1411 - slipstream

November 14, 2012 in 8, action, autumn, b+w, bicycle, blur, contrast, fisheye, germany, hagnau, leaf, mountain bike, movement, nature, nex 7, portrait, sony, sport, walimex samyang rokinon

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/60 | cornerfix & silver efex pro for lightroom

today my mate andi and i picked up pace and used the prime late autumn weather for a bike ride in the setting sun after work. everything was bathed in an orange, warm light, what hid the fact that the temperatures had almost reached the freezing mark when we arrived home (not before darkness had almost completely approached) at 6pm after two hours of cycling.

it felt like we were supported by a permanent tailwind that escorted us on our way through the woods and fields. in fact this tailwind was the energising sun that refreshed our batteries and made us riding in the slipstream of euphoria.

cu, trshptr

1311 - still upright

November 13, 2012 in 8, autumn, branch, colour, contrast, countryside, fisheye, forest, germany, immenstaad, landscape, leaf, nature, nex 7, sony, texture, tree, walimex samyang rokinon, wood, yellow

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f4.0 | ISO800 | 1/60 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

the lights are often harsh in november and the temperatures decrease constantly, all the contrasts get harder. the falling and especially the already fallen leaves give a premonition of the coming winter.

only a few leaves are still solidly attached to their mother plants. mainly the small plants that have enjoyed the protective shield of the conifer wood treetop all year still resist successfully against the ordinary course of things. from their points of view they appear not that small as they really are what might empower their war of resistance again. but in not too distant future they, for sure, will shed their last bright, yellow leaves, too.

cu, trshptr

1211 - sun-rimmed glasses

November 12, 2012 in 50, bus, candid, colour, contrast, germany, glass, hair, light, markdorf, nex 7, orange, people, portrait, public transport, sel, sony, sun, sunrise

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.8 | ISO100 | 1/500 | lightroom 4.2

the cold months constrain me to go by bus in the morning, especially if tina needs the car. at the moment we own only one car, an eleven years old volkswagen golf iv. i bought it in 2002 with only 5k kilometres driven. today there are 320k on the counter, and i haven't had any incidents yet. what a great car!

nevertheless riding my bike is my favourite way to go to work. unfortunately i'm still a bit sick, so I didn't want to risk to become completely ill by breathing the very cold and fresh air on the bike this morning. anyhow i'm able to use the comfortable transportation system of a certain company bus, that stops both directly in front of my home and also my company. fortunately i don't use this service every day, otherwise i could not guarantee that my physical condition would be as good as today in a few months.

cu, trshptr

1111 - seeking wisdom

November 11, 2012 in 30, art, colour, contrast, deeper meaning, glass, light, macro, nex 7, panorama, portrait, reflection, shadow, sigma, snow, sony, sun, sunset, viking, water

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO100 | 1/400 | lightroom 4.2

solving problems could be deeply simplified by the possibility to apply superior wisdom. extremely rarely in life an insoluble appearing problem plants itself in front of you and presents you with trouble. in this case i feel like the viking in my snow globe who peers into distance and seeks after truth.

fortunately i'm not on my own and the snowstorm hasn't approached yet. despite the negative spin of the story hopefully not only the snow but also the future will be colourful.

cu, trshptr

1011 - fishbone pigtail

November 10, 2012 in 50, b+w, candid, contrast, crimmitschau, eyes, face, germany, grain, hair, herringbone, high key, home, nex 7, people, personal, portrait, sel, sister, sony

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO1600 | 1/40 | silver efex pro for lightroom

youtube tutorials can be very helpful, especially if you need a clear and simple explanation of a special method here and now. today in the evening after the daily body care tina wanted to braid maxi's hair with a fishbone pigtail so that she is even more attractive than she usually already is without special styling activities for her today's birthday party.

