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Another weekend in the country…

Posted by Arno on July 23, 2012
Posted in: color, flower, insect, macro, nature, photography, Photoshop, stock. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

I love it. Just to go out there, be surrounded by wildlife (read: mosquitoes, and occasionally the persistent horse- or moosefly), take pictures without being disturbed (except by mosquitoes, and occasionally the persistent horse- or moosefly)… 😀
But I’m persistent, too. And that leads to some interesting pictures every now and again. This’ll go into a few posts, since I can’t really stuff all those images into one post.

So here goes. It all started after a good rain shower…

Drops on the leaves of a plant

D800, ISO100, 1/500 sec @ f/3.8, Tamron 90mm

Of course us human beings (with cameras) are the only ones nagging about a bit of water (while it’s coming down, it’s all fine and dandy when it’s done and dry outside… 😉 ). These critters don’t really give a toss.

Bumblebee

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/3.8, Tamron 90mm

Bumblebee collecting honey from the flower of a yellow aster

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/3.8, Tamron 90mm

Bumbebee sitting on a water hemlock collecting honey

D800, ISO100, 1/320 sec @ f/8, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

Bumblebee flying to a fireweed collecting honey

D800, ISO1600, 1/4000 sec @ f/4, Tamron 90mm

 

It’s been busy!

Posted by Arno on July 20, 2012
Posted in: black and white, color, industry, lightroom, macro, nature, object, photography, Photoshop, shapes, stock. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

I got a lot of stuff done in the past week.

A year and a half or so ago I wrote about Photoshelter vs PhotoDeck. I quit Photoshelter in favor of PhotoDeck for the simple reason that PhotoDeck had better and more simple features and it was cheaper. Not too long ago I got a mail from Photoshelter inviting me to reacquaint myself with them for 30 days for free. I did. And I swung right back to Photoshelter. Their features have become so much better compared to what it was, and their prices so much more attractive than they were before that I just couldn’t let it go.
I’m still with PhotoDeck, but my subscription is ending in a few months. I haven’t decided yet if I will keep it up. Compared to Photoshelter they all of a sudden have become a lot more expensive, actually, for the storage space I get with Photoshelter now I would pay double the price with PhotoDeck. That’s too bad, because I really like them. But it’s business. And if I have to pay twice as much for a similar service, it simply is a no-go; that’s too big a difference.
So I’ve been editing and uploading and tweaking my new website with commercial back-end. You can find it at www.stockphotography.nu and it looks like this:

www.stockphotography.nu store-front

www.stockphotography.nu store-front

You can order prints, canvases, mugs, mouse pads or just the plain digital file. The whole nine yards. You can contact me for special prices if you find something you would like. You can do a search for pictures with the search box at the top right of the blog.

The other thing I’ve been collecting stuff for is the One Life photo competition from PDN. If my pictures are deemed good enough, I could win a nice prize. My page there looks like this:

Arno Enzerink portfolio for the One Life competition

Portfolio for the One Life competition

You are free to “Collect Me“, if you have the time and think the images are worth it. The images you see are crops, they are all links to the full size pictures. If you click the link Collect Me you are requested to either sign up or sign in with your Facebook or Twitter username. Do that, then click the image and in the window that opens then at the top right “Collect Me”. Or just leave a comment with the pictures and tell me what you think, that’s fine for me too 🙂
Thanks in any case!

Out of the blue…

Posted by Arno on July 15, 2012
Posted in: black and white, color, object, photography, Photoshop, shapes, stock. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Yeah, pun intended…
Sometimes it happens that you’re driving around somewhere and all of a sudden your eye sees something (that isn’t there), and you need to stop. You need to stop and get out (if you happen -for a change- to have your camera with you) to take a picture of that something that isn’t there.
My mind’s eye is ruthless like that. To me it’s a blessed curse, I say. I haven’t had a problem with it, but I’ve had people in the past whom I knew to roll their eyes if I would pull over again and drag the camera out to take pictures of something that just isn’t visible to their eyes.
Usually people get it when they see someone take pictures of a beautiful landscape, but when they see someone sitting on their knees in the knee-high grass taking (close-up) pictures of an old weathered hinge of a gate… That may not receive such understanding.
But of course they haven’t seen what I do with it.
My cross-processing baby, my little bastard child, misunderstood, misnamed, confused with much less artistic things… *grins*

Anyway… Here’s another one. If you’re new here, type it in the search box to find more of them 🙂
I find this one actually quite appealing. It’s not as colorful as the rest, but there’s something funky with it 🙂

