Foto | Indsigt | Synspunkt

I've been photographing for over 30 years - and for the past 8 years it has been primarily digital. And with the constant improvement in the AF-system of DSLRs that fit nearly every situation and equipment combination I have not given manual focus a lot of thoughts. Yesterday during the golden hours - while walking in the beautiful surroundings of my home in Italy looking for suitable subjects for nature close-ups (not macro) - I found it difficult to rely on the AF-system of my Nikon D800 for various reasons (light, physical positioning, wind etc.)  I set the AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 lens to manual focus. And from that point on I just kept shooting focusing on getting the right exposure and the best framing rather than making the AF-system lock-in so I could take a photo.  I'm now ready to try manual focus while doing portrait photography.

1/4 sec at f/6.3, ISO 100, -1/3 EV First are foremost you are alone. For me photographing is a reflective process where I focus on the image and think abstract thoughts - letting my mind flow. While in this state there is nothing more disturbing that other human beings. So when the sky is all grey and its raining softly, then its time to grab your photo gear and head for the forrest, beach or open landscape to escape the every day life. An all grey sky (the lords big soft box) and a bit of rain is perfect conditions for shooting black and white photos. With me today I had the following equipment: Nikon D800 Nikon Coolpix A AF-S Nikkor 28mm f/1.8G Nikon MC-36 remote cord release Velbon GEO N830 tripod and QHD-72Q Ballhead Crumpler backpack Holebrook WP sweater Stetson Herringbone Hatteras The AF-S 28mm f/1.8G lens is a nice and not so heavy lens that fits perfectly on a D800. It is sharp and delivers a soft bokeh wide open. A bit of vignetting, radial distortion and ...

D800 with AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8: 1/80 sec af f/4.5, 0 EV, ISO 200, 28mm OMG - I have not posted on my blog for over a month. Starting up in a new position as CEO for Danimex Communication is occupying the main part of my waking hours. I'm spending my time between three homes - my work home in Sønderborg , my week-end home in Lyngby and my holiday home near Acqui Terme in Piedmont, Italy.  In between I'm traveling to interested places - Sorrento , Italy - Dubai , UAE - Johannesburg , South Africa - in March alone. It's a good time to get engulfed in my hobby - photography. D800 with AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8: 1/125 sec af f/7.1, 0 EV, ISO 400, 66mm The photos here are not a visual metaphor representing my three homes :-) Not far from my home in Italy the old porous layers of compressed clay, limestone, chalk and other elements are visible just along side the old dirt road. Black and white is the best way to capture this display of natures fragility. D800 with AF-...

Do we need all the mega pixels to create interesting photos? I believe not. But having fewer mega pixels at our disposal requires carefull planning while composing your shot, as you don't want to loose "pixel real estate" by cropping in post processing. I own a Nikon D300 with a 12 Mp sensor and it has served me well for 4 years. As I grew up shooting film I'm used to think all aspects through before capturing the actual photo and thereby keeping post processing to a minimum. But a Nikon D800 is on its way to me as the extra "pixel real estate" of a 36 Mp sensor offers a large freedom to crop interesting parts of photo. Take this photo as an example. I used my Nikon D300 with a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 and walked to a nearby creek. The I sad down on a small canoe gangway and looked at the scene around me for nearly 20 minuttes before a photo took form in my mind. The photo was composed so cropping would not necessary. The still water entering a large area of ...

I located this scene just 500 meters from where I live. I've passed this tree many time without noticing it. But as I'm studying b/w photography I'm training my eyes (and brain) to see in b/w. And as a result of this new ability, this scene presented it self visually. With my Nikon D300 and a Sigma APO 70-200mm f/2.8 lens I composed this photo in camera so cropping in post processing was not needed. With the Dodge tool I darkened the foliage behind the tree. A 25% vignet was added. Exposure: 1/80 sec at f/6.3, O EV, ISO 200 Focal length: 90mm / 135 mm

Spring is still in its early phase and the tree foliage is not visible yet. But it is a beautiful day and I'm enjoying having time to experience spring arriving - and reflect over my own situation as an unemployed senior executive over 50.

When I was a kid and I was asked to lay the tabel I noticed that the knives had the name "Raadvad" engraved. When we 20 years later moved to Lyngby just north of Copenhagen I located the original "Raadvad Knivfabriker" only 4 kilometers from my home. As you can see the company "Raadvad Knivfabriker" was established in 1758 . A deed of gift from King Frederik V enabled the make over of an old gunpowder mill to one of his loyal valets. This was the starting of a small industrial adventure in Denmark. The company changed name to "Raadvad Knivfabriker" right after World War 1 and the number of products was reduced from over 700 to much less - now only focusing on knives and bread cutters. I think many on my age or older will recognize the following "bread cutter": In the beginning of the 1970s the production was moved to Jutland. Today the company "Raadvad" is part of Fiskars .

A beautiful evening view from our home in Italy. Nikon D300, AF-S 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 10 second af f/18 at 22 mm, -2/3 EV, ISO 200

A panoramic stich of five photos - hence the distortion.

Piedmont in Italy has some amazing small cities. This street photo is from the city Acqui Terme in Alessandria, which is the closest "big" city to our home in Italy. Believe or not but along this narrow street you will encounter some fantastic restautant's. And the wine is just ......