Tracks in the Wheat.

Nikon D90, Aperture Priority Mode, Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX, CPL, hand held, f/11.0, 1/30s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Field of Wheat. (Simplicity Itself!)

Nikon D90, Aperture Priority Mode, Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX, CPL, hand held, f/8.0, 1/100s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Alnarps Slott på Hösten. (Tre)

The other side!

Nikon D90, Aperture Priority Mode, Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX, CPL filter, tripod, f/8, 1/80s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Alnarps Slott på Hösten.

Alnarps Castle in autumn. The leaves of the trees and vines are displaying beautiful autumn colours in southern Sweden right now so get out with your cameras and don't miss it!

Nikon D90, Aperture Priority Mode, Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX, CPL filter, tripod, f/10, 1/15s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

So what exactly does a Circular Polarising Filter do?

I was asked by someone recently what a polarizing filter does and was it worth paying so money much for one? Well, the only way to answer this question is by example, so I set up, with a little help from God and nature, a perfect test area with a huge amount of reflection on wet leaves coming from the diffused light of the sun. Please note, these are for test and display purposes only and are not meant to look remotely pleasant to the eyes.

Here is the special test area unpolarized:

The leaves are wet and reflecting a lot of light into the lens and giving much less than desirable results. Or to use a highly technical term, "it looks yucky"!

Here is the exact same scene, a few seconds later, with the polarizing filter applied. It is simple enough to use, you simply rotate it until the shine goes away! Just remember to look through the viewer while you are doing this or you will not be able to see when you have achieved optimal effect. Live view works just as well.

The first thing you will notice, of course, is that the shine is gone! Vanished into thin air! The second thing that you will notice, is that the greens of the leaves are beautifully saturated, and the picture just looks better in every way. All that shine plays havoc with metering and exposure.

If you intend to photograph gardens, landscapes or shiny cars and buildings a circular polariser is a great idea that will assist you to get much better results by taking away the shine. In landscapes it will also give a beautiful deep blue sky, but it may not look great using wider lenses because the polariser will only turn part of the sky dark blue and it could all end up looking a little strange. Some people like this effect and do it on purpose.

Please note that the polariser reduces the amount of light entering the lens and so in low light shutter speeds may drop too low to hand hold requiring you to use a tripod.

Happy light hunting!

Texture of Bark on an Old Oak Tree

Nikon D90, Aperture Priority Mode, Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX, CPL filter, tripod, f/10, 1/3s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Blue on Blue

Sometimes photohraphy has less to do with documentary content and more to do with composition, shapes, texture, colour and imagination. I often like to look for art in everyday objects and scenes, which requires really looking and seeing beyond the obvious and useing the old imagination to find what the French call a certain "I don't know what". A lot of people just think I'm strange... this includes members of my own family! ;-)

More "strange" stuff here, here, here, here, and here.

Malmö Turning Torso Building (four)

The Nikkor 35mm f1.8G DX lens is a great mobile light weight solution that is super cheap as well. Being an AFS lens it focuses fast and silently. On a crop sensor camera it gives roughly the same field of view as a 50mm lens would give on an FX camera, and this is often referred to as a "normal" lens. There is a misconception that it gives the same field of view as the human eye, but that is not true, we can see somewhat wider than a 50mm lens. They are, however, relatively distortion free, just like our eyes, so this might be where the rumour originated.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 35mm f1.8G DX, ISO200, Aperture Priority mode, f8, 1/640s, polarising filter, hand held, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Malmö Turning Torso Building (three)

In the top left hand corner you can see the sun reflected, and at this time of the day it was blinding! But with the circular polarising filter it was a simple matter to reduce the glare to what is now a simple highlight that enhances the photo instead of ruining it. CPL's are the only filters I ever use on a lens by the way... but perhaps that is a debate for another time! ;-)

Nikon D90, Nikkor 35mm f1.8G DX, ISO200, Aperture Priority mode, f8, 1/400s, polarising filter, hand held, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Malmö Turning Torso Building (two)

Nikon D90, Nikkor 35mm f1.8G DX, ISO200, Aperture Priority mode, f8, 1/800s, polarising filter, hand held, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Malmö Turning Torso Building (one)

The craziest building I've ever seen, I really like it!
- More coming over the next few days.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 35mm f1.8G DX, ISO200, Aperture Priority mode, f5.6, 1/500s, polarising filter, hand held, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.