Hinge of an old weathered gate

D800, ISO400, 1/125 sec @ f/4.8, Nikkor 50mm

The layer palette from Photoshop showing the steps in the process to the end result

The layer palette from Photoshop showing the steps in the process to the end result

Old weathered hinge of a gate

The end result after all the work is done

In and around the bush-bush

Posted by Arno on July 5, 2012
Posted in: color, flower, insect, lightroom, macro, nature, object, photography, Photoshop, seasons, shapes, stock, wildlife. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 comment

You don’t find rainbows on and under the leaves. Other colorful and not so colorful stuff you do.
This little bug(ger) was very patient and let me do my thing for about 10 minutes, before taking of. I guess it thought that after turning left, right and face front I must’ve got all there was to shoot of it. And I did.

Fly sitting on a leaf

D800, ISO1600, 1/350 sec @ f/4, Nikkor 105mm

Fly sitting on a leaf

D800, ISO400, 1/180 sec @ f/4, Nikkor 105mm

And then this weird thing… We were heading out of the woods and I happened to spot it crawling around on a leaf. Funky stuff going on in those tentacles/antennas (whatever you call them). I thought it was some sort of thing to lure or keep away other animals. It really looked like there was a maggot inside of them moving up and down. When I was keywording for stock and searched for the snail with maggot like antennas I came across the Wikipedia page where it was explained that this snail was infected with a parasite. It’s originally in bird poop, where the snail eats from and ingests the parasite. The parasite then starts to consume the snail slowly and it nestles in the tentacles, basically switching off the snails ability to determine whether it’s light or dark, so it doesn’t know whether to hide or not, thus being a nice little prey for birds, who then consume the snail including parasite, which returns to the digestive system of the bird and ends up in the bird poop, where another snail east from and ingests the parasite. Etc. etc. etc. Amazing how nature does its thing, isn’t it?

Snail infected with a parasite in its tentacles

D800, ISO400, 1/350 sec @ f/4.8, Nikkor 105mm

Another parasite, or pest, plague, if you like, is this one.

Sack of the tent caterpillar hanging under a tree trunk

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

The caterpillar makes some sort of web around the entire tree and eats it completely empty. The web is funny stuff. It feels like plastic, the kind of plastic they vacuum-wrap food and other products in, and it’s super strong. It doesn’t feel at all sticky like a spider’s web. This image doesn’t really do it justice, but the light was beautiful, especially reflecting off of the webs. Destructive as it is, it does look really pretty.

Webs of the tent caterpillar in the branches of a tree

D800, ISO200, 1/750 sec @ f/4, Nikkor 70-200mm

And then there was still this little fellow, who at first I thought was dead, but then regained consciousness and took off. I did get my pictures, though 🙂

Bumble bee on a thistle

D800, ISO800, 1/350 sec @ f/4, Tamron 90mm

The bee photo is a focus stack of 10 images. I wanted the whole flower and the bee in focus and since the little guy played dead for awhile, it gave me all the time to get enough images to do the focus stacking.

My friend was kind enough to lend me his new Nikkor 105mm macro with VR. I have a Tamron 90mm (it’s about 8 years old, I think, and my only non-Nikkor lens) and I’ve been considering for awhile already to switch. I never got to try it out, though, even if a couple of my photographer-buddies have offered to lend it to me. This day I did give it a go, and I must honestly admit that, with the images that I shot, there’s not much difference in quality and sharpness. One clear difference is that the Nikkor focuses at least twice as fast. The Tamron really needs a clear contrast in the image for the autofocus to properly lock on. If there isn’t enough contrast, the lens keeps on searching and you get the annoying buzz of the lens zooming in and out to try to find something to focus on (and your object/subject/target will probably have left by the time you decide to switch to manual). So in terms of quality I would stick with my Tamron. The massive price of the Nikkor doesn’t justify the switch for me. I know when to autofocus and when to manually focus, so that’s no issue for me. However… If someone would have a (good as new) Nikkor for a good price up for sale, I would probably still get rid of the Tamron and buy the Nikkor.

National Geographic’s dodgy Terms and Conditions

Posted by Arno on June 20, 2012
Posted in: copyright infringement, industry, photography, stock, travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 3 comments

I subscribed to the magazine in the past, and since a year or so I’ve been subscribing again. I really like the magazine, it’s got great articles and it’s got magnificent images. And they even allow you to submit your images for possible inclusion in the magazine. They have this “Picture of the Month” going on every month and if you get to be it (or your image, that is), you can win amazing prizes and you get to be published in the magazine. It would be a great thing for your portfolio to be featured in the magazine. I would like to, in any case.

