fotografie - 17.2.2011 - 11.6.2011

Black Stone Raiders

Already on Friday evening - but only uploaded today. We were at the concert of the Black Stone Raiders with Jean-Paul Bourelly on guitar, Darryl Jones (the bassist of the Rolling Stones) and Will Calhoun on drums. Quite a wild story, the picture is already typical for Bourelly, who really shouts around during the concert. Very loud, very strange in parts. Reminded me often of Jimmi Hendrix (Bourelly is also said to be like that). It was interesting, but I don't think that's my kind of music.

Green Space Maintenance

In Münster, there was once again entertainment in the green spaces (actually already the second weekend this year), the first time for Juliana. We had fun again, my personal favorite was Ruben Grimm, really great music and brilliantly performed. I also made a small video of Ruben Grimm.

Bonn

Drove to Bonn with Juliana - visit to the Russian consulate for documents. Not completely successful, but we then also looked at Bad Godesberg and Bonn, also beautiful.

Recently on Flickr

I have uploaded new pictures to Flickr. Here they are - unsorted and uncommented. Ok, one comment must be: my princess is here!

MS Optical Super Triplet Perar 3.5/35 Mark II. A reissue of an exotic lens for Leica M - this time with direct M-mount, no more screw mount with adapter. It would indeed tempt me, but I already have a 35mm and with the Zeiss C-Biogon, the triplet can't really compete. The compactness of the lens is great, though. I hope the 200-unit production run sells out quickly, so I won't be tempted anymore.

ZenphotoPress is a WordPress plugin that allows you to access images and galleries in ZenPhoto from WordPress. Since you can upload entire folders to ZenPhoto via FTP or other methods (e.g., by simply linking the Albums directory to Dropbox), and thus easily get images into galleries, you can also quickly and easily access these images in WordPress. Might be something as a tinkering project, as I'm still looking for simple ways to feed my photo blog from Lightroom.

From Me To You. Fascinating not-quite-photos and not-quite-films. A bit of background information on how these GIFs are made. And another site that does something similar.

match Technical Services. Or also "Pimp your Leica" - because he delivers some interesting accessories (ocular loupes, thumb holders, silly-looking soft releases) and the practical M-Coder Kit, with which you can apply the coding to the Leica lenses (or also third-party lenses) for automatic recognition on the M8/M8.2/M9 yourself (temporarily, as the color wears off when changing). I'm still considering whether it's worth it - the M-lenses (and the Zeiss lens) that I have are characterized by very slight deviations from the optimum. Both in terms of distortion and vignetting (it has advantages when you waive ultra-brightness), so I haven't felt the need for the corrections from the lens profile yet.

Variochromat Homepage. Because I had forgotten about the place again and was looking for where the heck I had the digital exposure on baryta paper done back then. The result was actually quite good, especially considering that I sent a JPG from a compact camera (from the Ricoh GRD II, even an unprocessed one - I'm not afraid of anything!).

The Best Street Photographer You've Never Heard Of - everyone interested in street photography should check this out. Also feel free to browse through the links in the article.

City Walk Again

Same day as the city harbor, just a bit earlier and in black and white. Also made with the M8 and the C-Biogon 2.8/35.

Around the City Harbor

Just went for a walk with the M8 in the evening and took some pictures at the harbor in the late twilight.

Kirk Tuck: Approval. Tacit Approval. Implied Approval and "Street Photography.". There's also something that always makes me think: how to deal with street photography? It doesn't happen to me very often - I usually don't photograph people (or only as a side note), but part of it is also simply because it makes me uncomfortable to just photograph someone. It's just not really my thing.

Blurb Plug-In For Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 | Blurb. Wow, that sounds really good - the books are priced as a real alternative to those from iPhoto and the available options sound good too - and even the shipping costs are not really problematic with normal Priority-Mail. I really need to check it out, because at the moment I always have to push my photos through iPhoto. Additionally, Blurb also allows you to sell photo books online (if it should not only be private books).

Weekly Market. Even More Colorful.

The riot of colors at the weekly market in the sun is simply great. And the Sony NEX-3 with the 2.8/16mm is at least not so bad in sunshine. However, I still hope that the Zeiss 1.7/24mm will come soon, about which there are rumors - because the sensor can do much more than the lens delivers. And somehow I have the impression that manual focusing with the M8 not only gives me more fun, but also hits better.

Munster. Colorful.

Just a series of pictures from walks in Münster, unsorted and without much commentary.

the m8 metadata project. Information about the EXIF metadata in Leica M8 image files. Very interesting, especially because of the information about the estimated aperture - the M8 has the mysterious blue dot for this, which is used to determine the ambient light and then, by comparing it with the TTL measurement, an approximate aperture is derived. I had already wondered why in Lightroom my pictures had meaningful aperture values ...

Lake and Castle Garden

Just a series of pictures I took today while walking around the Aasee and to the castle. On May 1st, people usually go on an outing here in the area - and in the city, most outings end up on the meadows around the Aasee (and at the canal, but I wasn't there today), which is why the Aasee then turns into a giant barbecue party.

