Getting better

Well it's been a tad over 4 years since I got my first DSLR and what a journey it has been. First shooting only in "green" mode, jpg, not processing at all and now aperture priority or manual, often manually focusing. Knowing what shutterspeed does to the photo, or dept of field. Using filters, thinking about composition and the "rules" and when to break them :-) Also learning more about post-processing like +Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and plug-ins like +Nik Collection by Google or Photomatix.
Going from showing my fiancee my pic's and she says ahhh great pic, to selling prints on regular basis.

I've literally eaten everything I got my hands on, books, online courses, exhibitions, etc. This has gotten me from the first pic to the second one. I think I'm getting better for every shot I take, always learning. One of the things I truly love about photography is that you never get to the place where you feel like I'm now fully learned.

The latest project is entering +The Arcanum with +Glenn Guy as my mentor hoping to take me to new heights.

Where have your journey taken you?

This is one of my first sunset pic's.

And this is my latest pic of the sunset.

Goals

As I’ve said before I attend the Arcanum a master/cohort type of learning. This is a great learning experience with the master +Glenn Guy  and my fellow apprentices. I’m getting critique and tips on what to do to make it better, then I head out in the field trying the new ideas. Well this can get somewhat overwhelming, much to take in. 

The other day I saw a short film by +Peter Giordano  about some of the new feathers in the Arcanum and one in particular that caught my interest, about setting goals. You can tell your fellow apprentices your goal with a particular photo, like “my goal with this photo is for the viewer to feel a certain feeling” and so on. Or you can make bigger goals, like I want to improve my street photography.

I think it is essential to set goals in what ever you do, that you want to improve. So what do I want to improve? Everything? Yes maybe but that wouldn’t be productive it’s like not seeing the forest because of all the three type of thing. I might want to narrow it down a bit. 

Ok, I would like to be able to take killer black and white shots. Still quite a wide goal, black and white shots of what? People? Architectural? Cityscape? Macro? 

I would like to be able to take killer black and white landscape shots. Ok we’re getting there, but still to big I think. Vistas? Macro? Seascape? Mountain?

I would like to be able to take killer black and white landscape shots with the emphases on “less is more” where the composition is crucial. 

Aaaah nearly there, but if you set a goal how to know when you achieve it? You need to be able to measure it. And how to measure this goal? That depends on your self. I’m going to state the measure “sold at least 5 different fine-art prints”

There you go, my goal for the time being. Of course I keep on shooting HDR, color landscape, macro and so forth, but in the back of my head I have my goal and thinking about it when I’m location scouting.

You all have a great weekend

And lastly I know this isn't a black and white pic, but I like the road going up to "nothingness" with a lot of empty space.

The Arcanum

I've been in to The Arcanum for about 2 weeks and I got to say I love the experience. The whole idea is to use the old master - apprentice deal, and this works really good now that the world has become so small via social media. There are one master with 20 apprentice communicating though Google plus witch works pretty good, some minor hick-ups but you have to know that the project hasn't been out of beta state for more then about 3 - 4 weeks.
The key is to interact with the cohort, the more you put in the more you get in return. Not only with the master, but also with your fellow apprentices. I'm sure looking forward towards getting to know all people in the cohort via posts and hangouts etc.

I wish you all a great week.

This photo is one from my level 3 challenge.

Travel photography

Why not? Many photographers dream of this. To travel the world taking pictures for different magazines or travel agents. Who wouldn't want to go to the Bahamas taking photographs of the beautiful beaches?

But, then it wouldn't be a vacation. It would be your job with all that comes with it like deadlines, pictures of things/places that must be taken, weather conditions and so on. 

Now I go on vacation with my fiancee, who's not into photographing, and we have a deal. I can spend early mornings and one whole day taking photos. And I'm happy with this, I usualy come home with lots of pictures to process.

I'm doing this blog post from a bar i the town of Rhodos, Greece (it's my photo day of the vacation 😀) having a beer, you know from my google plus flow that I like beer. Could I've been here on work? Yes of course. But would I've been this relaxed? Well I don't know and I'm leaning against no.

I leave you with this pic taken on the beach of Rhodes and wish you all a relaxing weekend

First exhibition

My first exhibition ever is about a month away and I'm out chasing my last pic's for the show. I know what I'm aiming for. Having two floors the first is my passion, landscape concentrating on sunrises and sunsets. Second floor will be pic's from my hometown. Live in a town that is over 600 years old with the city center very well preserved, so photo ops is no problem :-)

I am super excited, my only concern is that I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my pic's. There is a list :-) that I work from.

1. NO errors, like dust spots, halos etc 

2. Would I put this on my wall?

3. How would I feel about having this on my wall for, say 3 years?

4. What do my fiancee think?

As you probably figured out, number four is quite important :-) The one beneath is in :-) 

Wish you all a great weekend

 

Viveza - The forgotten one?

I love testing software to take my photos to a higher level. When it comes to my HDR photography I started with Nik's HDR Efex Pro. I was quite happy with it until I tried Photomatix Pro witch I simply love, it fits my needs perfectly.

But in the Nik Collection there are some pretty cool programs. I as I guess most of those who have tested the Collection started out with Silver Efex Pro who is an outstanding program for doing B/W photos. Also there is Color Efex Pro witch contains a lot of filter presets that you can change after own liking, a very powerful program.

Lately I've started using Viveza 2, not for finishing touches but for ideas where to take a certain photo. There are not that many controls, only four sliders, brightness, contrast, saturation and structure. This makes it perfect for me to get a feel for my photo and in what direction I want to take it. Beneath there are an example.

This is a photo I shoot an early morning April, the sun hadn't risen quite yet. I simply love the colors and the non existing horizon.

So for this first example I pulled quite much an the sliders to create a dramatic picture.

Second I made a soft, dreamy version

Last I went with something in between

All this was made in a couple of minuts.
Beneath is the final image, for full resolution klick.

I have payed full prize for both the Nik Collection and Photomatix Pro. I don't get any deals for this post.

Safari preparations

I have plans on going on a safari in Africa this autumn or spring. Reading everything I can get my hands on like best period, weather, klimate, gear etc. There are plenty of companys to choose from and I haven't decided yet. If you have any suggestions please tell me in the comments below.

I know that practise makes perfect so I've started to try and catch some Swedish animals with my camera, earlier I almost only shot landscape. The advantage with this is that I've been out much and knows the nature around where I live. Starting last Friday I now bring my 70-200 mm f 2,8 and my 28-300 mm lens with my while I'm out scouting for nice landscape. 

The pic below is my first wildlife pic ever. It was taken last Friday, I had sent out invitations to mr Moose and mrs Venison, hoping they weren't busy. But it was a no show, only this little fellow showed up. Now don't get me wrong we had a great time the two of us :-). The pic is heavely cropped sense my Buddy was a bit shy. This is why I on Saturday bought the Nikon teleconverter TC-20E III AF-S cranking up my 70-200 to 140-400 mm hoping this will cure some of the shyness my friends have.