Time.Captured. http://timecaptured.posterous.com Photo blog posterous.com Sat, 12 May 2012 06:58:50 -0700 One of my photos used as the header of a blog http://timecaptured.posterous.com/one-of-my-photos-used-as-the-header-of-a-blog http://timecaptured.posterous.com/one-of-my-photos-used-as-the-header-of-a-blog Found this by coincidence: a blog using one of my photos as the header. Feels good and looks pretty nice. BTW: it is perfectly OK for them to use it. My photos are on display on my Flickr account and are usually under a 'Creative Commons' type of copyright. This means that the photos can be freely used by anyone as long as my name is mentioned along with it, and if the photo is then not protected, sold or otherwise hijacked. It has to remain under a CC license even when altered. The blog gives credit to me on the footer of the page, so everything is perfectly OK.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Fri, 04 May 2012 02:52:00 -0700 Cheese photo featured by absolut-bio.de http://timecaptured.posterous.com/cheese-photo-featured-by-absolut-biode http://timecaptured.posterous.com/cheese-photo-featured-by-absolut-biode

I just found out that www.absolute-bio.de features one of my photos from my Flickr Stream:

http://www.absolut-bio.de/bio-kaeserei-kaese-von-gluecklichen-kuehen/

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Thu, 03 May 2012 09:23:00 -0700 FIND: Film is not dead http://timecaptured.posterous.com/find-film-is-not-dead http://timecaptured.posterous.com/find-film-is-not-dead

A month ago I bought an old Contax G1 camera on eBay. I loaded it with some Kodak Gold 200 film from the lokal supermarket (waiting for a few rolls of Tri-X 400 to arrive) and gave it a test run. The Contax is pretty heavy when carried around with one hand - a lot heavier than my Fuji X100 and my NEX-7. It feels very solid and gives a great feeling when operated. Some people complain about "small and dark" viewfinder, but I found it OK.

Because both the autofocus the film drive are motor-driven, the camera is not exactly quiet and low profile. The X100 is much easier to carry around and point at someone, taking candid shots.

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It feels very unusual to not being able to check photos right after taking them, or at least the same evening when back home. Also sharpness, white balance, DoF can not be checked. I wasn't aware how much experience analog viewfinder (i.e. non SLR) cameras require if you want to take serious pictures and not just holiday snapshots and the like.

The first roll came out quite OK. Only very few photos were out of focus, and two of them because I had put the camera to MF and forgot to engage AF again. The grain was much more prominent than I had though, but otherwise the quality was just fine: colour, exposure and contrast turned out pretty much OK. Unfortunately the scans that were produced by the photo lab (standard order, no special scanning service) have only 4 MPx and don't give much reserve for cropping, if any.

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:29:00 -0700 Thun http://timecaptured.posterous.com/thun http://timecaptured.posterous.com/thun

A sunday afternoon walk through Thun. All photos were taken with the NEX-7 and the Sony 18-200 Superzoom lens. Who says that good photos can only be made with prime lenses?

 

All color images are unprocessed JPEGs, OOC. The B/W images are processed on an iPad.

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Fence, spreading out

This one is my third image that made it into Flickr's EXPLORED. It reached #75 on 13 April 2012.

 

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Waiting for the geranium pots: HEY it's springtime!

 

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Not much going on these days

 

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Take a seat

 

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Bridge over troubled water

 

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whole lotta shakin going on

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:46:18 -0700 Featured by PC Welt http://timecaptured.posterous.com/featured-by-pc-welt http://timecaptured.posterous.com/featured-by-pc-welt The German PC Journal compiled "60 wallpapers for your desktop", and included one of my photos. I prefered the title I gave it, though: "Two couples".