Handkerchief Tree

I believe I have photographed this tree almost every year in its bloom. But this time I was there quite early in the bloom, so the petals still look really beautiful. The handkerchief tree is in the Botanical Garden. The photos were taken with the Leica M8 and the C-Biogon 2.8/35.

Download Adobe Lens Profile Creator Preview - Adobe Labs. At the bottom of the page are download links. Once the mentioned Profile Creator, with which you can create your own profiles for cameras and lenses. But almost even more interesting is a Profile Downloader - with this you can download profiles from other Lightroom users. This can be useful if there is no profile from Adobe for your own combination yet. I also need to check if there is already a profile for the Zeiss C-Biogon (although it hardly needs one, it behaves so kindly when used).

Geotagging: Fotospot makes digital cameras GPS-capable. Rube Goldberg Geotagging. Honestly, people, if you actually need to carry around a local WLAN with a server to geotag your photos, then it doesn't matter if the server is shoved into the hot shoe of your camera - that's just silly. Just buy a camera that has on-board geotagging. Or a simple tip: with the iPhone and the built-in camera app (because of the metadata) just take a photo at every location, and then later transfer the geodata from these images to the others - there's already finished software for various systems that does this.

Lightroom Auto Sync: HOW to use it. Wow. I've been using Lightroom for a long time, but I didn't know that - you can enable automatic synchronization of settings, so that when you make changes to images in a series, you can jump between these images and make changes, but these are applied to all images. Very practical if you want a consistent look for a series of images, but you need to experiment with all the images to see what that look will be.

Leica Summilux 35mm / 1.4 ASPH FLE. Does anyone have 3700 Euros to spare for me? Unfortunately, I don't, and that's how much this gem would cost me. I'll probably stick with my 700 Euro Zeiss C-Biogon 35/2.8, though I'm missing two stops of light intensity.

Münster declares its colors

In spring, colors explode in Münster - many cherry trees, rhododendron bushes, and magnolia trees in public areas and in front gardens (yes, in Münster many townhouses still have front gardens with real plants instead of concrete slabs!), even basement windows directly on the sidewalk get a few flowers. In winter, one almost forgets how beautiful the city can be. The title is derived from a regular planting action by the city gardeners - and can also be found as a planted area on the promenade at Aegidii-Straße.

Nature Conquers History

I just found it interesting how a cheeky shrub has settled on the monument.

Zwinger in Münster

The Zwinger in Münster is an old gun turret from the early 16th century, which, among other things, was used as a prison and execution site by the Gestapo during World War II. Today, it is part of the city museum. The Zwingerbezwingerin is a Ganesha statue in the garden of a house on the other side of the Promenade, opposite the Zwinger.

Kodak DC20 Data Sheet. My first digital camera. It was somehow funny. The Wayback Machine has archived my old homepage, on which I made a photo gallery from Münster with the camera.

Kodak 760m Review. And another camera exotic: the Kodak without anti-aliasing and without Bayer filter. So raw black and white, directly from the chip. I would wish one could order his cameras today without Bayer - because black and white is just fun.

Minolta Dimage RD3000 Digital Camera Review: Intro and Highlights. Because we talked about it in the office today - one of the most interesting camera systems that never caught on. So to speak, the precursor to what is today Micro 4/3, or the Sony NEX system represents. And namely a digital SLR for the Minolta APS SLR system.

And because I'm writing about locks right now...

... it is currently being renovated (widened). And I fear that the very modern result will not excite me as much as the old lock. The old one at least had charm. The construction site itself is of course interesting just because of its size, despite everything.

Munster. In Black and White.

Oh well, silly title, but I just can't think of anything else. These are just a few corners that I really liked as black and white images. Someday I need to come up with a way to present photos in my blog without titles and text. Photos with the M8 and the C-Biogon 2.8/35. This is slowly becoming my favorite lens on the M8.

Why do I do what I do

If only I knew ... (Existentialism in the evening is best cured with Guinness. Dosage as needed.)

Men's Toys

And I don't even like driving a car ... (yes, yes, Münster, the Sylt of Westphalia)

USB Port

Uli Stemmler Band at the harbor. Do you see what I did? Haha. Ok, I'm already quiet. But the band makes nice Sunday afternoon jazz. Photo with the Sony NEX-3 and the Zeiss C-Biogon 2.8/35.

Miscellany from Hamburg

Was in Hamburg on Saturday again - why not enjoy the beautiful weather in one of the most beautiful cities in Germany. The pictures are all taken with the Leica M8 and the Elmar-M 2.8/50, except the last one, which is taken with the Ricoh GRD II. Nothing special, just a collection of what I looked at. And in color, because I want to show it to Juliana.

Pängelanton

The Karnevalsverein Pängelanton operates a small railway museum in Münster Gremmendorf and in front of it stands this black-and-red beauty built in 1902. I am a railway enthusiast and this little locomotive is indeed a rarity that also motivates visitors from farther regions to visit. Photo taken with the Ricoh GRD II.

