Bølgesveip - in the wash

Pentax 645D, FA 35mm f/2.8, tripod

2,5s, f/16, ISO 100

Blåklokke - Harebell

English text below.
Blåklokke, eller engklokke som den heter i min utgave av Johannes Lids flora, er en hardfør blomst. En jeg er takknemlig for som fotograf siden den er både vakker og vanlig. Dette eksemplaret fant jeg på sanddynene ved Storsandnes på sørvestsida av Andøya. Der jeg møtte Simon fra forrige blogginnlegg.
Bildet var i utgangspunktet et eksperiment. Det blåste litt, og jeg var usikker på hvor kort lukkertid jeg egentlig trengte for å fryse motivet. Derfor skrudde jeg opp ISO til maksverdien, som er 1600 på Pentax 645D, og åpnet blenderen helt på makroobjektivet. Så tok jeg et par eksponeringer mens blåklokka danset foran objektivet. Jeg hadde ingen stor tro på å treffe fokus når det blåste sånn, så jeg ga opp uten engang å sjekke bildene på kameraets display. Heldigvis glemte jeg også å slette eksponeringene før jeg lasta opp til PC'en, og fant til min overraskelse dette. Neste gang skal jeg ikke tenke like negativt om mine forsøk.

Pentax 645D, FA 120mm f/4 macro,

Camera on the ground and sand in my left ear. :-)

1/200s, f/4, ISO 1600

Harebell, as it is named according to Wikipedia, is a hardy little flower. IT comes very handy for the summer photographer in Norway. This specimen was found in the dunes of Storsandnes, on the South-west side of Andøya; the place where I met Simon from my previous blog post.
The image was actually an experiment. A good breeze was blowing, making me wary of long exposures. I was uncertain how short it had to be to freeze the motif. To improve my odds I cranked up the ISO to its max value for the 645D; ISO 1600. I also opened the aperture all the way on my macro lens. Then I made a few exposures as the harebell danced in and out of my viewfinder, with literally no faith in the autofocus or my craftsmanship. So I didn't even bother to check my exposures, forgot to delete them from the card, and went to bed. When I downloaded to the computer I was truly surprised to see this. Next time I will ignore any negative thoughts about trying!

Simon's kayak

English text below
I går kveld hadde jeg gleden av å møte Simon fra Birmingham. Han var på padletur, og hadde gjort strandhogg bare hundre meter fra der jeg hadde parkert bilen for natta.
Siden vi begge reiste alene var vi nok mer pratsomme enn vanlig for oss begge. Det var en hyggelig prat om alt fra Eurokrisen til brennstoff for primuser og atferd hos dyr og fugler.
Det ble ikke noe bilde av Simon. Om jeg hadde spurt hadde han sikkert sagt det var greit, men det føltes liksom ikke riktig. Noe med respekt for hans soloprosjekt. Noe om hans bestrebelser på å være en flyktig gjest i et landskap han ga levende uttrykk for kjærlighet til. Han ønsket ikke å sette varige spor, tror jeg.
Dette er kajakken hans.

Pentax 645D, FA 150mm f/2.8, tripod

1/60s, f/4, ISO 200

Last night I had the pleasure to meet Simon from Birmingham. He was on a kayak trip, and had made camp just a hundred meters from where I had parked my car for the night.
Travelling solo, we probably we more chatty than we would be in more social circumstances. Simon was a pleasant person to chat with. Over the course of a few hours we touched upon many subjects, ranging from the Euro crisis to primus fuel and to wildlife behaviour.
I took no picture of Simon. I'm sure he would have said okay if I asked, but it didn't feel right. There was something about respect for his solo project. About his efforts to be a lightfooted guest in a landscape he expressed a lot of love for. He didn't wish to leave any mark, I think.
This is his kayak.

Orphaned - Foreldreløs

English text below

Livet er ikke rettferdig for denne kyllingen. Jeg mistenker direkte menneskelig påvirkning på denne foreldrefuglens skjebne. De ble observert i havneområdet på Stø, nord for Myre i Vesterålen.

