Book Recommendation!

I just posted a thank you letter to Kirk Tuck on his Visual Science Lab blog. Instead of posting something different here, I'll simply repost the letter. I highly recommend the book by the way!


Hi Kirk!

I finally found out about Amazons Kindle software for PC yesterday, (a little behind?) so I checked out your books on Amazon and finally got to purchase "Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Studio Photography". Now via Kindle's pc software I can open and read it on my laptop! Hooray!

I am already about halfway through the book and have found it to both practical and informative, written in language I can understand! Thank you so much for showing that studio lighting is not as mysterious as it can sometimes be made out to be.

Although I already employ some of the techniques you explain there is a lot of info detailing (for me) new ideas, or old ideas in a new way, or just simply ideas that make me want to kick my own butt wondering why I didn't think about that!

I look forward to reading your other books in time, and learning even more!

Have a great day!

Lanthus Clark
www.thephotophile.com


You can purchase the book here: Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Studio Photography [Kindle Edition]

Building in Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm with VR off, Velbon Sherpa tripod, f/10, 6.0s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Chinese Lanterns - Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm with VR off, Velbon Sherpa tripod, f/10, 4.0s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

The Fountains in Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen.

Another after dark, motion blur, magic/blue hour, long exposure photograph, and yes it looks soooo much better at night! :^)

Take a look at the fountains during the day:

Tivoli After Dark

It's a great place to take photos after dark, I highly recommend it!

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm, Velbon Sherpa tripod with VR off, f/10, 15.0s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen. After Sunset.

Taken in Tivoli Copenhagen about 40 minutes after sunset. Still lots of blue light left in the sky but it is dark enough to balance nicely with the lights on the building and in the pond.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm with VR off, Velbon Sherpa tripod, f/10, 2.0s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Motion Blur - another good reason to shoot after dark!

Motion blur is a really easy effect to achieve, as long as you have a good tripod and a lot of patience.

You also need a good working knowledge of your cameras settings as the "auto" setting just simply won't get the effect right most of the time.

Why I like to take Photographs at Night!

When I am out taking photos at night I often get asked by passers by why I am "shooting in the dark"! Until I show them the pics on the LCD screen of the camera and then they are sold on the idea. ;-) But I thought it might be a good idea to illustrate the difference between the results of daytime and night-time photography.

The photo at the top of this post was taken in Tivoli (Copenhagen) about an hour after sunset on a sturdy tripod and

Nikon Distortion Control Firmware Update

Ok, this firmware update has been out for a while and I have known about it but I simply haven't had the time or inclination to install it onto my camera yet. Until today. It simply updates your camera's firmware to include Distortion Control for a large selection of Nikkor lenses.

Download update here: http://nikonimglib.com/dcdata/index.html.en#os-windows
Installation instructions here: http://nikonimglib.com/dcdata/manual/En/lensprofile_win_en_ABF.html

I have the pleasure of letting you know that it works. If you do the correction in-camera and you are happy to deal with a jpg file from that moment on. It doesn't do it automatically, so you have to physically push buttons and select distortion control to implement it. Oh woe is us, more buttons to press! ;-)

Photo of blinds taken with an AF-S Nikkor 35mm f1.8G DX and unfixed by Nikon's in-camera Distortion Control software:

As you can see it has a fair bit of barrel distortion when you do stupid things like shoot blinds (or brick walls). If you don't do something that stupid, then you probably won't notice it at all. Like here. Best advice: don't do stupid things like this... ;-)

Photo of blinds taken with an

Just for the Colour Of It! (1)

Photography is a wonderful thing! Sometimes it can be utilised to document an event, or a newsworthy happening, it can bring home a message about a situation halfway around the world, or it can be used to convey emotion through an artistic rendition of a beautiful natural phenomenon, or something beautifully contrived. But sometimes it is just for fun, for our own benefit, simply because we like to take certain pictures that tickle our fancy. Sometimes I just take pictures for the colour of it! For fun! Just because it's what I like to do. :-)

Nikon D90, Nikkor 35mm f1.8G DX, ISO200, Aperture Priority mode, f8, 1/160s, polarising filter, hand held, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Heliga Trefaldighets Kyrka Kristianstad 3

Looking up at the amazing ceiling!

Heliga Trefaldighets Kyrka Kristianstad 2

Looking the other way... and that's the old organ down at the end above the entrance.
Gotta admire the architecture!

Geek info mostly all the same as the previous pic. ;^)

Heliga Trefaldighets Kyrka Kristianstad 1

I am not normally a great fan of a lot of HDR type pics that I see on the internet, but if handled properly it can certainly assist in order to handle the big range between the interior and exterior better. I try to simply get closer to the amazing dynamic range that our eyes are able to see.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm, Velbon Sherpa tripod, f/11.0, ISO200, 3 bracketed photos merged and edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Helsingborg at Night 6

Talking about light reflections and ghosting, here is an extra helping for you. Hey, I like it! 8^)

Helsingborg at Night 5

One of my favourite pics of the night!
Plenty of light reflections and ghosting though... :-)

Helsingborg at Night 4

The Helsingborg Castle looking up the main stairs towards the impressive Keep.

Talk about mixed light sources! There were also loads of people walking up and down the stairs right in front of my camera, but because of the long exposure time they were rendered pretty much invisible.

At the bottom of the frame the stairs look quite distorted, but that has nothing to do with lens distortion (which I corrected) instead it is the result of hundreds of years and hundreds of thousands of people walking up and down which have worn them out in the middle.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm, Velbon Sherpa tripod, f/11.0, 30.0s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Helsingborg at Night 3

Down at the harbour this time with a long exposure shot across the water of the fun fair area.