Getting Ready – My Vacation Camera Selection

Please note that there may not be any new posts until 7 September.


This weekend is the practice weekend. By practice I mean fine-tuning the selection of items I plan to bring on my month long stay in Denmark with a short excursion to Norway and Sweden.

In this article, as I don’t see much value with showing my equipment, I will include a few images from a shoot at Vincent Massey Park.

Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro mode, f3.5, iso 200 1/8000sec

This is another image of a flower I showed in the article Spring Time Tune-up I decided to make this Black and White version to better focus on the softness of the petals, almost like dancing flames in a fire. I reduced the contrast to try a keep soft and ethereal.



My normal planning mode is to bring everything possible that I might use and then hire an ocean liner just to bring along. Luckily, my many years of weeklong sea-kayaking has forced me to par down the kit, back to bare essentials and then dump half of that.

This vacation is mainly a family vacation visiting my newfound brothers and sisters and then just sitting on the porch or beach side and talking about lost times.

But, and a Big But I will have my camera permanently glued to my hand. I just don’t know any better. There will be moments where in the interest of everyone’s sanity that I will need to venture off, explore and photograph, just on my own.

Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro mode, f16, iso 200 1/600sec

This is the same flower as above but here I increased the DOF to include all petals and then increased both the colour saturation and the contrast to add more punch and vibrancy to the flower. It is amazing that with simple camera techniques and very minor editing you can create 2 very different images of the same subject.


There is one special day being set aside when my brother Jorgen, who is also an avid photographer, and I will photograph the unique qualities of Copenhagen. Starting in the early morning, we will be traveling by bus around town, getting off where we want, explore, photograph, eat, then moving on and doing it again at least the eating part. This should last well into the late evening and hopefully collect a great collection of images.

If this were a photography vacation I would bring more equipment, but with the mixture of family and photography I have pared my list to the following.


Main Items
Nikon D300 – with 2 battery packs and charger
If this were a photography excursion I would bring my Nikon D70 as a backup

Nikon 18-200mm f3.5 vr lens
This is a great vestal lens. While I love the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 vr, the weight is a bit of a problem when traveling light.

Nikon 50mm f1.8 lens
With the great high iso noise of the D300 and the fast glass of the 50mm, who needs flash or even any kind of light.

Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 lens
I just love the perspective this lens gives to cityscapes.

SB800 flash
A great powerful flash but the best part is the wireless capability with TTL.

Tripod - Gorilla Pod (largest)
I would love to bring a full size tripod but the only one I have is the steel Manfrotto, which is heavy when, added with a good ball head. The cost of those carbon fibers is still a bit much, but one day I will save up enough.

Backpack –Lowenpro
This pack has padded shoulder straps and a hip belt, which are a must if you plan to walk around a fair bit.

Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro mode, f13, iso 400, 1/50sec

Simple weeds when in bloom can provide inspiring flower images.

Miscellaneous items
Polarizer filter for 18-200mm lens
Battery charger and many batteries
Lens cleaning brush
16GB, 8GB cards
Flashtrax 40GB auto card reader and storage.
Nikon SC-28 Flash cable
D300 manual – because I am still learning about it.
Cannon A40 2mp P&S camera
Energy bars and medical kit
Just in case I am so engrossed that either I walk off a cliff while looking through the viewfinder or get lost in the woods.


I would like to post a few articles and that is why I am bringing the old digital camera, as it will at least be in jpeg mode. The Nikon will set RAW and I am not sure if I will have access to a RAW converter.

Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 vr, at 70mm,f7.1, iso 200, 1/80

One of the many paths in Vincent Masseey Park that runs along the Rideau River.


At first I was a little worried about not posting for several weeks, but then after giving it some though I realized it is really a non-issue. I don’t use this blog as a business or make money from it. It is in some ways like a gallery where I hang my images and through my words you may come to understand the artist a bit more. Like any gallery I do enjoy the visitors that drop in and I hope you will all return when I post again.

The first article will most likely be how well the selection of camera equipment worked on my vacation. What I used most, least and what I wish I had brought.

Thanks for your visit and see you in September.

Niels Henriksen


My Own Words

For photographers real beauty is when the ordinary, the every day, and sometimes the horror of life, is seen through the passion of our artistic work with the aid of a little box.

Silver Railings – a Photographic Study – Part II

It was a dark and stormy night… well not really, as I was fortunate that on one evening during the week I was able to get some evening captures of the metal railings series in the ‘Garden of Provinces’ Park in order to complete the study of light on metal railings during the early morning evening and at night lights.

