Outside portraits of Iisa

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Time has flown…it seems that Iisa was born just yesterday and now she is already big enough to play outside. Today right after nap and snack (=happy kid) I decided to try to take some quick natural light portraits outside. My idea was to make her sit in the middle of a dandelion field. The reality was that none of the dandelion “fields” around our house were big enough, just a couple of flowers. Due to this, the photos ended up being normal on-the-grass portraits. In addition to the above shot, I somehow like the one below with Ode and Iisa:

Rest of the photos (+some extras from today) in slideshow: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-05-20%20Outside%20portraits%20of%20Iisa/?action=slideshow

..and in folder mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-05-20%20Outside%20portraits%20of%20Iisa/

Macros

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The blueberry bushes are filled with flowers, so I am hoping that we will be getting a good blueberry year. The above shot is a close-up of one flower that will be hopefully be a blueberry later on.

A couple of more macros from this morning are at:

Slideshow: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-05-19%20Some%20spring%20macros/?action=slideshow

Folder:http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-05-19%20Some%20spring%20macros/

For tech geeks:

These macros are again shot with the 36mm extension tube and the Nikkor 50/1.4 lens. This has become my favorite macro setup. The magnification ratio is sufficient (0,87) for these nature macros and the closest focus distance (10,8cm) is a few centimeters from the lens so there is some possibility of getting some light into the photos. For “bug macros” I would like to be staying a little bit further away, now almost all bugs are crawling away as I try to approach them.

Nature waking up

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I really love this time of the year. Nature is changing daily and the whole summer is in front of us. After a fairly long dry and warm season, there was some rain last night. The rain turned the whole nature green. While the kids were playing at the local park, I was trying to document these first green promises of summer.

In the evening the wind was still blowing so I decided to pack my camera and my windsurfing gear and head to the beach. I suspected that the wind might not be sufficient and I was right. There was no wind what so ever when I got to the beach. Instead I got out my camera and took some photos.

All of these photos can be viewed in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-05-05%20Nature%20photos/?action=slideshow

..or in folder mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-05-05%20Nature%20photos/

For tech geeks

The macros from the park are all shot with my Nikkor 50mm/1.4 lens with a 36mm extension tube.

New desktop background

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I compiled a new desktop background from a couple of black and white shots of the kids. This will be the background for my work laptop. Earlier I have been just using single images. This time I thought that it would be cool to have all of the kids compiled into a single messy background.

The chainsaw man

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Today when I got home from work, I was greeted by a half naked boy with a chainsaw. I had to get my camera out and try to catch him on the sensor. I could not get him to make quite the same face when he was trying to saw me in half when I walked in, but the above shot was pretty close. Another black and white shot from the same session:

For tech geeks:

The lighting was setup really quickly with three speedlights. One on the background with a grid and a full blue gel. One on camera left front to give some rim light and one through a diy beauty dish.

Ode enjoying mountainbiking

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Grey sky, a little rain, wind and close to zero temperature…not exactly the dream spring day. But that did not bother Ode today. He was really enjoying himself on the bike. Doing some water splashing, riding some stairs (with his tongue out),

…and doing some jumps

Rest of the shots in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-04-21%20Ode%20biking/?action=slideshow

and in folder mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-04-21%20Ode%20biking/

Natural light portraits of Oona and Ode

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The older kids had a friends birthday party today. Oona got dressed up and Jenny made her hair. She was my little beautiful princess, so we had to take some quick portraits.

Ode was our little man with his hair done and a collar shirt:

The rest of the photos from the set in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-04-19%20Oona%20and%20Ode/?action=slideshow

…and in folder mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-04-19%20Oona%20and%20Ode/

For tech geeks:

Nothing fancy or special here, shooting natural light with the sun through a layer of clouds. I used my 85/1.8 Nikkor lens.

Swimmers

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The above shot is a result of shooting almost 600 frames at a local swimming hall. We tried to get a photograph that would be used for a canvas print.

The swimmer had an idea to get a shot of her swimming butterfly. From the first shots we had to alter the swimming technique a little. Normally her face would be facing the water when the hands are in the highest position. She altered her technique so that she would keep her face out of the water for a little longer. In the end I was pretty satisfied with the results we got.

A few more shots from the session in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-04-12%20Swimming/?action=slideshow

…and in folder view: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-04-12%20Swimming/

For tech geeks

The light was very weak inside the swimming hall. I had to use the Sigma 120-300/2.8 lens wide open with ISO800. With the narrow depth of field the lens was not able to keep the focus on the swimmer coming straight at me. In the above shot the focus is on the shoulder level, leaving the face out of focus. This something I have noticed earlier also when shooting other things that are coming straight at me.

Due to the fact that the swimming hall was open to public, we had to restrict our shooting to  a single lane. Due to this, we were not able to get side shots or any other angles.

Macros and scenery from Easter

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It was another traditional Easter at Jenny’s parent’s summer place. And as usual the weather was amazing: two days of sunshine! The first day we got some snow and I decided to try to take some macros of the snowflakes.

During the next two sunny days, there were some magnificent sun sets, coltsfoot and ladybugs.

Rest of the photos in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-04-08%20Easter%20macros%20and%20nature/?action=slideshow

…and in folder mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-04-08%20Easter%20macros%20and%20nature/