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Thu, 29 Mar 2012 07:53:00 -0700 B/W photography with the MS Super Triplet 3.5/35 mm Perar lens, adapted to a Sony NEX-7 http://timecaptured.posterous.com/bw-photography-with-the-ms-super-triplet-3535 http://timecaptured.posterous.com/bw-photography-with-the-ms-super-triplet-3535
I recently purchased a very special lens that is hand made in Japan in very limited quantities. Individual lenses are numbered and the serial number is engraved in the front ring (mine is a Mark II design and version, serial no. #433). It comes with a Leica M mount, which can easily be adapted to the Sony E-mount and fits the Sony NEX series. The lens is tiny - it will hardly get any smaller. The aperture ring has no discrete stops and needs quite some force to be moved, which inevitably will change the focus ring as well. The focus ring, however, moves smoothly with just the right force.

The image quality is very good, I believe, with one exception which is not caused by the lens but rather by the NEX-7: color shifting across the field, with magenta colored corners. The magenta doesn't show up always, or it is sometimes more enhanced and sometimes very subtle. In b/w images it doesn't play a role, of course. Otherwise the lens is sharp and shows no noteworthy distortions or CAs. 

(Key features, taken from that web page:)

  • Very high optical quality triplet formula lens
  • Ultra compact design, weight 75g, collapsible (4.2mm height when collapsed)
  • Premium quality Tantalum glass, superior to Trium and Lanthanum glass with best refractive qualities
  • Refined triplet design with two double thickness positive lenses, superior to Tessar design
  • Round aperture for smooth and pleasing bokeh (Edmund Optics, Made in USA)
  • Minimum focus distance 0.8m
  • ALL glass surfaces multicoated, 97% light transmission
  • Vivid, real and beautiful color reproduction, high contrast high resolution images
  • Second lot of 200 lenses (serial 201-400), designed, manufactured and hand-assembled in Japan by Mr Sadoyasu Miyazaki

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(Bern, Einsteinterrasse. This is the same location and situation as on the shot below, but taken from behind rather than from below)

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(Bern, Einsteinterrasse)
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(Bern, Waisenhausplatz)
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(Bern, Bundesplatz)
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(Bern, Bundesplatz. This one is not really sharp but I had to be fast to capture that smile. Two shots taken just a few seconds later are tack sharp, but boring because the smile is gone)
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(The MS Optical Super Triplet adapted to the NEX-7.)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Sun, 12 Feb 2012 10:16:00 -0800 My second Flickr "Explored" http://timecaptured.posterous.com/my-second-flickr-explored http://timecaptured.posterous.com/my-second-flickr-explored
This photo received many favs and also got many comments during the first two days, and reached #66 in Flickr's "Explored" stream.

One of my first shots made with the new Sony NEX-7 and the SLR Magic 28mm f/2.8 lens. The lens produces very dull photos in good lighting conditions - wide open and stopped down. It also produces some magenta in the corners. In low light and black-and-white this doesn't matter too much.

I had hoped that a person would cross the bridge while I was waiting there, taking photos, but no one turned up, and it was very cold that night. So this is all I got. Processed with "Flare" for Mac OS. 

Note the streaks from a few falling snow flakes. They show a black and white pattern which is caused by the flicker of the 50 Hz street lights. One pulse corresponds to 1/50 or 2/100 seconds. There are about 6 or 7 such pulses which tells us that the exposure must have been around 15/100 second or about 1/8" (free hand, no image stabilization).

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:31:10 -0800 Contax G lenses adapted to a Sony NEX http://timecaptured.posterous.com/contax-g-lenses-adapted-to-a-sony-nex http://timecaptured.posterous.com/contax-g-lenses-adapted-to-a-sony-nex
While I am still waiting for my ordered NEX-7, I am using a NEX-5 which I bought with the SEL18200 superzoom in a kit box (BTW: the kit was 300 Swiss Francs cheaper than the lens alone on eBay! So the NEX-5 is for free, and will be sold on ebay as soon as the NEX-7 arrives). Yesterday I updated the firmware to version 5, which has focus peaking (finally!). Manual focus is so easy, fast and a pleasure with it! Love it.

