Posts tagged “normal zoom”

Wide FX again!

. No comments.

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

Miniature landscape (best when enlarged)

. No comments.

Not quite winter, not spring yet either. This time of year is always a difficult time to find interesting subjects, and the macro-lens is my best friend in these days. Mostly in spring I am out at night hoping for some luck with amphibians, but this time I was out during daylight. I was inspired by the ‘top view’-post of Marijn Heuts image of february 27th. I am a fan of odd vantage points (I still like my 2009 image ‘from the ground up‘ a lot) and I liked the top view idea for a macro image. I am also often intrigued by photo’s that make the scale hard to get.

Most of the morning I was wrestling the tripod at making extreme close-ups of cup-lichen (Cladonia moss) using the most magnification I could find in my bag. Having worked the subject I found myself staring down, being surprised by the shadows cast by other moss.

Combining several ideas in this image I have tried to capture a miniature landscape as if from the sky. Using my not so macro 24-70 lens I decided to take the image from the top. I did not clean up the scene, but left some clues as to the scale. I think this makes the scene just real enough without detracting from the scalability (or lack thereof) of the photo.

Nikon D200, 24-70/2.8@24, f10, 1/100s, ISO200, handheld.

The moon and an island in the fog

. No comments.

December 20th 2010

Having left my camera untouched since summer I finally managed to get out and about for a short afternoon. I was in luck, there was snow, and a nice setting sun. While walking back to my parking spot the weather changed, the colors became very strangely pinkish, purplish. In addition a ground fog was rolling in fast obscuring much of the landscape, but not all! An island of a couple of trees remained free from the fog. With the fog enclosing this group of trees from all sides, the moon made the picture. Almost serene the moon countered all expectations. Alienated from the landscape it finished the strange atmosphere.

Nikon D200, 24-70/2.8, f5.6 1/30s, ISO200, tripod

Over the Moon

. No comments.

May 2009

Slechts af en toe krijgt een avond een onverwachte wending. Met de hoop op een vochtige avond op pad gegaan naar rugstreeppadden. Het bleek echter droog met de maan laag aan de hemel. Een uitgelezen kans om de rugstreeppad nu eens fraai in zijn nachtelijke omgeving te plaatsen. De camera in  het zand ingegraven en met een groothoeklens erop kon ik zowel de rugstreeppad als de maan in beeld krijgen. Geluk? Een beetje, maar vooral blij met het resultaat.

Only so often do you get hte chance to do something you haven’t been able to do yet. May 7th was such a day. Having set out for a hopefully wet night with an abundance of activity from the Natterjack Toad, it turned out to be dry, with a moonlit sky. Using a wideangle I was able to just fit the moon in together with a Natterjack Toad in its nighly landscape. Unexpected, but somewhat ‘over the moon’ with this opportunity.

Nikon D200, Nikon 24-70/2.8 AFS, Flash, hole in the sand