Life isn't fair on this chick. I suspect direct human influence on the fate of the parent bird. They were observed in the harbour area at Stø, North of Myre in Vesterålen.

Byzondere

English text below
Norsk bydgeoriginal møter internett? Eller idealistisk imigrant fra kontinentet? Er det samlerens reise som er "byzondere"? Dette huset står i hvert fall ved Laukvik på Austvågøy.

Pentax K-5, DA-14mm f/2.8

1/350s, f/8, ISO 800

Norwegian redneck meets the internet? Or some idealistic imigrant from continental Europe? Is it the journey of the collector that is "byzondere"? This house stands at Laukvik on the Austvågøy island in Lofoten.

Trist hus - Mournful house

English text below
Lofoten har hus i alle grader av vedlikehold. Dette huset tror jeg har sett sin siste reparasjon. Men selv i sine velholdte dager var det nok et lite bruk, dette.

Pentax 645D, FA-150mm/2.8, tripod
0,6s, f/8, ISO 200

Lofoten has houses in all states of repair, but this one is beyond I think. Even in its heyday it must have been a small homestead.

Steigen Airport

English text below.
Flyplassen i Steigen har på en elegant måte kombinert ankomst- og avgangshall og kontrolltårn i et arkitektonisk mesterverk som bringer tankene hen til andre måter å reise på. Taxfree kommer muligens i neste byggetrinn.

Steigen Airport features a building where arrival, departure and airspace control is elegantly combined in a masterpiece of contemporary architecture. A taxfree shop may be added in the next building stage.

Windy days

English text below.
Det blåser fælt i Steigen om dagen. Nåja... I hvertfall til årstiden å være. Dette bildet er fra Bøsanden, der noen en gang spente opp et volleyballnett mellom improviserte stenger.

Pentax K-5, DA*60-250/4 at 80mm, tripod
1/45s, f/5.6, ISO 3200

There are strong winds in Steigen these days. As far as the season is considered, at least. Gales are uncommon in summer. This picture is from Bøsanden, a long, white beach where someone once set up a volleyball net between improvised poles.

A view to Lofoten

English text below.
I dag er en treg dag. Det har regnet masse, og vinden har økt på til kuling. Fotografen er visst mindre værbestandig enn kameraet. I går var været flott, og det ble mange gode bilder. Dette var et av de siste før jeg tørnet inn rundt midnatt. Det er tatt fra Bøsletta i Steigen, over Vestfjorden mot Trolltindan, der midnattsola trengte sporadisk gjennom regnskyer som hadde stuet seg opp rundt Lofotveggen.

Pentax K-5, Sigma EX 500mm f/4.5, Tripod
1/90s, f/8, ISO 800.

Today is a slow day. There's been a lot of rain, and the wind has built up to gale force. This photographer is less weatherproof than his cameras. Yesterday saw wonderful weather and lots of images. This is one I took shortly before turning in, around midnight. It is shot from Bøsletta in Steigen, across Vestfjorden towards the mountains of Trolltindan. The midnight sun occasionally broke through the heavy clouds that had piled up against this barrier of mountains.

On the road again

English text below.
Om cirka to uker er det tid for Pentaxianer-treff på Andenes, lengst nord i Vesterålen. Jeg starter turen tidlig, og reiser hjemmefra om et par dager. Det er fullt mulig at et blogginnlegg eller to dukker opp underveis. Dette bildet er fra fjorårets tur, et oppdaget landskap på Austvågøy med utsikt til Trolltindan i seint kveldslys.

Pentax 645D, 645FA-150mm f/2.8, tripod

1/10s, f/8, ISO 200

About a fortnight from now, there will be a Pentaxian gathering at Andenes, at the Northernmost tip of the Lofoten/Vesterålen archipelago. It's a long drive, so I'll start the trip in a couple of days from now. A blog post or two may be forthcoming. This image is from last year's excursion, depicting a mountain range on one of the central islands of Lofoten, Austvågøy, in a nightly mood.