Time to attach my two Contax G lenses (Sonnar 90 mm f2.8 and Planar 45 mm f2) to it. The first adapter was a relatively cheap one from ebay, with a thin focus ring. Terrible. It has a lot of friction, runs very hard, sometimes blocks completely for a second - a nightmare. Then I ordered a Metabones adapter - one from their new silver series which matches the silver finish of the Contax G lenses almost perfectly. The adapter is expensive (130 $), big and heavy. It is difficult to attach to the lens. The Metabones video on Youtube shows a procudere how to attach the adapter to the lens, but it didn't work on mine. It worked, though, when I attach the adapter to the camera first, then add the lens to it, and finally remove the combo from the body and close the "lock" switch. OK, once installed, the lens/adapter combo looks great, and, most important, the focus mechanism runs perfectly. Very solid, very smooth, a real pleasure to use! Well invested money! I am now considering to order a second adapter for my second lens, which would save me from taking the combo apart again.

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Both Contax G lenses perform phantastically on the NEX-5. Here are a few examples (not very great shots, but that's what I had after two or three days of using them with the NEX-5).

The snow covered branch and the door are shot with the Sonnar 90, the fountain and the reading woman were taken with the Planar 45. All very sharp. Look at the beautiful the bokeh on the photo of the fountain.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:21:33 -0800 Taking the plunge http://timecaptured.posterous.com/taking-the-plunge http://timecaptured.posterous.com/taking-the-plunge
I must be crazy. Three really fine lenses and a camera I really enjoyed over two and a half years now. The user interface of the GH1 is hard to beat, and some of the better ones are just newer G series models from Panasonic Lumix. So what's wrong with it? 

I don't like the look very much. The hump that gives it a DLSR like look even though there is no mirror and prisma to house. I would prefer a camera with a clean design that does not pretend to be a DSLR. Olympus PEN or the Lumix GX would fall into this category. But they lack a viewfinder. My eyes are getting worse every week, and even when they were better I almost always used a viewfinder to compose. I simply could't do without it.

Next I don't like the JPGs the camera produces. Red always has a pronounced magenta tint, and skin tones are often reproduced very pale and almost a little greenhish. And, compared to it's peers from Olympus, the level of detail is a lot worse from basically the same or even a slightly better sensor. 

Furthermore, the GH1 makes it a bit more difficult to focus legacy lenses (I own a Contax G 45 mm Planar and a Contax G 90 mm Sonnar), requiring two to three button clicks to invoke a focus assisting zoom. Not a big deal, but...

Of course I could shoot raw, but I don't like the idea. I am spending 40 hours per week in front of a computer and prefer to spend the rest of my time either shooting photos or doing something completely different. My workflow meanwhile is very iPad-centered. With Apple's photo kit it is easy to get new pics straight from an SD card onto the iPad. Filterstorm, Snapseed or FilterFX are good enough for most of my needs when it comes to some (moderate) image processing. Apple's iCould sends all the stuff straight to the photostream and to the computer. The iPad Phanfare App is great to send all images straight to an archive in the cloud. And Flickstackr is such a great app to upload the best shots to FlickR and 500px. This liberated me from the little Mac Mini and Aperture, which I return to only every other week or so to archive photos and sort them into the aperture library.

Two years ago, when I bought the GH1, there was no iPad. Olympus didn't have a micro four thirds model with a viewfinder. Fuji was asleep. Samsung's NX series seems not very convincing and is probably not strong enough to survive. When Sony introduced the NEX series, the cameras looked ridiculous to me (way too small) and - even more important - had no buttons and wheels to actually use it as a camera. All the features, even the very basic ones, were deeply buried in overloaded menus. No thanks. The GH1 was clearly the paramount.

And then came the NEX-7. Just about big enough for my hands. Small enough for my coat pockets. Very solid feel. A great viewfinder. A modern look, quite different from a DSLR. Loads of manual controls, buttons and wheels. And many of them to be programmed with a function to your own preference. Add an APS-C sized sensor, better (in my taste) color reproduction, great low light image quality for such a high pixel count, and focus peaking. Wow. I couldn't resist.

The dilemma, however, starts when lenses are considered. Many MFT lenses are really really good, if not outstanding. There is at least one lense for every purpose on the market. On the contrary Son'y E-mount lens range is - well, a bit odd and underdeveloped. Poor quality lenses, and odd focal length coverage. Now I have to give away my MFT great superzoom (14-140), the stellar 20 mm f1.7 pancake and the compact lightweight and decent wide angle zoom (9-18 mm).

