Portraits are about People! (2)

Nikon sb700 Speedlight on a pole shooting through a smallish Elinchrom shoot through umbrella to camera left and triggered via Nikon's super CLS wireless trigger system. Nikon D90 on manual mode at 1/60s, f7.1, ISO 200, handheld, with the wonderful Nikkor AFS 35mm DX f1.8 lens attached.

Taken on a bridge over the moat at the Landskrona Citadel shortly after sunset.

Why I think shooting after sunset is a good idea!

Yesterday I posted a comparison between a CPL filtered and un-CPL'd photograph and how using a Circular Polarising Filter can improve the look of your photographs during the day when the sun is shining.

But now I'm going to show you a photograph taken from the same spot (almost exactly) but that has a whole lot more "wow" factor simply because of the time of day it was taken. I took this photograh about 55 minutes or so after sunset but while the sun was still giving plenty of golden glow to the sky. The foreground is also lit by the street lights which kind of matches the colour of the sky, and also prevents the foreground from just being plain black.

Of course this required me going back to the beach much later and dressed a little warmer, but I think the results were well worth the effort!

At this time of the day colours are super saturated and beautiful. However, because the light is nowhere near as bright as during the day shutter speeds are way slower than while the sun is shining so a tripod becomes essential. I used f11.0 and let the camera choose it's own shutter speed which was a full 30 seconds in this particular case. A bit of playing with sliders in PSP X5 lowered the highlights, raised the shadow areas and increased the saturation some more until I got what I was after.

Nikon D90 and my trusty el cheapo 18-105mm kit "plastic fantastic" lens.

Landskrona Citadel - a High Dynamic Range Photograph.

From Wikipedia: Landskrona Citadel (Swedish: Citadellet or Landskrona slott) is situated in Landskrona, Scania, southern Sweden. Initially built 1549–1559 as a purely defensive fortification with two complete moats, the inner with a width of 70 metres (230 ft). The outer (complete) moat is between 40 and 70 metres (130 and 230 ft) wide, and has cross fire bastions for artillery and guns. Outside the outer moat, a third narrower moat covers the northwest and northeast. There also exist remains of a fourth moat (between the two outer moats). The fortifications and moats system surrounding the castle is known to be one of Europe's largest and best preserved.

Three bracketed photos taken 2 stops apart, a quick run through DXO 8 for the special pixie dust magic that the elves at DXO lavish upon RAW photos to make them look better, and then "Exposure Merged" in Corel Paintshop Pro X5. Tweaked the levels, contrast and did some sharpening, also in PSP X5. For this type of photography a sturdy tripod is essential because of the very long exposure times. I used my D90 and the 18-105mm kit lens, Aperture Priority and f11.0, always RAW. :-)

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.

Sunset Light is good for Portraits!

Beautiful, soft, diffuse, saturated, golden sunset light is great for taking portraits, and if you happen to be taking photographs at an event when the sun is going down then take as many portraits with as many different people in front of your camera as you can manage in the limited timeframe available. They will be some of the favourites of the day, with both you and your subjects!

Nikon D90, Aperture Priority Mode, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 105mm, hand held, f/8, 1/125s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Sunset over Johannesburg - South Africa.

Taken from Northcliff Ridge.

It took several rolls of film before I was certain that it was impossible to catch the swallows in flight, so imagine my surprise when the film was developed and not only did I get the elusive swallow, but also what appears to be a Black Eagle in the distance! There is a breeding pair of eagles not too far from this spot. There were always pleasant surprises with film! :^)

Nikon f801s and junky 3rd party lens. Cheap ISO200 Fuji Superior film, developed and badly scanned at a cheap local lab.

Helsingborg at Night 2

Same as the shot below, but zoomed in a bit.

Helsingborg at Night 1

One of the first shots of the evening, still a fair bit of natural light, but the artificial light is coming in nicely. With the Helsingborg Music Festival on I wanted to get this unusual photo with a fun fair down at the harbour and a large tent in the main road leading up to the Helsingborg Castle. Which is where I took this photograph from actually.

More coming soon!

Lomma, Sweden (1)

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm, Velbon Sherpa tripod, f/11.0, 20.0s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Night Walk in Malmö 4

Looking down the canal towards the harbour, enduring a light sprinkling of rain at this point! ;-)

Night Walk in Malmö 2

The TGIF Restaurant in the corner of Lilla Torg (Little Square) in Malmö, Sweden.

Pretty much all the same details as this pic.

Harbour in Lomma, Sweden.

3 second exposure with camera propped firmly down onto a jetty while I am lying flat on my stomach.

I tore a strip off the skin of my little finger getting down on the old worn wood of the jetty, I console myself with the knowledge that at last I am suffering for my art! ;-)

Street in Hälleforsnäs, Södermanland, Sweden at sunset.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 35mm f1.8dx, Aperture Priority, f4.0, ISO400, 1/40s, hand held.