Photography
Roadtrip through Poland
It has been years since I’ve posted anything here. But after Corona seriously limited my traveling, and work turned photography into, well, work, I’m pretty much back where I was before all of that.
I’ve changed jobs back to where I was and re-ignited my passion for photography. Then, only a couple of months ago, I also met my girlfriend who happens to love traveling as well. As one thing led to another, we found ourselves in her car on our way to Poland. Both armed with cameras, looking for adventure. And adventure we found…
Photolocations include Flugplatz Sperenberg, Wrocław Zoo, Zalipie (flower-painted houses), and the Białowieża Forest.
Enjoy!
Pokétrip with Herman
So, when I went to Paris in December, I caught quite some Pokémon. Herman, a colleague of mine also plays the game, so we thought it’d be nice to do a Pokémon Go roadtrip.
Just like the experience in Paris, Pokémon Go really brings you to new places. On a large map, we looked for small towns which had some Pokégyms. These are locations where you can battle and leave some of your strongest Pokémon to defend them. The longer they hold your gym, the more coins you can collect.
This brought us to some really nice cities we had never heard of before. Anyway, here are some pics.
Winter in Gelderland
Gelderland is probably one of the most beautiful places in the Netherlands. There’s lot’s of nature and some really old towns.
So what does it look like when snow falls down on our heads? Amazing! I took my car out for a ride just to discover so much awesomeness. Here’s some pics, enjoy!
Hannover trip with Victor
Victor and me really like to travel. So when I got a car, we decided to plan a roadtrip. And here it finally was! We didn’t have much time, but hey, a 2 day trip would prove to be great fun.
During this trip, we found a lot of nice places. We quickly found an abandoned factory building which gave us some really cool shots.
After that, we drove, stopped in a lot of small places, had dinner and then crashed in Hannovers most shady hotel ever.
When we woke up, it was Christmas morning. We left quite early to find an old steamengine which they had turned into a restaurant. We did a live broadcast on Facebook, whished everyone a mery x-mas and headed off back to the Netherlands so we could be with our families and celebrate.
But halfway home we saw an abandoned military base on our map. We decided to check it out. When we got there, access was really easy. There was already a hole in the fence, so we could just hop in, easy as that.
Anyway, here are the rest of the pics, abandoned base included. Enjoy!
Photography trip to Paris
One thing I really love to do is going on a phototrip. Most of the time, these are one-day roadtrips, but sometimes it’s for a longer bit.
This time, I tried something different. I went to a small town 20km from Paris, and took a metro to the capital of France where I stayed for five days. My plan? Well, just walk all day, catch Pokémon since I now have mobile internet throughout Europe and take photos until all my batteries are empty and memorycards are full.
Sigma 12-24MM ART
Just a couple of days before this trip, I bought Sigma’s new 12-24mm ultra wide lens, from their incredible ART-series. This lens is specifics-wise pretty similar to it’s predecessor, except the diafragma. The F4.0 is usable over the whole focal length, which isn’t the case with it’s cheaper brother. And the photos? Incredible. I was amazed how sharp the photos are!
The lens is pretty heavy though, so it’s not for the fainth of heart. After three days of walking, I actually started to feel my wrist starting to hurt a little. But it’s no surprise. Three full days with a 2kg camerakit in one hand, mobile phone in the other. I’m also mostly holding the camera up, and take photos of course.
It’s something to keep in mind since I’m quite a strong guy.
Apart from that, Paris was as amazing as I remembered it. It was weird to walk through the city alone, since I’ve always went either with my family, friends or girlfriend. But walking alone also has it’s positive sides. You have way more freedom and it’s a great way to clear your mind. Think about things you normally don’t find time/space for. So yeah, in some way you could see a trip such as this as a form of meditation I guess.
Pokémon Go!
So, going on a trip like this with internet available “like at home” also made it possible to play Pokémon Go. The game which makes you walk the streets and catch virtual Pokémon (Japanese for pocket monsters). Most people who I tell I was playing Pokémon first ask me why I would be playing a game, looking at my mobile device like a “millenial zombie” instead of enjoying Paris’ views. Well, I understand but the truth is a lot better. Within Pokémon Go there are a lot of Pokéstops to be find. You need these in order to get items you need to catch Pokémon. These Pokéstops are mostly located at really cool locations you’d normally ignore. So thanks to this game, I’ve actually seen a lot of cool things I’d otherwise never find. This awesome wall-piece is a great example of such a location.
