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The bobby hat

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2010-02-28T23:05:50+00:00

First, there was the ISO setting: it was set to 400. Not a good thing. Not horribly bad, but not good either. It just adds to much digital noise to an image, so I would have been limited with editing steps in the darkroom. But that would have been ok, if it would have been the only bad fact. There was more: Second, I had to shoot from a far corner, to not to be seen by the clerks. This made me have to use the 150 mm zoom setting, which is not a horrible thing per se, but due to the light conditions in the shop, the cameras' program mode (I had to use it, remember?) chose 1/50 of a second for a shutter speed. Now, that does not go well, even with every bit of image stabilisation used. As you might know, there is a rule of thumb saying, that the shutter speed for a handheld shot should not be slower than the zoom value of the lens used. This is an old rule of thumb and might or might not be true. Fact is that when I am shooting still subjects (and I mean still, like brick walls etc, not trees. Trees move even in the mildest wind!) I get along with a shutter speed a bit higher than 2/3 of my zoom value. Meaning, that in this particular situation, I should have shot at 1/100 of a second. And when I say that I 'get along', I mean that - it's far from ideal. Here is an interesting and brief discussion about recommended shutter speeds. A quick read which I would recommend. The third unlucky factor was the f-stop setting of my lens. I had to go down as low as possible at this zoom setting which is (a shameful, but I am saving for a new lens) f/5.1. With this setting, some parts of the face of the bobby mannequin was in focus, the front rim of the bobby hat was ok as well, but the silver police star was out of focus. When I opened this image to work on it, I immediately found that the police star is out of focus due to camera shake and due to the low f-stop. And there is image noise on top of it all. All of this you can see at my 100% crop on the image to the left. So, that was that - this shot will just be a nice trip memory but will never make it to my galleries….. But it was worth a try, right?

Going 520p

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2010-02-10T21:46:00+00:00

adjusting my fixed height site to my visitors needs. I have been listening to my critics and to Google: A significant amount of my visitors is browsing the web with a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixel or less. And, with the rise of netbooks with even less screen real estate is available to the average internet user. Considering that a large amount of the screen real estate is lost to (very often unecessary) browser toolbars and the likes, my old site layout fit less visitors screens properly than I hoped. And that number was shrinking. With a fixed site layout as you experience here, that is a real disadvantage and no fun for the visitor. So I went through an entire site overhaul and limited the page height to 520 pixel. This did require to downsize the thumbnai images - which is not only a bad thing: that will make browsing the photographs on this site quite a bit faster. I hope you enjoy the new gallery and site layout and spend some time browsing my photographs.

One year of experience using the NIKON D60 dSLR

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2010-02-04T00:13:28+00:00

It is light enough to carry around everywhere, to be strapped around my neck for a longer time or for just being carried around in my hand. And that is an important matter to me on long walks and excursions at all sorts of various locations where I would find it annoying to put the camera in and out of my bag. ... With the kit lens (18-55mm 1/3.5-5.6 VR) it only weighs around 787 g. ... The Nikon D80 I used for a few times is with 703 g for body including battery a lot heavier. I know that this weight difference does not sound much on paper, but plays a big role in the real world. ... It fits in my hand and I can handle all the buttons easily without or with (thin) gloves. ... Again, my comparison is mainly the D80 which is not a lot bigger, but enough to make a significant difference for the worse in carrying it comfortably for an extended period of time. The body of the D60 itself is nicely built and does not have a "plastic feeling" to it (although it is plastic). ... In short: I absolutely fancy the size, weight and make of this camera body. The small size of the body comes for a price though: there are not too many function buttons on the body and the camera also misses the for larger Nikons (and other dSLR's) typical status LCD display on top of the camera body. The display is certainly something I would like to have - but not for exchange of a larger camera body. ... A studio or fashion photographer would probably not want to miss this feature, but that breed is unlikely to shoot with a D60 anyways. The lack of function buttons is brilliantly made up for with the simply stunning menu on the back of the LCD screen. This menu is simple to use (yes, even the full menu in manual mode) and the display has enough contrast to be used and comfortably read in bright sunlight. That was once concern of mine when I purchased this camera but it proofed to be an unnecessary one. Every single function of this camera can be called up using this menu with only a few clicks. As a matter of fact, the overall usability of the user menu is the only single fact which sold me to NIKON over CANON - or others. ...Like with every product, there are a few not so great things to be said about it. Let me start with one of the most unnecessary features, which was very hyped by NIKON's marketing department: the active D-lighting. This feature (when switched on) is supposed to give the photographs taken a higher dynamic range: photos show more details in shadows while at the same time do not suffer from highlight clipping. I tried this feature during a few shootings in subway tunnels and quickly decided not to use it any further. ... This can lead (if the shadows are dark enough) to significant noise increase in the image in the dark areas. I can achieve a cleaner, less noisy effect of increased dynamic range by shooting RAW and blending two differently converted images from one single exposure in the digital dark room. Granted, that is a lot more work, but depending on the image well worth it. I suppose that this feature serves its purpose for the generic vacation or family event shots (e.g.), but if you want to produce stunning and clean photographs, I would leave the active D-lighting feature switched off. ... There are plenty of different opinions out there about this feature in the D60 - and this was just my two cents worth. ...Image noise is very low at ISO 100 and 200, acceptable low (depending on what you shoot) at ISO 400 and too high at ISO 800 and above. But let me clarify this: Photographs taken at ISO 800 are still acceptable for everyday use. ... But, an image captured at this (or any higher) ISO setting can not undergo any alteration in the digital darkroom. The amount of underlying image noise shows in that case immediately and will render a photograph fairly useless. I personally set the maximum ISO to be used in any of the automatic modes to 400 max. I shoot manually at 400 max and don't plan on going over that again. ... But that is only my personal opinion and in the end in the eye of the beholder - or the viewer of the photograph. ...The fall-off at the edges of the image at the very wide and very long range of this lens is greater than wanted but to be expected for a lens in this price range. ... What puts this lens for me in the "bad" section is simply the fact, that it does not have a lens hood mount and the front end rotates with focusing. The fact that a lens hood can not be mounted is just poor. ... And the fact, that the lens rotates with focusing just makes using any soft of graduated or polarizing filter a real pain in the rear end, as I mentioned in a previous post. ...At first I thought, that that is totally fine, since my previous camera had only three as well. ... This feature allowed me to move a small focusing (and metering) spot across almost the entire framed image. ... Don't forget that this was a feature of a camera with an electronic viewfinder - a dSLR could not possibly have this feature. And three focal points are just not good for any tripod shot. ... Of course I found a workflow as a workaround this limitation which does the trick - but its tedious to go through. ... Which makes using the built in meter for spot metering a bit tricky - but I quickly learned to work it. ...The mirror in the D60 can only be locked up for cleaning purposes, but not for shooting. ... That is simply a feature that belongs into a camera of this class, although the lady from NIKON told me off very rudely at the 2009 photoshop world expo in Boston when I mentioned it to her. ...Most features of this camera work the way they are supposed to work -auto focusing in low light conditions stick out which I did not mention above. Other features that don't work for me I simply don't use (like the active D-lighting). ... If I would have to make the decision of purchasing it again as of today, I would probably lean more towards the D5000, simply because of the included mirror lock up feature and the increased amount of focal points. ... I like it and rather put my money towards a new 18-55 mm lens to replace the kit lens. Other than that I am happy with the NIKON D60 and I certainly hope you like the results it produces, some of which you can find in my image gallery....

