Explosion of purple and green

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This morning I went out to try my best at getting some marsh gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe, klokjesgentiaan) in the picture. I set out to get the early morning swirly combination of purple and green with some added dew droplets. Well there was dew, and yes it did look good, but I did not get it quite the way I wanted. Despite using whatever I could find in my goodies bag (extension tubes, macro lens, teleconvertors) it was a bit so so. Being wet and all I stood there drying myself in the morning sun.

Looking down I found two marsh gentians cosy together. This proved to be a good find. Working my way with the subject I found a great composition, not focussing on the usual stems, or the tops of the leafs. Rather, I put the sharp bit on some small droplets of dew that were visible on the edge of the flowers. Doing so made the shape of the flower stand out. Combined with the lush green mos. Wow the purple was now embedded in a sea of radiating green. It doesn’t really show the plant anymore, instead it just shows an explosion of colour.

Nikon D700, Tamron 90mm/2.8, f13, 1/30s, ISO800, extension tubes, tripod

Dandelion of old

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One of the topics I had wanted to get into this spring was dandelions (Taraxacum officinale, paardenbloem). Often when on my bike getting to work I saw these common flowers glistening in the early morning. Mornings came, mornings went. With our daughter almost entering our lives I however never came to get out.

So rather than making a new picture I searched trough my files of old (this image was taken back in 2004! ) for a picture of a dandelion, only to do some more post-processing on. Wow, the change was dramatic, from the yeah, ok, kind of dull picture of the dandelion came this picture that has strength and sparkle that attracted me all these mornings. What a bit of searching in one’s archives can bring a pleasure.

Nikon D70, Tamron 90/2.8, f5.6, 1/250s, ISO200, B&W in pp

Three corners, 4 trips

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Recently I have sifted trough the many photographs I took on 4 trips in three corners of the earth: The Caribbean (Curacao), Iceland, and Down Under (New Zealand and Australia). For all four trips I have posted a small portfolio under travels. Just click one of the images below and it will take you to the relevant page.

 

 

 

Wide FX again!

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It was a pleasure after too long, back to FX and the accompanying anti-crop feeling. Having used the DX format for years I still was not really happy with the cropping, on wide-angle shots that is. For telephoto sure it works a treat, but for anything a bit wide I felt ‘forced’ to use too short a lens with trees toppling over, and perspective too extreme in situation I did not want that. On the beautiful ‘cold gold morning’ I was first using my newly acquired D700 and felt freed again. It just feels better.

I might even go as far as that I fell a bit in love with this picture. I just looked at it with a big smile on my face. Everything seems to fit, the warm sun surrounded by the golden hue, the fog obscuring the horizon adding some mystique, and the crispness of the Purple Moor Grass (Molinia caerulea, Pijpenstro) in the front. They all came together in a good feeling of the morning. Maybe what could be added is a bit of the underwater world… Well, we always have something to wish for don’t we.

Nikon D700, 24-70/2.8, f16, 1/400s, ISO400, handheld

Gold, Cold, Morning!

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Wow, that was a good morning. For the last weeks I had been biking to work seeing all the gorgeousness that comes with this season. The cold nights and relatively high temperatures during day breeds morning fog and dew. Lovely mornings in the making. Getting up early (yawn) I wanted to beat the sun to the morning and get the usual heathland in a hopefully not so standard way. When I arrived there was lots of fog over patches of water spilling into the heathland.

While nice before the sun awoke it became almost golden after sunrise! All the fog radiated with this golden hue. After stepping just a bit too far into the water I got wet feet. Well, if its worth doing, it’s worth overdoing. Stepping into the water up to my knees into the (really) cold water I reached a spot with a pleasing visual composition. This provided both wide landscape shots and tight crops of pure color. Carefully composing the scene including the sun, it’s reflection and the fog provided an image showing the gold essence of the morning. I still have a smile on my face!

Nikon D700, 70-200/2.8, f11, 1/3200s, ISO400, handheld

Wild Cup-Lichen

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While you can get close to cup-lichen very easily, and they tend not to be moved by the wind, they make for an ideal type of macro subject. Doing something creative with them is quite something else, and sometimes others have good ideas (thanks Dik Hermes) like trying to create the feeling of spying on the cup-lichen as if they were some type of wildlife!

After some time searching I found just the group of cup-lichen to make this work. Making sure the lines of two groups of cup lichen, and grass in front crossed made for an interesting composition. I also wanted to make sure to include the blue sky. Adding the sky, I think, gives the color contras setting of the cup-lichen and adds variation to the usual earth background for this type of subject. To keep out the hard sunlight from the cup-lichen I used a foldable diffuser.

Nikon D200, 90/2.8, f10 1/15s, ISO200, extension tubes, foldable diffusor.