The HDR wizard of the north

Next in line of photographers is a bit of a wild card, it is +Jacob Surland a Danish photographer who not only is a great on HDR, he's also a fellow Arcanian at +The Arcanum he is in +Robin Griggs Wood cohort while I'm in +Glenn Guy cohort. He is one of the reasons that I got in a bit deaper with processing in HDR and he's just a great guy to talk to over at Google+. He runs a great blog with lot's of free tutorials at http://caughtinpixels.com/.

This is a part of +The Arcanum and my level 7 quest. Where I'm to pick 10 photos that have had a profound impact on me and my photography.

And we have now reached pick number 3

The Christmas Viking Ship by Jacob Surland'

Perfectly aligned with phi, leading lines. This nearly feels like 3-D. I'm not a big fan of selective colors but in this case I thing it works great.

A stranded ship with a big sky above get me thinking about the old Viking gods like Odin and Thor. Great work and it's a privilege to follow you and your work +Jacob Surland 

The grandmaster of Landscape photography

As a part of +The Arcanum, where +Glenn Guy is my master, we get different quests and completing them takes us to the next level. My current quest is to identify 10 photos that have had a profound impact on me and my photographing.

Pick number two:

Tetons and the Snake River by Ansel Adams 1942

As a landscape photographer I can't leave Ansel Adams outside this list. He was an American photographer best known for his iconic images of the American west.

This photo of the Tetons appeals to me for several reasons. One being that I've only been into photography for about 4 years when I bought my first DSLR, a Nikon D3000. Given that I've only lived in the digital darkroom and never worked with film. I think it is astonishing to be able to get this result on film. The details in the for and middle ground, perfectly balanced high-lights with the sunbeams and over all light. The shape of the mountains in the back has an interesting shape I think. Then you have the river that leads you into the picture. The composition is a home run with rule of phi (golden ratio), leading lines etc.

There you have it, pick number two out of ten. Tomorrow I pick a new photo. Click the follow button to be sure not to miss anything.

If you want to see some of my own photos be sure to jump over to:
www.larssonsphoto.com

Have a great day.

The Mona Lisa of photography

As a part of +The Arcanum we get different quests and completing them takes us to the next level. My current quest is to identify 10 photos that have had a profound impact on me and my photographing. In this post and the coming one's I will present my findings. Some of them is chosen because of the photographer and some because of the photograph.

The first one I have picked is:

Afghan Girl by Steve McCurry

I guess that this is one of the most famous portraits of all time. The Mona Lisa of photography. And if one where to compare them there are resembles between the two. The penetrating eyes, the mystic expression on the mouth.

Afghan girl is a very strong portrait, it really feels like her eyes penetrates you. Everything in the picture is enhancing those eyes. The simple background, the brown/red cloth, skin tone enhance the light green eyes.

You can't help thinking, who is she, what kind of life has she lived, what kind of life will she have, what are her thoughts, etc.

Well there you have it, my first pick. I'll try to make one pick a day for ten days so be sure to enter your e-mail to the left and click submit then you won't miss a post.

If you want to see some of my own photos be sure to jump over to:
www.larssonsphoto.com

Have a great day.

Charity

Well it's christmas time and as the most of us feel the urge of giving I'm now giving one of my prints to charity. This year I'm supporting the Swedish "Musikhjälpen" It's a tradition to lock up a couple of Swedish famous people in a glass cage for a week where they broadcast radio the whole time.

This year their theme is AIDS and HIV, every day 4000 people die in this disease.
Here is the link
http://www.tradera.com/item/2301/221678570/unik-fototavla-smalandsk-morgon
It's in Swedish but please share the link in your socialmedia flow and let this photo earn a lot of money to the research to stop AIDS and HIV.

Here is the photo with my fiancee holding it. It's 55 times 75 cm, metallic print on Kapa 5 mm

Wish you all a great weekend

Vacation

As you read on my previous post I've been on vacation at Maspalomas, Canarie islands, Spain. Now we're back since yesterday afternoon. Lightroom is now working hard to import all the photos. I didn't shoot as much as I wanted. But I dedicated about one and a half day for shooting.

On Tuesday after being up at sunrise, well, before sunrise to shoot some pic's when the first sun hits the dunes of Maspalomas me and my fiancee with friends took the car and drove inlands up the mountains. Those serpentine paths isn't to play with. The clouds where very low and the rain was on and of. The mountains are truly beautiful with it's valleys and peaks.

I shot some panoramas over 5 pics so my Mac will have to work hard while stitching them together in Photoshop. I hope there is some gems there. However the first pic i processed was not a panorama but a stunning view.

The techie stuff
Nikon D800, Nikon 24-70 mm 2.8 @ 28 mm and @ f8. 5 exp HDR processed in Photomatix Pro, Color Efex Pro, Viveza, Lightroom.

Stay tuned for next weeks blog where more pics from Gran Canarie will follow.

Have a great weekend

#travel #travelphotograpy #landscape #landscapephotography 

Travel photography Maspalomas

Weiii on Friday we're of to Maspalomas, Grand Canarie, Spain. Me and my fiancée use to take a trip to the Canarie islands once in early spring and once in late autumn. We always vary between Grand Canarie and Tenerife depending on our mood. Tenerife for the dramatic landscape with high mountains and Teide as it's king. Grand Canarie for the beaches and a bit calmer landscape. We haven't been to any of the other islands.

Well this time it's Grand Canarie with it's great desert beach Maspalomas and this time I thought about not only shooting landscapes, vistas, sunrises and sunsets. I'm going to try and dig deeper in to the travel photography genre. Taking some online courses, reading some books so I'm feeling ready and you will see some results after my trip.

Thought I'll end this post with the popular segment "What's in my bag" or rather what gear will I bring to Grand Canarie, so here goes:

Body:
Nikon D800
Nikon D600 as backup

Lenses:
Nikon 14 - 24 mm 2.8, for those sunrise and grand vista shots
Nikon 24 - 70 mm 2.8, my "goto" lens, my all time favorite
Nikon 70 - 200 mm 2.8, mostly for photographing people, I think I'll use this more this time as I'm shooting for more travel type of photo.
Nikon 2.0 converter

Filter:
Lee Big Stopper
Lee hard grad
Lee soft grad
Hoya polarizer

Tripod:
Gitzo and Gitzo ballhead

Camera strap:
Black Rapid

Bag:
Lovepro Flipside 300

Other:
Nikon speedlight 700
Extra batteries
Charger
Memoriecards

The shot below is from a sunrise in Maspalomas 12:th November 2013 very close to one year ago
Wish you all a great weekend and week.

+Maspalomas Costa Canaria  +Spain Guides  +CANARIE +MaspalomasNews.com +Maspalomas +Ving Sverige - Vingresor #nikon +Nikon Shooters +Nikon USA

Autumn

For many photographers autumn is the best time of the year. The color explosions in all the foliage. Nature makes it self ready for winter and everything slows down.

In Sweden this is true from mid September thru October. However November and early December are very grey, dark and gloomy. The days are short, it's dark when you leave for work and dark when you come home. As a photographer and person I mostly wait for the first snow, when everything brightens up. Nature dresses in it's best winter suit.

But for now grey, dark and gloomy will have to do and seriously you can make some great shots this time of the year. Aiming for some moodiness in your pictures isn't that hard. The weather is made for just that.

So the lesson this week is, get out and shoot no matter the season. It's a great time for som moody photos.

I leave you with this shot I took earlier today. I might gone a bit to far with the moodiness but I like it :-)

Have a great weekend all

Edward Scissorhands