The NEX-7 is ordered. A Sony 18-200 mm superzoom is already sitting on my shelf. The two Contax G lenses are also waiting. Two (at least) more lenses are still to be found: a fast, compact, light prime lens in the 28 to 35 mm range, and a very wide angle.

Let's see where this leads to. Stay tuned.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:29:14 -0800 About anticipation, preparation (master your gear!) and luck (or lack of luck) http://timecaptured.posterous.com/about-anticipation-preparation-master-your-ge http://timecaptured.posterous.com/about-anticipation-preparation-master-your-ge
Look at this: when I stumbled across this poster, held by the little Playmobil man, I immediately thought it would be a great background for a person in an orange workdress. I had about 15 minutes to spare, waiting for my commuting train, so I stayed and watched the scene: ANTICIPATION

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Lucky enough, suddenly a worker dressed in orange passed - all I had to do is press the shutter. But the Fuji X100 releases the shutter so fast (if the AF is already close to the actual distance) that the person was exactly in front of the Playmobil man, blocking half of the important background. I should have engaged the continuous drive mode and take 3, 4 shots in a second or so which would have almost certainly contained at least one shot with the two orange dressed workers being visible. Damn. Prepare and master your gear!

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I had another 5 minutes to spare. No chance that - by pure coincidence - one more orange worker would turn up. I decided to stay anyway, and to engage the contiuous drive mode. Prepare! But guess what happened: Suddenly he emerged from a dense crowd of people. At first he was aiming to walk directly behind me, but there were so many people around that in the last second he decided to walk right into the scene. Luck! And even more unlikely, no other person was in the viewfinder even though it was the rush hour. If you know the main station in Bern, you know what "rush hour" means here. So again, pure luck!

This is the result: The AF had adjusted for the background. The person walked so quickly that there was no chance to re-adjust. He is out of focus. So I was a little out of luck. I should have turned manual focus on, and adjust to  focuas range somewhere half way between me and the poster. Prepare and master your gear!

Anyway - I like the result a lot. May be that having the person in front in focus but the poster out of focus would even be the less appealing version. I consider myself lucky and I am quite happy with the shot. BTW: both orange dressed workers were NOT working at the scene, but were heading home, with a shopping bag in their hands.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:27:10 -0800 My first FlickR Explored http://timecaptured.posterous.com/my-first-flickr-explored http://timecaptured.posterous.com/my-first-flickr-explored
So here we go: my first FlickR "Explored", reaching #474 on the first day after posting the picture.

Interestingly, this is not the image with the most views, the most fav's of the most comments in my stream. And I never considered it to be very "special" - neither in comparison to many other "explored" pictures, nor compared to some pics in my own FlickR stream. However, it reached about 60 views, 3 favs and 3 comments in a relatively short period of time, which seems to be the trigger for FlickR to "explore" an image. The subject and style is not very special (thus being interesting for a limited group), but is probably appealing to everyone: harmonic, peaceful, aesthetic, though a bit boring.

The photo in its explored version was only cropped to a slightly wider format (some boring pavement in front of the stairs were cut away) and ist otherwise OOC.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:23:59 -0800 My current thoughts about the Fuji X100 http://timecaptured.posterous.com/my-current-thoughts-about-the-fuji-x100 http://timecaptured.posterous.com/my-current-thoughts-about-the-fuji-x100
When I read this article 
The Leica M9: The Ultimate Street Photography Camera or Just Hype? My Practical Review — Eric Kim Street Photography
from Eric Kim, I wrote the following comment about my experiences with the Fuji X100:

//

I have a Fuji X100 since July. 

Did it improve my photography? Yes it did. A lot. Not because it is a better camera, but because it encourages me to use it in a different way. It challenges me and encourages me to work for each image. Saying "the camera makes great photos" is like saying "your oven prepares great meals".

