Posts filed under Photography

Waking Up inside a Camera Obscura

This weekend I woke up inside an actual camera obscura. Our (hotel) bedroom had Velux roof window which was minimally opened. The tiny openings on the lower side of the window projected the neighboring scenery on our (white) bedroom walls.

Camera Obscura Scene (stitch of multiple photos)

The smaller the hole, the sharper the projected image is. You can even see the beer crates in front of the neighboring house.

Rotated photo showing the beer crates

Rotated photo showing the beer crates

All photos were taken handheld from the bed at ISO30.000 (or higher), so there is wee bit of noise. The photos also show the bed, door-handle and a radiator in the room.

Posted on July 9, 2018 and filed under Personal, Photography.

Think Tank Retrospective 7 with Macbook Pro 13" (late 2016)

Screen Shot 2017-04-04 at 11.12.23.PNG

The Think Tank Retrospective 7 camera bag holds an iPad, 11" Macbook Air or something similar according to the specifications. But the new Macbook Pro 13" (from late 2016), also fits (like a glove) in the back compartment of the bag.

It does take some effort in inserting the Macbook Pro for the first time. Especially if the bag is brand new. But after inserting it a couple of times, the fabric loosens a bit and it becomes easier to insert and extract the laptop from the compartment.

NOTE: There might be some scratching involved on the laptop over time while opening opening and closing the zipper (because of the 'fits-like-a-glove' thing).

Posted on April 4, 2017 and filed under Photography, Review, Gear, Tips'n Tricks.

Photo Contests, JPEG, and DPI

This post is about something that bothers me a lot. Especially, because it originates from a place where you think they should know better. It's about Dots-Per-Inch (DPI) and JPEG (the popular digital image/photo format).

It all starts, when I read the requirements of certain online photo contests. The criteria for entering the contest contain the following: The photo entering the contest must be in JPEG with maximum quality (least compression), AND 300 DPI.

Posted on August 26, 2016 and filed under Annoying, Photography, Personal, Tips'n Tricks.

The Moon and Jupiter

Last night I was able to capture both the Moon and Jupiter in one frame. Jupiter is (barely) visible on the left side of the photo.

Moon and Jupiter next to each other in the night sky

The following screen capture of the iOS app 'Star Walk' from my iPhone is added for reference.

Star Walk - Moon and Jupiter reference

Posted on April 18, 2016 and filed under Photography.

Fuji X-T1 Electronic Versus Mechanical Shutter

A couple of months ago, Fuji released a highly anticipated firmware version featuring several new functions for the Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera. One of those being an electronic shutter mode.

The original mechanical shutter gives you a or minimum shutter speed of 1/4000second. This is not that fast, compared to the average dSLR, where 1/8000 second seems to be the standard. Another 'problem' is that you can't use fast lenses (f/1.2, f1/4) in (bright) daylight, without the use of ND-filters.

Posted on August 30, 2015 and filed under Photography, Tips'n Tricks.

Jordan Holiday

Two weeks ago, we went to Jordan for our holiday. Something we had planned to do a couple of years ago, but was postponed a couple of times due to the events (Arab Spring) in the Middle-East. Something that turned out to be completely unnecessary.

Jordan is a stable (semi) democratic Middle-Eastern kingdom surrounded by some of the most dangerous countries in the region. Especially with the rise of the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq which share a border with Jordan on the north/east, things COULD turn ugly relatively fast... But then again, were are you 100% safe?
You can also be shot from the skies over the Ukraine while going on holiday (MH17), or your train can be blown up in a train station in Madrid, or spotting planes on the World Trade Centre (Twin Towers) can result in death and mayhem. While staying at home is also not without risks. How many people die in the bathroom by slipping over a couple of drops of water?

So more than enough reasons not to stay at home and taste the culture of Jordan during an 8 day trip.

Posted on November 12, 2014 and filed under Photography, Personal.

Loonse en Drunense Duinen in the Fog

Autumn is the season with good chances of morning fog in the Netherlands. Fog and sunrise can create mystical photos, so this weekend we went early in the morning to the Loonse en Drunense Duinen in Noord-Brabant. The weather forecast predicted morning fog, followed by a nice sunny day. All the ingredients we needed for some nice photos.

We arrived just before sunrise, but unfortunately, the area suffered from a thick fog that blocked the sun for hours. So no magical fog and sun ray photos. Instead just foggy photos.

Posted on September 29, 2014 and filed under Photography, Personal.

Why RAW instead of JPG?

The RAW file format holds much more information than you can see with your eyes. Sure, shooting in in JPEG leaves you with smaller size photos (in terms of storage), which results in more photos on your memory cards. This results in faster transfers to your PC, and Photoshop is more responsive to smaller files. So there are numerous occasions where JPEG seems more than enough, until you do need that (little) extra RAW information....

Just watch the following video.

Nuff said, I think.

Posted on September 29, 2014 and filed under Personal, Photography, Tips'n Tricks.