Saturday, August 27, 2011

Just a house in the Old Town...


Toompea Hill in HDR

I have succumbed to the HDR fever. Doctors are helpless. Below you will see the lurid symptoms of the illness - my first three HDR photos of/on/from the Toompea Hill in Tallinn's Old Town.

Artsy-fartsy image alert,
enter at your own risk!!!!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Blast from the past

Eleven years ago I bought my first digital camera, a far cry from the digital cameras of today.

Northward view of Tallinn from the top storey of Viru Hotel


Wednesday, August 17, 2011

In memory of Isaky

"What's going on? What's going on behind these walls..."







Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Motion blur

Motion blur in a photo can be a useful mistake or a planned result.
Do we always want to see everything tack sharp?

Monday, August 15, 2011

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Cup of tea at work




Sunlit roses

Wanted to discard this image at first but there is something about it...


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Leaves

Canada Memorial, Green Park, London.


Sunday, August 7, 2011

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Friday, August 5, 2011

View of Tallinn from the sea

Macro add-on lenses

One department in which large-sensor interchangeable-lens cameras do not always surpass simpler pocket digicams is macro photography.

Firstly, the larger the sensor, the much shallower depth of field at the same aperture value. So you grind your teeth, close down the aperture and crank up the ISO to compensate.

Secondly, most interchangeable lenses are not actually designed for macro photography - they cannot focus very closely. So you either buy a special macro lens, which is of course the best option quality-wise, or you just buy a macro add-on lens for the main lens, allowing it to focus much closer but sacrificing a bit of optical quality as is inevitable when you add an extra layer of glass.

I am using the Samsung NX system and a dedicated macro lens has been announced (yippie!!) along with its hefty price tag (arrrgh!!), so I have decided not to wait/save shedloads of money for it, but try macro add-on lenses instead.

Below you will find 100% crops of the same computer display area (along with a stain that I only saw when I viewed the images full-size :) ) illustrating how much detail you can get with the Samsung NX 30mm lens by itself and with at least one macro add-on lens attached - in each case at the closest focusing distance possible.

So the examples go like this: 30mm, +4, +10, +14, +18.
I hope this will be helpful to those facing the same choices that I did :)

Swiss Alps around Davos

Davos is not only an expensive winter resort and a venue for high-level conferences,
it is also a great base for stress-free mountain exploring on a budget in the summertime.
Summer accommodation prices are low and you get a special card
for free train travel in the area and free use of mountain cable cars!!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

From the botanical garden in Helsinki

Large - not, lovely - yes.
Free to enter and roam.
Bliss on a sunny summer day.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Polar bear feeling very hot

Nagoya Zoo, August 2008.
I was feeling hot too, but you do not want to see that.

About Me

Tallinn, Harju County, Estonia
I have decided to start my own blog and do so in English as the language that all my friends and curious strangers are most likely to understand. I am a keen amateur photographer so here you will see my own photos with some occasional comments. If you want to use any of my photos for something, please let me know! Each post contains at least one photo and be sure to click on "Read more" to view some of the photos. Enjoy!