Feeding kiss

English text below.

Sukkermaur gjeter bladlus for å få tak i et søtt sekret som lusene skiller ut gjennom bakkroppen. De lagrer så mye i bakkroppen at kitinplatene nesten sprekker fra hverandre før de returnerer til tua. Noen ganger blir de imidlertid stoppet av sultne søstre og deler litt med dem. I dag var jeg så heldig å se dette med makroutstyr montert på kameraet. Legg merke til den brune dråpen mellom kjevene til de to maurene, og den utspilte bakkroppen til mauren til høyre.

Pentax 645D, 645FA-150mm f/2.8 + 645FA-75mm f/2.8 reverse mounted. 

Metz 58AF-1 with homemade diffuser. 

Shot at f/22, 1/125s and ISO 200. Handheld.

Sugar ants are herding aphids. The aphids excrete a sweet liquid that the ants eat. They store as much as they can in their abdomen before returning to the nest. Sometimes, however, they are stopped by hungry sisters and share a few drops with them. Today I was lucky enough to see this while having macro gear attached to my camera. Notice the brown blob between the ants' jaws, and the extended abdomen of the ant to the right.

Insects

In the forest today there was a lot of insect activity. Most of it by wasplike creatures that failed to tickle my curiosity much. Until I noticed that there must be something going on. There seemed to be too many individuals together to be just synchronous hatching. On closer inspection they looked like ants, but no species I had encountered before, I thought. 

In one patch of activitiy I noticed maybe 30-40, all-black insects. Not a swarm; more like individuals converging on a point of common interest. And once I found this point of interest, the coin dropped in my sluggsish (just for the day, right?) brain. What I found was a winged queen of Red Wood-ant (Formica rufa). They were indeed swarming. What I thought to be an unfamiliar species was the seldom seen drones.

Their courtship was a little too fast-paced for me to capture, but at least I got a sharp picture of her highness and one of her suitors. And a nice nature experience.

Both shots were made with Pentax K-5, DFA 100m f/2.8 Macro WR, and a Metz 24 AF-1 flash with a home made diffuser. Exposure was 1/180s, f/8 and ISO 400.

Flying squirrel

Well not really... :-)
- But it's quite obvious where those folks found inspiration for their suits.

This is shot at Kjerag, a Norwegian site for extreme sport enthusiasts, using Pentax 645D + FA* 300mm f/4.

Tame or wild?

It's an old debate. What exactly is nature photography? Try googling that question; you'll get hundreds of attempts at definitions. As elected leader of Biofoto, a Norwegian Society for Nature Photography, I've been forced to think this over a lot of times, and to try to find a tenable position that accommodate all, or at least most of our members. Not easy.

One of the questions up for debate this spring has been whether photos of domesticated animals qualify as nature photography. Many of our members contend it does not. When asked why, they become uncertain but remain insistant. Pictures of domesticated animals are lumped with zoo photography as Animals In Captivity.

From this point of view, this picture is not nature photography.

Personally, I beg to differ. But I too become uncertain when trying to put my reasons into words, because there are so many lines of argumentation to follow. Most of them makes assumptions that could be subject to separate discussion, and can probably be picked apart to atoms. In the end I'm left with only one. I firmly believe that no nature photographer actually photograph nature. Rather, I hold that nature photographs are renderings of the photographer's relation to nature.

From this premise follows that all photos can be nature photos if they communicate this relation.

In the context of this particular image the sheep may look tame to a seasoned outdoorsman, and feral to an urban dweller. Likewise, the landscape may look wild or managed depending on who you are and where you come from.

XC skiing trail

Skiing conditions melted away a month ago. This is from February. I have combined two shots to get a near-complete trail of light from the skiers' headlamps.