So off I went, to the website of National Geographic, where I’m instantly prompted to subscribe. That is, sign up, give all my information (which, if you read the terms and conditions, you swear to be up to date and correct). And, paranoid as I am (and I’m probably one of the very few who actually reads these terms and conditions), I quickly scroll through the text and come to a full stop at point five. I blink. It must be lack of sleep. I blink again. The text is still there.
Actually, to be honest, this happened already quite awhile ago, and I’m not quite sure why I write about this only now, but anyway… I wrote them a mail several times in which I ask to clarify the terms set out on their website, but I didn’t get any reply. Any sign of life. Not even an automated response with “thanks for your mail, we will ignore you like the plague”.

I re-read the text, just to make sure I read what I read. I quote point five to you below (courtesy of the Terms and Conditions on http://www.nationalgeographic.com/community/terms/

For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in material you upload, comments you post, or other content you provide to the Site (“User Content”). By uploading User Content, you grant National Geographic (which includes its subsidiaries, affiliates, joint venturers, and licensees) the following rights: a royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual license to display, distribute, reproduce, and create derivatives of the User Content, in whole or in part, without further review or participation from you, in any medium now existing or subsequently developed, in editorial, commercial, promotional, and trade uses in connection with NG Products. National Geographic may license or sublicense, in whole or in part, to third parties rights in User Content as appropriate to distribute, market, or promote such NG Products. An NG Product is defined as “a product of National Geographic, a subsidiary, affiliate, joint venturer, or licensee of National Geographic, in any language, over which National Geographic has “Editorial Control.” For the purposes of this Agreement, “Editorial Control” means the right to review, consult regarding, formulate standards for, or to exercise a veto over the appearance, text, use, or promotion of the NG Product. You also agree that National Geographic may make User Content available to users of the Site who may display and redistribute it in the same way that National Geographic makes all other Content available.

So… In any case I retain all of my ownership rights in material that I upload. But…
And it’s a big But (big bones, can’t help it!):
Upon accepting the Terms and Conditions I grant National Geographic (which includes its subsidiaries, affiliates, joint venturers, and licensees) the following rights: a royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual license to display, distribute, reproduce, and create derivatives of the User Content, in whole or in part, without further review or participation from you, in any medium now existing or subsequently developed, in editorial, commercial, promotional, and trade uses in connection with NG Products.

And the following sentence, equally disturbing:
Upon accepting the Terms and Conditions I allow National Geographic to license or sublicense, in whole or in part, to third parties rights in User Content as appropriate to distribute, market, or promote such NG Products.

And the one that’s screaming injustice in my face:
Upon accepting the Terms and Conditions I also agree that National Geographic may make User Content available to users of the Site who may display and redistribute it in the same way that National Geographic makes all other Content available.

So summarized: I’m fucked if I agree to the Terms and Conditions, because regardless of the fact that they let me retain all my ownership to what I upload, National Geographic can do whatever the hell they please with my stuff, but National Geographic makes me agree that they allow Users of the Site to do whatever the hell they please with my stuff. That’s in any case how I read the “may make User Content available to users of the site who may display and redistribute it in the same way that National Geographic makes all other Content available”.
So National Geographic may sell User Content as prints or stock (of which profits the User in question doesn’t see a penny of commission), but since National Geographic makes Content available in this way users of the Site may also sell that same Content according to the rules stated by National Geographic.

So how does that sound fair to you? It kinda means that I now co-own my images with National Geographic and every other user of the National Geographic website.
I invite everyone, National Geographic employees included, to explain to me how and where -if I am- I am misunderstanding these rules.

Back to ground level…

Posted by Arno on June 14, 2012
Posted in: color, flower, macro, nature, photography, stock. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Well… what can I say… Some things simply look better from up close…

Tulip

D800, ISO100, 1/750 sec @ f/5.6, Tamron 90 mm macro

Tulip

D800, ISO100, 1/750 sec @ f/5.6, Tamron 90mm macro

Tulip

D800, ISO100, 1/750 sec @ f/5.6, Tamron 90mm macro

Things I’ve always wanted to do, but never had the opportunity to…

Posted by Arno on May 30, 2012
Posted in: color, object, photography, shapes, stock, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

We were out on Suomenlinna last weekend with friends. Just for touristing, they were over from Holland, and hadn’t been there before.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we spent a good amount of time sitting on a terrace, on the rocks near the sea and roaming the island.
Not far from where we sat on the rocks, just over on the other side of the hill we happened to see a kite appear every now and again. When we were done with our picnic we went for the round around the island and moved toward the kite.
I’ve done some stuff in my time, but this has been on my list of wanting-to-do for a long time. Not sure how difficult it is, or if you can even do it “just like that”, but well… One should never stop dreaming, right?
Kudos to this guy. The wind was very strong and he made it look so easy.