The best camera is the one you have with you...

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2010-01-25T11:57:41+00:00

On one of the first days in the early morning hours there I was on my way to the coffee shop to pick up some breakfast. It was quite enjoyable ouside and before I left I was actually thinking about taking my camera with me. But I decided not to since I just wanted to pick up something to eat and would go out later anyways. So, I was walking down the street, enjoying the sun shining on my face. Passing a small park and playground I realized the brown-yellow tint Boston has during the winter months (if it is not all white and covered with snow that is). As I was turning around a corner I had to stop and hold my breath: there it was, the view of the ugly backside of Boston downtown that I was looking for all those years I was living there. Modern skyscrapers next to old buildings, all showing there not so representative back with a wide two lane street running towards it and classic brownstones to the left and right of me leading towards the scene. All wonderfully lit by the early morning sun. A picture perfect scene - I saw the photograph I wanted to capture right in front of my inner eye: the city as a backround focal point in the upper right, the street as a line cutting trough the image leading the viewers eye towards the city blocks and the brownstones as a classic frame. And no parked cars in sight. ... But, oh no, I did not bring my camera. And there I was thinking: yes, the best camera is the one you have with you. So I made a mental note and decided to come back another morning at the same time. And so I did. But when I came around the same corner again, I had to stop and rub my eyes. What happened? It was the same time in the morning, the same perfect sunlight, the same scene. The same scene? No, something was different. Big trees must have grown over night in front of the downtown view. Naked, big trees without leaves. They were all over the place. And absolutely chaotic foreground which would render the entire scene as I envisioned it useless. The clean lines I saw the day before were gone, but instead, they were covered by those big tall trees. What exactly happened? Of course those trees did not grow over night. I realized that it is simply when I walked there the first time, I only saw what I wanted to see. A typical case of selective seeing. I ignored the distracting trees, because they distracted me from what I wanted to see - or expected to see. And this is exactly, how the human vision apparatus works: we see and perceive only what we really need or in some cases want. This prevents our brains experiencing a constant data overflow. We as photographers have to force ourselves to really see the scene as it is and not only focus on the main elements of the image but paying very close attentions to back- and foregrounds which can make or brake an image. Now you might say that this is a very trivial thing to do and we do it all the time. But that is not true. Be honest to yourself: flip through your photo library and see, how often you made a photo which is good in principle but has distracting elements in it, which take away from the overall composition. I bet, that more images than not suffer from this phenomena. Pay attention to what photographs you decided to show to your friends and family and the ones you decided not to show. Now look at the images that you did not show (but did not delete or throw away yet) and take a close look: how many of them did not make the cut because of the disturbing for or backgrounds. That would be quite a few I bet. The reason for this is that a camera does not see and work like the human eye. It is a mechanical apparatus, that simply records light, a scene that we pointed the lens at and told the camera to record it. Strictly mechanic. With every little detail playing a role in the scene that you compose in the viewfinder. Our vision on the other hand is indeed very selective and we tend to see only the desired elements. The pleasing elements that we think work in the scene that we create. A beginner or occasional photographer will suffer more often from this experience than a seasoned photographer with a well trained eye. But, from all the photographers I have been dealing with over the years, nobody is immune to this situation. This was certainly one occasion where I again learned a lesson about the tao of paying attention. And I was not upset that I did not have a camera with me in that very moment on the first morning. I would have taken an unnecessary and disappointing photograph of a scene that otherwise will stay in my mind as beautiful for a long time….