Please take the time to look at the complete set, which comprises 20 images of the metal railings under different skys and viewpoints and a few other interesting areas of the park. Link provided below.



Silver Railing Study

I would be a pleasure to hear your views on how well this photographic series is able convey the different moods or unique perspectives by looking at just one type of object.

This is the first time I have ever undertaken a photographic study of metal objects under different lighting situations and in fact probably the first time I have ever done such a narrow focus on one theme.

It was good thing that I had driven by the park and observed the railing over many occasions as by the time I had finally decided to undertake this photographic series I was eager to start the project. This made me excited about exploring the railing structure for unique ways to frame them and also how I could use the reflected light to create contrast and form.

f7.1 1/200SEC –1.33EV, @105mm, Nikon 18-200mm f3.5 vr


There is something about the above image that makes this one of my favorites. Not really sure why, but the warm glow of the pot lights with the single railing picking up the up in the cool blue of the sky creates colour contrast and I guess that fact that one of the lights is out is what adds the special charm for me.


While the above image has warmth and softness, the blow image of a section of the railings is made extra hard and sharp in texture by the application of a strong S curve and then ensuring the highlights in the background are nearly blown-out.

f10.0, 1/200. –1.333ev, iso 200, @130mm, Nikon 18-200mm f3.5 vr


Some Thoughts on Taking Photos of Reflective Objects


Most metal at least if not all rusted is highly reflective. It is easy for the camera fooled by some of the over bright specular areas. If these parts are important tones in the image then it is prudent to reduce the exposure setting to ensure that no detail is lost.

For most of the direct sunlight images I applied exposure compensation in the range of -1.75 to -1.0ev.

With chrome I did not need a lot of subtle tones in both ends of the tonal spectrum and therefore except for a few there was not need for bracketing of images.


The Nikon 18-200mm f3.5 lens provided good coverage to be able to capture different fields of view for isolating compositional elements. The 70-200mm f2.8 was useful for limiting DOF for a few of the images.

A tripod is necessary even early in the morning as there was not enough light to hand hold, especially if I needed greater DOF.


f8.0, 4sec, -1 ev, iso200, @200mm, Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 vr


The above image is actually 2 images combined to show both the reelection of the red and green traffic light. I did try to capture an image as the light changed, but it was hard to time right and the colours where more muted as they were on only for have the time. I did cool the tone a bit, as I wanted more blue than a green tone to contrast better with the red.

Visiting a site several times and at different lightening styles really helps to see different compositions that were not apparent during one of the light modes. That was probably the best benefit of going multiple times to the same location. Each time I found something new that I had not seen before, even if I had walked previously by it.

f20.0, 1/400sec, iso200, @70.0mm, Nikon 18-200mm f3.5 vr

I liked how the sun was just highlighting the left edges of these black painted posts, otherwise it would have been a continuous black mass. The shadows almost give them an appearance of marching along.

I had taken several shots of these benches in the early morning light. I preferred the image with the 2 benches as the image of the singular bench had more texture visible in the wood, but the composition seemed a little bland. I left the dark bottom corner in as I wanted to try and create 3 elements for the image and by being dark it also doesn’t take your view as much out of the scene.

f7.1, 1/200sec. –1.67ev, @130mm, Nikon 18-200mm f3.5 vr


In the last couple of months I haven’t taken as many images as I would have expected during this great time of the year. Deciding to undertake this project did help to get me out and photograph more, but most importantly while taking these images it also got me thinking about other projects that might be interesting.

Any sort of creativity, even viewing other’s work, helps to expand your own creative style and mental juices.

I have mentioned before the importance of finding a suitable project. I still encourage you to find something that you travel by almost every day catches your interest and that you could explore in the different moods of light

Niels Henriksen

Silver Railings – a Photographic Study – Part 1

Morning, Evening and Night

Well, so far I have captured 2 of the 3 above lighting conditions, as weather is the true variable in outdoor illuminations.

This year I am fortunate as I am a passenger while going to work and with that pleasure I am able to gaze at the surroundings. This was not the case when I was the driver. You would try and look but only for brief seconds and never enough to fully take in the beauty around you.

Leaving the western parkway that runs along the Ottawa River and heading into the final stretch of the downtown core, there are these silver railings, really just stainless steel, that provides wheelchair access to the 'Garden of the Provinces' Park across from the National Library and Archives of Canada. These railings zigzag back and forth as they rise up to the next platform.

