M a d . P h o t o . W o r l d

Tulstrup Cemetery

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

This weekend i visited an old friend i had not seen in almost 10 years. He moved away from Copenhagen and has bought an Inn, in Tulstrup, called Tulstrup Kro. 'Kro' is danish for an Inn. Tulstrup is located in Jutland, and pretty close to Skanderborg.

If your around Tulstrup, i can highly recommend visiting Tulstrup Inn when you get hungry. They serve some delicious food.

Early Sunday morning, before anybody else was awake, i was out walking. I shot way too many rolls of 120mm and 35mm film. At Tulstrup church, this tree caught my eye. Luckily i had brought my digital Nikon also.

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 27mm
Aperture: f/22
Exposures: 9

Self Portrait

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I put everybody else in jeopardy of being caught on camera, so i might as well throw myself in front of the lens. That's only fair. So with out further ado, im pleased to meet you.

David from chromasia.com pointed me to a little gem from Tridient Digital called Raw Developer. I didn't know this product, so i thought i would shoot a portrait and then use Raw Developer for the processing, but that didn't happen this time. I will give it a go next time.

I ended up in Photostop and Photomatix. I used the unsharpen mask (in Photoshop) for increasing local contrast after tonemapping and then i painted the effect in. I never use unsharpen mask for sharpening. I always use smart sharpen.

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 78mm
Aperture: f/8
Exposures: 5

Bus Crash In A Roundabout

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I was at a family birthday. Around 9.30 pm i had to leave for a few minutes, to take some pictures at a nearby roundabout. In my head i had a vision of how the sun would come in through the trees and hit the middle ground.

I was all set up and ready to shoot, when two buses crashed into each other. Not a big crash, but loud enough so i could hear it. Reset my camera and quickly photographed it.

If you look closely you can see that the two buses, last in the line, both have the warning lights turned on.

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 27mm
Aperture: f/11
Exposures: 7

Spyder2Express - Use It

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

"Spyder2Express - Use It" puzzling title ?.. Its a reminder to my self

I always think of Toys"R"Us when i see this shop and i shouldn't. This shop sell so many crazy toys, most of them from another time. During the day the front is normally filled with garden elf's.

I post processed this image, uploaded and realized that i had not calibrated my monitor. Found my Spyder2Express (it calibrates monitors in three easy steps), plugged it in the usb port and hang it on my monitor. Spyder2Express will then read different color values of the screen and make a profile. It takes Spyder2Express a couple of minutes to run and the monitor should have been on for some time, before you use Spyder2Express.

Spyder2Express, i use it for all my calibration, but i will soon update to Spyder3. If you do not know Spyder2Express you should look it up.

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 27mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposures: 11

Tourneau Watch Temple, New York

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Tourneau was not far from where we stayed. Tourneau is a four storage high and 1500 square meters watch temple. Its located at 12E 57th Street. This shop is in the Guinness World Records, because of its size.

Tourneau opened their first shop in 1900 and have kept expanding. Today they sell over one hundred different brands and models, including their own brand. If you look at the big clock you can see this is short early in the morning and apparently before New York(ers) woke up.. and i thought it was the city that never slept.

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 27mm
Aperture: f/11
Exposures: 5

Rainbow Room At NBC Studios

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I think those big neon signs is so 1960, or there about. This one is located outside the NBC studios at Manhattan, New York. I had about 60 seconds to set up my tripod, frame and shoot - before, literally, a ton of people rushed by. Only had time to do 5 shots and i would have like more. For my taste there is not enough detail in the highlights. I think you can go on a tour inside the NBC studios, but i'm not sure. Anyways we didn't...

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 27mm
Aperture: f/8
Exposures: 5

Tired Son

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

This is a shot of my tired son. After a long walk and almost back at our car, my son got tired. He needed to have a few minutes rest. We had been out walking a taking photographs and the warm weather and the long walk, overtook him. He does run around a lot more than i do, so i guess that's why he gets tired a lot faster than me. We found a place to sit and relaxed a couple of minutes. Drank some water and waited until the tiredness had gone. Here's one where he is not so tired: Riding On The Subway In Barcelona

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 27mm
Aperture: f/8
Exposures: 9

An Evening With Rain In New York

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

After a long flight and about 3 hours in Manhattan, New York, we searched for a place to eat dinner. We ended up in Goodburger NY. They didn't lie - it was good! It started to rain, very gentle. We went back to our hotel room. Tired. Outside the rain was now pouring down and i was to tired to move any furniture to get closer to the window, for my shot. The reflection in the window are from our room, but somehow i think it adds to the mood of the photograph. I love the sound of rain, especially the sound of rain hitting the window. Laying in bed and listening to the rain somehow calms me. I went to bed with a smile on my face.