The wonders of indirect light

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2009-12-03T10:47:25+00:00

Since I decided to utilize the indirect light coming through the back kitchen window, photographing kitchen utensils seemed to be a good choice to start with.... In the image here you can see the professional studio setup. The sun is shining through the window and partially onto the black, slightly reflective countertop (what a b*tch that is to clean, I am telling you). I positioned the camera straight in fromt of the window, aiming at the countertop, using it as an almost black backdrop. This gave me the indirect light and also some direct sunrays. To avoid glare on the countertop but still use those rays I had to simply play a bit with viewing angle. The subjects to be photographed were some stainless steel spoons, forks and knives. And a whisk. So this makes for the basic setting: silver colored, stainless steel kitchen utensils on a black, somewhat reflecive surface area as backdrop. Not too shabby, I would think. In case you don't have that shiny black surface, or want to photograph something standing up, you can play games here. You could use any old uni-colored cloth as a backdrop. Brown for sephia based iamges for example. Or grey, or red, for the more aggressive (or contrastful black and white) approach. And no, there is no need to spend a huge amount of money at B&H for professional backdrops - cheap cloth from Wal-Mart will do just fine. Depending on how you want to capture the light on the subject, you'd have to pick the right time of day and your approach angle. I chose the early morning hours because that gave me a nice mixture of indirect light and those few sunrays I was talking about. But that of course depends on your window. Essentially I just placed the utensils on the countertop and started experimenting. I achieved some quite interesting shots (or so I find) by simply playing with the viewing angle and showing, how the sun fell onto the stainless steel utensils. The key was to spot meter with the built in meter of my Nikon D60 for the highlights of the stainless steel and expose them so there were no overexposed, burned out areas. After that it was a matter of moving the utensil around and waiting for the right amount of sun, so the overall appearance of the image met my image I had in mind. But I realized quickly that I really would need my tripod. When you take a close look at the displayed photographs, you will see that I have indeed a depth of field (DOF) problem: for these iamges I wuold have really liked the entire utensil to be in focus. But at f/13 that was just not possible. At this setting I was also already down at 1/60 exposure time. Which is quite challenging for a handheld shot. Unfortunately, my tripod is, as of today, still in some container with the rest of my things on a boat on the Atlantic Ocean. So I had to accept the limited depth of field. I could call it for today "soft focused photographs". Yea, that will do. The images displayed here were taken in raw and developed using Adobe Camera Raw 5.6 with the suggested settings. No corrections on exposure or black values were made. This is due to the lousy monitor I have to use now, which is my 8 year old 15" not calibrated LCD. That was the only thing that fit in my suitcase, so I could have at least a temporary setup until my stuff arrives. Go ahead and start experimenting behind those windows during the cold winter months. Let your fantasy cary you away. You will be surprised what amzing photographs you can create.

On this world, a shadow falls...

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2009-11-20T16:33:52+00:00

His fine art photography work is to become a book trilogy, with the book titles building a complete sentence: "On this world (part 1), a shadow falls (part 2) - with the third title still unknown, since he is currently working on his third book. He is using a Pentax 67 camera (you can read about this camera on the luminous-landscape page) with three lenses: 55mm, 105mm and 200mm. His film of choice is Kodak's T-Max 100. Apparently it is fine grain film, which allows to still show animal details when the large print image shows the animal only in a small part of the photo. His background as a painter certainly influences the fine art look he gives to his images. I find it to be a very calming style. Yet those photographs have a power and such a strong... luminosity to them that it makes me shiver. Nick does not deny the partially heavy use of Photoshop for grading, although he uses a lot of grad ND and other filters for the amazing skies he shoots as backgrounds. He is however very secretive about his other in-camera techniques to achieve that amazing depth of field that some images have. Take a closer look for example at the "Elephant mother and two babies, Serengeti 2002" image in his portfolio (you find it on his page in the "On this earth" portfolio). The depth of field looks absolutely fake, yet it does not. At first I thought that this is Photoshop DOF work. But looking at it over and over again and looking at his other work made me rethink that again. And digging around on the internet, I found this fantastic thread at photo.net, where his style is being discussed. Go ahead and read it - the master himself comments down on the bottom of the thread, which makes some of the readers' comments sound quite, well, foolish. Here is (one of his) replies: Nick Brandt, Feb. 23rd 2006: "A friend told me about this thread. Reading through it, I felt compelled to address some of the questions and many inaccuracies! Firstly, 90% of my photos are taken from the safety of a vehicle. Only the chimps and one special herd of giraffes are photographed on foot. Neither I nor anyone else could ever get this close to wild animals any other way. Forget about safety - most of the animals would run away (and a few would attack). Secondly, the depth of field issue. I'll say it categorically - NONE of the depth of field thing is done in Photoshop - it is all done in camera. You could not get those focal planes shifting in focus in the same plane in the way that they do in Photoshop and expect it to look like this. Don Satalic is soooo wrong. Oh, and I don't use soft focus lenses. Don't even know what they are. The longest lens I own and use is a 200mm. Great lens. Tried the 300 once and hated it. Too conventional. So yes, I am close, but safe. All anyone really needs to know is that I work in a very very impractical way - very manually - and lose a crazy number of potentially great shots with all the faffing around I do. But I do it because occasionally something great comes out of such impractical methods. My friend Rocky Schenck taught me not to reveal my trade secrets some time ago. As for my EX-SF dealer's comments, I don't know where that came from. Grading - I nearly always use a heavy ND grad for the sky, and often a red filter, to get the sky dark. But there is significant grading done in Photoshop - the vignetting is invariably photoshop - I'm a sucker for it. Okay, so if anyone is still reading this thread, there you go. PS What is a 'bokeh'?" Another interesting, worthwhile interview with him about this work is found at www.bowhouse.com But what are you waiting for: go and take a look at his stunning images at www.nickbrandt.com. I would love to have one of his prints on my wall - but his pricing is currently out of my range. But his books might be under the Christmass tree...

Legal matters with photography in public - II

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2009-10-13T23:37:32+01:00

After some discussions and a failed attempt to walk Carlos away, the officers bashed and arrested him - with the main reason being obstructing traffic by standing in the middle of a road. Later he was found not guilty of disobeying a police officer and not guilty of disorderly conduct. However, he was found guilty of resisting arresting without violence. And the story started there. This is the time when Carlos Miller started this blog, which has today a tremendous following and is a great resource and read for issues regarding the legality in photography.

