1712 - waiting spread-eagled

December 17, 2012 in 50, b+w, back, dinner, feet, floor, fun, germany, glass, home, kitchen, light, nex 7, night, pattern, personal, portrait, reflection, sel, sony

sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | f2.0 | ISO1600 | 1/50

sometimes tina doesn't realise when i watch her doing anything funny in daily life. she is a great, first-rate amateur chef, not just since she prepares our dinners with much more blood, sweat and tears than some years ago. on that issue she does not even flinch from surveying the food while it is stewing in the oven, not even if she has to wait spread-eagled on the kitchen floor.

fortunately my nex7 is always ready to shoot scenes like that one.

0912 - christmas spirit

December 09, 2012 in 50, animal, bokeh, cat, colour, germany, home, indoor, kitchen, light, nex 7, night, people, personal, portrait, red, sel, snow, sony, window

sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | f1.8 | ISO1600 | 1/80

to tell the truth, i've never felt such an intense christmas spirit before. we have consistent snowfall since almost two weeks now and tina decorated the whole flat already at the end of november with all the lovely stuff that makes for a comfortable surrounding.

on that matter i can understand that even the neighbour cats try to escape the cold and warm up on our heated floor.

3011 - embedded

December 01, 2012 in 8, branch, courtyard, facility, fisheye, germany, home, house, light, long-time exposure, moon, nex 7, night, personal, sky, sony, tree, walimex samyang rokinon, window, winter

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f4.0 | ISO400 | 30s | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

although the linden tree in the centre of our courtyard might not be as old as the whole farm itself, it has definitely experienced a lot of the things the buildings had to take.

the huge tree sits enthroned in the middle of the yard and the buildings, gives shades in the summer heat, limns the shadows of itself on the ground in the night, is the home for many birds as well as for two or three squirrels and makes a top-class scratching post for all the kitties on the premises.

in the meantime it is really dear to my heart and just as deeply embedded in my mind as in the soil.

cu, trshptr

2011 - sting of remorse

November 20, 2012 in 50, blur, brown, colour, deeper meaning, germany, home, light, long-time exposure, multilayer, nex 7, night, personal, portrait, sel, self portrait, shadow, sony, texture, wood

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f11.0 | ISO100 | 30s | lightroom 4.2

i really don't want to be narcissistic or blow my own trumpet but i would actually count myself among the medium to high performer. despite that i sometimes think about closing my eyes, taking a longer time out and a breather, if only rarely in life. relaxation, muse, inaction. for many a long year.

no, not now and not here! later! you are young and especially during the next years you will be able to sop up everything easily. show iron will, studiousness and endurance and you will benefit from these years in not too distant future. bear in mind that time is sustainably measured only on a long term scale: everything consists of nature and will be merged in nature again.

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

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

0411 - handwork

November 05, 2012 in 30, action, b+w, bokeh, crottendorf, erzgebirge, family, fichtelgebirge, fun, germany, grain, handicraft, incense cone, nex 7, people, personal, sigma, sony, texture, trip

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO500 | 1/60 | silver efex pro for lightroom

as a present for tina's grandpa who had his 73rd birthday this thursday almost the whole family drove to crottendorf in the erzgebirge and visited the museum for the world-famous incense cones from this little village directly next to the border to the czechoslovakia. funnily all the visitors there get the opportunity to built their own, handmade old-style incense cones with odours of any kind.

our grandpa who has been a boxer and a welder in former times - in other words he has hands like a bear - had less problems with forming this little cones than i'd thought.

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/30 | lightroom 4.2

100 tons of these little cones are produced and shipped all over the world by the company each year. so round about 100 millions of cones leave the factory each twelve months. one behind the other the army of odour cones circuits the earth two and a half times at the equator. impressive, although these cones aren't handmade anymore, of course!

cu, trshptr

3110 - invigorating hustle and bustle

November 01, 2012 in 8, action, dinner, eyes, face, fisheye, fun, germany, hair, home, indoor, kitchen, nex 7, night, people, personal, portrait, sony, walimex samyang rokinon, zeulenroda

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f2.8 | ISO320 | 1/60 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

reunion with the family after a long time is always a special event. everybody is excited, great food is served and old stories are told. and you realise that the next generation has finally taken command.

i'm looking forward to the next days here in our homeland, with marv and the rest of the gang.

cu, trshptr