While driving by around 6:30 in the morning, the tall buildings on the east block the sun and I noticed that these railings have a radiant sheen as they were being lit by the lightening sky.

The railing as seen driving by in the morning

f5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO 200; Sigma 10-20mm @15mm

Below is a Google Earth map of the location

Image size 1690 x 1080

I thought it would be interesting and somewhat challenging to capture a series of studies of the metal railings in 3 different kinds of light. Metal, except for shape, does not have much texture in itself but reflects the light and texture surrounding it.

The Study:

• Early morning, with only the uniform sky to illuminate the metal;

• Early evening, when the sun, coming from a NW direction, is not obstructed and could directly strike the metal railings; and

• Late night, when the street and building lights could add its own charm to the metal.

f16, 1/25sec, ISO200, Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR @ 78mm

This is the first set of metal railings looking back onto Wellington Street taken during early morning.

This image is almost totally an abstract with the trapezoidal squares forming through the grids of the metal railings and then also being mirrored by the same pattern in the stonework. The partial silhouette of the biker and walker on the darkened roadway take this image into another depth of interest.

Since I have not completed the study, I am only showing a few other images within the park and once finalized, I will post the sets that I hope will capture a unique way of looking at these railings.


I’ve not explored this park before even though I’ve lived here for more than 20 years. I was surprised at the hidden gems in this small concrete park.

f14.0, 1/10sec, ISO200, , Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR @ 125mm

There is a small pond that on one side has these 3 water spigots poring water in the central basin.

Within the basin is a 30-foot metal sculpture comprised of leaves that catch the cascading water as it flows from the top.

30 sec exposure, f8, ISO 200, Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR @ 130mm

Further back in the park surrounded by towering trees is another fountain, which also cascades water, but with this fountain, the structure is made-up of large concrete basins.

2 exposures combined (f9 at 0.8 sec; and 1/40 sec @ISO200) Nikon 18-200mm f3.5 @ 105mm

With luck I should be able to get a good cloudless evening shoot to complete the series and then I would be able to show you my final selection in the form of a project. One idea is to make a 4 or 6 pix image within a frame from the series. It will depend on how well the different angles and lights combine to create a unique perspective of this study.

Metal is not an easy object to photograph and really requires controlled lighting to bring out its best. I hope that I can, with the different sun angle lighting, capture enough variants to make a series. So far, there are a few images I like which may develop into a good series. As yet, I have not decided to use a flash to create additional highlights but maybe I will explore this also.


It was good to get out and take some images, as this had not happened much since I acquired the new Nikon D300. The main reason for this is that I have been busy trying to set up a new Wordpress site and in the process, because I am a constant tweaker, I have been trying to learn XHTML, PHP, CSS style sheets and by default Wordpress template functions. At least I have learned enough to throw acronyms around like pebbles.

I thought camera manuals were hard to understand, but programming languages and its different constructs for each language sure does test my ability to learn.

The basic theme was easy to adjust but I want to create some static pages to combine other photo sites into one solution.

Niels Henriksen




A Photographer’s Adage

Impressionism has induced the study of what we see and shown us that we all see differently; it has done good to photography by showing that we should represent what we see and not what the lens sees . . . What do we see when we go to Nature? We see exactly what we are trained to see, and, if we are lucky, perhaps a little more but not much . . . We see what we are prepared to see and on that I base a theory that we should be very careful what we learn. - Henry Peach Robinson

The Wedding Day

A few weeks ago I attended a friends wedding as a guest. As I normally do, and with their understanding, I always bring my camera along in the hope that I may be able to capture a few unique shots that will add to their memories.

I was not the official photographer and as I have mentioned before, this is not a job that I am willing to undertake. Not being the photographer allows some freedom to get different images and since the camera is with me at all times, to get images long into the night.

The downside is that I don’t have any control for setting up those studio type shots or my camera position if I am near these events.

One of the main objectives is to capture the bride and groom and their guests interacting with each other and just having fun.


The groom on the left is reacting to a comment made by one of the best men.

This was an outdoors wedding with a sunny cloudless sky, about mid-afternoon. Being a guest meant that I could only shoot from the edges with a zoom lens (300mm), therefore the ability to use fill flash to reduce some of the dark shadows is not possible.

The bridesmaids waiting for the main star, the bride, to arrive.

