The Quiet Picture

I got back my roll of Velvia 100 this week. I was very excited to see that the greens were still as intense as I remembered them, the colours really pop. Unfortunately I was not able to reproduce the pop when I scanned them, but I’ll always have my light table!

The roll goes back to late June, so there are some nice summer memories in it. Like this forget-me-not I found in the forest on Hamrafjället, which I visited on the morning of my trip to Röros. I only took this one picture and I’m well chuffed to see that I nailed the focus – there was some wind so I had to wait for an opportunity to press the shutter. With digital, I’d probably have snapped 5-10 frames under the same circumstances. But it’s nice to see that I have the patience to wait for the right moment!

One thing I was curious about was to see how I can work with the 15mm fisheye on full frame – I can barely work with it on a crop sensor. But I reckon in a way it’s easier because the fisheye effect really comes to life when all 15mm can be used effectively. I like the fisheye illusion how the curved horizon imitates the curvature of the earth. The planet in miniature!

The light was really fleeting, the kind that disappears by the time you’ve picked up the camera from the bag. But in this case I was lucky to get it back for two seconds so I could take the picture.

This is from the same day and same marsh as the previous slide. It had just rained quite heavily but then suddenly the sun burst out. The colours were amazing, the mosses were glowing with reds and yellows and I was all excited about capturing it all. In the picture it seems like there is a lot of blue sky, but there were clouds all around and just seconds after taking this picture the clouds moved in front of the sun we heard the rumble of thunder. It started raining again and I lost the opportunity, but at least I have this frame. The Sigma 15mm fisheye handles flare really well – I haven’t cloned any flare from this picture, but I did straighten the horizon a little bit (the fisheye effect made it curve a little bit because the horizon is not in the middle of the frame).

I have totally failed with reproducing the greens here, but I like the scene; there’s something about dead trees that always draw my eye. It was just a matter of trying to compose to bring some order in the chaos.

The last time I mentioned that I have a slight tendency to under-expose. I think I found the reason for it – it only happens with particular scenes, those with a lot of blue sky or running water. I seem worry about overexposing the sky or the water, so I don’t compensate as much for the shadows as I should. But now that I’m aware of exactly what is throwing me off, I know to watch out for it. Looking at the pictures, I’m not at risk of burning out the sky or the water even if dial in another 2/3 stops. I’ve loaded Velvia 50 in the camera and the plan is to find running water today and blue skies tomorrow…

August was almost like July, but enough about the weather – I want to talk about photography this time. August 2009 is probably the best photographic August I’ve ever had, with some real keepers included in the bunch. That’s worth a mention because August traditionally is a low month for me; in 2004 I took (or kept) just one picture. 1! Well, at least I’ve never done a zero month.

What’s special about this August is not just the pictures, but also the places I’ve visited. I’ve found some excellent spots that I’m looking forward to exploring during different seasons and conditions. The amazing part is that they are all close to home, so it just goes to show that even when you think you know your local woods, there’s always something new waiting to be discovered!

Temperature (High): 23°C
Temperature (Low): 9°C
Temperature (Average): 16°C

Barometer (High): 1023 mbar
Barometer (Low): 994 mbar
Barometer (Avg): 1010 mbar

Total of sunny days: 0

Rain: 108 mm

Days with rain: 18

2007
2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009

A couple of weeks ago Canon announced a whole pile of new products, including a Powershot G11 and S90. There was no SLR in the announcements but I guess they wanted to release it separately so people would pay more attention – so enter EOS 7D! It’s a follow-up to 50D (and here I was thinking it would be called 60D, duh) which means that it’s the camera that I would potentially upgrade to (my plan is to hop over every second release). So I pored over the specifications but the first thing I saw put me off immediately – 18 MP. 18?! For a sensor that is only marginally larger than on my 40D. Forget it. That’s almost as crazy as 15 MP on the G10, and Canon seems to have realised that and jumped off the megapixel race and reduced the pixel count to 10 MP in the G11. So one would hope that they would’ve been equally smart with the 7D, but apparently they plan to cater to an un-educated audience who think that more pixels is better.

So I’m disappointed to say the least. But as I continued reading the specs, I was kind of relieved to find nothing of any interest to me. HD Video is there, of course, but for the life of me I can’t think of any reason why I would want it. Just something extra I’ll be paying for, no thanks. It’s probably too much to hope for a non-video alternative in the future.

However, it’s not all that bleak. The new camera has weather sealing! Yes, after years of waiting, it’s finally there. But during all those years of waiting I’ve learned to photograph in inclement weather without weather sealing and I’ve never had a problem, so ironically, I don’t really need the sealing now.

And the best news of all – since the 7D is definitely not for me, I can save my money for something useful. Like a MacBook Pro!

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DP Review has a hands-on preview of 7D.