in Lightroom to emphasize the main object. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 IS F4 at 99mm, F5,6 @ 1/20, ISO 800.

A Moment of Silence

I took this picture a few months ago and I though I would share it for today's post. It is a simple natural light portrait which emphasizes the harmony of the moment. The triangular pose formed by the positions of the hands leaning on the horizontal bar always works. To soften the shadows on her face I placed a silver reflector to camera left. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4F at 87mm, F5,6 @ 1/250, ISO 800.

Oslo Sunset

About two weeks ago we were on a ferry trip to Oslo in Norway. We were very lucky to experience a beautiful sunset scenery that I want to share with you today. The photo was slightly improved in Lightroom by increasing the vibrance and contrast little bit. Still the colors are true and pretty amazing. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 65mm, F11 @ 1/640, ISO 100.

Prague at Night

This spring I visited Prague for a few days and one late evening I noticed the beautiful play of colors at the Charles Bridge. Luckily I had my Manfrotto mini-tripod with me (well, actually I always have it with me) and took this exposure. The colors are only little bit saturated in Lightroom, otherwise this is how the photo looked when I took it. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Tokina 11-16 F2,8 at 15mm, F8 @ 6s, ISO 100.