Morning part: The basic setup is taken from www.ImagingPrep.com so I don’t feel right about showing you too much, but you will be able to follow my progress thru the reflections and before after shots. Anyone know where to get transparent white wax that I can use as glue? Now I’m using the yellow bee thingi..

In day two I really felt I didn’t get the shape right, and so I put small pieces of black foam board around until I got the shape that I wanted. Now I did a very quick PS5 fix and no dirt removal (just a tiny bit) and I now understand the importans of gloves! :D

Before

How do you feel? Better than day 2?

Alright, it’s not really day two, but at least it’s first shot! I dealed a little with it in Photoshop and will play more with reflections to get the right feel (but not in Photoshop, but on the set). What do you think? It’s ISO50. I think I will get more black in the corners of the ring, like a black frame somehow. Also it’s a little too tilted. :) But that’s not the important part right now.

Right now, I only play with fake rings – will get the real stuff when it’s time for the real deal. About 200 of them.

Light from above, two paper reflectors on the side. Elinchrom Quadra. Sigma SD15, Sigma 70mm.

above: Double size output

One more thing, I wasn’t thinking about publishing these at first so I saved them as jpeg from Sigma Photo Pro – but then I thought that it would be much easier for her to find her photos if were published. I never before published photos that has been edited from jpeg and then re-saved as jpeg again. mmm.. I wonder how much has been lost?

above: Double size output.

Photo taken by Martin Carlsson using a Canon 5D Mark2

Me and my friend Martin Carlsson had one of our nerdy meetings yesterday. We didn’t have a real plan, more then go out for a session but weather was really as dull as it gets and none of us felt really happy about it so Martin came up with this truly excellent idea to try out some extreme macro using the reversed lens technique.

I thought the idea was brilliant, especially in mind that I had my trusty 70mm macro that probably would become like a microscope and what if I turned my 120-300 bigma around? Would that make me see atoms for real? I was pretty sure I would so we made a setup with my Quadra, a bunch of lenses and a VISA card. Mostly because people know what it looks like.

Now, here’s a shot with the Sigma 70mm Macro NOT reversed. You get pretty close by doing nothing, just using it as it’s supposed to be used. This is as close as you get. (and don’t you dare try using those numbers!!!)

Now I reversed it but to my surprise nothing much happened. I didn’t get any closer. hmm. I ran out getting myself a bigger gun. My 70-200mm 2.8 lens. I swong it around and it gave me less then the 70mm, at least at 200m. 70mm looked closer. So I figured that my assumption of more mm was wrong. So I got myself my 17-70. At least I could try and see if wider meant closer.

Sure enough, soon I was traveling over the VISA cards surface and maan was it a beauty. I never thought a piece of plastic could look this beautiful. Close to the same feeling looking at Avatar in 3D for the first time. :D

So if 17mm meant closer what was my next step? The 12-24 (which Martin now tried in the background) was a bit tricky because of the round frontal lens. But I did have something even wider – my 10-20!

Now, the 17mm was difficult enough to control. Every breath and dare I say heart beat effected my steadiness greatly and things didn’t get easier with the 10-20 at 10mm. It was really tricky, to give you a feeling for how shallow depth of field is I tried to catch the top of one of those small letters on the card.. See how background fades away! Nice bokeh too! :D

It was EASY to miss, either you got the top, bottom or just a big blur. All depending on who touched the table or walked the floor or if a big bird flew outside my window.

Now, what’s next? All above shots has been taken wide open. I had no idea how to change aperture on a lens that wasn’t mounted but Martin had an idea. By changing the Aperture while mounted he then pressed the “aperture test button” and while holding the button he gently released the lens and oala – aperture was still at wanted f-stop! Now things got even more interesting!

How about Linns face at f8 – f32?

Or why not some fine salt? (not sea salt or anything huge like that)

Or the landscape of a swedish 20kr bill? And yes, the black part of the image was me not holding the reversed lens perfectly aligned. It wasn’t that easy!

And finally Martin started staring into a good old light bulb – as if the quadras flashes and strong LED wasn’t enough disturbing. I’m pretty sure Martin took some better shots with his 5D but here’s my only sharp one. Or at least, a bit sharp. Lamp never stood really still and it was terribly hard to take a decent shot.

But I got pretty close! :)

Alright, if you have your own shots to share, then please do! (it’s easy to do when you post a comment).

Second batch from the session with my students only this time I involved a little bit more photoshop. All these are available as big size (around 4573 x 3048px = 14MP) in this flickr set they’re all developed using Sigma Photo Pro 2.5 for PC and later post processed on a Mac.

But there is many more images to be developed, I might put out a few more.