Another great advantage of having internet on your mobile device is your map. It felt really weird looking at groups of tourists figuring out where they were on a large paper map. For me, I just looked at my phone, saw the blue dot (me) and tapped on the screen where I wanted to go. I instantly see the quickest route and save heaps of time by doing so. More time to actually see stuff, or chill out in a nice Parisian café. And trust me, they are nice.
Anyway, enough talk! Here are some of the other photos I shot during this trip. Enjoy!
Random roadtrip with Camilla
What’s more awesome than doing a roadtrip? Doing a roadtrip with a great friend. Camilla just got back from her internship at Malta a day before we headed out. But that didn’t stop her.
We started by going to Altena in Germany. It’s a nice small town in between some seriously high hills. You could call ‘m mountains I guess. It has a beautiful castle and some nice forrests around it. From there, we just started randomly driving whatever felt good. And we found so many nice places.
One of the coolest places we found, was a very old ruin of a castle. The most awesome thing was, it felt like we were discovering the place! Barely any modern stuff around like signs or bins. Good stuff.
After that we drove off over one of the higher mountains in the region, just to see this amazing view.
After that, we rode down just to find more awesome things. Take this bus for example where we had dinner!
We ended up in a nice hotel, and the days after were seriously cool. We saw a lot more cool places, met nice people and we ended up Couchsurfing for the second night. These people were really friendly and it actually inspired us quite a bit.
The next morning, we woke up bloody early to see the sun come up. Anyway, it was sooo foggy, so we ended up seeing the fog become brighter. But we never actually saw the sun. Ah well, still a pretty cool moment.
Anyway, here are the rest of the pics. They all have a story of their own, but if I’d type everything I’d want to type I would end up writing a book. As always: Enjoy!
Photo of the day challenge
Why not take 365 photos, one photo at a time, spread over a whole year? Well, sounds easy right?
Reality is slightly different, and a daily photochallenge isn’t called a challenge for no reason. Heck, give me the icebucketchallenge, planking challenge or even the Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge… but no this one is actually even for a photographer pretty difficult.
Why it’s a challenge
Time
Everyday you need to find some time to capture something, edit it and post it. Trust me, in the beginning it’s nice, but there are some days where it’s just really difficult. Especially when you get home around 23:30, want to sleep and you feel you múst post a photo.
Daily routine
Everything you do on a daily basis is boring and normal to you. If you go to work five days a week using the same route, you won’t see anything interesting. To you, that is. Doing a daily challenge forces you to look around like a tourist again, but it’s hard.
Internet
What if you go abroad and you don’t have an internet connection? You actually need your (heavy) camera, laptop/computer to edit your stuff and an internetconnection to actually post your pixels.
Either way, you can check out my Photo of the Day album on my personal Facebook account. I guess you have to add me to see ‘m all. That’s fine tho.
Old dynamite factory im tal
Took the car for a spin. Picked up a friend Veghel and drove off to Germany. We went to this awesome abandoned valley where we saw the ruïns of an old dynamite factory.
After that, we went up a hill to enjoy the view. We ended the day eating pizza in Wuppertal where we also saw the “Wuppertaler Schwebebahn”. It’s like a tram, but hanging under the rails. Cool stuff!
300km photography roadtrip
Went for a 2km ride, got back, ignored the street I lived in, carried on and ended up completely unplanned 150km away from home. This is the result.
This is actually something I want to do on a more regular basis. Probably invite friends along and just check out Europe. Anyway, in this case I drove around 300km and found some really cool places. Nothing was planned and I didn’t know the area beforehand.
VLN 6 hours race at the Nürburgring
So, after going to Belgium for the Formula 1 Belgian GP at Spa Francorchamps, my photos were noticed on Instagram.
I got in touch with Domenico Solombrino who is a Porsche driver at Mathol Racing and he told be the VLN 6 hours race at the German Nürburgring was next Saturday. I got in my car at 3AM and raced my way to the Green Hell to be just in time for quali.
The day was just awesome. I was able to walk everywhere on and around the track, also during the sessions. The smell, the sounds and the atmosphere, everything was just perfect. Here is just a small selection of the 120GB of shots I’ve taken. Enjoy!
And here’s the rest in a gallery.
Formula one – Spa Francorchamps Grand Prix 2016
On Sunday the 28th, the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix was held. I was lucky enough to get tickets through work, so I went with some awesome colleagues, my brother and his daughter. What a day!
Quick roadtrip to Germany, again
Just a quick ride in my car to Germany. Was bored so.. whadda ya do, right?
