Panorama, Oslo
Took my son out for a little photo walk this morning.
Here’s another photo from the same walk:
and this last one is from yesterday’s photo walk with Akam.no:
Weekly Photo Challenge: Up
With our newborn son safely installed at home I can safely say that it’s busy days lately, so I’m not that active online as I used to be. There’s not enough time to comment, read blogs, write posts and process photos in between the diapers, feeding, house chores and work. I won’t excuse myself and say that I’m sorry, because I’m not. Anyway, Weekly Photo Challenge at WordPress again. The theme (apparently for the second time) is: up. This is my interpretation, a photo of some roses we got from a friend when our son was born:
Impressions from a photo walk
Here’s a draft that I made a couple of weeks ago from a photo walk with some other photo geeks.
Camera = Bread?
One evening when I crossed this bridge, I wanted to take a photo. As soon as the ducks saw me, they started quacking and came towards me.
Hey! This guy has a camera. He probably has bread too!
Sorry about the quality: the photo is shot with my Canon Ixus 130 pocket camera, which unfortunately creates a lot of noise on high ISO (ISO-500 in this example).
Fish for Lunch?
Fish for lunch?
Lunchtime is this weeks theme for WordPress’ Weekly Photo Challenge. Perhaps I can tempt you with some fish? Or do you prefer meat?
If you like trout you can try this recipe: Oven roasted trout & Chinese-style fried potatoes
Details from the last day of winter?
It’s a bit early to say, but the day these pictures were shot might have been the last day of winter for now…
Of course, winter has its ways and can suddenly come back to surprise us all – weeks after we’d all forgotten that it ever existed. Anyway: one day I was on my way to slavery work as usual and as I was looking out the bus window, I noticed that ice crystals had attached themselves on the branches of our friends: the trees. I thought to myself that this might be the last opportunity to capture this scene on film (or on memory card) for a while, so I got off the bus and took some photos (you never want to miss out on a great opportunity, right?).
Got toothbrush?
A little flashback from last summer:
f/5.6 | 1/500 sec | ISO-100
Did you miss the Genus Cygnus Glans? Check it out here:
Genus Cygnus Glans – Big Swan
Photoshop: Sharpen with High Pass
South African Penguin
Do you sharpen up your images in Photoshop? Perhaps you use one of the preset sharpen methods you find under the filter menu? (filter – sharpen).
Very often these presets are just exactly what you’ll need to enhance your photo, but sometimes you want to/need to have more control over the process. In this tutorial I’ll show you how to sharpen your image in just a few small steps using the High Pass filter.
The photo I’ve used in this tutorial is a scan from film. The star of the photo, the penguin, was captured on a trip to Cape Town, South Africa.
- Open your photo and copy the original layer (ctrl+j)
- On the copied layer, choose the high pass filter (filter – other + high pass) (illustration 01)
By default the radius is set to 10 pixels, which should be suitable. Click OK. - Change the blending mode for the layer. Set it to Hard Light (illustration 02)
- Play around with the opacity of the layer until you’re satisfied with the result.
- If needed you can also add a Brightness/Contrast Layer, but this depends entirely on your photo.
Click on the gallery to see the process:
More tutorials:
The Alligator (add a lens blur effect to your photo)
Restore scanned photos in Photoshop
Cat Got a Good Treatment
He was bland, he was boring, he was lazy. So I had to frisk him up a little.
The original file was a .jpg file that I opened as .raw in Photoshop. I turned down the exposure by -0,65, added a lot of contrast and some clarity. Then I used the lens vignette filter and sat the slider to about -15 to center the focus a little. When I was pleased with the settings I opened the file.
The first thing I always do after opening a file is to make a copy of the layer. Make sure you never work on the original. I changed the settings in the HDR toning (Image – adjustments – hdr toning). After having done that I was still not satisfied, so I added a tiny touch of lens blur effect and then a saturation layer for the eyes.
More from yesterdays demonstration
Yesterday there was a protest in Gamlebyen, Oslo. Some people were protesting against Islam, while some other people were protesting against people protesting against Islam. Here’s some more info, a gallery and a video clip.
Happy to serve.
Side#1 (The Anti-Muslims):
- Claim that muslims are taking over Europe.
- Believes that most muslims are extremists that hate non-believers.
- Uses their democratic freedom to arrange demonstrations and publicly express their point of view.