We had real fun last night – me and my young peoples group. I told them to add some make up this time and telling by these shots, at least there is some hair spray! They’re all saved as double size output – so if you want to see what they look like as huge printable pictures – please go to my flickr page and enjoy.

This time I didn’t use the DP1 – only SD14. Lenses used was Sigmas 28mm, 70mm, 70-200 and 50mm 1.4. All of them performed splendidly!

Hans Gardelach story, translated and partly edited by me and google.

[slightly updated] My dad was a alcoholic, mom divorced and we moved in with another man. Some guy from the neighborhood tricked me down into a basement and raped me when I was four years old. I was almost beaten to death at the age of 12 and a couple of years later raped again by another man.

Life had gone wrong for me. It was very noisy at home, and I became an easy victim of flower power-wave and its drug culture in the late 60′s.

I took pills and alcohol. Some time later became heavier drugs and homelessness my everyday. Moreover, I soon ended up in sexual perverts circuits; porn industry, porn clubs, gay and transgender sexual small. I was in prison the first time in 1970, followed by the juvenile school, hospital, nursing and more prisons. After release from the last prison sentence in 1977, I realized that my life must change. I tried to get the record straight through hard work and marriage. But it burst again soon and I fell back into my old habits. 1985, I was saved, but still fell back into the gross abuse two years later. I had met Jesus, but thought that he would turn around and follow me.

In 1989 I became HIV-infected by the woman that I then lived with. I took the death sentence almost as a relief. I thought; “O how nice, now would society have to take care of me.”

No matter how much I drank or how much dope I pumped into my veins, I experienced no satisfaction. Already in 1993, the HIV infection progressed to AIDS, and this because of my hard abuse. Three years later, in 1996, the disease had taken life out of me – all hope was out. Immune system weakened rapidly. The doctors told me: “We can not help you if you continue like this.” I had in August 1996 only two months left to live. Carls note: The medical record from this time said the following translated again..

“18 / 7 -96 showed HIV-RNA PCR extremely high virus levels in the blood, 6.6 million copies / ml. Help cells has fallen compared with November -95, now only 160 x 10 per liter. “

After receiving this information I went and sat on a bench outside the S:t Clara church in central Stockholm. I drank a large bottle of strong wine and thought about what it would feel like to die and when it would happen. Then suddenly I heard a voice within me that said: “Where did Jesus go?” I felt strongly that I just have to get back to Jesus. I went into the church and spoke with a deaconess. I told her that I would die soon, but I first wanted to ask Jesus for forgiveness before I died.

A bit later I had come to a Christian treatment center, mostly to receive a dignified death. I began to eat anti-retro viral medicines, called out to God and asked to be cured, but was constantly deteriorating. I was getting weaker and weaker with everyday that passed. My body smelled strongly, I had three loose teeth in my mouth and I was looking very thin. I really was a walking dead – but at least I was among people who loved me.

One day I received a clear appeal from God: “Make up with your conscience. Now is the time that you put your self-pity aside and deal with everything, that you have done against others, but above all, as you have done to yourself as my image. I also found this verse in the Bible, John letter, Chapter 1, verse 9, which says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, so that He will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” – I took this verse serious.

I started cleaning up the conscience to confess all my sins, even though it was very painful. I was sweating all over my body but I had made my decision to get all debris out! In a couple of hours, I presented and confessed to a pastoral the drug and sexual addiction, which had been my life. After two hours the man said – Well done Hasse, now come back in a week and we’ll continue. 

In a few months time, I wrote down everything that floated up in the memory of sins from the old life. After reading and confessing I threaded all notes.

He forgives and cleanses
Something within me broken and I can honestly say that I have not had a single demand for drugs since that date. The odd thing happened to the immune system started to grow and heal out. A couple of months later I my doctors checked me and my AIDS had gone down to “untraceable”  Today I am healthy and have a strong immune system. Carls note: Medical records again, saying the following: 

“Patient with AIDS diagnosis since -93 on drugabusing basis. Lives now in treatment in Västervik. On Epivir, Crixivan, and has gone down from 6.6 million copies to 0 in a few months.”

I have at the time of writing have not had a single HIV-virus in any of all of the tests for now over thirteen years. I’m checked about four times a year to be on the safe side.

As a bonus, another healing in 2006. I had hepatitis A, B and two types of C (the worst and the kindest type). Some of which I had since the late 60′s. So in early 2006, after my doctors did a liver biopsy they found out that instead of dealing with interferon (cancer treatment) – to save me from dying in liver cancer or more likely in cirrhosis – my liver was completely healed.

Carl again:
Well guys. Not sure what you think about all this, I’m very happy to have been able to meet with this guy. I don’t know if anyone with AIDS have been cured before but looking at him, and his wonderful, loving eyes and listen to his story – it’s special.

