Lens focal lengths from 16mm fish eye up to 420mm telephoto

On a fine Summer's day last year in my village, I decided to see what the range of every lens in my collection was. I took a picture with each one and combined them into this 50 second clip. . .

At the start, I used my EOS 5D MKII and the Russian Zenitar 16mm fish eye. After the 300 mm  I switched to my EOS 7D to make use of the crop factor which gave me an effective 420 mm focal length.

Since doing this test, I have sold my old 300mm and my 70 - 200 zoom. They've been replaced by the Canon EF 100 - 400L  zoom so I may have to repeat it again!

Thanks for reading.

Through fresh eyes.

I've noticed that when I go somewhere new, I see and photograph things that the residents often overlook.

You may remember my blog post "Back in time" when I photographed Herr Alois Zäch who was on the development team that created the World's first watch with built in illumination.

At the end of that piece, I said "On the way home I spotted a lovely little shrine beside the road and made a mental note to return and photograph it."

One week later I found the time to return.

From the outside, i.e. when you pass the shrine in a car, it's pretty unremarkable. Just a small bleached white building with a red tiled roof under a tree.

It's quite easy to miss 
(screenshots from Google Earth)

Parking proved to be the first problem. There was no space beside the shrine itself so I parked in a lay-by about 500 - 600 meters away from the shrine. (Number 1 on the screenshot)

I was a baking hot day so I was travelling light. Taking with me only the Eos 5d MK II together with a 70 - 200 and the trusty 17 - 40.

The first thing I wanted to do was to photograph the shrine with no road beside it, to try and lend an air of tranquillity to the image. I found a spot on a hill overlooking the shrine (number 2 on he screenshot) and used the 70 - 200 at the low end to get the composition I was looking for.

1st image from position 2

Not too pleased with this view because of the tree obscuring the shrine.Unfortunately  that was the only place where the road was hidden so I decided to do my photography around the shrine itself.

Both images here were taken at 17mm focal length. I simply moved further away from the shrine for the second image.

 Same viewpoint but with the camera in a horizontal position

This is the front of the shrine. I didn't have a flash with me so I used HDR to bring out the shadow details

This, however, is my favourite image from that day. There is no trace of the road (although cars were whizzing past me all the time) and I think it has a tranquil air about it. I converted the original image from RAW to a JPG and further processed it in Snapseed.

Feel free to leave some comments and thanks for reading. 

Because I want to (Part 2)

Last April, almost one year ago from today, I wrote a post about photographing a place called Diegten near where I live. It's a place that I always look at when driving by because it is so photogenic.

Last year I finally made  the decision to photograph a rather picturesque cow barn surrounded by cherry blossoms.

Diegten April 2011

The thing with photographing the blossom is that it only stays on the trees for a couple of days before falling off. If the weather isn't nice during those few days then you're out of luck.

My friend Stephan rang me this morning to say that the blossom was now in full bloom and that the sky was a deep blue. Ideal conditions except that the position of the sun meant that I'd be shooting directly into it. I decided instead to wait an hour or two then see what would happen with the weather.

True to form, it was overcast when I got there. my plan had been to try and get a picture of the barn framed through the cherry blossom tree branches.

I met with Stephan as arranged and we set off to find a good vantage point to shoot the barn through the trees.

Unfortunately, there was a crop growing in the field beneath the barn exactly where I would like to have stood. Also, the trees were all grouped to the left which meant that when I shot through them, I'd only be getting the left side of the barn. Not an ideal situation.

Not wanting to go home just yet, we decided to take a walk up the hill behind the barn. I'm glad we did. The sun came out and there was lots to photograph. 

The barn itself was photogenic but of more interest was the trailer standing nearby.. I switched to a 17 - 40 zoom and took a few images.

 I switched back to my 70 - 200 and tried a few "selective" landscapes.

Carrying on along the road gave us more exercise for our trigger fingers.

 A buzzard was always flying by

Finally I had to call it a day and reflect upon what we'd done.