Kite jumping

D800, ISO100, 1/350 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 50mm (and quite some PS-ing, the sun was great, but the light for photography terrible)

X-day photochallenge: Water

Posted by Arno on May 28, 2012
Posted in: color, object, photography, shapes, stock, studio, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

There are so many ways you can photograph water. But I must admit I was slightly lazy and unmotivated (could be because it actually had been raining for 3 days straight, how’s that for water? 😉 ). However, even laziness and lack of motivation can spark some creativity. I set up the flashes next to the tap and let it drip slowly. A little twist on the drop in the water pictures you see come by every now and again.

Focusing is a pain in the ass, and you have to be surprisingly fast with pressing the (remote) shutter. I missed a good few. But I also got a good few nice ones 🙂

Tap with waterdrop

D800, ISO1600, 1/8000 sec @ f/3.8, 2x off-camera SB-800

Tap with waterdrop

D800, ISO1600, 1/8000 sec @ f/3.8, 2x off-camera SB-800

X-day photochallenge: Portrait of a perfect stranger

Posted by Arno on May 24, 2012
Posted in: color, industry, object, photography, portrait, stock. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 comment

Right… Speaking of “out of your comfort zone”. This would be a gross understatement in my case. Strangely, I’m not people-shy. Shy, yes, but not introverted or anything (at least not so much 😉 ). But when it comes to walking up to a perfect stranger and asking if I can take his or her portrait… Don’t think so. Chicken right here, if ever there was one! I know I make a cracking portrait if I have to (want to), you can check my portfolio on it. But I need to at least be somehow acquainted to that person or they have to come to me.
“Right,” you say, “go up to a person, make your acquaintance and shoot the damn portrait!”
If only things were that simple… I know, they are, but no, they aren’t. Really…

Anyway… I chickened out on this one, but I got a nice picture for which I wrote the accompanying text as follows:

I had gone to see Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp, and I ran into her on Mannerheimintie just outside Lasipalatsi. She was the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. Jet-black hair, fair, but rather pale skin and the most vivid, stale, green eyes. Not quite as green as her shoes, but very green, nonetheless… There was something in her eyes that beckoned me, pulled me out of the cage of shyness which always prevents me from walking up to a perfect stranger to ask if I can take a picture. She was a natural. And her eyes… My god… I asked her, and she let me. She never took her eyes of me, and I had a hard time taking mine off of her… When I had taken the picture she moved towards me, almost as if she was floating. Then she whispered something in my ear. There was the slightest breath in my neck.
After that I don’t remember much anymore…

Green shoes

D800, ISO6400, 1/125 sec @ f/2.8, Nikkor 50mm

A man can dream, right? 😉

Pictures in the news

Posted by Arno on July 1, 2011
Posted in: color, nature, pets, photography, stock, travel, wildlife. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 3 comments

A week and a half or so ago I was contacted by UK new agency Caters News with the request to give them some background information on one of my images, because they wanted to do a story on it. If you’ve been reading this blog, you may recognize the picture:

Siberian tiger leaping out of the water of a shallow pond

D200, ISO100, 1/1000 sec @ f/2.8, Nikkor 70-200mm

I of course happily obliged and I got to read the copy and with some changes (I did really tell them that tigers love water, but they haven’t changed the header of the article) I okay-ed it. A day or so later I got a mail from the contact person saying that probably it would take a week or maybe still a few before it was published on their website, because there was still another article running involving tiger(s). No problem for me.
It was a nice surprise to find a Google alert on my name (yeah, I have those) in the Daily Mail. It appeared that the agency had offered the article to several news papers and the Daily Mail was the first one to take it on. You can read all about it here!

I’ve got some stuff published before, but never this prominent in such a big paper, so I was quite excited.
You can imagine my increase in excitement when, that same evening, I got a mail from the Times, that they were also interested in doing a piece with the picture.
And you can imagine my excitement went sky-high, when the next day I got a mail from the agency telling me that the images were also published in the printed editions of – next to the Times – the Telegraph, the Mirror, and the Record.

Good stuff going on!
So jumping on the band-wagon, you can now order your own canvas print for on your wall.
Check out www.arnoenzerink.com for details!