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

Wild orchids.

We happened to  be in France for a spring break, when the wild orchids came out in full force.
A combination of the right humidity level and temperatures. They thrive on the chalky soil here.

 

All pictures taken in Saint Julien de Lampon, on the border of Dordogne and Lot. We used to live here for nearly 10 years, and I never saw even one orchid. 

 

From top to bottem:

 

Orchis Mascula

Orchis Purpurea

Orchis Ustulata

Orchis Araignée

 

 



Werk aan de muur

Some of my photo's are now for sale in my webshop, hosted by "werk aan de muur"

 

The artwork can be projected in virtual rooms, to judge how it would fit your interior.

 

Prints can be made on paper, canvas, dibond, framed etc.

 

Buy now!

 

Go to: http://keesvanderhave.werkaandemuur.nl/

 

 

Icy cold weekend

Spring has begun with sub-zero temperatures and snow and the weekend before Easter was exceptional. It has not been as cold in March since 1952.
Some  shots taken in Halsteren, Noord-Brabant:

Karin and Noa

       Jayden

Janny and Jayden

The Sigma Collection

My Sigma lens collection:

 

 

 

From left to right:

85mm f/1.4 hsm
105mm f/2.8  macro
18-50mm f/2.8-4.5 hsm
28mm f/2.8 manual focus  (this one is for sale)

On the wish list:  35mm f/1.4 hsm Art  (new lens not yet available in the Netherlands.)

I prefer the Sigma lenses over the Pentax lenses because of their ratio price/ quality. Also the hsm type lenses by Pentax are known to have motor problems.
With a 35mm lens added, I cover a good range with prime lenses, which are usually better than zoom lenses.

Sigma 85mm f/1.4 portrait lens

The lens on the wishlist arrived just after Christmas and having played with it a lot, I can now handle it properly. The beauty of this lens is it's extreme sharpness, but very shallow depth of field at f/1.4, creating these creamy backgrounds.
At f/1.4 and iso values of 200-400 it is hardly necessary to use a flash indoors. The focussing is internal and happens by an HSM motor (hyper sonic motor) silently and very quickly. All this makes the lens ideal for children's photography. Some examples of our grand children:

At nearly 800 grams it is a very hefty piece of high quality glass:

Highly  recommended!

Pentacon Bokeh Monster.

A few weeks ago I found an old (40 years or so) Pentacon 135mm f/2.8 lens, made in DDR, famous for it's bokeh. I started of by dismantling and cleaning it inside, as it was obvious it had not been used for many years. The pictures I have made with it so far are pleasing to me. The smooth background, the bubbles against the light, the sharpness. Disadvantage is that (of course) it is manual, and it produces purple fringes in high contrast areas (chromatic abberation). This can be corrected with modern software. A useful addition to my photography equipment, which now consists of a Pentax kx, a k5, pentax dal 18-55, pentax dal 55-300, sigma 18-50, sigma 105 macro, pentacon 135 and an old pentax 50mm f/1.7  On the wishlist is a Sigma 85mm F/1.4

Darters and another Damselfly

Willow Emerald Damselfly
Lestes Virides
Houtpantseljuffer

Yellow Winged Darter
Sympetrum Flaveola
Geelvlek Heide Libelle

Scarlet Darter
Crocothemis Erythraea
Vuur Libelle

These insects were photographed on the land of our friends "De Duitemeijers" near Axel, Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. They own a couple of acres of orchard with in the middle a "frog pond" It is this pond that attracts the libellule. I guess it is a good year for these creatures, as they are plentiful.

Damselflies and Chasers

I have been trying for years to take quality pictures of these creatures when we were living in France, and never succeeded over there. Our son now lives in Halsteren, and near their house is a pond teeming with damselflies and schasers. All the above pictures are from there.
From top down:
Blue damselfly-  azuur waterjuffer
Red damselfly- vuur waterjuffer
Scarce blue damselfly-  lantaarntje
Blue damselflies at work- azuur waterjuffers bezig met hun nageslacht.
Detail of "blue damselflies at work"
Broad bodied chaser- platbuik libelle, korenbout.

My Sigma 105mm macro lens came in handy! I hope to publish some more close up insects some time soon.