On the way back to the car I snapped these with the 70 - 200

 1/320 sec @ f10

1/1000 sec @ f5.6

I was really pleased to be walking with the Hama Katoomba rucksack. I've previously briefly mentioned it here and here.

My days of carrying everything in a shoulder bag are ended. I could have kept on going. The bag is really comfortable. I'll write more about it soon but in the meantime here's a pic of yours truly taken today by Stephan.

Image by Stephan Abt.

Thanks for reading

Timing.............. or the lack of it

Timing, meaning everything from pre-planning to arriving on time to being at the correct spot to get the image, in photography, is everything.

Last weekend I displayed a singular lack of any sense of timing.

As you may have read I prepared to photograph the traditional  Gansabhäut in the town of Sursee in Switzerland (for exact details refer to the previous post).

I've been meaning to photograph it ever since I came to Switzerland in 1995 but things always seemed to happen that prevented me from making the journey.

This year I made all the arrangements. I researched the event, and telephoned the event organiser, the extremely helpful and very knowledgeable Mr Michael Blatter from Sursee council.

He informed me that this year, one hundred and eleven people of all ages from 15 to 70 years old had registered. Each person would only get one attempt at separating the goose from its head. There would be two geese. Last year it had taken about one and a half hours until the second goose was cut free.

The event was scheduled to begin at one o’clock with speeches etc and a procession of guild members carrying the two geese. My interest lay however with the actual main part of the proceedings i.e. the goose whacking.

I left my house in plenty of time and was sure of arriving at about three o’clock. Getting caught in traffic and then having to find a parking space a bit away from the event meant that I turned up 35 minutes late at the town hall. I was confident however that all would be good. Last year’s event had taken ninety minutes right?

Years ago, when I worked as a press photographer, I was told always to take a quick picture at a news scene upon arrival. This ensures that you have a picture, in case anything happens such as being told to leave.

With this in mind, I popped my head trough the door and took a long telephoto shot of one of the contestants lining up his aim. Not a great pic as his left arm is obscuring his mask / face. But I had at least one pic, should anything untoward happen.

 My establishing shot

Eos7d 70 -200 zoom

I went back inside to find Mr Blatter and heard a tremendous cheer from the assembled crowd. Spinning round and exiting through the door, I saw the goose’ body lying on the ground. I snapped several pics and said to one of the press photographers standing next to me

“So that’s the first one gone”

“No” he replied. “That was the second one”

I couldn’t believe it. I’d missed the action!

I learnt from the photographer that the first goose had been knocked down after the seventh participant whacked it.

The second goose had gone after the first person hit it!

All was not not lost however. Another thing that doing press photography teaches you is that there are always other images to be made. Thinking about this, I set about taking other images from the event. Pole climbing (Stangechlädere), ugly face contest (Chäszänne), where the winners get a slice of cheese, and the combined sack race (Sackgompe) & sausage eating contest were recorded by my cameras and these images will go to a slide library of traditional Swiss folklore events.

 Ugly faces rewarded with cheese

The pole climbing

 Combined sack race and sausage eating

 

 Town square

As for the main event. I'll definitely be back next year!

Thanks for reading

Gansabhäut. Sort of like a Swiss Piñata

Gansabhäut. Sort of like a Swiss Piñata


Ever since I came to Switzerland in 1995, I've liked to photograph various folk festivals.


Today I'm off to photograph the Gansabhäut festival held every November 11th in Sursee, Switzerland. This involves stringing up a dead goose, then having blindfolded youths (not sure if girls take part), trying to decapitate it with a blunt sabre, whilst blindfolded andwearing a golden mask and crimson robes.


Apart from the sword, the robes and the mask, I guess it's a sort of Swiss version of the Mexican Piñata. That's the kind of thing you see on the home video programmes where a blindfolded child wields a baseball bat and (usually) hits an adult between the legs.


Apart from the main event of decapitating a dead goose, there are lots of things for youngsters to do including (but not limited to) an ugly face contest, climbing a pole barefoot, eating sausages dangling on string without hand contact (seriously) and a few others. It all finishes of with a flaming torch procession through the town,  although this last part is relatively new, having been introduced in 1997.