I actually found this old city-center by accident, took a wrong turn and all of a sudden I saw this old building with a gate (first photo). Parked the car and went in. There, I found this awesome castle. What random traveling can give you, right?
Summer 2016 trip: Normandy, France
Just a 1600km roadtrip through Normandy, France. What a beautiful place… and such a rich and important history.
All the photos can be seen at the full Normandy page.
Abandoned military facility in Germany
Went on a roadtrip in my new car. Visited an abandoned factory and military base in Germany.
My work in a museum
Get the champagne out of the fridge, because it’s party time!
The Swiss Museum.bl asked me if they could use a photo of mine. I didn’t hesitate, found the original, edited it again, exported it for print and sent it as a gift. They were happy, and they delivered me with a photo which made me truly happy. Look mum and dad, I’m in a museum!
Random forrest photo’s
Did a 20km bicycle ride, as more often is the case, and I brought my camera. Here’s some results. Enjoy.
Borderwar 8: The warchief (airsoft event)
So last weekend I went to one of the biggest airsoft events in the world. Borderwar, the 8th edition. It has almost 4000 players all in military outfits, so why not hop on and play as a warphotographer?
The trip to the Czech location was long. We left on Wednesday and arrived on Thursday morning. But then again, it’s 900 long km’s. The weather was great the first 3 days, and that’s also when I took most in-game shots. Here are a couple of them, you can find the whole gallery on Facebook.
See the full gallery at Facebook
The Veluwe National Park
One of the most beautiful natural parcs in the Netherlands is the Veluwe. Actually, it is thé most beautiful in my opinion. Last Saturday I was there for a photoshoot with Tim, and I managed to take some area-photo’s as well. Here they are.
Photoshoot with Tim at the Veluwe
After working with Tim Aaldering already once in the studio, we decided it was time for another shoot.
This time we went into the great outdoors: the Dutch Veluwe. This is a large area in Gelderland with lot’s of trees, animals and open fields with sand and dry grass. A pretty cool location for a shoot, to show a feeling of freedom and fun.
Camera used:
- Canon EOS 5DSr
Flash used:
- Speedlite 600EX-RT
Lenses used:
- Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS USM L ii
- Canon 50mm f1.4
- Sigma 12-24mm f4.5
Bubbles. Lot’s of soapy bubbles.
Was doing the dishes, saw bubbles. Liked their colors, so what does a photographer do?
Exactly. Dries his hands, get’s camera. Hoovers over water and tests out both new macro tubes ánd a nice LED Ring-flash. The results…? Check it out for yourself.
Canon 5DSr
Canon 50mm 1.4
Meike ringflash
Phootlex Auto Focus Extension Tube set
Review: Tamron 45mm F/1.8 Di VC USD
Een week lang mocht ik de Tamron 45mm 1.8 eens flink uitproberen. 45mm prime lenzen zie je niet veel, maar de lens is op meerdere vlakken heel uniek. Zo schiet hij macrofoto’s én heeft hij optische stabilisatie. En dat voor een 1.8 lichtsterke lens!
De lens heb ik een week lang getest op de Canon 5DSr. Deze camera schiet op 51mp en dankzij het low-pass cancelation filter wordt élk detail vastgelegd. Mijn review is geen laboratoriumtest, maar écht een gebruikersreview.
Eerste indruk
Nette doos, direct wat boekjes, lens daaronder stevig en secuur verpakt. Ook de zonnekap is veilig ingepakt. Lens eruit, voelt heel degelijk aan. Mooie afwerking ook. Focus gaat super smooth. Afwerking van het materiaal en de belettering zijn super strak. Zonnekap draait secuur op de lens en geeft een bevestigende klik. Ook de knopjes op de lens werken perfect. Wanneer je de autofocus of stabilisatie aan of uit zet geeft dit ook weer een fijne klik. Hoewel het super eenvoudig is om deze knopjes te verschuiven heb ik niet het idee dat dit per ongeluk zal gaan. Met andere lenzen heb ik weleens dat in mijn fototas de AF uitgezet wordt. Heel frustrerend als je na een aantal goede foto’s erachter komt dat de focus op handmatig stond. Dat zal met deze lens niet gebeuren.
45mm v.s. 50mm
Veel fotografen gebruiken de 50 1.8 voor portretfotografie. Deze lenzen zijn over het algemeen snel, scherp en creëren een mooi bokeh. Tamron’s 45mm wijkt daar dus iets van af en tijdens het fotograferen is dat merkbaar. Al is het slechts 5mm verschil, je hebt nét even wat meer beeld. Nét wat meer om later mee te spelen en net wat meer overzicht. Persoonlijk vond ik dit erg fijn zowel bij portret evenals landschap.