Some more nightly action

I have a TrophyCam placed out at a den. I expected fox, but when I downloaded from the camera today I found these little critters. Turned out they'd been out posing for the camera several nights per week, and seem dedicated to bringing their genes on to the next generation too. If they come to accept my presence later in spring I could be in for some real photographic fun.

The den is more than 20 years old, mostly resembles a mound-sized swiss cheese. A red fox dropped by a few times also, and I wonder if they're actually sharing the den. I wouldn't bet on it, but fingers crossed. :-)

First leaves

A twig of Red Elderberry, a few meters beyond the last garden in the local forest. Shot with Pentax 645D and FA-150mm f/2.8 and Auto Extension tube #3 at f/5.6.

This lens' reputation is mixed. I like mine a lot for its soft bokeh. Fitting it on an extension tube doesn't seem to do any harm either.

Caterpillar

This morning, a small caterpillar suddenly strolled our kitchen table between dishes and cheese. To my daughter's disgust and my curiosity. It turned out it was not from the pack of cereals after all, but from the twig of grey willow I photographed the other day, and had left on the kitchen table as decoration.

Pentax K-5 and D-FA 100mm f/2.8 macro WR

1/500s at f/6.7 on ISO 1600

Coot dive rehearsal

Shooting with long tele lenses is a craft that needs regular practice. In Oslo we have a small nature reserve in the middle of the local suburbia where wildfowl are plentiful and accustomed to pedestrians with more bread than they bother to carry home. Østensjøvannet (links to English Wikipedia) is an excellent place for rehearsing the shooting technique.

So basically this was just a rehearsal shot. I was trying to improve my timing on shooting coots as they dived. The ultimate goal of this exercise is to capture the bird exactly when the tip of the beak touch the water. A frustrating experience, because I was unable to identify any particular behaviour preceding the dive.

All my shots turned out to have from one third to one half of the bird below the waterline. My reaction time felt positively sluggish. The below shot is one of those mishaps. But on the other hand; a significant part of rehearsing is to define goals that are attainable within a reasonable amount of excercise.

I believe therefore I will rather try to pursue this effect again over that beak touch idea. I see a number of ways in which to improve my technique on this type of shot. That means I've learnt something, doesn't it? Not what I set out for, but no less inspirational.

Pentax K-5, Sigma EX 500mm f/4.5 DG, monopod

1/750s, f/4.5, ISO 1600

willow catkins

We have a willow just outside our house. The emergence of its catkins is usually the first token of spring in our garden. Here's one I shot at sunrise this morning.

Sima and Ray

Today I rummaged through my archive looking for something else, and happened upon this picture. It's shot in 2009 at the Kielder Water Birds Of Prey centre in Northumbria, UK.

I made a lot of pictures of this pair because their relationship amazed me. Looking at this image now, I think I may have captured some of it.

Snow crystal

It's been a while since last time I photographed snow crystals, so today there was a lot of joy in repetition.
The biggest challenge, in my opinion, is to get the lighting right. The crystal itself is completely transparent. It has a lot of angles acting like prisms, so with a combination of lights from different angles it can become interesting. This one here is an experiment with a piece of coloured cellophane and a flash, and a LED flashlight. Challenge for next time; do it more delicately. :-)

Auroras

Another batch of low-light photos from Runde. Last time I had a full moon. This time I had auroras.

