Great portraits Great portraits don’t need a complex studio setup or a lot of high-tech equipment. A few months ago, I learned an amazing technique from Roberto Valenzuela’s book Picture Perfect Practice: A Self-Training Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Taking World-Class Photographs (I wrote a short review in a prior blog post). It is a… Read More
Best Photography Books Summer time, vacation time. One of the things that I enjoy most is that you have more time to pursue photography. Evenings are long and you it’s easy to try different things rather than worrying about freezing. But summer is also a great time to pick up a few books and develop… Read More
The Fish-Eye A few months ago, I reviewed the Walimex/ Samyang fish-eye lens. It’s a great tool and it provides amazing value. The other day, I had some time to really put this lens to use. Below are some of the results. I am still in awe about how well this thing performs on my… Read More
Distracting background Selecting a good background is extremely important in photography. Nothing is worse than a great subject (let’s say your partner or kids) in front of a really busy scene. It’s like trying to listen to a beautiful song when there is a ton of annoying background noise (cars, jackhammers, sirens). Luckily, as photographers,… Read More
Walimex Fisheye Fisheyes are a lot of fun but they belong to the category of lenses that you won’t take out of your camera bag on a daily basis. If overused, the distinct look of the fisheye can easily get on your nerves. It was that paradox that created a bit of an investment problem… Read More
500px 500px is amongst my favorite photography websites. The collection of available photos and the sharing capabilities make it an extremely inspiring and useful tool. It’ fun and educational to review the portfolios of different photographers around the world. The overall quality seems a lot higher than what you find on Flickr. And that’s the… Read More
Flash Today was an ideal day to take out the flash. Fog combined with freezing temperatures had turned the area around Munich into an amazing winter wonderland. Trees were covered in a white layer of thick frost. Once the sun had set, I picked up my equipment and headed to a spot I had scouted… Read More
Posterbook On Thursday afternoon I received exciting news: my new Dubai posterbook was published on Amazon.de. It features thirteen of my favorite photographs from Dubai and the United Arab Emirates. You might be scratching your head – a book with just thirteen photos. Well, this is a so-called posterbook from the German publishing house Calvendo…. Read More
Photography is all about light. As a matter of fact, some people say that photography is like painting with light. I was reminded of that the other day when I was out and about in Dubai photographing the city. Around 4:30pm I arrived at the scene and took the following photo: Most photographers that had… Read More
D800 battery life A few months ago, I wrote about my disappointment with the D800 battery life. I was only able to get around 500 photos out of each charge. It was disappointing and also extremely annoying. However, Nikon had a recall on a certain battery batch. There was supposedly a risk of the battery… Read More
Let me be clear: I love the Nikon D800. But there is something that really bugs me. And that is the battery life. I took my camera on a business trip this week. The battery ran out after 250 photos. Granted a lot of them were long exposure (5-15 seconds), but this is almost ridiculous…. Read More
Nikon D800 HDR The other day I wrote about the Nikon D800 file size. I do have to say that I am pleasantly surprised about who well the huge RAW files handle on my MacAir and the MacMini. Tonight, I decided to do another test: HDR processing on my MacAir. For that purpose, I took… Read More
Nikon D800 impressions. The Nikon D800 is an awesome camera. I am super happy with it so far. It is a major step up from my prior Nikon D300s. Picture quality is unbelievable. Here are some additional impressions after photo number 1500: Photo quality is amazing. Colors look beautiful. When you pull up the photos… Read More
Exciting news. Professional photographer Ming Thein reviewed one of my photos on his blog the other day. It got a very decent review. Check it out! Also, make sure to bookmark or subscribe to Ming’s blog. It is EXCELLENT! Highly recommend it.
Nikon D800 Detail This is really tough. I have had the D800 for almost a full week but have not yet had time to take it out for a full spin. Hopefully tonight. But I have had time to take a few snapshots here and there. The image quality from the Nikon D800 is unbelievable…. Read More
D800 File Size There is a big discussion going on about the D800 file size. A 36MP camera does produce HUGE files. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to shoot a few photos and upload them to my two Macs: a 13inch 2011 MacAir (i5, 4GB RAM) and a 2011 iMac (i5, 8GB RAM). I… Read More