I was having a stroll yesterday together with Bengt – Weather was amazing! Ice creams melting and doves were sing.. making dove sounds. I brought the 85mm and the mighty 50-500 OS – and Bengt mostly used his 18-50mm macro and some oldish film camera from the 30s.

When there is light, there is love! The Sigma produces such stunning captures when light is great and it’s a pleasure to play around is SPP (The RAW developer that comes with the camera for those of you that don’t know). Most shots taken using the 50-500 OS as it has this nice reach and you can shoot anything without confrontations. :) With the 50-500 I’m a ninja. The above boat shot is the only one taken using the 85mm.

The old man on the portrait shot above is worth a close up look, so please look at the original which really shows how great the 50-500 OS can be. Alright, here’s the original of the seagull as well.. Admit it, you all want a lens that can do that! :D Or perhaps the camera?

And finally – I just can’t help myself..

Anyone having the problem that when you focus manually and take a shot, that even if you saw your subject in focus it ended up off?

Well, that’s what happens when your mirror is slightly off – my SD15 mirror has been off since I got it and today I decided to fix that (Sigma says it has to be sent to Japan for them to fix) and it turnes out that it’s actually quite simple and easy to do yourself.

But that’s a different story for another day! :D

First some DP2 shots.. (all images, mixed ISO between 50-400)

Full size: Coffee and milk (ISo200) | Moon above house | Big snow (ISO100)

Then, SD14 + 17-70 and 50mm 1.4 (ISO400). Oil paint shots are both ISO50

Full size: Dad, the man. (ISO400) | Mom, the women. (ISO400) | Tools of art F5 (ISO50)

And some more DP2

Above as full size

And finally some SD14 + 50mm 1.4

Farmer as full size

All images can be found as full size at flickr.com/rytterfalk

I had to brake my online habits again but now I’m back. :) A couple of days ago I went to a friend in Stenungsund and the day was below zero for the first time on a while. Sky was blue and the DP2 was in the back seat with the Polarizer attached! Jaij. All of them has been shot using ISO50, the first one came out overexposed and has been pushed to something like ISO25 and as you see some grass and stone is bleeding. Not too bad though with ISO in mind.

And for everyone with unanswered emails – I’m about to go though everything and you’ll have your answer soon. If you think I’ll forget, please mail again. :)

Now I’m currently waiting for an SPP upgrade and a Mac version of Silkypix. Life’s too slow!!!! Oh and the SD15. ;)

Pretty amazing really how shallow DOF can isolate an object like this. It’s like entering a new world, and I find it very fascinating. Above shot is taken with the Sigma DP2.

Original

As some of you noticed we like mushrooms, and fall in Sweden is like candy store for kids. These mushrooms are called Trattkantareller in Swedish and Cantharellus tubaeformis in Latin. Now you know. And we will dry them and use them during the cold and inhuman Swedish wintertime. See above shot at original size.

Here follows some shots that been on flickr for some time, but without me saying much. These are a bit Strobist as you can see how I did most of them. :) Btw, Everything in this post is developed using Silkypix. I actually learned more on how to use Silkypix since I developed these but they’ll do for now.

original

With the Sigma AML-1 you get closer, and not only that you get even shorter area in focus. You can create new worlds. :) I had the Sigma polarizer attached as well. Further down in this article you will see shots with and without reflections plus a comparison with DP1 and DP2. All except one shot is taken with DP2.

original

Below you seetwo shots, the first – a bit bluish – has the polarizer turned so it allows reflections from the sky. In the second shot I turned the polarizer and oala, reflections are gone, shutter speed is longer and colors are thicker. The whole image look different. SPP settings are more or less the same. (see iphone shots of the exact setup image 1, image 2 and image 3)

Just a 4s forest shot. :)

Above with reflections, Below without. Both shots at f4, the next below has f2.8. AML-1 used.

Below: Playing with different aperture. Fun if you have a good tripod.

f3,2  1/2s – original

f6,3  2s – original

f14 10s – original

Below, DP1 version on the exact same position as above shots. AML-1, f4 1,3s exposure.

