The Power of Bounced Flash!

Nikon sb600 atop my D300s turned backwards and about 45° upwards to bounce onto the wall and ceiling behind me. This simple technique resulted in even and soft lighting from a large light source and great highlights in the eyes of the subjects!

Premier Hotel, Cullinan South Africa

Christmas Candles

Nikon D300s, Manual Mode, Nikon 18-105mm DX F3.5-5.6 VR, VR on, hand held, f/5,6, 1/80s, ISO200, edited in Lightroom 4.3.

Venetian Painted Mask - a one light portrait.

Another version of a previous pic (in colour) from the same session that I posted here: Venetian Painted Mask

Nikon D90, Aperture Priority Mode, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 105mm with VR on, hand held, f/5.6, 1/200s, ISO200, Nikon sb600 fired into a bounce umbrella to camera left.

Toni (with an "i"), photographed in my "Strobist" style studio.

Nikon D90, Manual Mode, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 105mm with VR on, hand held, f/11, 1/200s, ISO200.
A Nikon sb600 bounced in an umbrella to camera left set just slightly higher than the subject, and a Nikon sb700 bounced in an umbrella to camera right and somewhat higher than the subject (about 45 degrees), with both sb's on light stands and triggered via Nikon's excellent CLS.
Edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Hurrah for Simplicity!

As the old saying goes: "less is more"! :-)

Monochromatic Simplicity

Stripped of colour a little discarded moss on a wooden jetty becomes a thing of simplistic beauty.

A Quick Portrait.

Took a quick portrait this evening, setting up lights, shooting and packing back down all done in about 20 minutes!

Nikon D90, Manual Mode, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 90mm with VR on, hand held, f/11, 1/200s, ISO200, two Nikon sb's bounced into two bounce umbrellas, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Another Simple Portrait

Another simple portrait with a plain white background.

Nikon D90, Manual Mode, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 52mm with VR on, hand held, f/8, 1/80s, ISO200, bunch of various small Nikon sb's and some umbrellas, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

A Simple Portrait

A simple portrait with a plain white background.

Nikon D90, Manual Mode, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 52mm with VR on, hand held, f/8, 1/80s, ISO200, bunch of various small Nikon sb's and some umbrellas, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Night Walk in Malmö 5

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

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.

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! ;-)

Portrait in Monochrome

I used the set-up shown here: Portraits in small places

Hamlet and Ophelia - Helsingør Station

The statues of Hamlet and Ophelia, from Shakespeare's play "Hamlet", grace the railway station in Helsingør. They apparently are only here temporarily after being moved to several locations since they were crafted in 1937. They have been here since 2008, and I hope they stay here as they really fit with the beautiful architecture of the station building, and of course they have a view from here of the castle in Helsingør that is believed to have inspired Shakespeare as the castle that Hamlet was based in. They were made by the Danish artist Rudolph Tegner, who was also supposed to do a statue of Shakespeare at the same time but apparently, for some reason, never got around to doing it.


Isn't history fun!? :-)

Ducks and Jetty - Lake Esrum, Fredensborg, Denmark

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

Looking at history in Helsingør, Denmark.

There is a lot of history here in the land of Vikings! If only these old streets could talk, I'll wager they could tell us a lot about the original inhabitants and their daily lives. The origin of this place dates back to about 1231, with one debatable document claiming it's history goes as far back as 70BC. Whatever it is, I feel a great affinity with this whole area because, after all, my Scottish ancestors were from Viking stock originally!

I am having a lot of fun here in Scandinavia! :-)

Ferries arriving - Helsingør Harbour

These ferries shuttle people, cars, buses and trucks back and forth all day long from Helsingborg in Sweden to Helsingør in Denmark, linking the two "Helsings". Normally you can see Helsingborg quite clearly from Helsingør harbour, but the mist is shrouding it almost completely in this shot. Just to the left of this picture (out of picture) is the castle that Hamlet was based in from Shakespeare's play.

Typical Swedish country scene

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.