How is it to work with the X100? It is a Diva. Image quality is superb. Low light performance is amazing. Metering is amazing, too. Autofocus is a lottery. Sometimes fast, sometimes it just doesn't quite want what you want. A Diva. At the beginning I also hated the UI and the buttons on the back of the camera, but meanwhile I notice that the functions are wisely distributed and rarely used. Besides formatting the SD card after downloading photos I rarely use the menu. The aperture, exposure and exposure compensation wheels are such a pleasure to touch and use. And the absence of a P/A/S/M mode dial or any scene modes is a further advantage. Just put the aperture and/or exposure wheel to "A" if you want the camera to take over. So nice and straightforward. The X100 is not and will never be my work horse, my all purpose best friend. It is like a Ferrari: somewhat limited in what it can do, and expensive. But brilliant at what it does, and such a pleasure to master.

// 

Why do I think my photography improved? Flickr gave the answer. I have an album which contains the 20 "most interesting" photos from my collection. "Most interesting" refers to Flickr's mysterious ranking of photos according to "interestingness". The top 500 of each day are "Explored". The "interestingness" is computed from number of hits, comments, people who favourited it etc. 

I have a Flickr account since 2007, I believe, and I used several cameras sequentially and in parallel for the photos I uploaded. The Fuji X100 joined in only very recently, in July 2011. Nevertheless, currently (today and in the last few weeks) 17 to 19 photos in the "Most interesting" album are made with the Fuji X100. There may well be a bias because a lot of the are "street photography" pics, which is currently qute fashionable on Flickr, and many of my contacts are fond of street photography. But still, X100 shots seem to be much more attractive than photos (also recently taken pictures) made with my Lumix GH1 or  my iPhone 4.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:42:00 -0800 London in B/W (Street Photography) http://timecaptured.posterous.com/london-in-bw-street-photography http://timecaptured.posterous.com/london-in-bw-street-photography

A few B/W photos taken in London. To my surprise I noticed that most of my photos from the weekend in London are and will remain in colour. London is so colourful!

(Fuji X100)

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(Lumix GH1)

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(Lumix GH1)

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(Fuji X100)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Thu, 13 Oct 2011 09:47:00 -0700 Colours of London http://timecaptured.posterous.com/colours-of-london-travel-london http://timecaptured.posterous.com/colours-of-london-travel-london
A selection of colour photos from our recent trip to London. Some taken with the Fuji X100, some with the Panasonic Lumix GH1 and the 14-140 mm lens.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Thu, 29 Sep 2011 04:17:00 -0700 Some thoughts about adapting legacy lenses (Part 1) http://timecaptured.posterous.com/some-thoughts-about-adapting-legacy-lenses-pa http://timecaptured.posterous.com/some-thoughts-about-adapting-legacy-lenses-pa

Mirrorless system cameras like the G series from Panasonic or the Olympus PEN series save the heavy and bulky mirrors and bring the lens mount closer to the focal place, which not only makes the system lenses smaller than their DSLR counterparts - it also leaves room for adapters for all kinds of classic DSLR lenses. Therefore, there is a huge choice of lenses available on eBay, mostly used and very cheap. Of course these lenses must, when adapted, be focused manually, and also the aperture cannot be adjusted by the camera, but the manual aperture and focus rings feel great to the hands of enthusiast - it is fun and a pleasure to turn them.

These lenses - especially when we talk about primes - are small, often very sharp and fast. Doesn't this sound great? Couldn't these lenses fill the gaps of fast primes that are left in the lens line-up of Sony (NEX), Panasonic and Olympus (Micro FourThirds)? Fast, sharp primes for very little money? Sweet!

But...

..wide angle lenses are difficult to find because the crop factors of the new breed of system cameras (1.5 for Sony NEX and their APS-C sensor, 2 for Micro FourThirds) turn the usual 35 and 28 mm lenses of legacy SLRs into standard and portrait lenses.

...tele lenses come without image stabilization, which cancels out the advantage of being "fast" very quickly. The only remaining advantage of a large aperture is then the shallow DOF, which is desired in some situations and cannot be replaced easily.