- Wants to expel all muslims from Norway/Europe (even the ones that are born and raised here).
- Claim that they are non-violent.
- Claim that all muslims are either violent or that they’re waiting to become the majority before they hijack our democracy.
- Are against the fact that many schools in Oslo have a majority of immigrants (some schools around 90%, but not all of them are muslims).
- Have a dream that society will return to being ethnical white (like it pretty much was all the way up until the end of the 1970′s).
- Anti-Sharia
Side#2 (The Anti-Anti-Muslims)
- Claims that Side#1 are racists.
- “Criticism of Islam = racism” (?)
- Claim that Side#1 are friends of Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik.
- Thinks that freedom of speech is good (but should only apply to those who agree with themselves).
- On multiple occasions they’ve used violence to stop political opponents such as Side#1 and supporters of Israel.
Security Measures
The police sealed off the area to protect Side#1 against Side#2. They put up 2 checkpoints, plus a sealed off area inside the 2 checkpoints where Side#1 could hold their protest.
If we’re not counting the protestors from Side#1, the people inside the police checkpoints consisted of 95% journalists. The rest (5%) were 3 children from the neighborhood, some police officers dressed in civilian clothing, plus a young couple that no-one really knew or seemed to pay much attention to.
Also among the spectators, was a researcher from the College of Oslo (he was there as a researcher – not to express support with Side#1). His name is Lars Gule and he’s a public person that is often used by Norwegian media as an “expert-witness on political extremists and Islam”. Today he’s teaching Islam at the College of Oslo, but in 1977 he was arrested in Beirut on his way to Israel with explosives in his luggage. His plan was to blow up some jews, but his plan was thwarted. (http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_Gule).
As you can see from the photos, Side#1 was a tiny bunch of people while Side#2 totally outnumbered them. Even the journalists was close to outnumber Side#1 (and at some point I believe they did).
Many of the residents in the neighborhood had put banners with Oslo and a heart in the windows facing the park where the protest was being held. Someone put up a banner that read “Klosterenga for alle”, meaning ‘Klosterenga for everyone’ (Klosterenga is the name of the park).
Here’s a clip from the protest (sorry about the camera shake, but I don’t have a steady hand, nor enough experience, when it comes to filming…)
This was posted under the category News Photos
Police Horses in Snow
Went to capture some photos at a protest demonstration in Gamlebyen, Oslo today.
It was a cold day for both police, journalists, animals and demonstrators.
The police were there and they’d put on their riot gear and brought their horses, but the protest was conducted without any violent episodes. After a couple of hours the protesters returned to their homes, which was very nice for all the police officers & journalists because we all had cold feet.
Color VS B/W
The only thing I did here was to add vignette using the raw file in Photoshop
I decided to try out Silver Efex for this black& white photo. Normally I use Photoshop for my editing, but Jeff mentioned Silver Efex and then I suddenly remembered that I have a version installed. I’m not so familiar with the S.Efex software, so I can only do basic stuff, but it’s quite easy to maneuver and the GUI is user-friendly.
In my opinion both the results are pleasing and Silver Efex was easy to use (even for a Photoshopper like myself).
I chose a photo that I shot in the botanical garden here in Oslo. The color version has been edited in Photoshop and the only thing I did was to add some vignette using the raw file.
For the B/W version I changed the structure and contrast in Silver Efex Pro, then I Used Photoshop to add a brightness/contrast layer and a small touch of vignette with the Lens correction filter.
– Changed the structure and contrast in Silver Efex Pro. – Added brightness/contrast layer, plus a vignette with the Lens correction filter in Photoshop.
Now I’ll try to catch up on some commenting and blog reading 
Autumnal Reflection
autumnal reflection
This photo was little bit too grey and dull, so I added a couple of brightness/contrast layers and two layers with increased saturation. The autumn is always colorful and nice, but this time I had to help it out a little bit… I also digitally removed a plastic bottle and a rock that didn’t fit in.
Timelapse Video of Roses
Thanks for the flowers Karla!
EDIT: As you can see from the result I’ve never made a time lapse before. This was my first attempt and it shows. For example there’s a lot of flimmer due to different exposures and I haven’t done anything to fix it.
Big Swan (weekly photo challenge)
Swans, genus Cygnus, are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. This one is a pretty big…swan?
