Here are a few pictures taken this weekend during a brief stay in Lunteren, near Ede in The Netherlands. I used exclusively my Samyang 85mm f1.4 on my Canon 5d (full frame). This lens is really old-school. It is totally manual with no communication between lens and body at all. Hence, the focusing is done with a large, smooth focus ring. Trouble is, you have to get it right looking through the viewfinder and be quick about it if the subject is moving. Furthermore, at f1.4 (you have to try it to experience it….) you must be very accurate with the plane of focus or the picture will not be sharp where you want it to be. All in all an amazing lens for a very reasonable price.
Lucca
Here are a few shots of the quite wonderful city of Lucca. Didn’t know quite what to expect and the weather wasn’t too kind but the city is quite a discovery and well worth the detour. Based around an ancient Roman amphitheater, the town gives some amazing opportunities for panorama photos. Here’s my attempt at one. Plus a few more shots for good measure.
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- Panorama Lucca
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- Lucca 1
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- Lucca 2
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- Lucca 3
Zandvoort
Today the weather was good, the sun was shining and the races were on at Zandvoort race track. Being naive, I just assumed I could turn up and take pictures. Well sort of. I was told by a nice young man that you have to be an accredited professional photographer to be allowed to “wander” amongst the “pros” (a couple I noticed were barely 16 years old.. must be quick learners). Fortunately there are a few good spots that are not only for accredited photographers but I imagine on a busy day they would be all taken. Anyway, below are some shots I managed in the sunshine. For those needing detail I used a Canon 70-200mm F2.8 IS (mkI) with my 5d mkII. Towards the end of the day I added my 2x converter but to be honest from the vantage points available, I was too close.
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- Zandvoort 1
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- Zandvoort 2
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- Zandvoort 3
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- Zandvoort 4
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- Zandvoort 5
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- Zandvoort 6
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- Zandvoort 7
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- Zandvoort 8
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- Zandvoort 9
Posted in autosport
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Rotterdam
Had a nice day out on Sunday in Rotterdam. Along with some fellow members of Images Photo Club under the guidance of Michiel, we took advantage of the good weather to stroll around the city taking photos of everything and anything. At 14:00 we went to the Nederlands Fotomuseum where we had a guided tour of the Chema Madoz exhibition. It was magic. The photos below are a few that I took….. In no special order.
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- Chance encounter
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- Walk this way
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- Erasmus Bridge
Bubble Trouble
Here is my attempt at shooting both bubbles (washing-up liquid in water) and oil drops (cooking oil in water). The setup was simple using my EF-100mm macro, a glass dish suspended between two chairs and some coloured paper on the floor lit by a desk lamp. The amount of dirt and lint that gets into the water is very annoying and required some spot healing to remove it.
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- Bubble Trouble 1
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- Bubble Trouble 2
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- Bubble Trouble 3
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- Bubble Trouble 4
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- Bubble Trouble 5
Posted in abstract
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Vogelplas
Last weekend before the snows I had the chance to try out my Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS mk1 with the 2x converter (mk2). I’ll leave you to guess which photos had the 2x converter. Pictures taken at the Vogelplas in Leidschendam. Don’t ask me what birds they are. I’ll leave that to the experts.
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- Farm house
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- Reeds
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- Heron in flight
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- Flight of birds
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- Frozen waters
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- Lots of birds
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- Lots of birds II
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- Lots of birds III
Posted in Wildlife
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Cristina
Spent some time last week for a photo shoot in our makeshift studio. I shot all photos using my second hand EF 70-200mm f2.8 L mk1 lens and had great fun doing so. I did have a little trouble with the 70mm sometimes being too close in the small amount of space available but all in all it is an excellent lens for such events. I think I prefer the close up shots of the model and this lens does the job with fast and accurate focusing due to its large aperture. Here are a couple of examples of our excellent model Cristina. Hope she has the time to pass by again for another session.
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- Cristina 2
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- Cristina 1
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- Cristina 3
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- Cristina 4
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- Cristina 5
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- Cristina 6
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- Cristina 7a
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- Cristina 7b
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- Cristina 8
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- Cristina 9a
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- Cristina 9b
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- Cristina 10
Posted in portrait, studio
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London scene
Here are a few of the more unusual shots I took from a recent trip to London and its environs. I only used the EF 16-35mm on all shots I took that week. It makes you think differently when you have such a focal length range.
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- Cellars at Hampton Court
Posted in Uncategorized
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Smoke
Something I wanted to try for quite a while….. Smoke….
Well here are some of my efforts. I used an insence stick as my smoke source and my Metz flash at 1/16 power. I used my EF-100mm macro lens but in hind sight this was not the best choice as I didn’t give myself much room to step back and take a wider view with cropping afterwards. Trying to focus on a moving smoke column when you are close up with a macro is a nightmare. The flash was placed around 50cm from the smoke (at about 2 o’clock from the camara position) and used without a diffuser.
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- Smoke 3
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- Smoke 2
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- Smoke 1
Posted in still life, studio
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Grape
Yesterday had a fun and informativfe evening at my photo club in The Hague (Images Photo Club). Of course I entered the Photographer of the Year competition with my first entry and got nowhere (nothing changes). Anyway the winner was a smasher so I don’t feel bad. Here’s my entry. The competition title was “Green”.
grapje = joke (NL)
Posted in still life
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