Archive for February 2015

Nearby: PWC building 5

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As a contrast to the farthest away photographs from New Zealand, I start to share more nearby compositions again. After all, the best (photography) work can be done in the environment you know best. Only one particular building may offer photography opportunities for many repeated visits. The fifth PWC building composition does not present the building itself, but rather air pipes, gigantic exhausts, just next to the building. The composition above shows three of these pipes with the reflections of the rotating glass panes that are characteristic of the facade of this business complex. The previous blog posts about the PWC building are found HERE.

2015/02/22 by Unknown
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Pixel temptation

Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug A photograph from autumn 2014 - a colorful leaf in a nearby stream. How many pixels does this photograph need?

I have to admit that from time to time I consider buying (or even actually buy) equipment that I do not really need at all, just because of its availability. For example, I am tempted by pixels despite my knowledge that even my Lumix GH1 has enough of them. This is the case because I sometimes suffer from the nagging thought that a photograph that I really like could have been better had it been captured with a higher resolution. A clear sign of pixel regret.

Our recent holiday was a healing experience for this condition that sometimes overcomes me. I am embarrassed to admit that during our five week holiday I have destroyed more of my photography equipment than in all my life before (one camera, two lenses is the balance). With my high-resolution camera down, I had only my old but hard-wearing Lumix GH1 to use; also in situations where I would have preferred to use the "good camera", if it had been working. Although I heard "should have" and "could have" mumblings in my mind, the results are, in my opinion, perfectly fine. Just have a look at the January 2015 print!

This is of course no surprise at all. It is virtually impossible to recognize what camera was used to create a particular photograph, irrespective of whether it was a small compact camera, a systems camera, or even a medium or large format camera (as long as the print is not too large). If you want to try, head over to the New Zealand gallery and identify the photographs taken with the Lumix FT3, the GH1, or the Sony A7r.

The intention of this post is to remind myself to better resist pixel temptation and other temptations of the photography industry. All my equipment preoccupations mainly distract and keep me from using my equipment to create photographs that I am satisfied with. Moderation is the motto.

2015/02/16 by Unknown
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January 2015 print: Moon light and Moeraki boulder

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Although I have concluded my series on New Zealand photographs with the contribution on New Zealand city reflections, I am already showing another photograph from our recent holiday. It is the monthly print for January 2015.

During our vacation, I photographed with a Panasonic Lumix GH-1 and a Sony A7r (and sometimes a Panasonic Lumix FT3). On a few occasions, I took similar compositions with both (real) cameras; with the intention to compare the results also in print. In all such cases, I clearly prefer one of the two photographs already before looking at the print. In the example shown here, the composition from the GH1 is much better overall (I missed the focus with the Sony - it was very dark), but much much more difficult to develop and print.

The scene is the same as the one shown in the first New Zealand post: Moon-lit Moeraki boulder shell. It was dark, but the moon was shining bright. To prevent a burning out of the moon light reflection, the photograph had to be strongly underexposed, which in turn required a lot of adjustments to the shadows and exposure compensation in Lightroom. As a consequence, the noise in the dark area, which comprises most of the frame, became disturbing and thus also had to be taken care of.

I have the impression that this photograph is an extremely far stretch for the GH1's sensor. The equivalent photograph from the A7r was easier to develop and the boulder in the center shows more detail, but the light pattern in the foreground is much better in the above photograph. With the A7r print as a guide for the noise in the dark areas, I managed to create a print from the GH1 file that I am satisfied with. Is the technical quality of the GH1 file better? Of course not, but the resulting photograph is and the resolution and detail do not matter for my print sizes (usually smaller than A4). In my opinion, it is an amazing result for a sensor/camera that was introduced almost six years ago (April 2009)!

2015/02/13 by Unknown
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New Zealand city reflections

I have been posting many New Zealand photographs recently already, but here is one more post. Although our holidays are usually spent in nature and the outdoors, we also like to explore cities along our way. During our recent New Zealand trip, we have stopped in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

The seven photographs shown here are all reflections of some kind. Sometimes, they are just interesting distortions and colorful reflections, but other compositions may seem strange, confusing, or even manipulated. They are not. Closely inspecting a window pane may reveal overlays of reflections and "through-views" that almost look like double exposures. The first example is a composition that I like particularly. It is a wild overlay of reflected containers, shop items and even a Kiwi postcard that was discovered at Christchurch's fascinating Re:Start container mall.

In the coming weeks I may add a few more photographs to the New Zealand gallery, but this blog post concludes the series of New Zealand holiday posts. Other topics are long overdue (for example the monthly print) and I should rather turn to my nearby photography instead of reminiscing.

Kiwi postcard in the Re:Start container mall, Christchurch, New Zealand

Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMugRangitoto Island through Sky Tower windows, Auckland, New Zealand

Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug Auckland double exposure, Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland distortion, Auckland, New Zealand

Sky Tower reflection, Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland sunset reflection, Auckland, New Zealand

Straight and distortion, Wellington, New Zealand

2015/02/08 by Unknown
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