Between Winter And Spring

I shoot more and more pure b&w and very often with the "in camera"-b&w mode. It is simpler, quicker and you concentrate yourself more on the main image elements and their b&w effects.
So it is not only "the best possible" technical image quality, that is important. More important is in my eyes the best possible image composition. (Important is for instance, that the exposition is done properly and that the photographer uses the right b&w settings.)
The digital photography generally is very helpful for developing the right b&w-mode, because it offers the photographer a preview directly after our shot. So we can change our settings directly on location, if necessary. But we should not switch between b&w and colour too much - the Leica M9 monochrome for instance is based on the idea of reducing the view to the main aspects of monochrome photography without the possibility of shooting in colour. Less is more!
The "in camera b&w mode" of ordinary DSLRs is in my eyes the "poor man's" Leica M9 monochrome... ;-)

36 birds

The world sometimes is a big theatre - and here we see (more or less) 36 birds "on stage".
The big view is strongly recommended, so that you can count all my birds... ;-)
Seriously: I work on a new image speech and have to admit, that i still like the look of 50mm (or similiar focal length in crop format, like 28, 30 or 35 mm) for my photography.

I-Pointment

8mm offers us a lot of room around our motives, as you can see.
I like to use my wide angle lenses mainly for two reasons:
1. For showing classical landscapes and using the lens everywhere, where i have not very much space, f.i. in small rooms. And
2. as a tool for extreme compositions, as a kind of creative "fun" lense.
It is a lot of fun, to put different image elements together and play with perspective and space.
I also must say, that a very good wide angle lens without distortion is not always the best lens for such "games". For instance the 8-16 Sigma is almost a kind of "corrected fisheye" and maybe not the first choice for classical "serious" landscapes, where f.i. a 10-24 or 12-24 Nikkor is probable better. But when it comes to creativity and biggest possible image effect, the extreme lenses are more interesting in my eyes.
This is the reason, that i recommend landscape photographers 2 or even 3 extreme lenses: One for classical landscapes, one for creative landscapes - and maybe an additional fisheye for "extreme fun". :-) 

After Harvest

In november our maize fields are showing a nice graphical effect. Wonderful long lines, great for photographic compositions. This image was made last sunday morning with the so called "kit lens 18-55mm", which is a good landscape lens in my eyes. The post processing of this image was made with Silver Efex 2.

The Appearance

A life sign. :-) I have to admit, that i did not spend a lot of time with photography in these days. A little break can be useful for making thoughts and really: I have several ideas for new and more serious shootings. But on the other hand: When i come back home after a long walk with my dog Moses, i have to admit, that i am mostly "a bit" tired... (Moses is not just a small dog, 40-45kg, so a walk with him is a kind of sport to me. I even lost weight on our walks ;-) - but i also loose a bit of my photographic energy.
I hope, that i can take Moses with me in the coming summer months, at least, when we go out in nature. We will see...

Pleased to meet U! :-)

My new friend and watchdog Moses completed my household since november - and as you can see here he shows a friendly and very "charming" character (with some mad undertones)... :-)
I have to admit, that it is not very easy to shoot serious landscapes with one arm, while big Moses is dragging at the leash - but on the other hand i am now much more frequently out in the meadows and woods of my hometown. In the meantime i can let him dig his holes without his leash and so i am hopeful, that i will be able to shoot some serious landscapes again. Though he is better in finding mouseholes than in finding good motives. Maybe i can trim him a bit in a photographic artistic direction, who knows?! ;-)

Bridge over Untroubled Water

Long Time Exposure with a strong Grayfilter is a good method to simplify photographs. Like other methods to simplify images (for instance by using open aperture or by using natural effects, like strong backlight, fog or motion blurness) have we a good contrast between the sharp und blur parts of the images. I especially like the quieteness and calmness of running water, it looks, as if it was frozen. The whole scenery looks bewitched and surreal - and this is the reason, why i like these kind of photography. It is a lot of fun, to find and photograph locations with moving objects, like wind mills, wind power wheels, all kinds of water etc.

