Move

It's been close to 2 years since I last reported here. We sold Dixielandkade and built a new home in Philippine, a small community near Terneuzen.

 

 

How to improve a dull photo.

It happens that a photo with an interesting subject does not have the spark you were searching for. This can sometimes be improved by changing the sky. You wil need some basic knowledge of Photoshop and of course a working version of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

An example:

Although the subject is nice enough, the dull sky is spoiling the picture. But because it has a fairly even colour, it can be selected easily with the tool "color select" You can then reverse the selection , whereby you do not have the sky, but the geese and the dike selected. You copy this selection to the clipboard.
What you need now is a more interesting sky. Whenever I go out with my camera, and I see an intersting sky, I take photos, which I save in a file that I named "textures" . So now I go to this file and choose an appropriate sky:



With this new sky open in Photoshop, I give the commend "paste" and the geese with the dike will appear on top of the sky as a new layer.  We now move the geese around on the new sky, once you are happy with the position, you merge the 2 layers to one layer, use the crop tool to cut out any excess sky, and this is your result:

 

A much improved picture, much more interesting to look at.  Easy, is n't it?



Spoonbills

Lately we have some unexpected guests on the tidal mud plain along the Western Scheldt: Spoonbills. (Platalea Leucorodia)
Although they are not rare, they are not commonly seen in this region of The Netherlands. Apparently they are breeding in a small nature reserve behind the dike: The Margaretha polder. Some of the elegant birds have markings on their legs, and quite a few are clearly juvenile. As they are shy, the pictures below are heavy crops, taken with a 300mm lens, from about 50-60m.

 

(click the photos for larger version)

View more of my photography via this link: 

Dragonflies, summer 2013

I love to record dragonflies as I am intrigued by the complexity of these insects.

 

 

More pictures can be found in my Flickr account. An overview can be seen by clicking this link:

 



Shallow Depth of Field

A well known photo technique: Go close to the subject and open your diaphragm to f/4-f/5. The more open your diaphragm  the less the depth of field will be. You could choose to have only a part of your subject sharp, in which case you open the diaphragm to f/2.8 or lower if your lens allows.

2 examples:

Both pictures are for sale in my shop:  http://keesvanderhave.werkaandemuur.nl/                          

We now have an app for iphone and ipad. You will find it in the applestore as "werk aan de muur"
You can then take the number of the photo you choose, enter it in the app, take a picture of the wall in need of decoration, and you will see if my picture (or any other with a "work on the wall" number) will fit your interior. Fun to try!

Shortly international orders will be accepted.

Summer 2013, Dordogne

We are enjoying a couple of summer weeks in our favourite part of France, The Dordogne.
There is no problem at all to enjoy my hobby: photography, and especially macro and close-up photography. Some examples:

Super Horse

Seen on a dike near Poonhaven, Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. This photo made "explore" on Flickr and has been viewed by 5600 people. Most of my pictures only get between 50 and a 100 views. Hence the title "Super Horse"

It is also for sale on dibond, canvas, framed, in sizes of your choice:

http://keesvanderhave.werkaandemuur.nl/index/132/nl/De-wind-in-mijn-haar/view/49538/0