Update: He also gave me this picture that a doctor gave him about what he was like back in 96. It’s like parking an old car in the forest for 30 years. Rust will eat it’s way thru everything and the only thing left will be a spidernet of old metal. No medicine will work, because there is nothing for it to catch onto. The same thing with Hasses body when having two month left to live. Beyond repair.

Oh, and yes, I’ve seen medical records from before and after – that’s something I just HAD to see with my own eyes. My second name must for sure be Thomas. ;)  I can’t put them online though because they can be missused.

I had an incredible meeting with this man the other day. This guy had full blown AIDS back in 1996 – but not only AIDS he also suffered from hepatite A, B and two types of C. (the most evil and the kindest type). Today he’s alive and kicking – he has no hepatite and no AIDS virues what so ever – and his story is mindblowing. Will get back to this.

Once more I used one light, you even see it bright and clear including ME in their eyes. Aperture differs quite a lot in these shots from f3.2 to f8. I did notice that the 28mm sharpens up quite a lot with aperture. Sweet spot around F8 as normal, but this one really becomes VERY sharp at f8. Most of these shots are done with the 28mm. It’s my favorite studio lens. (I wish I had the 20mm and the 24mm as well).

His music happens to be very good, listen at www.broshan.com (or at their myspace page)

Another really fun wedding session, this time a bit north or everything in a town called Mariestad – more famous for it’s fine beer. It was a bit tricky as Linn is now working down south as a guide on a castle and she couldn’t be my assistant. I really wanted that – so we improvised and used the best man for the job. Lucky for Jon and Carolina, it worked great! You can actually see him on several shots.

Oh, I also improved my car shooting style thingi – fun stuff! Lucky for me we had the time needed to play.

Cameras used was SD14 and DP1 – I had many lenses with me – more or less all but I ended up using the trusty 12-24 the most as I love the cokin filter border effect so much. Second place I think is 30 or 50mm 1.4 not sure as 50 is so new for me I tend to reach for the 30mm. 120-300 does give me joy when needed. It’s not very easy to find good occations or locations for it but when it’s time then it’s great!

I also noticed a slight magenta cast in some of the “just out of the church” shots – just so you know. :D

When open the whole article more pictures appears as well as some whom has been shown already above. Don’t be frightened about that, it’s perfectly normal.

About a week ago I received the much awaited (at least by me) close up lens made by Sigma. I must say that I was happily surprised about the little leather box that came with the lens! Soooo retro and beautifully crafted! WELL DONE SIGMA! Now, is the lens as good as the box it came in? :D

I’ve read numerous threads over at dpreview on different solutions and I’ve seen magnificent macro shots with all sorts of filters – some good, some not so good. Now, when the Sigma AML-1 was announced I was a bit surprised on the closest distance which is 20cm – not very Macro on a 28mm lens is it?! :D and in order to show you just how close 20cm is and what it feels like – I made this little video. If you watch it on Youtube then you can see it in higher resolution. Embedded is low res.

The lens is very bright – not sure you loose any light. Can’t really see any difference in shutter speeds and the lens says nothing about it. You can’t focus to infinity with it on – but it’s made for closeups so it’s not really a problem. OOF becomes BEAUTIFUL! Especially welcome when you’re making movies. Along with the extremely sharp lens and sensor it becomes almost unreal. Take a look at the shot of Linn, click it and the full version will load. It’s so so detailed. If the DP1 only had MORE resolution when making movies!! :D

Sigma DP1 AML-1 test images" width="500" height="333" />

The AML-1 as a slight negative distortion in corners – The opposite to the type of distortion we’re used to with normal lenses. But it’s not noticeable in day to day images. The picture below shows the effect, look at the window and you’ll understand what I mean.

Conclusion. I should have had TWO lenses or even three and stacked them, that would probably give very nice macros. Right now you don’t get close enough for that type of photography with only one lens. For movies and portraits such as the ones above it’s a wonderful solution and gives you new views – plus that the extreme OOF is perfect for videos.

Btw, the lens / filter itself is very very well made and NO CA can be found. At least not in any of my photos so far. Contrast and sharpnes are really top notch.

I alternated between three different PS plugins to get the look that I wanted or simply to blow out the white background. The ones used most (for white background) is Viveza, the secondly most used is AlienSkin Exposure and the third used for one or two shots is Nik Color Efex Pro.

All shots are here presented in full resolution. Two shots have been slightly cropped. The rest have been left as is.

Click each for full size view. Enjoy!

Yes, it’s me (above and below).

There is more to come.
Click below for some more from this very session.

We had lots of fun and after looking thru the resulting bunch of images I found a couple that I’m willing to share. :) Some flower closeups are pictures taken by Linn, and I’m sure some more. Anyways. 27 Photos to look at. If you can’t get hold of Dry Ice and Liquid Nitrogen, this page might help a little. :D

PS. Thanks Thunderlance and Linn for making this possible.

