Mid/end summer always brings out the full-grown crops. I have a weakness for many things in terms of photography subjects, and one of them is wheat. For many reasons.
One of those is that it’s perfect to play around with depth of field (DoF). Even though it’s probably one of the most cliché things ever to photograph, and there probably isn’t a single angle or point of view left that it hasn’t been photographed from, it just never fails to entertain me.
I guess I’m just happy with the small things Life has to offer

For all 4: D700, ISO200, Nikkor 70-200mm. 1) and 2) 1/6000 sec @ f/2.8 -- 3) 1/350 sec @ f/13 -- 4) 1/45 sec @ f/22

You’ve got something stuck….. (discretely pointing at teeth)

D700, ISO200, 1/2000 sec @ f/2, Nikkor 50mm, on-camera flash (fill)

Last Friday night there was a big Classic American car tour in Helsinki. Lots of nice cars: old ones, newer ones, new ones, small ones, bigger ones, huge ones… Great photo opp! Usually the drivers/owners of the cars also dress up to match the era of their car. Unfortunately this time I didn’t see much of that, and there were so many cars and so many people crowded together that it was next to impossible to get pictures of the whole car without getting the background or foreground completely cluttered. So I stuck to the beauty of the cars. Even the simplest car can turn into something artsy if you know where to look

D700, ISO200, 1/180 sec @ f/3.3, Nikkor 50mm

D700, ISO200, 1/180 sec @ f/3.3, Nikkor 50mm

D700, ISO200, 1/180 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 50mm

D700, ISO200, 1/250 sec @ f/8, Nikkor 50mm (and some serious cross-processing in Photoshop)

D700, ISO200, 1/180 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 50mm

D700, ISO200, 1/350 sec @ f/11, Nikkor 50mm

D700, ISO200, 1/180 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 50mm

DNA-results are printed straight from the laser printer within a couple of minutes

No, seriously…
Sometimes the boss has to go to work in the weekend, and since I have nothing better to do in the weekends I’m a good boy and drive her. As a reward I get to shoot some pictures.

D700, ISO200, 1/125 sec @ f/2.0, Nikkor 50mm

D700, ISO200, 1/10 sec @ f/8, Tamron 90mm macro

D700, ISO400, 1/125 sec @ f/4, Nikkor 50mm

After Midsummer Vappu (Labour Day, 1st of May, for ye who aren’t from around) is probably the most looked-forward to national holiday in Finland. The night before the actual Labour Day is the night to party (although it starts already well before the “night”).

Last year I mentioned already that people consummate a vast amount of alcoholic beverages, but aside that every year it’s one big dress-up party and a lot of “standard procedures”.

D700, ISO800, 1/320 sec @ f/11, Nikkor 50mm, on-camera flash (fill)

God-lovers and anarchists demonstrate side-by-side like they would be the best of friends…

D700, ISO800, 1/250 sec @ f/11, Nikkor 50mm

But the trademark Finnish Vappu is best know for is the graduates, from all ages, coming downtown with their funny white hats.

D700, ISO800, 1/250 sec @ f/11, Nikkor 50mm

And lots of these (in many different sizes, colors, shapes and with ridiculous price tags)

D700, ISO800, 1/320 sec @ f/4.8, Nikkor 50mm, on-camera flash

Did I ever mention how much I love my 50 mm f/1.4? I didn’t? I must’ve! Well, if I didn’t…: I love my 50 mm f/1.4. And why, would you wonder…? Because the right subjects shot with an aperture larger than f/2 give you this magnificent depth of field, this sweet bokeh which is such a feast to look at…

D700, ISO400, 1/125 sec @ f/1.7, Nikkor 50mm 1.4

D700, ISO400, 1/125 sec @ f/1.7, Nikkor 50mm 1.4

Usually I know it instantly.
I see things in black and white when they “need” to be in black and white. Or at least when I think they “need” to be, since that’s a personal taste matter.
But this particular image was one of those ones of which I wasn’t quite sure. And I do think it works very well in both color and black and white…

D700, ISO200, 1/250 sec @ f/11, Sigma 10-20mm

Same camera settings, converted to black and white in Photoshop with some dodging and burning in the sky

La Palma

Before we continue to La Palma, I thought I’d let you have a good laugh at me. You know you like it, I know you like it
Here’s a screenshot of my labour in Lightroom (only, so excluding the Photoshop work…). That’s what I’ve been doing for the past weeks.

Lightroom screenshot with all the evidence of cloning out the crap from the sensor (probably need to click for enlargement).

Anyway…
See how I managed to make uninteresting Tenerife seem interesting? Took me only nine posts
But now on to La Palma.
We took the boat from Tenerife to La Palma. Funny side note is that the best café con leche I’ve had in the whole Canary Islands was a cheap 1€ cup in the terminal of the harbor in Tenerife.
The boat was late, and we left late. All because of the weather. Apparently there was quite some rough weather out there. The main part of the trip we didn’t really notice much, but when we got close to the harbor in Santa Cruz de La Palma we started to notice. Not personally, but from all the people running with their hands in front of their mouths back and forth to the toilet.
Oh, and of course, when we looked out of the window.
“Hey, there’s La Palma… Huh? I swear I just saw land, seriously! Huh? The moon? Hmm, wait… No, see? There it is, La Palma! Huh? The moon?”
When we disembarked we had to step on this hydraulic gangway which was forcefully moving back and forth and up and down. And just after we stepped off, it snapped loose from the boat.

Yeah, it was quite a storm… But it was fun At least we thought it was.

Still the next day, when the storm was pretty much gone already, the sea was very rough with high waves.

D200, ISO100, 1/180 sec @ f/11, Tamron 28-75mm

D200, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/11, Tamron 28-75mm, Photoshop

Museums are often in very old or very modern/abstract buildings. They provide great opportunities to make some great pictures.

The other day we were in the Zoological museum in Helsinki.
The outside of the building isn’t particularly beautiful (at least I don’t think so), but the inside is absolutely great! The stair cases there (among others) have some great curves that come out beautifully in black and white.

D200, ISO100, 1/4 sec @ f/11, Tamron 28-75mm

In a previous post I wrote that Winter was on its way out.

Well… Apparently Mother Nature has changed her mind. It’s been gorgeous weather the past couple of days, but now the temperature has dropped again and there’s going to be some more slush/snow.
I love winter and snow and what it does to the landscapes, but when it gets this crappy dirty winter-aftermath I’m pretty fast fed up with it.

Let’s see how long this will last…

D200, ISO100, three exposures of 1/45 sec, 1/20 sec, and 1/10 sec @ f/11, Tamron 28-75mm, circular polarizer, HDR post-processing

D200, ISO100, 1/6 sec @ f/11, Tamron 28-75mm, circular polarizer

D200, ISO100, 1/3 sec @ f/11, Tamron 28-75mm, circular polarizer

D200, ISO100, 1/3 sec @ f/11, Tamron 28-75mm, circular polarizer

D200, ISO100, 1/30 sec @ f/11, Tamron 28-75mm