I'll be taking my Eos 5dMkII and my Eos 7D with me. On the 5d, I'll probably mount my 17 - 40 and on the 7D there'll be a 70 - 200 zoom in case I can't get too close. Both cameras will have a flash mounted to add a bit of "punch" to the red robes and the gold masks.


Pictures to follow.


To read a bit more about it in English you can visit the Swiss Tourist board website here. These are some images from previous years to be found here.

200@f13

Due to difficulties in getting a passport for our little one this year, we decided to take our holiday in Switzerland.

I've travelled lots in this country due to my job but have rarely have I ventured into the Italian region known as Tessin. We booked a week's stay in a guest house in the village of Vellano. From here we had easy access to the major cities of Lugano, Locarno and Bellinzona.

Vellano is a tiny village of stone houses and bumpy streets. It is accessible by winding mountain roads and has stunning views of the mountains.

View from the hotel window

Typical street in Vellano

The big cities hold very little interest to me photographically except perhaps for Bellinzona which has three castles and a massive city wall that you can explore both inside and out.

In Lugano, I only took one small series of photos. These were of a typical (to me anyway) Italian style delicatessen.

Italian Deli in Lugano

More of interest to me personally were the old villages, churches and stunning scenery which abound in Tessin. I love old world / mediaeval scenery and buildings and in Tessin, I was amply rewarded.

Not really knowing what to expect, I took the following gear with me:

Eos 5d

Eos 7d

16mm fisheye

50mm f1.8

17 - 40 zoom

28 - 135 IS

70 - 200

420 EX II Speedlite

Benbo tripod

G-clamp mini tripod

This stuff weighed a ton and my back started hurting me.

At the end of the third day, I was looking at my images and realised that the vast majority were taken with the EOS 5d and the 17 - 40.

For the rest of the holiday I left all the other stuff out of sight in the boot of the car and only took this combination together with the Speedlite and the mini G-clamp tripod with me in a small

rucksack. My back feels normal again.

You've probably read this far and are wondering why this blog entry is titled "200@f13". The reason is this. The weather in Tessin was beautiful. Blue skies and lots of sun. When I have these conditions, I always set my camera to 200 ISO with the settings at... you've guessed it, 1/200 sec @ f13. Later when I am converting the RAW data I can select all images taken with this setting and apply the same small corrections to all of them. Normally the settings are a tweak of the highlight control to bring out any white puffy clouds and maybe a nudge of the shadow control to prevent the shadows going too black when I've been shooting in the midday overhead sun.

That's the technical bit done. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Tessin, I would heartily recommend the following places to visit or take pictures:

Gandria

Morcote

Sonvico

If you want to see any more of the images that I took, you can check out this link which shows the ones that will be included in Google Earth

There are of course many more places to see, explore and photograph and I know for certain that I'll be returning.

Thanks for reading.

Not so disappointing this year.

After last years lacklustre Streetparade, I decided to give the event one more chance.

Beautiful sunny weather with temperatures in the low thirties (Celsius) ensured that party goers were in a great mood. The costumes were imaginative (and often very skimpy) and the atmosphere was generally very good.

 Skimpy is good

One thing that struck me though,  was how even more commercial it was this year. There were stalls everywhere and even "pay to use" toilets. I know that the Parade must try and recoup some of their costs but it seems a shame to me that it's getting too money oriented. My son Nicholas who came with me also commented that there seemed to be almost no youngsters his age. (he's sixteen).

Eos 7d with 70 - 200 f4

 Cooling off in the mist shower

One minus point. I was walking through a very crowded group of people. I noticed in my peripheral vision an elder gentleman eyeing the Eos 5d that I had around my neck. I thought to myself that he will surely approach me and ask me a question about it (as folks often do). He didn't approach me so I kept walking through the crush of people. About two minutes later I looked down and saw a hand trying to make its way into my camera bag. I grabbed the person's wrist and turned around. It was the old guy.

