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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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
Sigma 12-24mm on Canon EOS 5DSr Test!
The Canon EOS 5DSr is a beast. Not just because it’s a highly professional, full frame, versatile and complete camera.
It also features a Low Pass Filter (LPF) Cancellation filter. When you have any other digital (SLR) camera, there’s a Low Pass Filter in front of your sensor. This causes a nice piece of anti-aliasing which effectively blurs your image slightly, to prevent moire. (Read more about it) This is very noticeable when you shoot area’s with small patterns such as the texture of clothes. However, to get maximum sharpness, the 5DSr has another filter cancelling this effect out.
Another reason the 5DSr is a true beast is it’s sensor. Canon must have thought “Ah more sharpness, let’s capture that in all of it’s glory”. So they came with a 50.6MP sensor. But with all this sharpness and all these megapixels, will your favorite lenses hold up?
Sigma 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 II DG HSM EX
I wanted to have a super wide angle lens without the fisheye effect. I love the Sigma 15mm fisheye, but a regular wide-angle does have it’s benefits. The new Canon 11-24mm f/4l looks superb, but so is it’s price-tag. So I went for the Sigma 12-24mm. Well, this isn’t going to be a review, but I have to say I’m very pleased with the results. IMHO, they’re easily ready for large scale print. Enjoy!
A bike trip, and 15mm fisheye
Yesterday, I went on a cycling trip with Camilla. We did a total of 50km and ended up getting home way later than expected…
I wanted to buy something and then go to two friends in Brummen. We both took our camera’s and shot quite some pics. Camilla brought a 18-55 and a 70-200 while I was stuck with just a 15mm fisheye. All of these were taken with my full-frame fisheye setup.
Can we get any closer?
Yes we can.
Bridge from Arnhem to Westervoort.
A nice street in Doesburg.
Camilla enjoy the sky ‘nd freedom.
Hello there.
Bringing it to the next level
Monday, for many people a day where the weekend ends, and your job says hi again. But not for me, since Monday is my day off. Yet, I still had to go to the office for one important meeting.
But after the meeting I was of course free to go where I want. I walked back home when I passed Arnhem’s famous Eusebiuskerk, the large church in the middle of Arnhem. I’ve been capturing it a lot, since I can see it from my window, but I’ve never actually been on there. So let’s do it! Brought my 15mm fisheye and 70-200 to enjoy the view through the Canon EOS 5DSr’s monstrous 50 megapixels. And this is what Arnhem looks that way.
Canon EOS 5DSr first shots and more
Allright let me start with this: a LOT has changed. But a lot of good things too. I got a LOT of new gear, so I’ll be showing off soon. Also a new camera body… the mighty Canon EOS 5DSr. took it for a spin, here are some results. Will give a nice review later on.
I guess the last shot kinda gave away what one of the new gadgets was… hehe.
Bikeride into Germany with Victor
Victor has been a buddy of mine for a long time now. We’ve studied, worked traveled and even lived together for a while in the UK. So it wasn’t surprising that he started working as a colleague 9 months ago.
But all good things must also end, so he had his last day of work last tuesday. Since I had a day off the next day, we decided to do a one day bicycle trip into Germany. We ended doing about 170km, and it was awesome. Here are some of the pics.
This was already in Germany, about 10km after Emmerich. We had a small stop since I wanted to check the map. A little bit further and…. we’d be at this beautiful castle.
For me, this is a typical German town. Some larger houses, a wheat field and the townsname on a yellow sign. As German as it could be.
Close to Rees is an abandoned building. I’m not sure what it was, but there were coal-carts, rails, ovens and boilerrooms. I’ve been here a couple of years ago, but things have changed. People actually turned it into a “Chill-Lounge” as they called it themselves. Looks kinda relaxed! Click on the image of a larger version of the panorama.
These are actually 3 photo’s merged together since I didn’t bring any fisheye lens.
A photo for our dear friends Sjoerd Bisselink and Clair Bissell.
This was in Wesel, and was a bit typical for our trip. Often you find yourself cycling in a dull place, and all of a sudden something huge/old like this appears. We’ve seen castles like Hogwarts, or this in the middle of a boring neighbourhood. Cool stuff.
This is actually only 10% of the whole image. And, it was taken while cycling on my bicycle. Didn’t stand still.
Here, we’re back in the Netherlands. The sun was setting, it was finally getting a bit cooler, and we had a final 20km to go through forrest and open fields. But we managed to get to Boxmeer and take the train home.
It was an awesome journey, lot’s of fun and with some lessons learned.
- Don’t underestimate the sun, use sunlotion. I’ve been called “tomato” and “lobster boy” all day the next day at the office…
- Do a LOT of regular long trips to get used to your bicycle saddle. Even while using a bicycle-short with a pad, my ass hurt like hell.
- Have some extra space for bottles/food. I had a small bag on my steer, but it wasn’t big enough.
- Bring a small toolkit.
That was it, hope you enjoyed the pics. Can’t wait for my next adventure!
55km bicycle trip to Doesburg
It was perhaps a bit late, but I wanted to do a bicycle trip yesterday. So at 17:00 I got on my bike and started moving.
I’ve been on the road from Arnhem to Zutphen/Brummen quite often, but I never went to Doesburg, which is close to the road. It’s a famous little town, so I had to visit it. I must say, it was quite nice.
After visiting the town, I decided not to go back the same route. I never like seeing the same road twice, so I just kept on going in the direction of Didam. There I cought up with my regular route to Germany, and went home.
Here are some pics of the journey, all taken with my Canon EOS M and it’s kitlens.
Last but not least, here’s the route I did.
Arnhem panorama: Boulevard Heuvelink
So my landlord thought it was a good idea to explore our rooftop. Brought my camera, and I liked it’s view. So what’d I do?
Exactly! Pretty sure you guessed correctly that I took my 15mm fisheye, slammed it on my 5DII fullframe and I captured it’s view in 360 degree panorama. The result is OK, not perfect but it’s fine. I had to patch up quite a lot of things in Photoshop, but who cares. One of the photo’s is actually from the first panorama attemt, which I found out when I saw the shadow of a tree was a lot further than the other pic. I guess Earth DOES rotate around the sun hehe.
Want to watch the full 52 megapixel photo? View the full panorama picture (9mb!)
80km bike ride Arnhem Kleve Emmerich and back
So, I didn’t need to work last Wednesday. What did I do? Well, I felt like going for a bike trip.
I left home pretty late, around 2PM, but ended doing a 80km trip. Had lot’s of wind, which wasn’t helping. And even a bit of rain inbetween Kleve and Emmerich. But in the end, I made it back home. I also got some groceries in Kleve, so my backpack was top-heavy. Wasn’t helping but it’s always fun doing groceries in a different country with different products.
A small experiment: took my EOS M Systemcamera along and shot all pics in RAW format. I never did that before with this camera, but I feel I should’ve used that feature a long long time ago.
Anyway, here are the pics. Enjoy!
Some nature, and a parrot
Today, the Dutch have been celebrating Kingsday. For me it went a ride on my bicycle to two friends.
They live about 20km away and ended up, with a detour, making it a nice 50km ride. Took some photos along the route, and also capture my friends parrot, Senna. What great name!