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO1600 | 1/60 | silver efex pro for lightroom

both of them evinced different, well developed talents - tina is able to acquire a new mechanical skill on the basis of an instruction within a short length of time. and maxi looks very good with simply every (long) hairstyle.

cu, trshptr

0911 - options

November 10, 2012 in 50, b+w, crimmitschau, family, germany, grain, high iso, home, indoor, light, mirror, nex 7, personal, portrait, reading, reflection, sel, sepia, sister, sony

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO3200 | 1/13 | silver efex pro for lightroom

usually you have many options to watching tv in the evening: reading a book, surfing the web, talking to each other or playing games are only a few of them. unfortunately german television programmes are mainly of poor quality by this time. in fact most of the broadcasters have to be avoided completely, otherwise you risk your solid sense.

plainspoken with increased regularity watching tv isn't an option for me and us anymore. while my girls are resting on the couch and reading their stuffs i'm going to head off to meet my best friend here in homeland, the only thing that makes sense for me now.

as a technical note the pic above was processed without any noise reduction or additional grain again - not so bad after all.

cu, trshptr

0811 - sweep of the horizon

November 08, 2012 in 8, blue, cinema, colour, fisheye, germany, house, jena, landscape, light, nex 7, night, planetarium, sky, snow, sony, technics, tree, walimex samyang rokinon, winter

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/15 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

next birhday, next journey - today we drove to the carl-zeiss city jena to visit the planetarium with tina's father, who turned 47 this week. it was only the second or third time overall that i went to a planetarium. the appertaining facilities in jena and also the whole technical audio and video equipment was modernised during the last months and the outside of the astrodome is currently rebuilt to the historical, original condition by being painted in the same colours and decorated with the same pictures.

unfortunately today's image had to be underexposed by almost two stops because there was simply not more light emitted by the projector and i did not want to raise the iso value over 1600 to keep as much details as possible in the raw file and the shutter speed was with 1/15 already at the upper limit, too. consequently exposing any longer was also no option because the whole sky was spinning. so i had to push the highlights and whites during post processing, but by now i really don't know if the results wouldn't have been a bit better if i'd used 6400 and as a result exposed almost correctly.

whatever, despite my bleating the overall result is still pleasing. and of course the visit and the whole day were nice, too.

cu, trshptr

0711 - eye of the tiger

November 07, 2012 in 30, abstract, car, contrast, eyes, germany, light, minimalistic, nex 7, night, pattern, portrait, sigma, sony, symmetry, technics, werdau

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/250 | lightroom 4.2

in recent months i'd to learn that lighting design has become an ordinary field of study by now. especially concerning the led headlights of the new volkswagen, audi and porsche i've to admit that these guys have done a really good job.

the expression of the new vw passat of my father frightens simply everybody who gets sight of him in the rear-vision mirror.

cu, trshptr

0611 - autumnal breeze

November 06, 2012 in 35, autumn, b+w, family, fujian, germany, grain, mirror, multilayer, nex 7, old photo, personal, portrait, reflection, sony, sun, sunset, walk, water, werdau

setup: sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | 35mm | f1.8 | ISO125 | 1/60 | silver efex pro for lightroom

some things in life lie below the surface. what do you see in today's pic? a girl in heavy snow storm? a double exposure? not at all.

the photograph shows my little sister that is illuminated by the setting sun and reflected in a puddle. moreover the autumnal hedge in the background finally leads to complete confusion.

cu, trshptr

0511 - guitar hero

November 05, 2012 in 50, b+w, bokeh, face, germany, greiz, guitar, hand, high iso, light, mood, music, musician, nex 7, night, personal, portrait, sel, shadow, sony

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO1600 | 1/8 | lightroom 4.2

there are different possibilities to produce well exposed low light shots. one of them is to hold the camera steady and use the capabilities of the built-in stabiliser. if your skills are well developed, the subject isn't moving and you are fortunate you can get decent results. this method shouldn't be used when you desperately have to get a good result in a temporary and short candid scenery but it is the first choice if you need best quality, rejects are not a problem and time isn't limited. for the picture above i applied only a bit of noise reduction during post-processing. the sample is one of round about 30 attempts to shoot marv while he was playing a slow, relaxed song on his guitar.

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO12800 | 1/160 | silver efex pro for lightroom

contrary to the first one the black and white sample was shot with very, very high iso settings. i'd never touched such high iso ranges before, but now i've to say that it is really an option for me if the subject is suitable. the image above was post-processed in silver efex pro completely without any noise reduction and additional grain. due to the iso of 12800 i was able to shoot marv while he was rocking the guitar in the almost complete darkness. i think that it looks really great.

cu, trshptr