Downtown Fredensborg - Deserted

Taken at 23:03 at night and totally deserted it's almost eerie, but great for taking photographs. At this time of night there was still enough light in the sky to balance nicely with the street lights and end up with a single shot containing a wide gamut of fairly even exposure. This sort of photography always requires a tripod as we have to deal with longish exposures and hand holding is impossible without getting a blurry and unusable photo. Tripod = sharp and clear. Get a good sturdy tripod, it'll do wonders for your photographs!

Most people shoot until the sun goes down and then they head indoors for dinner. I try to hang around for an hour or two (or more) after sunset to get this sort of light. It can make for long, cold, hungry evenings, but it gets pictures that very few people are willing or able to take simply because they lack the dedication and commitment to suffer a little inconvenience to get the photo they really want. But then maybe I'm a little too obsessive about these things? ;-)

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 VR, sturdy tripod, remote trigger, f10.0, 13.0s, 18mm, VR off, ISO 200, Auto White Balance, Matrix Metering, Aperture Priority, quick run through Dx0 Optics Pro 8, and then some adjustments in the curves tool of PSP X5.

Traffic Circle in Fredensborg

Waterfront at Lake Esrum in Denmark

I still haven't got used to the extremely long summer evenings in Scandinavia, despite having been here for over a year now. This is my second summer in these northern countries and the beautiful lingering light still appears miraculous to me after a lifetime of the abrupt sunsets that characterise the evenings in Southern Africa. This particular photograph of the waterfront at Lake Esrum was taken at 20.03pm, and there was still another hour of useable light for a fruitful and fulfilling photowalk that splendid Danish summer "magic hour".

Livet är mycket bra!

Jetty on Lake Esrum in Denmark

I have photographed this jetty before, but never in a beautiful pastel painterly sunset like this!

Fredensborg is one of my favourite places in Scandinavia, and Lake Esrum is down past the palace a couple of kilometers or so from the town center. It is a beautiful walk through a forested area interspersed with parkland from the palace and then the beautiful lake is the cherry on the top.

Life is good!
:-)

Lake Esrum Sunset

I don't often venture into the world of HDR, but when I am faced with a huge lighting challenge like the one in the scene above there really is no other way to get the full dynamic range on offer. If I exposed for the setting sun the boat in the foreground was diminished to murky blacks and greys, and if I exposed for the foreground the sunset became a wash of blown out highlights. Cue bracketing function on camera, roll on Photomatix (I never upgraded from version 3!) tweak in PSP X5, and voila! A simple exposure blend is enough for me, I try to keep these looking as natural as possible given the circumstances because overworked HDR is an abomination to behold... at least to me.

Early Morning at Lake Esrum

Taken in the tiny harbour on Lake Esrum in Fredensborg, Denmark.

What does it take to shoot good photographs?

I get asked by quite a lot of my friends how I get my photos to look so different/better than the photos that they take with their own expensive dslr's when they have the same (and more often better) camera. Shouldn't the camera take just as great photos regardless of who uses it?

Well, the short answer is. No!

The slightly longer answer is, cameras don't take photographs, people do.

A little simplistic maybe, so let me try the long winded approach. Bear with me.



A lot of "pro" shooters are complaining lately that the proliferation of good, cheap cameras has spelt the death knell for their industry, and while there may be a little truth in that I would like to point out that despite oil paints being widely available to the general public, and millions of aspiring artists worldwide taking up brush, paint and canvas, there is still only one Picasso, or Van Gogh, or Renoir. These geniuses set themselves apart by becoming the best at what they did, which is be creative, pioneer new ways and practice, practice, practice... and then practice some more. Very often to the neglect of friends, family and the material pleasures of life. Are you willing to pay that price?

Similarly, there are a number of photographers worldwide that have sacrificed and practiced themselves ahead of the pack and left the rest of us in their dust! But we try anyway, and have fun while we are at it! I truly believe that if I make the same sacrifices as the artistic greats of old, I can rise above the rest as well. In the meantime, with fame and fortune beckoning, I practice, and study, and work hard at honing my skills, and I think I have improved dramatically since I started on this journey.

This reminds me of the old joke about the man in the suit trying to find Carnegie Hall and when he stopped and asked a neaby beatnik how to get to Carnegie Hall the beatnik said the immortal words: "practice man, practice!"

It has been said that photography is a very lonely sport. Get used to being alone. A lot. You can't be creative and look after the kids at the same time. Or the wife. Photographers are up early, out in the cold and rain and back late. Then they spend a lot of time in the darkroom, or (these days) in front of the computer in the study. Always be willing to learn a new technique, don't think you know it all.

Then maybe one day you will also be able to sell photographs for millions of dollars.

Disclaimer: I don't think I am there yet by a long shot, but I am improving every day. And other people are starting to take notice!

Fredensborg Castle, Denmark.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 35mm f1.8G DX, f2.0, 1/15s, hand held, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Esrum Lake, Fredensborg, Denmark.

Ducks and Jetty - Lake Esrum, Fredensborg, Denmark

So I finally found out the actual name of Lake Esrum! I live and learn every day. :-)

Early Morning Walk in Fredensborg Palace Gardens

Walking through the Fredensborg Palace Gardens down towards the royal boathouse (Skipperhuset) at the lake, you can just make out the building erected by Frederik IV for the royal yachts. The mist gives it all a kind of magical quality! Well worth braving the winter cold.

A Fearsome Terror in the Woods!

Abstract at the Docks - Fredensborg Harbour

Mooring Posts - Fredensborg Lake

The Fredensborg Palace in Denmark

The Danish Queens spring and autumn residence in Fredensborg, Denmark. Nice little place, no?

Nikon D90, Nikkor 35mm f1.8DX, hand held, ISO400, f2.8, 1/30s. Just love this lens as a light walkabout on the D90!