Link to a small video/slideshow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELRZf_Mmoyw&feature=g-upl&context=G230fee5AUAAAAAAAAAA

The 911 operator:-)

Making something out of a long night shift:-)

During a nightshift in the local "911 central" I wanted to make an image that gives the feeling of a control room. The central is a  technological place with lots of computer screens and telephone devices.
I chose a blue whitebalance setting to create the technological cool mood.
A problem when you use this whitebalance setting is that the operators face turns blue.
That makes the operator look like a corpse:-)
I  wanted to mix blue with a complementary color. I positioned a SB800 flash in front of the operator and gelled the flash orange. (you can see the flash unfortunately:-) The flash was in manual mode and I took some test shots to get the light I wanted. Then I tried to compose the image with the screens as a leading line.
I wanted the operators eyes to be the ending point. I cropped the image slightly in post production to get the framing exactly how I wanted.
Then I waited (not very long:-) for an emergency call before I took the shoot. That makes it a bit more real I think.....
Image number one is the result.
Image number two is with exif data, and some thoughts about composition.

Finally Fog:-)

Fog is my favorite weather  phenomena
Finally I got what I wanted. And I even had the day off..........


Here is some of the photographs:

Exercise: shutter speeds

Place: Light train (Metro) in Bergen

Equipment: Nikon D300 with 17-55mm f/2,8

Camera on tripod

To change the shutter speed I adjusted the aperture for each frame. I used the camera in Aperture mode.

That means I set the aperture, and the camera adjust the shutter speed needed to get a correct exposure.

I started with f/2,8. That gave a shutter speed of 1/125 sec. My ISO setting where set to 640

The light train is pretty sharply frozen at this shutter speed.

Shutter speeds in between the fastest and slowest frames where not very pleasing to look at.

The slowest shutter speed I used was 1.3 sec. That gave the train horizontal lines due to the lights and he colorful design. I personal like images with a lot of movement. I could have used an even slower shutter speed, but the train would become a bit too transparent, I think

Some of the images from the exercise: (I did not pay very much attention to the composition)

 

  1/125 sec.

1/15 sec.

0,4 sec.

0,8 sec.

1,3 sec.

This is some earlier shot from the light train: shutter speeds vary from 2,1 to 8 seconds

Exercise: Focus with a set aperture

I started playing with dolls late in life.......at the age of 39!

I used a Nikon 35 mm lens with maximum aperture of f/2.
The lens aperture was set wide open. I then manually changed the focus between the dolls.
I seem to like the first frame the most. The nearest doll is in focus and the rest of the dolls are almost completely out of focus. My eyes wonders around a bit, before they settle on the nearest doll.
On the two other frames, my eyes seem to wonder more around before finding focus.



This exercise show that you can lead the viewers eyes to a certain point in the frame with creative use of focus. And you can use the aperture to decide how much of the elements the viewer can see clearly.

Getting to know your camera

Something about photography and exposure..

When I was young I borrowed my dads Pentax SuperA SLR camera from time to time. I was very enthusiastic. The excitement when I went to the photostore to collect the results was the same every time… and so was the disapointment when I saw the the pictures….

I didnt know how the camera worked. If I was lucky enough to get a decent exposure, I didnt know why…and of course the pentax got the blame for every bad exposureJ

Many years later, in the digital age, it is easier, and cheaper, to practise good exposures. I started to enjoy the art of photography six years ago. Especially the histogram helped me a lot in the start. I have used a Nikon D300 camera for the last four years. Around 50 000 exposures and absolutely no tecnical problems of any kind. It makes me happy to know that I have a camera that works in almost all cases. I also have bought an underwater housing in case I want to take a bathJ

Its easy to think that good photography comes with good equipement. I don't necessarily think thats true. First of all you have to be there and press the shutter release button to make it happen. Nothing is entering the camera sensor if you dont decide to. 

What I mean is, that good pictures doesn't fly into your expensive cameraJ 

You still have to be there, compose and expose the image fairly correct to succsess.
Focusing on that instead of camera type will help more!

To make a photograph, a light sensitive metariel has to be exposed to light over a certain time. The material can be either film or a digital sensor. The sensor/film is inside the camera. A shutter conected to the shutter release button is letting the light into the sensor/film. How much light that enters the camera is depending on how long period of time the shutter is open, and how much light the aperture will let through during that time. The aperture is in the lense. It is a diaphragm of blades that can adjust the opening in the lens. The most famous diaphragm is probably the one in the James Bond intro. When James turns and shoot you, he is standing in the diaphragm..... The wider the aperture, the more light is transported through the lens and to the sensor. Exposure is therefore dependent of these two settings: Shutterspeed and aperture. Aperture is set in f-stops.

This is the normal aperture settings : 

1.4    2.0    2.8    4    5.6    8    11    16    22

The smallest f-number is the widest aperture, and the  highest number the narrowest. If you change the 

f settings from  f/4 to f/5,6 you half the amount of light sent to the sensor/film.

The shutterspeed is also set in stops:

8 seconds    4 seconds    2 seconds    1 second    1/2 second    

1/4    1/8    1/15    1/30    1/60    1/125    1/250    1/500    1/1000
You can see that 8 seconds is twice as long as 4 seconds etc.

If not enough light enters the sensor, the picture will be dark or underexposed. Shadows turns complete black and the overall look is too dark.

Some examples:

This is an underexposed image, the histogram shows clipping in the shadow area (on the left side)

To much light results in an overexposed picture. The light tones in the picture turns completely white. 

The light areas will print white.

If you use the histogram it will show clipped  highlights. (on the right side)

The last image shows a correct exposure. There is no clipped information on neither side of the histogram.

It is also possible to do the sensor more sensitive to light by adjusting the ISO levels.

The same goes for ISO levels as with shutter and apertures, its adjusted in stops.

If you adjust the ISO from 200-400, you double the sensitivity of the  sensor.

The price you pay is more digital noise in the picture.

Modern expensive SLR cameras can use extreme ISO levels and still get away with it.

Most cameras will produce noise as you raise the levels

It is still better then a blurry picture witch often is the case with  too long shutter speeds

I hope this was of some use:-)

Back to school:-)

Finally I,m back to school:-)

I am going for a degree in photography. I am so exited, I can hear music........................:-)