Swimmers

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Antti Känsälä

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.

Easter witches

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Antti Känsälä

In Finland it is a tradition that on Palm Sunday the kids go from door to door dressed out as witched. This year Ode wanted to have a skeleton face painted. Oona settled for a traditional witch outfit.

Rest of the photos: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-04-01%20Virpomassa/

Last snowboarding session of the season

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Antti Känsälä

Sunshine and -1C, what else could you dream of for a morning of snowboarding at the end of March? I believe this was the last session with the kids at Peuramaa this year.

On top of snowboarding, the kids got to ride snowmobiles:

This really was a perfect way to end the winter season!!

Rest of the photos are in folder mode:http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-31%20Snowboarding%20at%20Peuramaa/

…and in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-31%20Snowboarding%20at%20Peuramaa/?action=slideshow

Winter Downhill at Antikkala, Kuopio

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Antti Känsälä

The second race of the 2012 Winter Downhill Cup was held on the icy slopes of Antikkala, Kuopio. Sometimes I (and my wife) really question my sanity for doing stuff like this. It was a 6:00 AM start and about 9 hours of sitting in the car just to ride down a hill on a bike in the winter…

The track was excellent, it was rolling, fast and … ICY! My race day ended when a tree was harder than my hand. As a result I had a bruised shoulder and a swollen hand, but nothing broken 🙂 This was a very good excuse to get the camera out and get some shots.

Race results from Vauhtijaosto: http://mountainbike.fi/vauhtijaosto/raportit-kisoista/292-jarno-lyytinen-antikkalan-ykkoenen

Photos in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-24%20Antikkala%20Talvi%20DH/?action=slideshow

Photos in folder mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-24%20Antikkala%20Talvi%20DH/

Portraits of Iisa sitting

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Antti Känsälä

Our youngest kid, Iisa, learned to sit today. She was so proud and happy of her achievement! She learned to crawl a couple of weeks ago, so now a whole new world has opened up for her.

A couple of more shots: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-17%20Iisa%20sitting/

Another favorite of mine is this:

Wedding of Miia and Lasse

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Antti Känsälä

I was honored with the duty of taking portraits of Lasse and Miia on their wedding day. They had decided to get married on the 29th of February. From early on we had the plan of shooting the portraits outside. The weather could not have been any better. The day before we had a snow storm to get fresh white snow. The wedding day was warm and sunny. A small selection of the photos: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-02-29%20Wedding%20of%20Lasse%20and%20Miia/ or in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-02-29%20Wedding%20of%20Lasse%20and%20Miia/?action=slideshow

For tech geeks:

Lasse and Miia had picked the location in Lauttasaari. I arrived there about 1½ hours before they were supposed to arrive. I scouted to locations where I thought we could get the shots done. I shoveled paths to both locations. As there was about ½ meter of snow, I had to put a plywood board on the snow for them to stand on, so that they would not sink in. All this took about an hour. Next job was to get some fill lights setup. I knew that one speedlight would not just give enough light in the bright sun with the snow boosting up the light. I used a double speedlight setup through an umbrella. The by-passers were giving some odd looks as I was running between the camera and the location. I was not mad, I was just trying to get some test shots with the timer 🙂

The inside shots were a little more tricky. I did not have a chance to see the location before we arrived there. Once at the location, we had about 15 min to check the best place. Together with the bride and groom, we decided to shoot in a small hall. The space was so restricted that I had to use my 12-24 lens. I used two speedlights through umbrellas on both sides to give light to the space. I used one gridded speedlight to get some highlights on the bride and groom. In some of the photos where they were not in the middle, I turned it off.

Warm spring day at the local park

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Antti Känsälä

This is the best time of the year: still plenty of snow, but the days are getting longer and warmer. Today was a really beautiful spring day. It was time to dig out sun glasses for the first time since last summer. We enjoyed the morning in the local park. A couple of more shots at: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-03%20Asukaspuistossa/

Tomorrow it is time to go try snowboarding with the kids…

Winter storm and “laskiainen” = great fun!!

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Antti Känsälä

Our active neighborhood organized the first traditional “laskiainen” this year. The weather was …well… very full of snow 🙂 Despite the massive snow fall, kids and adults had great fun.

The rest of the photos are at: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-02-19%20Laskiainen/

For tech geeks:

I had my camera in a OP/Tech rainsleeve to protect it from some of the snow. I used two speedlights to liven up the photos. The speedlights were put inside plastic bags. All of the equipment survived the weather.

I had an idea to capture the snowfall in the pictures. I tried to use the speedlights to light the snowfall and bring that out. I am pretty happy with some of the results. Here is one example:

A sibling portrait of the kids

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Antti Känsälä

Trying to get one child to stay still and look at the camera is a difficult job. Trying to get all three seems to be almost impossible 🙂 Today I got lucky! The above shot is a result of many, many tries. Most of the time the poses were like this:

A couple of more shots: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-02-18%20Sibling%20portraits/

Face painting

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Antti Känsälä

Today it was time to test the new face paints that Ode got for Christmas!! The kids really loved being painted. We gotta do this more often!

We have had some lousy face paints earlier that can be barely seen on face and you would need to scrub the paints really hard. These ones were a delight to work with. The painting was an easy job and so was getting the paint off.