This blog

I've been thinking about this blog and what exactly to do with it.

I have the tendency to randomly blablabla about just about everything, and surely, no one is interested in that. What I might interest you in, are my pictures. That is the only thing my blog and I offer that no one elses offers.

So the natural conclusion is that this blog should be only used to promote/talk about my pictures. And that's exactly what I will be doing. No more random posts about this or that, just my pictures. But, a very small but, when I think there is something abso-f**king-lutely worth posting, then I'll probably will :D .

So.

There you have it.

Where are the pictures then, you ask?
Well, not today. Not only am I too tired to write about anything (cept for this ofcourse), I haven't yet developt a kind of schedule of uploading my pictures to Flickr, Fotolia, Fonanza, Bigstockphoto and such, and posting on this blog. Oh and my real life.

As soon as I have 'automated' the process a bit, this will become much more worthwhile to read.

Bye for now,

Coen

Horse Statue I

Horse Statue I
Originally uploaded by Praetorianator.

So, do we all like productphotography? Yes we do!

At least, when the photographs are executed right. There are alot of photographs in the productphotography group floating around not executed well. I've done it number of times too. Just take a look at the first few pages of my Flickr page, you'll see alot of bad macrophotography.

Many people doing macro and/or/thus productphotography do not consider the background and it's impact it has on the overall picture. For example, many of my first macro shots have horrible grey-ish backgrounds, while I really wanted to have a white background. Also the lighting of the subject is bad, and the focussing point is hardly ever spot-on. Usually the focus lies on something other than the main subject of the photograph, thus drawing the viewers attention away from your subject.

To produce white backgrounds, correct lighting and spot on focus points, one has to do one thing; take time. As with any form of photography, the only way to produce good to superb shots is to take your time. Check composition, lighting, focus, depth-of-field, angle. Then check it all again, and make adjustments as needed.

I think the picture I made above, named 'Equinity', is an example of good lighting, good background, good focus. Ofcourse the composition is debatable. Some people do not like the stretch of white in front of the horse, they would've cropped the picture tighter. I, on the other hand, like the bit of white on the right. It gives the horse room to go (as if it's going anywhere, but you catch my drift).

Anyway, I really like this picture alot, and I'm quite proud of it. I like it's simplicity and contrast. The border only adds to the picture.

What do you think?

Greetings,

from Coen.

PS. This picture is available for purchase at Oypo (Dutch) and Fonanza (Dutch)

My new 60mm Micro-Nikkor

I have just bought a new lens for my Nikon D80, so I now have two lenses;

- 18-70mm DX Nikkor (kit-lens which came with my D80)
- 60mm Micro-Nikkor

I bought it for a hefty sum of 450 euro's, but I can tell you; it was well worth it!

It is a Micro-Nikkor, which is Nikons way of saying it is a Macro lens. It has a focal distance of 60mm, and on my Nikon D80 (DSLR) counting in the magnification factor of 1,5x that would become equal to a 90mm on a 35mm body.
So by nature, this lens is perfect for portraits. I haven't tried that yet though.

What I have tried already is it's 1:1 reproduction capabilities (macro function). And I must say, macro photography is every bit as much fun as everyone says it is!
It just opens up a whole new world of possible things to photograph.

And so, after I had just bought it, I went berserk, photographing just about everything. But soon I realised that, although photographing everything small is quite fun, you can't just walk up to something and take a picture. Macro photography needs just as much preperation as any other photograph, or maybe even more. This is evident in much of my early pictures on Flickr. Looking back at them, I should've paid more attention to composition, background and the technical part of photography.

So now I have learned that essential lesson, it is my intention to take my photography of small things a little slower next time :D. Not the hasty "Ow this is cool! *click*....ow, but look at this! *click*..and that! *click*". That method does not produce the best photographs.

One of the things I think I need to make my macro-photography more succesfull is a so-called 'light-box'. Think of it as a box of 50x50x50cm, covered in white paper or cloth on the inside, and a white paper backdrop on the inner back of the box. Then putting some light bulbs over the box and voila; you have yourself a completely white enviroment.

I think I will construct one later on.

Anyway, I am really happy with my new 60mm Micro-Nikkor lens, and hopefully continu to use it for a long long time.

Cheers,

Coen

This blog

Hi all.


This will be my blog for the pictures I make and post at Flickr.
Also, I will be using this blog for general stuff I like and/or think about.
I do hope I'm interesting enough to read, and if not that, at least enjoy my photographs and head over to Flickr.

Greets!

Coen van Aken