Above: This shot was taken in a very dark part of the forest. I couldn’t focus so I used my iPhones bright screen  and put it beside the little mushy and focused. I also used the iPhone to lighten this mushroom a little. it’s a 15s exposure.

All originals can be found at my flickr page. Here’s a link to one of the above shots and you can find the rest beside that one.

All are developed using SPP. No post production made except vignetting on three shots (you see it clearly). Can you match the number to the correct camera? They’re so many so if you pick two shots from each camera that’s enough. The SD14 used a 18-50mm EX lens + polarizer.. Winning what? Great honor! :D

Assisting me this evening was Bengt Werner.

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btw, there is no equal amount between cameras. All full size at flickr.

Wanted to share how to use a Cokin filter with this little movie. I’m currently making my DP2 video review and I’m more or less testing my gear to make it possible. We’re experimenting with a new microphone from Röre.. And I think my voice is pretty clear.

Here’s photos used in above review. They’re pretty quick and dirty so I don’t want you to see them at 100%. That thing we stood on was moving some etc.. :D Btw, when I developed them they looked fine but right now I think they’re bit dark and too saturated. Oh well. :) (I place them under a “more” thing so you don’t find them easily.. haha)

Looks like we had a terrible evening, even the dog seams to be sad. SD14 was bad boy and captured all those interesting moments instead of the happy 98% ones. Well, that’s life. I used a SD14 plus a 10-20mm lens and a cokin natural density graduated p121 filter (if you wanna know) and it really didn’t do much but I felt cool having it on the camera (makes it look bigger, I also attached the battery grip for the same reason). oh well..

Oh and the first shot is a extremely heavy crop. Original shot is like four times the size or more. Last note. I used Raw Developer 1.82 to make these. Nothing done using photoshop but that wasn’t too hard to see. :) Some more after the break.

SD14 + DP1, 12-24 and 120-300 used most on these. Sigma Photo Pro for all color pictures and Raw Developer 1.80 used on all Black and white shots. Aperture for post and publishing.  Click more for more! :D Full size images for all.

120-300. Sigma Photo Pro.

Alright – with my new Mac I had to get started! These are produced with the help of Sigma Photo Pro 3.2 (color shots) and Raw Developer 1.8 (black and white shot). All pictures ends up as 16bit tiffs in Aperture. From aperture I add some final adjustments – sometimes with the help of Viveza and sometimes with a little bit of vignetting etc – it’s mostly for the easy upload to flickr and possibility to add my signature without hazel.
 
Look, it’s me!! :D 12-24, cokin, SPP + aperture. Sky enhanced with Viveza. 

120-300. Sigma Photo Pro. Too warm? Version two.

12-24. Sigma Photo Pro. Cokin filter. (ND Grad)

12-24. Raw Developer 1.8.  

All pictures are available as full size shots. Just click each picture.

This was FUN! I took a lot of photos this way too, a cool way to frame your subjects but a bit tricky to balance it all. One hand filming and trying to keep sturdy and control the polarizer at the same time. AND walk. I’m not a woman am I.

Filmed with the Dp1 of course. :)

Walking the dog this morning and came home with these. It was cold, very cold. The second photo is 2,5s at f22. The water was very noisy (a bit windy) and that’s why I tried to get as long shutter as possible. I had the polarizer on too for this reason. Click both images for high res version.

For the burned car I couldn’t see how well I focused (I didn’t wanna climb inside) and I wasn’t very successful. I should have focused 10-20cm further away.

I bought a polarizer and went out today to chase colors of fall. I was surprised of how well the BW polarizer worked and how extreme colors and sky turned out. Pictures below with my sister included has been flashed. :)

Camera SD14, Lenses: 24-60 and 10-20. ISO50 – 100
UPDATE #2, two more added: Click each image for 1500px width or height.

SD14, ISO50, polarizer, 2.2s, F8, tripod, one shot, darkroom mac
Click for bigger. (image captured a couple of hour ago.. it was beautiful sky!)