Nevertheless, lenses in the 28 to 50 mm focal length range appear attractive - if they are good performers. Below are a few test shots for two Konica Hexanon lenses. Both have an excellent reputation and are considered to be exceptionally sharp, when  used with their analog SLRs they were designed for. 

We start with the Konica Hexanon AR 40 and take one shot wide open, one shot stepped down to f/4. The AR 40 is especially attractive because it is a pancake. On a Lumix GH1 it establishes an extremely compact portrait lens which makes even the GH1 a pocket camera (at least in winter when the coat pockets are large enough).

Wide open the image is very soft, almost David Hamilton style, with a dreamy glow, and the lens is basically useless, unless an extreme softness is desired. Stepped down the situation improves significantly. Stepped down it looks OK. We will see later how good the result is. I refused to step down the aperture even more because the cheap kit lenses that come with the camera are already as fast, which leaves no advantage of using the old prime lens (leaving its size aside for a while).

Next candidate is the Konica Hexanon AR 50 - a typical standard prime lens of old analog SLRs. Among several Konica standard lenses in this focal length range, this lens is considered to be the sharpest. Wide open the image is extremely soft and dreamy - even a lot worse tham the 40 mm pancake. Stepped down to f/4 it improves as it did for the pancake, but this lens lags still behind and fails the test.

Last not least we take a photo with the Lumix GH1 kit lens, the Panasonic 14-140. This lens is expensive, and generally produces nice if not very good results (for a 10x zoom lens). The result is not only much more brilliant and crispy, it also shows a lot more details that are totally invisible in all shots from both Hexanon lenses. Look around and especially just below the window: the texture detail in those insulation sheets is invisible in all other examples.

One reason for the observed and unexpected problems could be lack of a anti-reflection coating on the back lens. Such a coating is not necessary for film because of the somewhat rough surface structure of film, while image sensors are glass covered and reflect some of the incoming light. A further reason may be that both Hexanon lenses are designe for a full frame sensor (film). Therefore, some light does not hit the micro fourthirds sensor, but some structure inside the camera, from where it may be bouncing around and ultimately end up on the sensor. Stepped down, the amount of light with highly inclined direction (wrt the optical axis) which could bounce around is reduced by the smaller aperture.

Lesson learned: both lenses were sold again on eBay.

A similar test with several Zeiss/Contax lenses and a Minolta prime will follow. Stay tuned.

 

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See the full gallery on Posterous

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:55:30 -0700 Struggling with composition http://timecaptured.posterous.com/struggling-with-composition http://timecaptured.posterous.com/struggling-with-composition
The photo below (the first in the gallery) is certainly interesting because of the gorgeous colors of the wooden shed and the flowers in front of it. We have cyan, magenta and green in the same image. The door, the flower pot and the grill hanging from the wall form a diagonal - not bad for an interesting composition. Nevertheless, I think the image doesn't quite take off. Something is wrong, something is missing, and something is too much.

The next three images are crops that try, with different strategies, to fix it and improve the composition. The first one cuts away the white paper cup and the black tube on the very right. The frame ends up to be square. It is harmonic, but also somewhat boring. The door, which is the main subject, is in the center. Not bad, but...

The second attempt goes one step further, and is more radical, trying to add some tension by cutting away part of the door and the flower pot, and leaving out the grill hanged to the wall. The door is now left from the center, and the flowers dominate the lower center. Instead of a square format we are back to a landscape, 3:2 frame. The shelf is only partly visible and leads the eye out of the frame - however, for no good reason. There is now tension, but it still doesn't work. The result is not satisfying.

The last image is similar like the previous one but in portrait orientation. Door and flower pot are entirely visible. The grill is just left out of the frame, but forces the crop to be very tight around the door - too tight, for my taste.

What else could work? Which crop do you like best? I'd be happy to get your suggestions!