"If I catch your hand in my bag again, I'll cut your throat". I told him whilst staring into his eyes.

I realised later that I'd spoken in English but he seemed to get my message. He pulled his hand away, mumbled something and slunk into the crowd.

One small minus point on an otherwise enjoyable day. If the weather's good, I'll go back next year for the 21st.

 

Sunny outlook

To see more of the images that i took, please go to my homepage here.

Thanks for reading

Tom

One wedding and a reshoot

Two weekends ago I was asked to photograph a wedding for a very good friend of mine. 


Raphaela was marrying her fiance Lars, and as I've known her since 2002 and done previous photographic work for her, she was pleased when I accepted her offer to be both guest and photographer.


Raphaela asked me to provide documentary style coverage with a few of the "regular" pictures of parents and family etc thrown in. She didn't want the images presented in a traditional album but instead would use an online printing service to make a photobook.


The ceremony was due to take place at 13:00. I turned up bright and early at 09:30 and started my work. The pictures I took at the house included her getting here hair done, getting dressed and leaving for the church.


Everything went well until after the church. I had planned to get some shots of the couple outside the church but it began to rain so we went on to the post wedding Apèro. 


After the post wedding Apèro we all headed 58 kilometers to the reception. the weather got progressively worse and by the time I reached the hotel where the reception was to be held, it was pouring down.


To add to my worries, there were no free rooms at the hotel where I could make some nice portraits of the couple.


I explained to Raphaela and Lars that i wouldn't feel that I had done a complete job unless I had some nice intimate pictures of the two of them.


Watching the sky getting progressively darker and the rain getting heavier, I had an idea.


"How about you both just enjoy yourselves tonight and I'll come by your place next week and get some pictures of the two of you?" I suggested.


Raphaela explained that they wouldn't be having a honeymoon until later in the year so my plan seemed like a winner.


Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, I concentrated on covering the party. And what a party! There were games, an Elvis impersonator, a belly dancer and lots lots more. Raphaela and her guests certainly know how to enjoy themselves  :o)

 Elvis is on the floor  Uh Huh.

Raphaela is a big Elvis fan

 Time for Ulrika the belly dancer

 Nadja gets to grips with the belly dancer

 Everyone enjoyed themselves

Young and old as well

At the end of the evening (which was 02:30 for me), I had shot 680 images with my EOS 7d and the EOS 5d. The next day I looked through them using my Canon DPP software and had to reject 47, due to either the flash not activating or (mostly) Raphaela blinking!


As an aside. In the "old days" when I shot film at a wedding, I would ask my subject after taking their photo, to close their eyes and tell me if they could see purple blobs. If the answer was yes, then their eyes had been open when the flash activated. Nowadays I just check the monitor.


I shoot everything in RAW so my (very simple) workflow consists of pressing CTRL + A to select all the files, sharpen them all, give them all a half a stop underexposure, correct the lens aberrations, convert the lot into 300 dpi JPG's then go and have a cup of tea!


The day of the reshoot was yesterday. The sky clouded over again and for a very short while it threatened to rain. 


However, after a short wait the threat subsided and we began our "sequel".


Raphaela told me afterwards that the shoot was much more relaxed and stress free as there wasn't an actual ceremony and guests to worry about. This was evident to me because of the constant joking and smiles.


I used the EOS 7d for this shoot as my EOS 5d is getting fixed. This is a very small selection of what we took.

 EOS 7d, 430 EX flash and 28 -135 lens

  EOS 7d, 430 EX flash and 17 - 40 lens

   EOS 7d, 430 EX flash and 17 - 40 lens

   EOS 7d, 430 EX flash and 17 - 40 lens

   EOS 7d, and  70 - 200 lens

  EOS 7d, 430 EX flash and 17 - 40 lens

I took 121 images of which 107 went to the couple. Raphaela's blinking meant that I had to discard the other 14!!


That's it for now. Thanks for reading and please leave a comment.