Unsettled June

Well, it did not rain - but it threatened to rain, and as we know from chess: The threat is stronger than the execution! ;-)

Cloud of Life

There are definetely a lot of beautiful things to discover, even in the ugliest pure plantations of my hometown. Here i found (a few weeks ago) the first leaves of a beech - what a wonderful sight amongst all the monotone vertical lines of the pure plantation and all the bio-garbage on the ground. How much more sadly would the pure plantation look, if they also would cut these single beeches, that our ancestors once planted? I found a lot of little broadleaf trees, who were cut for no reasons, but being different to the wanted sort of trees.
I hope, that these wood owners wake up one day, that they are not only destroying the beautiness of their vegetation but also the ecological base of many animals - and to a certain degree also the health of their wood.

Fernscape

I was in the wood today and was crawling under the fern - so you see the result. :-)
The original colour image was set to mono and i also colourized and processed it a bit - it should be viewn in big and on a dark background (Simply click on "L" - and with another click on "all sizes" you should view it bigger.)

The Last Birches

When i started my serious digital photography in 2003, the whole place here was full with wild grown birches.
After 8 years, they all are cut except this small group. It is probable a matter of time, until they will vanish from the scenery too. So i thought, a blur and a bit grainy interpretation of this scenery, taken a few minutes after sunset, is the right presentation for this sujet. I also colorized this monochromatic photo, as you surely notice at first sight. The upper part looks, as if it is printed on wet paper, i recommend you to view this image in big, even with the usual loss in the image processing of blogger.com.

Jack Simon published his first book: "UNTITLED"

My dear friend and admired streetphotographer Jack Simon published his first book, which can be ordered HERE.
As reader of this blog you will surely know, that Jack is a great and sensitive streetphotographer.
If you not yet know his amazing shots, you can view Jack's Flickr-portfolio f.i. at his Flickr-Account.

Jack's book is printed by blurb and was chosen in a blurb contest to be exhibited at the Format Festival in England next month. Jack also has a small series being shown at the festival. This tells a lot about the quality of Jack's first book - he has obviously impressed the blurb people very much and i have no doubt, that his amazing photos will impress his readers as well.

Wood Curtain

It is not so easy to photograph the pure plantation of the so called "woods" in Lower Saxony, where i come from. Simply because everything looks equal - everywhere you look, you see vertical lines, and a lot of disturbing "garbage" (dead branches etc.) on the ground. But sometimes the right light helps, to illuminate an area in a special way. You see here such an interesting light and interesting vertical lines (the image has rhythm), nevertheless the first post processing was not 100 percent successful: My processing for Art Limited caused a few artefacts, and so i put this image on my "to do" list. Yesterday was a good day, to make a new, corrected try and i hope, i was successful. The feedback at Flickr was good for this version, and i hope, that the reader of this blog also like this "new" and corrected version.
Have a good Christmas-time!

In the Fog

I like - as most photographers - fog. Fog is simplifying the composition, it creates a dreamy and artistic atmosphere. Sometimes even spooky or dark - and sometimes, when sun is banashing out the morning fog with sun rays, fog photos can look very spectacular. So i recommend every landscape photographer, to go out and shoot, when you next time have fog, as i did it 2 weeks ago. As usual the crop of good shots was a few times as big, as on ordinary walks. And i have to confess, that i especially like this image here more and more.
It was "love at second sight" so to speak, because at first i did not think, that it was the best shot of my "foggy walk". But in the meantime i like this abstract composition better than the other images - maybe because of the contrast between the (almost) dead tree and the living tree? I don't know, maybe it is just because of my personal taste.
Some other shots of this walk you can see HERE in my Flickr-workaccount (comment function disabled, because i want to concentrate my discussions on my main account.).

Embrace me

Maybe a bit belated for Halloween, but nevertheless weird and almost a self portrait (at least created with self timer), or what would you say? ;-)