Image_1 Image_2 Image_3 Image_4
See the full gallery on Posterous

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Mon, 22 Aug 2011 05:46:29 -0700 A night and a day on the streets in Bern with the Fuji X100 http://timecaptured.posterous.com/a-night-and-a-day-on-the-streets-in-bern-with http://timecaptured.posterous.com/a-night-and-a-day-on-the-streets-in-bern-with
This weekend I had the opportunity to take the Fuxi X100 out on a photo safari in Bern. Some of the phots were taken at night (after 11 pm) in the station, some on a very warm and sunny afternoon in Bern. I was positively surprised that a relatively large fraction of the shots were quite usable, at least from the technical point of view (sharpness, noise,…). Speaking of noise: the Fuxi X100 virtually has no visible noise up to ISO 3200. I was again amazed by its low light performance.

I am still a bit shy in getting really close to the people. May be a slightly longer lens would be better for me (but the X100, of course, has a fixed lens). Some of the people in the shots below actually are looking at the camera, and no one said a word, complained or whatsoever. I hope this gives more confidence and helps "growing balls", as Thomas Leuthard ("85mm"  http://500px.com/85mm http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasleuthard/ ) calls it.

[ There's someone behind you, watching ]

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[ Watching the juggler ]

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[ Should we care already? ]

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[ Was guggsdu? ]

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[ Don't spill it again! ]

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[ Hungy at 11 pm ]

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Fri, 19 Aug 2011 05:41:00 -0700 Square or qeer: the 1:1 aspect ratio http://timecaptured.posterous.com/square-or-qeer-the-11-aspect-ratio http://timecaptured.posterous.com/square-or-qeer-the-11-aspect-ratio
Michael Freeman, a respected authority for composition in photography, writes in his book 
Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos [affiliate]
about the square format that "you need a very good reason to choose THIS format over portait or landscape". There is a danger that square photos can look boring, unattractive (though harmonic and peaceful).

However, viewing conventions can change and actually DID change recently.

First of all, we often look at our photos on TV screens or computer screens, which are not only landscape but also quite often 16:9, while prints become rare. A portait photo on a 16:9 screen looks, well, odd, to say the least. That's why I adopted the square format and use it frequently or always where I would have used portrait in the past. My camera, the Panasonic GH1, supports this format natively - no cropping involved.

Furthermore, social photo sharing sites like instagram are entirely bound to square photos. Because these social sharing sites become more and more popular, people get used to the square format. It appears less queer than it might have appeared maybe 10 years ago.

Below are some examples that, at least I hope so, show that the format is not necessarily boring or dull. Let me know what you think in the comments section at the bottom of the post.

You will find square photos quite frequently in many of my blog posts, or you may head over to flickr and have a look at my dedicated square picture album:

[ Divisions ]
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[ Phase change ]
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[ Wooden chalet in Wallis/Valais, Switzerland ]
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[ Window ]
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[ Take control ]
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[ Wooden bridge in Thun, Switzerland ]
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[ Aare gorge, Meiringen, Switzerland ]
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[ Backup Fence ]

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:06:01 -0700 Focal length statistics http://timecaptured.posterous.com/focal-length-statistics http://timecaptured.posterous.com/focal-length-statistics
Last weekend I used Aperture's "smart album" feature to filter my photos from 2009 to today into groups of focal length: 
(all values converted to 35mm equivalent focal length)

< 35 mm: Wide angle
35 to 65: more or less normal
66 to 135 mm: a typical focal length for portraits
135 to 200 mm: tele
> 200 mm: long tele

It turned out that the biggest group is the normal focal length range, but not overwhelming the other groups.

You may try a similar statistics - especially whe you ask yourself whether a camera with a fix focal length like the Fuji X100 is made for you and your habits.

Kuchen

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Thu, 11 Aug 2011 09:51:17 -0700 Berries and Cherries: Fruit with the Fuji X100 http://timecaptured.posterous.com/berries-and-cherries-fruit-with-the-fuji-x100 http://timecaptured.posterous.com/berries-and-cherries-fruit-with-the-fuji-x100
Fruit with the Fuji X100.

I love the colors this camera produces. 

[ Alien intruder: peach among apricots ]

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[ Berries ]

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[ Strawberries ]

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[ Cherries ]

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[ Fruit ]

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[ Tomatoes, all colors ]

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1395470/ich2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36zEYTvelcfT Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin Karsten Seiferlin