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 66mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposures: 5

Window Cleaners At Work In New York

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I saw a lot of these window cleaners in New York. I was amazed at how the window cleaners just go up and down the buildings, without a huge safety system. The small platform the window cleaners are working from, is not even closed in the ends. If i worked as a window cleaner - i would be really scared. I sat an watch these window cleaners at work and they do work really fast. The hanging system the window cleaners used, i also saw construction workers use.

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 27mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposures: 7

Times Square In Manhattan, New York

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

This was our last evening in Manhattan, New York. Last chance to photograph Times Square and of course, it had to rain. Still i had to shoot it, there where no tomorrow. I decided to do the processing a la Trey Ratcliff, from stuckincustoms.com. Here's one of his shots from Times Square: Not Lost in New York. After doing the processing and seeing the final result i realized...i was just being yet another copycat. Threw it out and did it my style. For you who haven't been to Time Square: its a major intersection in Manhattan at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue. Stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets and its always full of life.

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 27mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposures: 5

Flatiron Building

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

It seems like everybody takes pictures of the Flatiron building from the ground, so i decided to do it from the Empire State building. If you do not know the Flatiron building, it is the one on the right, having a triangular shape. The Flatiron building was design by Daniel Burnham. The construction of the Flatiron building was completed in 1902 and at that time, it was one of the tallest building in New York. Also it was one of the first buildings to use a steel skeleton. The Flatiron building is 87 meters high. I balanced my telephoto lens on the rail on top of the Empire State building and shot as many brackets as i could. Only four was usable....

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 300mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposures: 4

Top Of Fisketorvet

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:00:00 +0100

This is from the parking lot at fisketorvet. Fisketorvet has this really great looking glass pyramid. The only downside is that you need to drive to the top, to actually see it. I have been going up to the parking lot on top of fisketorvet a couple of times. Each time, the sky wasn't the way i wanted it. This evening visit to fisketorvet was well worth it. The sky was clear and there was a purple/blue-tone to the sky.
The processing of this: "Top Of Fisketorvet" is a mixture of two different tone mappings and then they have been blended with a hdr, treated with exposure; in Photoshop.

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 27mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposures: 9

Scavenger Hunt

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I always enter where im probably not suppose to. I thought this building would be empty, but to my surprise all kinds of things could be found. My pictures goes through many steps before they get published. Its so easy to sit and create something that looks really good at ten in the evening, but when you look at it again at 8 in the morning, your thinking: what was i thinking?!..
So, since i also do music, i have taken my "way" in music and transferred it to my photo post processing routine. Recording is of course shooting the darn thing. Day one: Rough mix is where i do the basic editing, balancing the photo so to speak. Day two: Fine tuning, adding effects. In music it would be eq, reverbs, delays, compressors. Getting a good overall mix/photo. Day three: Mastering. Adding the final touches i missed or removing the ones i overdid. Sharpening and saving for web. Done.
So is it worth it ? you decide, for just this one i am going to give you the correctly exposed (for the car) ONE shot of the location

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 27mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposures: 10

International Karate

Mon, 26 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I remember playing International Karate on my Commodore 64 for several hours each day, only stopping when my dad wanted to see the news. We only had one TV when i was a kid, so we had to share. I was always the figure wearing the white dōgi. I practiced Kyokushinkai Karate from when i was around 8-9 years old and until i was 11. Many years later i took it up again, but because of back problems i had to stop. I miss it. This shot is from the company where i work, i guess it was international play day - today.
The founder of Kyokushinkai Karate, Masutatsu Ōyama died at the age of 70, on April 26, 1994, of lung cancer, as a non-smoker.

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 40mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposures: 9

New York, Dog Pretzel Sausage Stand

Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

To me, this represents New York. These small food stands are all over town. They sell almost everything. Soda, dogs, pretzels, sausage, bread, nuts and the list goes on. I didn't get to taste a dog from one of these stands, but i did try a pretzel. My son like pretzels, but im not really into it. We also went into a shopping center and on the way out, all my gear set of the alarm. My son was eating a pretzel and the security guard said: "I had to give up on my diet, because of those pretzels. So good! Oh its just your gear setting of the alarm, no worries." She didn't even check my bag...

Camera: Nikon D200
Focal length: 50mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposures: 7