Prestaties – Scherpte
Er staan op het internet al een aantal reviews die heel gedetailleerd ingaan op de prestaties van deze lens, dus ik hou me vooral bij mijn bevindingen als een gebruiker.
De scherpte is meer dan goed te noemen van deze lens. Dat mag je van een prime uit dit segment ook wel verwachten. Ook in de randjes van de foto is alles in focus goed scherp. En dat getest op 51MP!
Prestaties – Chromatic Abberation
Wanneer je naar lenzen kijkt met een diafragma kleiner dan 3.0 dan kun je wel aardig wat chromatic abberation verwachten. De Tamron 45mm 1.8 is daar geen uitzondering op, maar er is prima mee te werken. Ga je naar wat hogere diafragmawaarden heb je er al snel geen last meer van. En schiet je wel vol open op 1.8 dan is de chromatic abberation goed weg te werken in bijvoorbeeld Lightroom, DxO of Photoshop.
Hier is de chromatic abberation weggewerkt in Photoshop. Als we 100% vergroten zien we het zó voor en na:
Maar gaan we bijvoorbeeld naar F/9 dan is zonder bewerking er amper chromatic abberation zichtbaar.
Bokeh
Een van de hoofdredenen om voor een 1.8 lens te gaan is uiteraard de bokeh. Ofwel, de onscherpte van hetgeen out of focus is. Deze is echt super zacht bij deze Tamron lens. Zowel op macro als bij portret wordt de achtergrond heel fijn wazig.
Macro
Ook vrij uniek aan deze lens is de mogelijkheid om héél dichtbij te fotograferen. En dat biedt onwijs veel leuke mogelijkheden. Denk bijvoorbeeld aan prachtige details tijdens een bruiloft, of shots van bloemen en de natuur. De macro-modus is snel en accuraat. Zonder enige frustratie kon ik zonder door de zoeker te kijken toch een aantal bloempjes er goed op krijgen. Wanneer je van zó dichtbij fotografeert en je nog digitaal kan uitvergroten kun je heel veel detail verwachten.
Foto’s bij weinig licht
Met het diafragma van 1.8 kun je bij weinig licht nog prima foto’s maken. Zelfs vanuit de hand en zonder flitser was dit eigenlijk geen enkel probleem. Ook is fotograferen met een sluitertijd van 1/30e uit het losse handje prima te doen, zonder bewegings-onscherpte te krijgen. Wil je portretten schieten bij feestjes, ’s avonds? Dan is dit absoluut een ideale lens. Zéker in combinatie met de stabilisatie.
Optische beeldstabilisatie, VC (Vibration Compensation)
De Tamron 45mm 1.8 is de enige 45mm prime lens met beeldstabilisatie. Normaliter heb je dit vooral nodig in zoom-lenzen. Hoe verder je inzoomed, des te meer je ook bewegingsonscherpte vergroot. Daarnaast zijn dit vaak donkerdere lenzen.
Om een ontzettend lichtsterk objectief als deze tóch beeldstabilisatie te geven maakt deze lens naast uniek ook alleen maar nóg geschikter voor het donker.
De stabilisatie zelf hoor je nauwelijks. Dit is bij andere merken wel anders. Soms twijfelde ik zelfs of hij aan stond, maar als je dan goed luisterd dan is hij druk aan het werk.
Door de lens zie je niet veel van de stabilisatie, maar dat is niet gek. Op 45mm zijn ook je bewegingen behoorlijk “uitgezoomed” en dus niet snel merkbaar. Wanneer je stabilisatie op 200mm probeert zie je het effect pas een beetje.
Echter, bekijk je na een dag schieten je foto’s dan zie je wel degelijk veel verschil. Een aantal foto’s die ik normaal nooit uit het losse handje had kunnen schieten waren ineens prima scherp.
Deze foto is gemaakt met een sluitertijd van 1/6e, zonder statief. F/10 en ISO van 400.
Dezelfde foto heb ik tweemaal gemaakt, maar dan mét en zonder stabilisatie aan. De foto zegt genoeg.
Ik ben toch echt wel heel positief verrast hoe goed de stabilisatie werkt. Het lukte me zelfs met een sluitertijd van 1/3e om hele scherpe foto’s te krijgen.
