Tag: learningphotography

The Fun is Over

Street Fun
Street Fun | 2018 | 1/640 sec – f/7.1 – ISO 200 – 100mm

I’m welcoming myself back to my own blog, after a small summer break I took after returning to Germany from our family vacation trip through the Pacific Northwest. I guess everyone needs a timeout once in a while. The transition from a splendid three weeks off work back to the job that pays the bills was just too hard, and in the evenings I was just too tired to get in front of my computer to blog.

But there is plenty to do photographically, I still need to edit and post-process most of my images from our trip, write the remaining “PNW Explored”posts about the Oregon High Desert, our trips up the volcanos Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens,  and to wrap it up, a visit to the fascinating Museum of Flight at Boeing Field in Seattle, just hours before we boarded the flight back to Germany.

I dearly need to clean my camera equipment, the dust and dirt really took its toll after three weeks on the road.

And I really have to catch up with all the comments on this blog I haven’t answered, plus check out all the blogs I follow and I haven’t visited in the past weeks.

The summer fun is over, now it’s back to work!

The Streets of Nuremberg are back in business 😉

Have a great Wednesday!

Marcus

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Learning Center is online

Hello from Seattle

A Killer Week

Back on the Streets of Nuremberg

 

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I wanna be loved by you

Love Attack
Love Attack | New York City | 2018

Those commuters for sure seem totally ignorant about that love attack from their right side. Or maybe nobody dares to look anymore? I took this is the new subway station below the Oculus near the new World Trade Center. Image specs are 1/125 sec @ f/4 and ISO 250. After RAW conversion I corrected the white balance in Lightroom CC, so it correctly shows the white marble of the station, not the yellowish color that the automatic white balance gave me. A good example why shooting RAW makes so much sense, when it comes to correcting the white balance in post processing. No chance to get this straight in jpg. While the AWB typically does well outside, indoors with artificial light in often is lost.

Another point fo discussion in this image is whether to clone out the tubes of the roof construction that are visible in the top right. Cropping does not work here, as you would lose the leading lines of the walkway and the electronic billboard. So either leave them where there are, or take the work laborious approach to clone them out, without disrupting the lines of the marble tiles. I decided to leave them. Although a bit of a disturbance of the otherwise clean composition, the eye doesn’t really notice them. I would be interested in your opinions, leave them in the comment section.

Have a great Sunday!

Marcus

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My New York City Eye Opener

NYC Experience – Night in the Station

Weekly Photo Challenge: Lines

NYC Experience – DUMBO

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Friendly Retaliation

Having Fun

This is what you get sometimes when shooting strangers in the streets 🙂 But why should only the photographer have all the fun?

Taken with my Olympus PEN-F and the mZuiko 25mm F/1.8. Image specs 1/60 sec at f/2.2 and ISO 2000 (it was already much darker than it seems in the photo).

I’m seriously looking forward to the weekend, after another endless hours work week.

If you want to pic up your camera on the weekend and are looking for tips and inspirations around photography, be sure to check out my free Learning Center.

I wish you all a great weekend!

Marcus

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A Street Photographer’s Dialogue

My Eric Kim Workshop Experience

Street Photography Quick Tip (13)

Street Photography Quick Tip (6)

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10 Day Photography Challenge – Day 10

The Kids
The Kids | Nuremberg | 2018

“Another Portrait” is the last task to accomplish in Cassia Denner’s 10 Day Photography Challenge. It was a fun challenge, and made me shoot a lot outside my usual street photography arena. So this somewhat different portrait of my two kids is a nice ending to the 10 day photographic fun. Image taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the mZuiko 12-40 F/2.8 Pro Zoom, Image specs 1/25 sec @ f/2,8 and ISO 1600, focal length was 40mm.

Thanks, Cassia, for organizing the challenge, other participants are  Susan,  Gracie, Ariana, Jenna,  Arabella.

If you look for tips and inspirations around photography, be sure to also visit my free Learning Center.

Wish you all a great weekend!

Marcus

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Off Topic – Studio Anywhere

Off Topic – Studio Anywhere (2)

Off Topic – Konfi Shooting

Finding your photographic style

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10 Day Photography Challenge – Day 9

Purple Tulips
Purple Tulips | Nuremberg | 2018

For Day 9 of Cassia’s 10 Day Photography Challenge with the topic “Something Purple” I put my Lensbaby back to work, snapping this shot of purple tulips. I hope this is purple, I really have a hard time differentiating between the shades of purple and pink. Not color blind, but at least handicapped, but only for those two colors 😉

I used my Lensbaby Trio 28mm f/3.5 lens, that has a rotating head so I get three Lensbaby effects in one lens: Twist, Velvet and Sweet. It is a manual lens, so focussing on the PEN-F is via the LCD screen and with the help of the focus peaking of the Olympus camera, where the sharp pane is indicated by flickering dots.

Check out the blogs of the other challenge participants: Cassia (our host),  Susan,  Gracie, Ariana, Jenna,  Arabella

If you look for more tips and inspirations around photography, be sure to visit my free Learning Center. Take your camera, go out and create some art today!

I wish everyone a great Friday!

Marcus

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10 Day Photography Challenge – Day 5

Buy books not gear!

We are on to Day 5 of Cassia Denner’s 10 Day Photography Challenge, with today’s theme being “Something I bought”. I have to admit I had no time to be overly creative today, with the job that pays the bills kept my away from my camera all day. But I decided to enter this quick iPhone shot of one of my photo book shelfs, together with a little message that is important to me.

No new camera will make you a better photographer. It might increase your motivation to go out shoot more for a little while, bring out a temporary boost in creativity, but eventually the thrill of the new gear will wear off. It always does.

Studying the work of the masters will make you a better photographer. Also studying the theoretical and technical aspects of photography.  There is so much to learn and understand about photography.  I’ve bought many pieces of gear that I rarely use, but I  have never regretted investing in photography books. It just is an enriching experience to sit with a photography book and a good cup of coffee, study and reflect on it.

Thinking about this Day 5 task also inspires me to compile a list of my photography books I own and treasure.  I just need a bit time to do it. So look for it on the Streets of Nuremberg and in my free Learning Center, where you find all my tips and inspirations around photography.

Have a great week!

Marcus

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10 Day Photography Challenge – Day 4

Espresso Cups
Weekend Espresso

Day 4 of Cassia Denner’s 10 Day Photography Challenge carries the theme “Coffee”. Which is good…Coffee…Sunday….you get my point?  I need to add a second coffee related photo though, as the “Streets of Nuremberg” have their own coffee mug 🙂 .

Check out the blogs of the other participants: Cassia (our host),  Susan,  Gracie, Ariana, Jenna,  Arabella

After returning from my 3 day trip to the Pacific Northwest I’m really enjoying a downtime Sunday with the family….plenty of coffee, music, legs up….the night will be short, as I will be watching the Super Bowl, the game starting 30 minutes past midnight here in Germany. Let’s see if I will make it to bed at all 🙂  The Big Boy is organizing some hot chicken wings, beer is in the fridge…life is good 🙂

Streets of Nuremberg Coffee Mugs
Streets of Nuremberg Coffee Mugs

I wish you all a great Super Sunday!

Marcus

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Super Sunday

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10 Day Photography Challenge – Day 3

Intensity
Intensity | Portland | 2018

Frequent readers know that when I participate to photography challenges on WordPress, I try to enter street photography images to match the theme. Day 3 of of Cassia Denner’s 10 Day Photography Challenge calls for a photograph with “An Instrument”.

Good that I ran across this street musician in Portland to get my image for today. The total intensity of his performance was mind-blowing, and I tried to capture it in this shot I took with my Olympus PEN-F with the 14-150mm F/4-5.6 travel zoom. Image specs 1/80 sec @ f/5,6 and ISO 1600, focal length was 150mm (equals 300mm in full frame equivalent).

Check out the blogs of the other participants: Cassia (our host),  Susan,  Gracie, Ariana, Jenna,  Arabella

I’m back on the ground in Nuremberg, and look very much forward to a four week stint at home before returning to the Pacific Northwest.

Be sure to check out my free Learning Center, if you also look for tips and inspirations around photography.

Wish you all a great and relaxed weekend!

Marcus

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10 Day Photography Challenge – Day 2

Red Star Rising
Red Star Rising | Amsterdam | 2018

We are on to Day 2 of Cassia Denner’s 10 Day Photography Challenge, with today’s theme being “Something Red”. Well, technically my entry is multicolored, but when walking up to this bar scene I knew I had to get that shot of the bright red star on the green wall while connecting through Amsterdam Shiphol the day before yesterday, already with the challenge topic “red” in mind.

This is one of the examples where everything comes together, colors (green and red are complimentary, sitting on opposite sides of the color wheel) and a multi element composition (rule of thirds, leading lines, and you could argue to see a Fibonacci spiral from the black star to the wall red star to the counter top red star curving on the bottom up to the guest sitting leaning over to the bar top).

Image specs are 140 sec @ f/2,8 and ISO 200, shot in P-Mode with my Ricoh GR II.

Today at 1:20 pm my flight back to Amsterdam and eventually Nuremberg takes to the sky again, after exactly 50 hours on the ground in the Rose City. I should be back home in time for a late Saturday breakfast.

I wish you all a great Friday!

Marcus

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Game On – 10 Day Photo Challenge

Game On
Game On | Marseille | 2016

The going gets tough in the next 10 days. Tomorrow I’m heading back  to Portland for a brief 48 hour stint, only to return to Nuremberg already on Saturday. Next week is a big week at work with some high level meetings, and it’s the birthday week for Big Girl (Wednesday) and The Significant Other (Thursday), with the latter reaching the big 5 milestone 😉 , which will be properly celebrated with various events throughout the rest of the week and the weekend. So I know what keeps me busy the next week and a half.

Through all of this I will join the 10 Day Photography Challenge of fellow blogger Cassia Denner. I came across her blog while browsing through the photography feed in the WordPress reader, saw her post about the challenge and signed up. It will run from February 1st through February 10th. 10 days – 10 topics. All photos have to be taken by the contestants. Also participating in the challenge are the challenge host  Cassia (thanks so much for organizing this),  Ariana, Gracie, Jenna, Arabella and Susan, all in all a good mix of young and talented photographers and more seasoned veterans 😉 .

I have never participated in a challenge like this before, but I’m curious how it will pan out, considering that during the challenge I will be occupied with two intercontinental flights and tons of business meetings and birthday parties 😉 . But at least I don’t have to think what to post on the blog. I get my daily assignment, go out, shoot and post. I’m sure it’s gonna be fun! You will see the results on this blog! Game On!

Be sure to check out my free Learning Center, if you also look for tips and inspirations around photography.

Have a great Tuesday!

Marcus

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Be creative today

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Lensbaby Streetshot

Determination
Determination | Nuremberg | 2018

I’m still experimenting with the Lensbaby I got for my birthday. Street Photography might not be the perfect playground for this lens, but on Saturday I have attached it onto my Olympus PEN-F and took it to the Streets of Nuremberg.

This photograph was taken at 1/30 sec and ISO 80. The fixed aperture of the manual focus lens is f/3,5, focal length 28mm. The color combination certainly works here. I like the soft touches the Lensbaby gave to this image. It is a lens that needs to be “worked”, but this is also the fun of it. I just wish I had more time to explore it.

Wish you all a good week!

Marcus

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Street Photography Quick Tip (14)

Like my hair
Like my hair | Berlin | 2017

Street Photography Quick Tip 14 – Shoot upwards and tilted for more dynamic street portraits

After a race across the nightsky (our flight arrived a whopping 70 minutes ahead of schedule) I’m back in Europe at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and waiting to board the plane for the last leg of this trip back to Nuremberg.

But as we came in early, this gives me time for episode 14 of my popular Street Photography Quick Tips, my short, easy to read and easy to use tips that I think could help you while shooting in the streets.

Most people shoot their portraits from eye-level. And if you get the eyes sharp, have the subjects turn their heads slightly upwards and to the side, you should get great results. But if you want to get your street portraits a more eye catching touch, shoot from a lower angle, and you can even tilt your camera a bit to give your image even more dynamic.

Talk to your subjects, ask them an open question, like what they wanted to become when they were a child, or what would be the destination of their dream, vacation. When the start talking, they relax, which can give you the opportunity to take great candid shots.

Obviously, this tip applies not only to street portraits.

For more Street Photography Quick Tips and inspirations around photography in general check out my free Learning Center.

I wish you all a great weekend!

Marcus

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