Genus Cygnus Glans
According to Wikipedia:
«Swans feed in the water and on land. They are almost entirely herbivorous, although they may eat small amounts of aquatic animals. In the water food is obtained by up-ending or dabbling, and their diet is composed of the roots, tubers, stems and leaves of aquatic and submerged plants.»
It’s unknown what’s on this particular swan’s diet, but I think I have an idea…
Wikipedia continues:
«Although swans only reach sexual maturity between 4 and 7 years of age, they can form socially monogamous pair bonds from as early as 20 months that last for many years, and in some cases these can last for life.»
Is this cock cob monogamous? I have a feeling that it’s not…
More big posts here:
- http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/weekly-photo-challenge-big/
- http://eagerexplorer.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/weekly-photo-challenge-big/
- http://nrhatch.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/big-bigger-biggest/
- http://lonelytravelog.com/2012/10/12/weekly-photo-challenge-big/
- http://patriciaddrury.com/2012/10/12/weekly-photo-challenge-big-xmas-tree/
- http://bopaula.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/weekly-photo-challenge-big/
EDIT: Can someone please ask Sara Rosso why my pingback and comments doesn’t appear on the dailypost-site? As you can see above, I’ve already linked to http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/weekly-photo-challenge-big/ but there’s no pingback and the comment I wrote there isn’t visible.. (I could have asked her myself if my comments appeared…)
Norway’s Largest Aquarium Shop
Earlier this summer I went to have a look at the largest aquarium shop in Norway. It’s called Akvariemagasinet and it’s located at Løren in Oslo. The shop is 700m² and you’ll find a wide selection of salt- and freshwater fish there.
Botanical Garden Waterfall
A small waterfall in the Botanical Garden of Oslo
Same place, different angle.
See more of the botanical garden and some more water in these posts:
She comes in colors everywhere…
Earlier I wrote a comment where I mentioned that I’d finally managed to capture the rainbow this summer. Paula and Jeff asked me if they could see the result and I promised them that I would post it later on.
Finally I managed to capture the rainbow this summer.
Well, now it’s ‘later on’ and this is the result of me chasing the rainbow this summer. Feel free to check out Paula’s blog: bopaula.wordpress.com.
You can find Jeff’s blog here: jeffsinonphotography.wordpress.com.
I’ve also posted another rainbow photo here: In the mist of the waterfall
Other related posts:
Mímisbrunnr
This place is located on the North East coast of São Miguel, Açores, Portugal.
Near the area called Nordeste – which means North-East on Portuguese.
Açores, Waterfall II
From Wikipedia:
In Norse mythology, Mímisbrunnr (Old Norse “Mímir’s well” is a well associated with the being Mímir, located beneath the world tree Yggdrasil. Mímisbrunnr is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Both sources relate that the god Odin once placed one of his eyes within the well. The Prose Edda details that well is located beneath one of three roots of the world tree Yggdrasil, a root that passes into the land of the frost jötnar where the primordial plane of Ginnungagap once existed. In addition, the Prose Edda relates that the water of the well contains much wisdom, and that Odin’s eye sacrifice to the well was in exchange for a drink from it.
Here’s another post from the same area: Long Exposure Waterfall
Weekly Photo Challenge: Solitary Fight
Grenoble, France: lion de Saint-Laurent, Fontaine au lion, by ; Victor Sappey
Fontaine au lion in Grenoble, near the bridge Saint-Laurent. The lion symbolizes the city, defeating the Isère river, represented by a snake. Sculpture by Victor Sappey, 1843. Sappey was inspired by the violent encounter of the two rivers, which was often punctuated by devastating floods. The fountain was carved directly into the stone.
At first I shot a version of this photo in the middle of the day, but the hard light ruined the atmosphere, so I decided to return in the night-time and shoot it again. To me it’s something solitary over this statue in the sense that you’ll have to fight your own fights in this life: no one can fight them for you.
Now that you’re here, please enjoy this clip with classical guitar. I composed the tune while my friend Sjur made the rhythm. We played this song in my mom’s funeral and it’s called “A Tune For Mom”.
Here’s another fountain sculpted by Vitor Sappeys: Chateau d’eau, Place Grenette, Grenoble.
Related Posts:
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Solitary (dailypost.wordpress.com)
You’ll find more of my music in these posts:
He said/she said: