The girl with the pearl earring

Jeune Senegalaise, originally uploaded by gugs.

This is painting by a friend of mine, Pilou Depris, inspired by a picture I took in a school in Casamance, Sénégal, Africa.


The original picture is:

Canon S90

VA3_0532, originally uploaded by gugs.

The best P&S on the market... excellent low light capabilities, usable ISO1600 pictures, very nice user interface and personalization possibilities... highly recommended. A 10MP small P&S with image quality comparable to the best DSLRs just a few years ago.

For more information, have a look at my wiki http://www.techniphoto.com/wiki/index.php?title=S90

Seasonal greetings

VA3_0389, originally uploaded by gugs.

The winter is approaching... so here is a pic shot in Aachen, Christmas market. Tamron 28-300VC on the Nikon D3.

Smoke effects

A very interesting experiment by Michel Rohan, a French photographer. This picture is his. An article describes the method and the setup to generate this kind of image. See the photography wiki here: http://www.techniphoto.com/wiki/index.php?title=Smoke_pictures

BW processing

VA3_0239, originally uploaded by gugs.

I tried a strange processing on this one, playing with the different color channels, to get more details in the sky, but resulting in a strange "negative" effect in some places. I like the result, but this is of course a matter of taste. This shot has been taken in the center of Brussels, with a Nikkor 24-70 2.8 lens on a Nikon D3 camera, for what it's worth.
Any comments or suggestions welcome.

High ISO

VA3_7757, originally uploaded by gugs.

This is a bit of a crazy picture: this has been taken in the dark, with a ridiculously long lens (200-400VR) on a D3 at ISO 6400, with a very slow shutter speed. The wrong configuration at the wrong place... but the result is in fact what I wanted.

Bellows

D2X_8311, originally uploaded by gugs.

an interesting accessory: the PB-5 bellows attachment, with tilt and shift possibilities for precision macro work and or product photography. These things are not made anymore and can only be found used.

Sunrise in Turkey

D2X_8192, originally uploaded by gugs.

Shot in the morning from the Palmiye Club Med resort in Turkey, close to Antalya. Camera was Nikon D2x with a consumer grade Tamron 28-300VC (stabilized) lens.

Falkirk

scotland -115, originally uploaded by gugs.

a major Scottish tourist attraction: the Falkirk wheel, here shot with the 14-24 2.8 Nikkor lens on the D3 camera.

Castle

VA3_9759, originally uploaded by gugs.

A postcard from Scotland.... one of the most photographed castles in the world... shot with the Nikon D3 and the Tamron 28-75 2.8 lens. The special thing about this picture was the nice weather :D

Model train effect

VA3_9403, originally uploaded by gugs.

An example shot using a tilt lens (here a Ukranian 80mm 2.8 Arsat lens - Nikon mount). By tilting the lens, you get a strange focus spread, showing things in different planes being in focus. This is called the Scheimpflug effect. This results in pictures looking like model train pictures. This one has been shot in Switzerland. More info on the lens on my wiki:
http://www.techniphoto.com/wiki/index.php?title=80mm_2.8_ARSAT_tilt

Lensbaby

VA3_8652, originally uploaded by gugs.

Special effect created with a Lensbaby on a Nikon body. The lens is a kind of cheap piece of plastic allowing tilt effects combined with macro capabilities by using close-up lenses. The effect is not exactly predictable but you can play with the depth of focus and the focus orientation.

Contre-jour

var -39, originally uploaded by gugs.

A picture I took during a steam festival in Maldegem, Belgium. The camera I used was the Nikon D3 with the 24-70 2.8 lens. It was in the afternoon, on a sunny day, so I decided to shoot into the sun like this and to process in B/W to get something a bit special.

Flower

VA3_7726, originally uploaded by gugs.

This is a bit of a crazy picture. It has been shot with a totally unadapted configuration: the 200-400mmVR lens on the D3 camera, a combo usually used for wildlife or sport from a distance, never to shoot close-ups like this. But at the end, I liked the result.

Wiki

wiki, originally uploaded by gugs.

I started a Wiki about Photography. Some information is coming from my website and I try to add a few pages every week. I am looking for contributors to grow the content and also to add reviews about equipment I don't own or use. Feel free to contact me and to drop a message if you are interested. Anything about photography can be interesting, pictures included...

The wiki in its current version can be consulted here:
http://www.techniphoto.com/wiki

Simulated HDR

DSC_3519 new, originally uploaded by gugs.

A picture with a kind of simulated HDR (high dynamic range). I have applied my own "hdr like" processing in Photoshop to get that special look. Details and the original picture can be found here:
Simulated HDR on my wiki

Contest

Wemmel, originally uploaded by gugs.

One of my pictures (the bird) published by the local magazine of my home town...

Spring

portrait-52, originally uploaded by gugs.

A simple flower, shot vertically (lens pointing down) with the 105VR macro lens used at f4.0 to get a shallow depth of field. Camera used: the good old D2x, the Nikon flagship a number of years ago.

Low light Lion King

HK3_4209, originally uploaded by gugs.

The advantage of technology: the Lion King in Disneyland Hong Kong, photographs allowed, but NO FLASH, so here we are: ISO3200 on the D3, f3.2 on the 70-200VR (vibration reduction on) with a slow shutter speed: 1/50th hand held...

Portrait

VA3_7139, originally uploaded by gugs.

A nice portrait I shot in Sénégal, in a local school... the colors make me think of the painting by Vermeer, the Girl with the pearl earring...
see here for instance:
http://girl-with-a-pearl-earring.20m.com/
Shot with the 70-200VR lens on the Nikon D3 camera. The lens has been used at 5.6 to blur the background and get enough depth of field on the face.

D40x + 35 1.8 P&S

D40x + 35 1.8 P&S, originally uploaded by gugs.

An interesting high quality compact camera and a highly recommended combo. I added the recently released 35mm1.8 lens to the D40x camera (same body as the D60). The 35mm is approximately equivalent to the 50mm everybody was using on film reflex cameras in the good old days. High quality, no zoom (use your feet), back to the good old photography... I really love this camera for the compactness and the light weight. Everybody should give it a try.

Tilt lens

studio -2, originally uploaded by gugs.

A funny or strange depth of field effect created with a tilt lens, an Ukranian ARSAT 80mm lens. Everything is sharp in the length... not so easy to manage.
See here for more info:
http://www.techniphoto.com/wiki/index.php?title=80mm_2.8_ARSAT_tilt

HK Central tramways

HK Central tramways, originally uploaded by gugs.

a funny experience with a free tool found on the net (thanks to a colleague on FredMiranda.com. The site is http://www.poladroid.net .
You can download a utility to do this kind of polaroid conversion, very funny and with that crazy old-fashioned look...

Shadow

HK3_4070, originally uploaded by gugs.

a simple shot. Disneyland Hong Kong... speaks for itself

Hong Kong by night

HK3_4872, originally uploaded by gugs.

I liked this one for the colors and the light. Shot in Hong Kong in the evening... (Mong Kok)

Happiness

HK3_4447, originally uploaded by gugs.

a simple street shot in one of the Hong Kong islands, simple universal joy of a kid playing... shot with the D3 with the 70-200VR, converted to BW in post-processing.

Chinese texture

HK3_4793, originally uploaded by gugs.

I liked the material and the textures here. Shot on the hill next to Shatin in Hong Kong. Nikon D3+24-70 2.8 lens.