Pentax K-5, DA*16-50/2.8
f/4.5, 15s, ISO 6400

Pentax 645D, FA 35/3.5
f/4.5, 60s, ISO 800

Pentax 645D, FA 35/3.5
f/4.5, 30s, ISO 800

Pentax K-5, DA 14/2.8
f/4.0, 30s, ISO 800

Pentax K-5, DA*16-50/2.8
f/5.0, 15s, ISO 800

Pentax K-5, DA 14/2.8
f/5.0, 15s, ISO 800

Q inspection

I've had a Pentax Q with 01 Standard Prime lens on loan for a couple of days, and took it for a walk in my local forest. Below are a bundle of snaps with comments. It's barely enough to get a first impression, so don't read this as any serious test.
On balance, my impression with this camera is only so-so. I appreciate the image quality for what it is; pretty good for a compact with a small sensor. I also appreciate its dynamic range and noise characteristics. For a walkabout camera the size is near perfect too. With the Standard Prime lens it fits nicely in a pocket, or if slung around the neck you hardly notice its weight.
But. There are things I don't appreciate with the Q. As "everyone" says on the web forums, the price tag is too high compared to its performance. I know I would need the zoom lens to go with it, and here in Norway I would have to shell out NOK 8000,- for the package. By today's exchange rates that's €1000,-  £850,- or $1330,- rounded to the nearest 10 in each currency. For clever shoppers seeing that prices are lower in other countries, Norwegian VAT of 25% is added to the total price of purchases from abroad by the customs authorities; transport cost included. Not much to be gained, in other words, and higher risk regarding warranty issues. But I digress.

It seems to me the Q has an issue with battery capacity. On my two-hour trip I made about 50 exposures. I refrained from chimping and used no flash. Yet the battery was down to 1/3 charge when I got back. I suppose reducing the screen brightness could have helped a bit, but in the snowy and sunny environment its default level seemed to be just about right. Between shots I turned the camera off and kept it inside my jacket. Ambient temperature was about -4°C. Maybe this is on par with what you get from any "serious" compact, I don't know. It seems a bit low, and makes the camera less useful, to me.

As a seasoned system camera user I expect a range of focal lengths for the Q, since it is advertised as a system. The current lineup has five lenses, but only two have variable apertures and autofocus. That's too weak, even with one of the fully functional lenses being a decent normal zoom. I'm really sorry I didn't get to test the camera with the zoom. I guess that would add the optical flexibility I would expect from a compact, even if the size of the zoom lens compromise the convenience of the overall Q tinyness.

And a bit of advice to Q owners in warmer countries: -Don't even try to operate this camera with gloves on... :-)

A big thanks to Fovi A/S for lending me the camera. 

Pentax Q with 01 Standard Prime (8.5mm),

Camera in P-mode, no flash.

1/60s, f/1.9, ISO 200

Pentax Q with 01 Standard Prime (8.5mm),

Camera in P-mode, no flash.

1/125s, f/2.8, ISO 250

Pentax Q with 01 Standard Prime (8.5mm),

Camera in P-mode, no flash.

1/400s, f/3.2, ISO 125

Pentax Q with 01 Standard Prime (8.5mm),

Camera in P-mode, no flash.

1/60s, f/2.2, ISO 500

The snow in the corners burned out, as expected. Lots of detail in the shadows.

Pentax Q with 01 Standard Prime (8.5mm),

Camera in P-mode, no flash.

1/400s, f/2.2, ISO 250

Pentax Q with 01 Standard Prime (8.5mm),

Camera in Av-mode, no flash. Auto-bracketing drive mode.

-1/0/+2 EV blended in Photomatix, using Details Enhancer algorithm.

1/250-1/2000s, f/2.2, ISO 250

The camera did not notice it could not complete the -2 EV exposure by only varying the shutter speed. The EXIF data for exposure compensation says -2 EV, despite the shutter speed being only one stop faster than 0 EV.

Pentax Q with 01 Standard Prime (8.5mm),

Camera in Av-mode, no flash. Auto-bracketing drive mode.

-1/0/+2 EV blended in Photomatix, using Details Enhancer algorithm.

1/250-1/2000s, f/2.2, ISO 250

Same thing in metadata as above, but motif more forgiving.

Pentax Q with 01 Standard Prime (8.5mm),

Camera in P-mode, no flash.

1/400s, f/6.3, ISO 250

No HDR here. I think the camera does a pretty good job in retaining detail. In full resolution, however, this shot is a bit soft. It looks like diffraction caused by small aperture to me. Strange to think of f/6.3 as an aperture causing diffrection, but f/8 is the minimum f-stop on this camera.