Mijn ervaringen
In het weekje dat ik de lens gehad heb, ben ik hem vooral gaan gebruiken. Ik heb de lens meegenomen naar een airsoft-evenement waar ik na het evenement zelf een aantal deelnemers mee het bos in heb genomen. Hier heb ik een aantal portretfoto’s geschoten welke ik in een jare 50 style wou krijgen. De lens werkte hier top mee, ondanks dat het steeds donkerder werd. Vooral in het bos was er al snel nog maar amper licht.
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Ook op kantoor heb ik de lens getest. Samen met een collega zijn we naar buiten gegaan om een aantal portretfoto’s te maken. De zon stond er vol op, en er was overal reflectie. Toch werkte de zonnekap prima mee en zijn de foto’s scherp en helder geworden. Het viel me al snel op dat de foto’s zonder bewerking een professionele look gaven. 45mm is ook breed genoeg om iemand er van niet al te ver volledig op te krijgen.
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Als laatste heb ik een fietstocht van zo’n 30km gemaakt. Omdat de lens niet al te groot was kon ik hem met camera en al gewoon in een klein fietstasje doen. Zo is hij constant bij de hand. Dus ook voor fietsers absoluut een aanrader. Tijdens dit tochtje was het vrij donker, bewolkt, regenachtig en ontzettend koud. Ondanks het trillen van mijn handen (zowel van de kou evenals het zware fietsen met fixe klimmetjes) waren alle foto’s scherp. Vooral de stabilisatie heeft hier ontzettend aan bijgedragen.
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Conclusie
De Tamron 45mm F/1.8 Di VC USD is een bijzondere lens. 45mm geeft een fijne beeldhoek, de lens heeft een prachtige bokeh, is scherp, heeft een top-stabilisatie, is voor macro te gebruiken én is gunstig geprijsd. Zeker als je bedenkt dat soortgelijke lenzen geen stabilisatie hebben. De chromatic abberation is goed merkbaar, maar absoluut naderhand prima te corrigeren.
Pro’s |
Cons |
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Dankzij de lichtsterkte en stabilisatie is het lastig een shot niet scherp te krijgen. Daarnaast zien de foto’s er zelfs op het schermpje van je camera prachtig en professioneel uit. Je ziet direct het verschil met normale digitale camera’s. Dit is echt een lens die het plezier in fotografie benadrukt. Tijdens het schieten met deze lens werd ik dan ook helemaal blij toen ik steeds de resultaten op mijn schermpje zag.
Kortom, een kwalitatief goede lens, die goed presteert zelfs onder lastige omstandigheden. Heb je nog geen portretlens of standaard reislens? Kijk dan niet verder.
Nitro Circus Live 2016 Arnhem
So Nitro Circus was in town, and it was awesome!
Got some press-tickets from a friend of mine, so I went there with my brother. We watched the show from up close, on the ground next to the ramp. We had the best spots in the whole stadium. By far.
Anyway check out there pictures on my Facebook page.
Random “product”-shots.
It’s been a while since I used a studio setup, so I thought to get some paper sheets out again.
Used my large roof window for a nice sunny toplight, and added another light to the scene for the pics with a black background. I made thsese float using fishingwire. Anyway, enjoy!
Small disclaimer: The guns are all toyguns, I do not own any fire-arm.
Some birds
So, Camilla and me had a nice day in the citycenter. Talked, laughed, laughed more and we did groceries. Seriously they should add bars in grocerystores. It would be very profitable.
When going home, I saw a lot of birds being fed by people… so the birds got close. Of course I had my camera with me, so I decided to shoot.
Anoooother bicycle trip in Arnhem
Was doing an asignment in and around Arnhem, so I decided to also take some other pics.
All taken with the Canon EOS 5DSR and Sigma 11-24mm ultra wide lens which works amazingly awesome at full frame. It’s very sharp and the images are great to edit in Photoshop using RAW. Anyway, enjoy!
Autumn in Velp
It’s Autumn, and you probably see all your friends posting pictures of yellow/orangy leafs. Well, I’m not so different…
Lucky for me, I live not far from the Dutch Veluwe. A large natural area with beautiful places. It’s not flat at all (like the rest of the Netherlands) and has amazing areas of meadow, sandfields and forrest. I had a small stroll and took these photos.
The local shipyard
Had a small ride to he local docks today. Not many pics, but I’m experimenting with the style. Enjoy.
All taken with the 5DSr and Sigma 12-24 frickin-wide angle lens.