God is a DJ

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2009-10-11T06:14:39+01:00

Maybe this is because I like the "rule of thirds" (if there is such a thing as a rule). You can do amazing things with it, like split the image in squares, triangles and hexagons e.g. Which leaves plenty of opportunity to create a stage in front of your lens. And this movie is full of either shots which are set by either simply splitting the screen in thirds horizontally and vertically - or it is a bullseye approach. Both work well and are easy enough to use and for the viewer to digest. I also like them very much personally and like to use them for most of my images. Take a close look at the image with the finger at the mixer. The fingertip splits the image horizontally in 1/3 from the top. The entire finger with the knob cut it into two pretty equal triangles. Simple and effective I would say. The color in the entire film is also interesting. It has a warm, old-ish looking feel to it. It reminds me a bit of Kodachrome Film. Not quite, but close. Maybe a cheaper version of that. This "portrait at work" style image is the classic bulls eye split by two lines which also split the image in 1/3 in length. This time from the bottom. When you watch the movie, you will see, that most of the shots are staged in this way. I found this rather interesting. Was it coincidence, inexperience or excellence? You watch the movie and decide. Turn up the volume and enjoy the show.

An eventful year

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2009-10-10T22:33:04+01:00

Switching from a bridge style camera (Sony DSC H2) to a digital SLR proofed to be quite a challenge. And it was certainly not getting used to the new camera functions and capabilities as such but more about getting used to a new style and way of using a tool. So it took me a while to produce pleasing photographs with the D60 and my two lenses. But it was worth the hard work. I do have plenty of images to work on which I took between March and October of 2009. So there are exciting photographs to come for the gallery. Stay tuned in that respect. Third, I finally dug out my copy of Vincent Versace's magnificent "Welcome to Oz". This is a book I bought within my second year of photographing. This book contains an unusual approach about looking at photography and an inspiring thought process behind it perked with quite some challenging photoshop lessons. The matters inside the book were interesting, to say the least, and yet quite complex. And I just knew, that I was not quite ready to peruse the challenges which this book wanted to put upon me. Two or so years later the book found me. I know, that sounds rather cheesy. But that is how it was. And I started the lessons with my newly purchased WACOM Intuos 4 tablet. That would be change number four. I touched it the first time at the Photoshop World in Boston this past March. And I fell in love with it. All I can say is that, if you love your photography and like the digital darkroom work in Photoshop, then get one. Buy the small or the medium one - the screen size does not matter. I have the medium version on a full HD 23" screen and I can honestly say that the small one would have done the job for my type of work. The medium is fine, but if you don't have the money, the small one will do the job just right. Anything is better than a mouse for that matter. The fifth change is rather personal and shall not be discussed in a photo blog in depth. But it does involve a move across the ocean and thus probably a change in the photographs I will be going after. This move will happen by the end of the months and might mean yet another break in the workflow on this site. But I will be back before the depth of the Winter comes around.

The "San Francisco Gallery" at the Applefest in Northborough, Mass.

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2009-09-27T20:27:21+01:00

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Is the 2009 Mac mini fast enough for photo editing ?

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2009-05-22T03:55:12+01:00

Of course I was debating other alternatives, like the white Mac book or the new aluminum Mac book (which I think have identical hardware specs). But I did not think that I would neither need nor utilize the mobility factor of those. And considering the fact, that most of the time I would work in front of my large screen to edit my photos (that is just what I do with my computer...) plus realizing that my mini looks at the back like a porcupine thus never unhooking that potential laptop from its place, I decided, that the upgrade would be the new 2009 Mac mini. Yes, I did take a brief look at the 2009 iMacs. But they were out of the race since I absolutely dislike glossy displays. I think they do have their advantages in photo editing, like avoiding over saturation, but I still don't like them. I have read a lot on the internet about whether or not the new 2009 mini is fast enough to do anything. And more than one source (which I will not list here, because they are easy enough to find on the internet) state, that the mini is not the highest performing computer in the world. ... I would like to state a few thoughts about the (partially misleading) information that is out there: ...My mini here is the maxed out version from Apple: 320 GB Hard Drive (yes the slower 5400 RPM one), 4 GB of RAM (yes, the expensive Apple memory) and the larger processor. The latter was indeed a step I was thinking hard and long about, since I was not sure whether or not it would buy me anything. And there is also an external 7200 RPM 150 GB Firewire 400 drive attached to it. Usually I have iPhoto, Safari, tools and all other small windows open in Space one, Photoshop Elements 6 is running in Space two and RapidWeaver in either Space one or three (I am referring here to Apple's "Spaces" in Leopard). That allows me to create a workflow which I am comfortable with. Photoshop Elements 6 is a piece of software which requires a single screen for itself - hence the use of spaces. ... The photos I am working with are 10 Mpixel in size and are JPEGS and RAW images. ...The biggest performance booster this system has are the 4 GB or memory. I allocated roughly 60% of that to PSE 6, which is also using my external drive as a scratch disk. Usually two to three images are open in Photoshop. This is usually because I like trying to blend different exposures to one image. The results in one image with several layers, adjustment layers and layer masks. Revealing parts of an image in a layer mask works without any delay while using the brush or any other tool (with the old G4, there was always that one secondish delay between applying the brush in the layer mask and revealing the underlying image.). That is good and a "have to have" performance. All filters show absolutely no delay in the preview screen and most filters I use render within two seconds or less. ... I worked with demo versions of Adobe Lightroom as well as NIKON's Capture NX2 in parallel to the above mentioned applications - all with the same responsive result. ...The performance in Photomatix Pro to create HDR images is also quite pleasing: it takes about thirty seconds to create an HDR from six 10 Mpixel exposures. The tone mapping steps in the medium size preview take between one and two seconds per slider or button action. This is also very responsive and does not feel (!!) ... In the end I breed a lot longer over the image to decide wether or not I like the performed steps. From all the work I have done in the past six weeks of ownership of the 2009 mini I never managed the CPU fan to kick in - and if it did, I did certainly not hear it. ...I don't even know what half of the results mean for me in everyday computing. ... Do I feel often that I am waiting for my computer? ... Ok, if you really want to know: This mini on my desk gives me a Geekbench result of 3050 running at full HD resolution. A workstation at my work running COMSOL Multiphysics gives me a mere 2000 and is just fine for what I am doing there. ... Because it doesn't matter whether I wait four or five minutes for a result of a simulation - it is just long anyways. By the way: the old G4 mini scored 750 and photo editing was still ok. ... In the end it is all about your or my needs. ...I don't play games on the Mac mini. It is not what it is built for. If I play games I use my Xbox 360 sitting comfortably on my couch. If I would want to play PC games, I would not buy an Apple but built myself a nice small quite Windows system, which would beat the mini in performance and vastly exceed its price tag. As a summary I can say that the 2009 Mac mini is a fine computer which fills the computing needs for the most of us - even for the serious image editor/photographer. I can not speak for workflows within the photography business that have more demanding tasks (like automated actions and batch processing in Photoshop and the likes), but if I would have to deal with such things, I would certainly not look at the MacBook pros but at the really big big machines.... ...I paid 1000 USD for my machine that is sitting on my desk. If I would have wanted to save some money, I would have ordered the cheaper machine adding my own (faster) hard drive and generic memory. But I did not want to deal with opening that box, figuring out what I need and is compatible or gives me heat issues, ordering my own parts, putting them in, etc. etc.. ... And oh yea - I sold my old G4 for 300 US on ebay. So in the end, for about 700 USD I have an ultra quite, fast enough, slick looking computer running OS X sitting on my desk. And that is what fills my needs... ... Try to answer that question honestly for yourself before you get carried away by specs and countless tech reviews.