Above flower and a 16MP crop. Both these shots are developed using Raw Developer 1.7 using X3F file. My friend Filip aka Thunderlance had the wonderful idea of bringing dry ice and liquid Nitrogen to my home. We had fun with it. Not very easy to just take picture of / with it.. but we did try. hehe. Will post more soon.

Or is it an insect? Click image for closer look.

Pictures are mainly taken with Sigma 10-20, Sigma 28mm and Sigma 70mm. Camera used is SD14. This last series contains 36 photos. Processed using Lightroom and Darkroom. (read more about them here) – Assistant was Linn (Liu Dong Yun)

All pictures are linked to my flickr album. Half full size images are available there.

This first part from the hairdresser contains 19 images. Processed using Lightroom and Darkroom. Some images have been altered using Photoshop. (colors) – click on each one for half, full size.

SD14 ISO50 – ISO800

These are developed using Lightroom, I did develop side by side with SPP3 but Iwasn’t sure which one I liked the best so I went for the easy ride. I did try Raw Developer again and I still like the way it handles colors but it’s so much fiddling to get there. Too much work and too little time.

I will tomorrow end my “product” job – it’s now done and we’re very happy with the result. Next up is a week long real estate photo session.

Horse: Picture taken by Elisabeth Ingvarsson. She didn’t know how AF worked.

[edit, text updated #2] We had a great time at the Wedding and I shot something like 700 photos – 83 of them are now published. Their full names was Zeng Xiao Gang and Maria Ådahl – the new name is unknown. [EDIT: Putt Mr and Mrs before, no other changes are made] :D I was too busy taking pictures to listen. Maria, maybe you could add a comment about it?! These pictures will now find its way into a picture book.

The black corners a due to a filter thread that I use sometimes with my wide angles. (I got it very recently) It’s something that could be described as a “sky saver” a faded one stop saving plastic. I felt very happy about using it because it gave me the feeling of 6×6 (you can easily see the black left / right frame on some pictures). It’s much more fun to balance the picture this way (and I got more powerful skies at the same time).

I still wonder why there isn’t any 35mm digital SLR’s that has a square image. That would be so nice! You would never have to think in terms of landscape / portrait any longer. Just like in the good old days!

Click the above picture to see them all. or click here.

Left: DNG – Right X3F

Download RAW pack 3 now.

I just bought a screencast software named iShowU – very small and cool. Makes screen movies in real time in whatever file format you want. Cool! The Lightroom movie you see is made with it.

Software recommended: Sigma Photo Pro, Adobe camera raw 4.1 or Lightroom 1.1

ISO100

ISO100

ISO200 Full size download

ISO100

ISO800

ISO100

ISO800

Camera: SD14. ISO100 – 1600.
Lenses used: Sigma 10-20, 12-24, 30, 50, 70, 70-200 and 120-300 EX DG.
Developed using Adobe Lightroom 1.1.

Go directly to gallery.

I’m going to norway now for a week, so I’ll give a little extra to play with while I’m gone. If you live in Norway and would like to meet I’ll stay close to Ål (Aal), Vats, Farm Langegaard. Give me a ring at +46 734 00 17 17 – I’ll bring my cameras etc so if you wanna see me (and try equipment), please do!

Perfume bottles in a vase

These are taken using a halogen IKEA tablelamp. One of those nasty, strong extreamly hot small lamps you have on your desk. It’s a A3 white paper under the vase and bent up behind, with the light aimed on the paper. Shutter speed is pretty low, so a tripod is needed. around 1/20 – 1/60s at ISO100.

[Bubble photo talk over at www.99.se and www.fotosidan.se ]

Camera: Sigma SD14
Lens: Sigma 70mm 2.8 EX
Full zise: IMG0455__full.jpg

(in firefox the image do look a bit pale, so if it’s pale in your browser, open the full size image in Photoshop. :)

If you want full size, write a comment about it and I might consider posting. :)
To see them all in a bit higher resolution click an image or click here.

120-300 2.8 EX @ 300mm f3.5 [edit: color adjusted]

24-60 2.8 EX @ 50mm f2.8

70 2.8 EX @ 70mm f2.8 (blue desaturated)

70-200 2.8 EX @ 160mm f3.2

Processed using Adobe Lightroom 1.1, camera SD14.

For users of Lightroom I noticed that images in Lightroom looks a bit posterized (speling?!) and that effect disappears when saved (exported) or when opened in photoshop.
Sigma SD14 + 70mm first image." title="Sigma SD14 + 70mm first image." />

Lightroom 1.1
SD14 + Sigma 70mm 2.8 at f4.5 1/160
download full size JPG.