®DS' photostream  

About Me:
I have always enjoyed taking pictures, but never really had a good camera or made it a hobby until I came across a piece of software that stitched images together into a one panoramic image: Autostitch. I tried it with my Minolta X20 and liked it.

After picking up my interest for photography in 2004 I bought myself a better camera; the Sony DSC-H1, taught myself the rules for aperture, shutterspeed, composition and such and made an awful lot of pictures. By then I had broadened my view on photography, and no longer focused on panoramic images, though I ofcourse still make them.
Mid 2006 I stumbled across Flickr and since then Photography is my main hobby.

I discovered HDR-photography when I saw /\ltus' pictures. He, and the well known StuckinCustoms became the reason I bought my Canon 400D (july 2007), more buttons and better control over my pictures. So I learnt some more about exposure, photoshop and HDR's.

I think one is never be able to say they've mastered the techniques for any type of photography, (or any artform for that matter, as illustrated in the 'Artist's Paradox')
So to look for ways to improve (my) pictures is what I like about photography most.
This is also exactly why I encourage all viewers of my photostream to give any (both positive ánd negative) comments & critique!


My pictures:
I release all my pictures under the
Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike creative commons license.
If you'd like to use one for printing, or for any form of commercial use: feel free to contact me, I'd really like to know what & where my pictures are used (for).
Also: if you'd like to have one of my panoramic images in it's original resolution, just contact me. My panorama's on Flickr are cropped when either height or width exceeds 4000pixels. My regular panorama consists of about 4 to 12 images, therefore HiRes versions are usually 10.000pixels or more.
(For my views on Panoramic & HDR photography, see their respective sets.)

Recently I have noticed that the colour representation of my pictures on flickr, when browsing with Firefox on a mac is different to say the least. Contrast and saturation are noticeably too low. Safari on a mac seems to work fine, and so does google chrome on windows.
Please keep this in mind when browsing my pictures!


My gear
Digital:
Canon EOS 400D
Canon EF 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS
Sigma EF 10-20mm f/4-5.6
Canon BG-E3 Battery Grip
Canon Speedlite 430EX II
Cactus wireless V2 trigger
Universal wireless remote

Analog:
Hasselblad
Olympus Trip (x2)
Praktica
Canon AE-1
Canon FD 50mm f/1.8
Canon FD 35mm f/3.5
Canon FD 135mm f/3.5
Canon FD M5, M10, 2×M20 extension tubes

Polarizing filter & UV filter for FD-lenses only
Waterproof bag
SLR Gorillapod
FD to EF adapter so I can use analog lenses on my 400D


What I plan to do/improve in the (near) future:
01-Play with (projected) light & shadows more
02-Make bokeh shots Regularly make them
03-Make (more) Black&White pictures
04-Reduce halo's in HDR pictures
05-Use manual focus more often I now us it almost half the time, especially since I have several analog lenses
06-Test all white balance settings and use them more&easier Experimented and now use WB more flexible
07-Join more groups
08-Post in more groups
09-Make a tutorial
10-Come up with more photography 'assignments'
11-Take pictures based on influences by other media (like music)
12-Make a panoramic tripod head
13-Learn to use Hugin properly
14-Test all photoshop filters and use them more often
15-Take my camera with me more often (I know I álways should)
16-Photograph what I usually don't
17-Choose even more different perspectives for my pictures
18-Attend a photo exhibition
19-Get in contact with photographers/Flickr users in my area
20-Choose better lighting for my pictures
21-ALWAYS exploit EVERY photo opportunity
22-Buy more CF memory Now have 8Gb+2Gb
23-Use the Flickr API better
24-Understand interestingness better
25-Get a photo in explore Yay, 8 so far!
26-Make equirectangular panorama's
27-Do more portrait shots
28-Make more urban shots Uploaded a lot since 06-10-2008
29-Use HDR more effectively and natural Have developed several ways of making HDR more natural-looking
30-Be more random
31-Look at everything as a photo opportunity
32-Actively go looking for photo opportunities
33-Enter more photography competitions
34-Buy an external HD for picture-backup Now have a LaCie 1TB desktop harddisk, aka 'the Black box'
35-Click here
36-Let colour tones and hues play a much greater role in my postprocessing & pictures, to do more with the mood of the picture. Since I use AdobeCameraRaw I have been processing colours and hues much more intensive
37-Investigate HDR postprocessing by the pro's.
38-Buy a strobe Got one now! see my gear above
39-Photograph people more often
40-Photograph more transparent objects
41-Make money with photography
42-The answer to life, the universe and everything
43-Do exactly the opposite of what I should do when taking a picture and see where it gets me
44-Select only my best pictures for upload, I feel I upload too much: quality should go before quantity. I now feel I'm not uploading enough ..sigh
45-Post in more Dutch groups
46-Use less tags for my pictures Trying to keep it down
47-Use non-natural lighting more often
48-Try my hand at panography
49-Buy a UV and polarizing filter
50-Go out to make photo's at the weirdest times
51-Learn more about light meters & exposure
52-Take more pictures with my analog camera
53-Try camera panning
54-Try portrait photography
55-Make more B&W images
56-Buy wireless triggers for both camera and flash Now have both! see gear above
57-Make more pictures with a real story/purpose behind them
58-Make a picture no one can figure out or reproduce
59-Capture more and more different colours in different environments
60-Make a selfportrait
61-Do more with the images I faved
62-Learn all the ins&outs of AdobeCameraRaw
62-Start a personal photography project I have since spring '09. It's called Faces of the Veluwe.

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