Legal matters with photography in public.

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2009-03-08T03:37:32+00:00

So let us begin thinking about situations where we ask ourselves whether or not it is questionable to shoot: ...Often some of us find ourselves cruising along and seeing this old, interesting house along the road, or this really eclectic something in front of that house. But we are reluctant to just stop the car and take an image. ... You can freely photograph anything that you see as long you are on public property, like the roadside or the walkway. That is the case at least as long as you are not disturbing someone's deserved and expected privacy. So, sticking your lens through the hedges and taking images of the BBQ is a no no as well as zooming into somebody's living room. If the owner is happening sitting on the front stairs, you are free to go. In this case, it really comes down to how you quick - or polite - you are.... ...Have you ever been kneeling on the street, taking your shot down the road and suddenly somebody, out of the blue, starts yelling at you and complaining that he or she is in your photograph? Well, you have all right to take that image, with or without that person. ... As a side note: Has anyone of those complainers ever asked themselves how many secretly security cameras caught their likeness? On the street and in public, you are allowed, against common believe, to take images from (and not exclusively) the following objects: celebrities, crime and fire scenes (careful though), children, police officers, airports, train stations, public utilities and really any sort of infrastructure, like bridges and the means. There is one little exception: they probably chase us away once we start taking images of military facilities... ...A proper public place is any place that can be entered by the public because the public is invited or is made for use by the public. So,of course there are streets and side walks, parks and the means. But also lobbies of office buildings, the subway and even the mall are considered being public places, since the public is invited to enter. The general rule is, that you are allowed to take photographs there. ... And when you look around, almost every office building lobby will post a big "no photo" sign. ...A lot of malls surprisingly don't have photography guidelines in place. From what I have seen, there are no rules posted alongside the normal mall rules, neither did I find anything on the malls home pages. If worst comes to worst, the mall security personal can ask you to stop photographing and leave the mall. They can not however take your camera or film or even ask you to delete your images. If you run into this situation, you should insist on having a proper law enforcement officer on the site (which by the way is not allowed to do this either). It is your decision to argue to the bitter end or simply to be polite. ...I consider this an also heavily discussed subject, Inspired by the photography of Bruce Davidson and a little side project of mine, I researched this matter a bit. And once I started asking google with some broad search terms, I quickly found many discussions about whether or not to allow photography in the NYC subway system due to national security (...). ... Today places like the NYC subway and the Boston T have rules and regulation in place, which essentially grant photographers rights to take images there. ...I essentially learned that it is a good thing to know and to be confident about those rules. While shooting on the Boston T, I have been a few times asked by officials what I am doing after spending quite some time at a single location. Explaining them in a brief manner always cleared the situation: I mean no harm, I know my rights, I know yours, so do you, leave me alone. ... But again, it comes down to being respectful and polite. ...You can find here the regulations of the MBTA about photography in the Boston T system. I always have a copy on me when shooting down there, which I did not need so far. ...A lot of us like abandoned buildings and places. ... This old brick building, sitting quietly in the fog of the early morning hours has a eery fascination: it is waiting to be explored. ... Fact is, that all those buildings or locations are usually owned by somebody and fenced off somehow. Which means, once you enter, you are trespassing. ... As a little side not here: once you start cracking open fences and doors and breaking windows in order to get in, you are not trespassing anymore. ... So, essentially, when you are not caught while trespassing the old building is only part of the whole picture Once you publish that image with details about the location where it has been taken, it can be used as proof against you that you actually entered that building - this is of course only the case if the right person with the right mindset finds that image, starts the process and uses it against you. Granted, an unlikely scenario, but in the ages of the internet and online publishing this possibility is most certainly not out of reach ("man hat schon Pferde kotzen sehen") ...This enables us to provide society with views and expressions of an ordinary world in a way that is foreign to them. Leaving the beaten paths however can bring us quickly in questionable situations, as discussed above. ... And, although in the U.S. we live in a society which is driven by laws and regulations (I am still dreaming about the "it's the law" towel for everybody) it comes down to your very own wit and most of all, politeness. Do you really want to promote the image of the guy sitting at the front stairs of his or her house that ended up yelling at you and calling the police, no matter how expressive the image actually is? Do you really want to publish that shot of that street scene where one of the "contenders" ended up swearing at you? ... Be thoughtful about what you are doing, be polite and respectful and listen to your common sense. That's anyhow how I tend to address any sticky situation... ...document gives an overview about our rights in some not so uncommon situations. ...I am no legal advice, nor should or can you refer to this article in case you are in confrontation with the law. In fact, this article is a collection of resources found on the internet and my very own thoughts about those in regards to the matters discussed above.

The old baptist church

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2009-02-22T16:16:47+00:00

The reservoir laid still and frozen in the afternoon sun. But of course I did not bring my camera with me. So I ventured out one morning later in the past week to get some shots in from this stunning scene. I arrived just after sunrise, with the sun not quite above the horizon line. The light was coming from the back, shining directly on the church. But sure enough, by the time I was setup, that moment with the orange glowing sky over the church was missed and the sky turned into a pale blue. Well, this turned into an opportunity to try out my new 0.6x grad ND filter. And with the sun in my back, the polarizer should work quite fine to bring some life back to those sunrise colors. Thought and done, the two filters were stacked on top of each other. Rotating he polarizer brought the sunrise indeed back to life. I was well aware that I had to pay attention not to rotate the grad ND while adjusting the polarizer. However, it still happened. And I ended up with a 45 degree darkened horizon across the church as I found out at home... The first course of action was to mark the grad ND with red tape, so I can see now the horizon line. Stupid beginners mistakes. I wondered how to adjust the exposure, so that I could capture the rough texture of the ice. Taking a few shots at different stops to combine them seemed like a good solution. The final images shown here are partially HDR and a manual blend of different exposures in the forest background to emphasize some of the trees more then others.

Days of my aging father

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2009-02-06T03:07:10+00:00

You should go, have a look and see for yourself: In http://www.dayswithmyfather.com Philip shares the story, in writing and images, about his aging father. I am not sure at this point about how to judge his documentary (or wether I even should) - but it is not the obvious "old man on his death bed captured in brilliant photographs" one would, or could, expect. This is simply touching. And it makes me think. This link made me go out and look for Philips home/project page and I discovered, not surprisingly, a treasure chest worth of photographs. I found the same concept of his images I have seen in the "days with my father" essay in every single image on his page. This input made me realize just one more time of how humble of a seer I am. Which is not bad, really. It is more of an... inspiration, And - simple enjoyment of excellent photography. As my friend, was telling me, the Necessary Stage in Singapore brought the prints of Philip Toledano for an exhibition to the Esplanade Tunnel for 2009's Fringe Festival. Too bad Singapore is not around the corner, so I simply missed it. I wish I would not have....

Good bye to an old friend...

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2009-01-17T02:11:56+00:00

The H2 is one of those called "superzoom" cameras - built in lens, 12x zoom (some 300 mm equivalent), designed and built to have a SLR feeling to it. This is exactly what sold me to this type of camera back in the day. I knew I had a certain interest in photography, but was not sure about how far it would cary. Back then, there were a few competitors competing in the same market: Fuji, Olympus, Panasonic and the Sony. I learned a lot about digital camera technology back then by studying the reviews extensively. After a lot of reading and re-reading, I decided for a trip to the local camera store (one day we will regret driving them out of business by ordering everything online for less!). I picked the Sony simply because of its feeling and its usability: it was lying great in my hands and did not feel like a cheap soap box and I was immediately friends with the menu and all the user interface handling - the competition could not match that, I found. I don't want to write a review about an outdated product here but just a few sentences about my experience with this camera: The digital viewfinder proofed to be blessing and curse at the same time. It was a good learning tool to have "live preview". Image composition was reduced to placing shapes and forms in the frame, since the size and resolution of this viewfinder was too small. Not the worst thing, since images consist of such elements and composition is thus reduced to the most important factors. It is not the best thing, since disturbing elements within the composition can be easily overlooked. The viewfinder was horrible to use in bright conditions and impossible to use for long exposure shots in the dark. The lens is quite unusual. It has a big zoom for its size. Image quality suffers a bit, but is fine, depending on what your are planning on shooting. The huge amount of barrel distortion can be actually quite charming, depending on the shot. Specially skyscrapers bend nicely towards the center of the image which provides interesting framing opportunities. It was extremely hard to get a shallow depth of field with this lens, despite the fairly large f/2.5-3.5 aperture settings. The combination of this lens with the small sensor results in this camera being a light hungry monster. I found myself running out of light inside and surprisingly often outside. Higher ISO settings can not make up for this, since every image taken with ISO greater than 200 is extremely noisy. ISO settings 400 and more are absolutely useless. The white balance works fine outdoors, but the indoor white balance performance was quite disappointing. The dynamic range of the DSC H2 is quite small, which results in many of my photographs being multiple exposures combined using Photoshop Elements 3 or Photomatix Pro. This camera performed best on bright, sunny days with colorful images to shoot. That is what is is built for, i think. Although what I just wrote may sound quite negative, I really enjoyed working with this camera over the past two and a half years. Again, it was a great learning tool and it is quite powerful. I think all the cameras limitations taught me, what I need and want in a new camera, taught me about the challenges of photography and certainly taught me about the use of Photoshop... So here I am posting the official last image taken with this camera, which is ironically and unintentionally one of the first subjects I ever published in the fotocommunity. What a nice way to say farewell... I am looking forward working with my D60. Once I have some experience with it I will post a small user review on here....

A cold morning

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2008-12-01T00:03:16+00:00

The sunshine and the crisp air this morning (and the turkey) made me finally going there... I did not spend too much time at this venue, since I had pretty much in mind what I wanted to shoot - is this now advantage or disadvantage? Anyways, for now I have captured close to what I wanted to capture. I like the perspective. I do have to work on the light though. The only thing that really bothers me at this shot is the crap in the lake. Can anyone clean that up, please? I decided, to migrate to Framingham downtown to the old cars sitting next to the train tracks, a location Ian has told me about. I was not quite able to capture the overall really well, but managed to get some nice detail shots in. After a while I really started to freeze, so it was time to return home for a nice bacon & eggs breakfast. I spotted a bunch of geese close to Marlboro on my way home. It was quite nice to look at, but it was nothing which I was capable of capturing properly - just nice little treat before coming home and having a nice cup of hot coffee...

Fall Impressions in New England

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2008-11-10T01:59:36+00:00

That does however not mean, that it is not worth it to go out at the early time of the day. The trips brought me to Paxton, to Boston, my home ground the suburbs and to the Blue Hills state reservation in Massachusetts. That was actually one quite nice day in mid October and I can recommend this seven or so mile hike to everybody. The few steep climbs reward one with a really nice view over Boston and the surrounding communities. This is a great photo opportunity early in the morning I would think. I will try and get out once there is some snow to capture Boston with a winter wonder land backdrop. Until then enjoy the colors of fall...

An all new homepage

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2008-10-23T01:18:50+01:00

After a while of thinking and pondering, I came finally up with a home(front) page design that I really like. For those of of you that did not see the old front page - well, you did not miss much. I will try and keep the slideshow there somewhat up to date and will exchange the pictures over time. I hope you like it. Let me know if you don't.

It's fall outside

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2008-10-11T10:44:00+01:00

This morning, well, the late morning I stepped outside my house and saw this. I simply wanted to share this absolutely stunning view - I guess I can enjoy this for a couple of more weeks before this grim winter is moving in.... The farmers almanac says it is going to be one - and if you can not believe those guys, who can you trust?

The Folia-O-Meter

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2008-10-10T10:45:36+01:00

The foliage is, or actually can be, quite a feast for the eyes. Hence the annual foliage in New England is followed and well documented on the net. I hope I will make it to some cool spots this fall - depending on how this evening goes, I actually might head out down Rt. 2 towards southern Vermont, where the foliage is about to peak. Waiting for it to happen is Massachusetts can go both ways: it either gets really gorgeous, or it simply never really makes here leaving the trees in an average brown. Not very desirable.... So, off to Vermont I guess...

An overdue portfolio facelift

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2008-10-06T10:50:36+01:00

Since this site opened in July 2008, there has not much been going on in the portfolios. Despite the fact that I have quite a few portfolio worthy images uploaded in the fotocommunity, they never made it to my site here. There are also plenty of photos to be worked on from last years trip to Southeast Asia. I just hope that one day in the near future, I will be able to get an album together, similar to the Hong Kong Experience. Changes have been made to the Citiyside and Flea Market portfolios. I am very happy about finally adding some street photography pictures to the Cityside since this does loosen up the collection of mainly architectural photos that have been in there so far. I am also very fond of the photograph of the stage practice of the Necessary Stage in Singapore while visiting a dear friend of mine. I had a chance of observing the preparations of a rather interesting play called "Good People". The play was set in a hospice and dealt with the relationship of three people, the medical director, a nurse and the ill patient consuming marijuana for pain relieve. I think the setting was in a country were marijuana is as illegal as in Singapore itself. I never had a chance to watch the actual play, but observing the preparations was a lot of fun....

The Fitchburg Shootout

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2008-10-06T04:11:29+01:00

We ran into this half abandoned business area right on Rt. 31, a few miles past downtown just past Waites Corner. We spent the next couple of hours wandering the grounds and looking interesting and obscure things. It was a pretty cool location and offered a lot, I think. Train tracks, Silos, old buildings, loads of rust and plenty of weed. A heaven. It would have been good to be there maybe half hour earlier, but how early can a human being get possibly up? But after a few hours exploring the grounds, even tracks and rust can become boring. So we drove towards home again, passing through Princeton and Sterling. Somewhere there on the way we both saw the Old Mill. The sun shining through the trees onto a pond inhabited by an entire duck clan. Foilage, a pond, ducks and a mill. Of course we stopped. Most of the ducks were doing what ducks are doing. But one of them had a blast at the waterfall: standing in front of it, jumping towards and into it and back and just quacking as much as a duck possibly can. And yes, that feisty duck.... thing was pretty cool. He went after us and was hissing wildly. And he (he looked like a male anyways) was pretty tough to catch on chip because he just jerked his head around. Or I am just too slow. A little typical "New England romantic" to close the session... See the venue and some shots here.

The Hong Kong experience

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2008-09-27T09:57:17+01:00

On arrival I took the highly modern Airport Express train from Hong Kong International Airport on Chek Lap Kok (a man made island north of Lantau) to Hong Kong Central. Well, after being on the road for almost twenty four hours, all the plans about being brave and finding my way to the Hotel using public transportation went down the drain and I chose a taxi. Done deal, check in and off I was exploring the neighborhood in urgent need for a beer. My first encounter with the locals revealed, that there must be as many brits living in this city as chinese.... The day waiting until arrival of my friend gave me the opportunity to get used to the heat and the incredible humidity - at least so I thought. ...Two million people on the Island of which, it seems, everyone is out at the same time. ... Everything in Hong Kong makes noise - even the traffic lights. ... I think it is a habit to overcome the constant noise out in the city streets. ...Armani next to Rolex next to D&G next the HSBC and other banks and high profile shops here, but turning the corner catapults one back into one of the countless (more or less) traditional, chinese markets and hand craft business streets. ...There are a few historic buildings left nestled in between the skyscrapers. ... Well, we did not bother, since those few leftovers from long gone times do really not play a big role in the city appearance and its pace. We spent most of the time exploring the markets and the street life in Wan Chai, Central, Sheung Wan and Soho. Luckily we stayed in the Wan Chai district with our hotel fairly centrally located. So everything was pretty much around the corner - although I heard other opinions on that. ... A crowded area with a really nice, local market, plenty of bars and clubs and all that comes with it. ... But strolling through Central rewarded us with ending up Sheung Wan. This area has a certain past time feeling to it with its steep stair streets and street vendors. It is a matter until they will disappear, but for now they are still in place and holding up the fort of a time long gone. There was also the local, well, lets call it a junkyard, where folks brought collected old goods like paper, cans, old AC's, copper pipes and the likes and sold them by weight for some dollars. That explained all the, mostly older, folks in the city with their pull carts roaming the city streets. A steady, never ending stream of people kept us interested in observing for quite some time. There is not much to say about Soho, other than that there is a really cool, super long escalator, some nice bars where we should have spent way more time in, some artsi feel about it, but also bars with blinking devil horns and people wearing those. ...Kowloon across Victoria Harbor is easy enough to reach from Central or Wan Chai using the Star Ferry which crosses every 15 minutes. The Tsim Sha Tsui district is the southernmost district of Kowloon and is the tourist ghetto, home of the finest hotels and cheapest guesthouses, many stores from all levels and of course the tourist markets. ... And if you are early enough you will still get a seat in one of the many food stall restaurants before the police removes their illegally setup tables. We spend only a short time on the Jade Market - but does not mean that this one does not deserve more time. Sitting by the pier of Tsim Sha Tsui reveals the view onto one of the most breathtaking skylines I have ever seen. This view makes one realize how modern Hong Kong really is and how strangely misplaced all the local markets nestled in the streets seem to be. seeing the city from the outside, they don't appear fit, but from the inside they are a vital part of the city life. The Symphony of Light shows a magnificent side of Hong Kong by letting the lights of about twenty skyscrapers dance in the rhythm of music. ...The trip to the peak with the cable car opens the view to the typical Hong Kong Island landscape. ... Well, there are a few more houses in between the hills than in Lummerland. Annoyingly it was very foggy when we stood on top of the peak, despite the early morning hour. ... Looking down the south side gives a view of Hong Kong from top and the Victoria harbor, separating Hong Kong Island from Kowloon on the main land. ... A steady stream of ferries, craneships, djunks, fishing boats and everything else that can swim populate the waterway. ... Again its a steady stream of ships, just like everything else in the city. We never made it to the peak at night. ...Some really nice day trips brought us to the 10.000 Buddhas Monastery in Sha Tin in the New Territories. ... Another destination was the Big Buddha statue next to the Po Lin Monastery in Ngong Ping on Lantau Island. This Monastery was reached with a long cable car ride over an amazing landscape. The Big Buddha itself is a gigantic statue which hosts the "bone relic", one of the three relics in Buddhism. Buddhist pilgrimage here and pray on every stair step on the way up to the relic. Because this could take forever, they tend to take two steps at a time. On two occasions I was brave enough to not bring my camera - for the trip to sleepy Lamma Island and to the visit of the opening race of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. ... But most for the visit of the race course. ...A longer getaway lead to Macau, the Las Vegas of the east, as it wants to be called. This peninsula about 80 km west of Hong Kong has a long way to go to be even close to Las Vegas, but it is well on its way. This former Portuguese colony is a bizarre mixture of residential, rundown skyscrapers, casinos and of course plenty of historic portuguese buildings. This appearance caused some uncertainty of where I currently was - the mediterranean or China. ...Back in Hong Kong, there was only some time left to do some nick nack shopping and have a last beer overlooking this unbelievable skyline one last time. This was indeed a wonderful trip with my friend that I will not forget...

Boston Caribbean Carnival.

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2008-08-25T11:35:34+01:00

This was indeed an event I am always looking forward to. The carnival happens always on the last weekend in August, which is the weekend before Labour Day weekend. That made it complicated this year since Labour Day weekend was the last one in August. So what do do? The website was not very informative - they archive but don't announce there. Thank good I got a phone call just in time as a reminder - thanks Chicken. :D. It was a fantastic, sunny sunny afternoon (they say it was the nicest weekend in Mass all summer - well they must know it...), rushing out of bed at 2 pm. and being on Martin Luther King Blvd. Just in time at 3.30 pm or so. Yea, I was really in the groove. But unlike in previous years, I paid more attention to the photography than I did to the music. Well, sometimes priorities just change. The parade went on and I was making my way up Blue Hill Ave. towards Franklin Park, where the parade finishes. I arrived there early so I thought I would get a few good shots in of the incoming groups and dancers. I was wrong. That bit was totally unspectacular. Thankfully I got the job done on the street before. Well, I decided to leave the parade behind and check out the festival in the park. And I immediately was attracted by the "Fish and Bake" stand - unfortunately like many others as well. So, it took me 45 minutes to get my share. And boy, was that good. Some good things take a bit longer sometimes... Check out the pictures of the Boston Caribbean Carnival 2008.

The final overhaul?

Markus@photonopticum.com — 2008-08-23T01:27:10+01:00

I most certainly doubt it. But since its launch in early July 2008 this site finally grew out of its infanty. The overall appearance, as well as the photo viewer and the picture organization have changed. So that would be pretty much everything, correct? Well, welcome and enjoy the show...