Send in Münster again

In Münster, it's Send again. This time for a whole week because of the large rides - the Ferris wheel and the roller coaster are already quite impressive. One doesn't quite realize how big the Send actually is, only when you see the large rides during setup and then later at the finished Send, the whole surrounding area makes it clear. The Hindenburgplatz is also considered one of the largest inner-city open spaces in Germany. Photos, by the way, again with the M8.

Tuckesburg and the old zoo

The Tuckesburg is the old residence of the executioner in Münster - and later the retirement home of Prof. Landois, the founder of the Münster Zoo and the developer of the Aa Lake. I've already had this some time ago, but it's always a nice subject. Photos with the M8 and the Elmarit-M 2.8/50.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 * Exporting using Publish Services. Well, Adobe has Photoshop.com - and just expanded it. And promotes it as a better alternative to Flickr. How serious Adobe is about this can be seen in the Publish Services in Lightroom 3. Facebook, Flickr, and SmugMug are offered out of the box. Even on the Lightroom Exchange, I found nothing about connecting to Photoshop.com. Well done, Adobe. Very convincing.

After Church Club

Finally managed to make it to the Hot Jazz Club on a Sunday again. Tom's introduction: "Today with me, so there will be blues. And only blues. You can't defend yourself against it."

Kiepenkerle (Kiepenkerls?)

The Kiepenkerle are kind of a landmark in Münster. These two were in front of the Lamberthi Church when I walked by. The one made of stone is always there, the other one gives city tours. Mainly photographed for Juliana - she already knows the Kiepenkerl at Spiekerhof. And yes, I know, they are not actually Kiepenkerle, because they don't carry a kiepe, they are just the guys.

Update: I've included the Kiepenkerl from Spiekerhof here.

Door Figures

These door figures were created by Berndhard Kleinhans and are located at the Überwasserkirche in Münster at the side entrance on the south side. Photos taken with the Leica M8 and the Zeiss C-Biogon 2.8/35mm.

ShutterSnitch. Interesting little app with which you can receive images via WiFi on the iPad and automatically tag them with metadata and geocoding - could be a rather interesting combination with an EyeFi card in my Sony or my Panasonics (the M8 unfortunately cannot be used with EyeFi - the SD slot on the M8 is too narrow for the EyeFi and the metal body blocks too much of the weak signal). Simply connect the camera, put the iPad in the backpack and walk around and take snapshots and occasionally use the iPad as an extra-large lightbox.

Rob Galbraith DPI: Alex Majoli points and shoots. Just as a reminder that it's the photographer who makes the pictures and not the camera. So the design of the image. And yes, "flat depth of field" is not always the answer to "what makes a good picture".

blueMarine is a project I was previously unaware of, taking inspiration from Lightroom and Aperture. However, it currently has no RAW editing functions (while Darktable has non-destructive editing), but focuses solely on image management. This might actually work in my favor for Linux, as I usually just want to view images there, with editing mostly happening on the Mac.

darktable seems to have completely passed me by unnoticed - an open-source alternative to Adobe Lightroom for Linux. I should really take a look at it. I really like Lightroom, but it's always good to know an alternative, as there's no guarantee that I'll always like Adobe in later versions ... (and for Linux I will always need an alternative as long as Adobe doesn't support Linux)

Weekly Market in Münster

With the dreary winter weather at the moment, the weekly market is not only a good opportunity to get the food I want to prepare over the weekend, but also a real feast for the eyes. I need colors! (Pictures with the Sony NEX-3 and the 2.8/16mm lens)

Hundreds of Tourist Photos Weaved into One (18 total) - My Modern Metropolis. Many tourists photograph the same subjects from the same angles - and here someone has layered many of these images on top of each other and produced composite images. Gives the images a wonderful painterly impression.

Fairytales

Sometimes the differences between what we see, what the camera captures, and what we imagine are too fundamentally different. Digital enables the adjustment of the appearance to the imagination - because photography is not always just a simple representation of what the chip sees. Images taken with the Sony NEX-3 and the Leica Elmar 50/2.8. Edited with Lightroom.

Totally wild: MS Optical Super Triplet Perar 3.5/35. A lens produced in a very small series (only 200 pieces) for the Leica-M bayonet. The basis is a triplet - i.e. a three-lens - but designed with modern calculations and modern glass types. Of course, triplets have known problems - some show up in a softer drawing and lower line resolution, others in the rather meager light strength. Nevertheless, the little guy is pretty cool. Unfortunately, the edition is already completely sold out. For my M8 (and the NEX-3 with adapter) it became a C Biogon 2.8/35 from Zeiss for me. That is already a much more classic calculation and execution, also not so super light-strong, but nicely compact. And Zeiss-typical "chön charf". I admit, however, if Leica had a retractable Elmar 2.8/35 or 3.5/35 (i.e. new, not the old, known lens for screw Leicas - the old one has too many optical defects by today's standards), I could get weak (Elmare are four-lens, I already use a 2.8/50 and 4.0/90, both retractable, the 50 is a hybrid: a four-lens triplet, i.e. the last two lenses cemented).