Luckily, I am able to take images in RAW because, even with a great camera, as the Nikon D300, the tonal range from the black hair to the backlit white hair is difficult to capture. I was able to recover the detail in the flowers and white hair.

She finally arrives and starts her walk down the green carpet.

She has met up with her father and is preparing for the walk down the isle to the altar.

Outdoor sunlight is not what I would call the best glamour lighting, but if you are able to move about and take several shots, you can find pleasing angles where some of the harshness is reduced.

The loving look that bind each other.

With a digital camera and a good size memory card (16GB in my case) good candid shots will turn up. There were several shots taken at this location and this is the one I prefer because the priest is looking down so the main focus is on the bride and groom looking into each other’s eyes.



I love this moment because of the tenderness of the groom lifting the veil getting ready for the traditional ‘Kiss”. There is a bit of humor captured in the moment as the bride grins when the groom struggles a bit with the lifting of the veil.



The Kiss



Of the images taken of the kiss, I prefer this the most as during their embrace they where able to block the priest fully. Also, their arms are fully locked around each other as they share a moment of intimacy. When shooting moments like this, firing the shutter release rapidly allows you to find some images where all the visual elements work and there are no distracting protrusions. These were taken at the back isle of the seating, so there was not much room to move about for a different angle.


They are now married




As they left the altar and did their walk down the grassy area, I ran up the field and positioned myself so that the sun would be at their back. This allowed me to have some images without the dark shadows and sunlit areas on their faces and create more softness.


The Evening Party

The guests have all witnessed the commitment and love between the bride and groom. The bridesmaid and best men have all performed their important duties and now evening has arrived and it is a time to celebrate the wedding with food, dance and song.


The happy couple enjoying some humorous toasting and stories from their best fiends.

To listen to the stories told, well these are not for public consumption, but for laughter and to better understand the couple.

The evening photography is also a time for me to experiment a little. In the image below, the couple’s first dance, I wanted to get low to slightly distort the perspective to give the bride’s dress and feet more prominence.















Experimenting with Flash

With higher end cameras and flash units, you are able to remotely trigger the flash. For several shots I set the flash on the ground and walked around outside the tent to capture different lighting moments.

It does produce a strange lighting effect but since these included many people enjoying themselves I have not included any here. They are just for the family to enjoy.
I did notice that the flash produced a large dark circle on the ground around the flash due to the flash sticking up slightly in its normally angled position.

For some its been a long day.


Niels Henriksen

Accessorizing your Camera Equipment and Being Mobile

This week I thought I would describe how I adjust some of my camera equipment to permit me to be more mobile in venturing out for my shoots.

I am a tripod fan, albeit a reluctant fan, as these tend to be added weight and more importantly, these items are not easily stored in your coat pocket. Well there are some that might fit, but I like the larger, more solid tripods that will hold the heavier camera and lens solidly. I do like the Gorillapod SLR Zoom, a miniature and flexible stand that works as intended.

I like to use a backpack type camera bag, as it will hold lots of lens and accessories that I think I may use, as opposed to what I actually use. I guess it’s the old boy scout motto ‘Be Prepared’.

The backpack tends to either not have a convenient tripod storage mount or if they do, will hold your tripod horizontally along the bottom. This makes it too wide for me if you have a longer tripod and it restricts movement within the urban jungle.

These backpacks do have many attachment points and straps so I figured that there should be a way to attach my tripod to the side of the backpack.

With a trip to my local Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) store to examine the various straps and buckle components that might be useful, I came across a mountain climber’s chalk bag and thought that this just might hold the bottom legs of the tripod. It comes with a belt and buckle to hang around your waste.

Chalk Bag

The bag held the legs perfectly and without any additional straps, also held the tripod securely to the side of the backpack by utilizing the belt through the various loops in the camera bag.

Tripod in chalk bag

I have highlighted the belt in red to better show how it attaches to the backpack

Tripod attached to backpack

I made this 25 sec video with my camera phone, so please excuse the quality, to show how easy it is to mount the tripod to backpack.

Video

While driving around Ottawa in my car is convenient, at least time wise, to get to a destination, it is not really the best method to find any unique photographic gems through the city. There is the parking problem and most importantly while you are driving you need to focus on the traffic, that it is easy to miss little wonders tucked about on your route.

When the weather is enjoyable I like to take my recumbent Bike-E bicycle and attach the above backpack with the tripod to the back of the bike.

My mobile camera shop

I attached carabines to some of the loops in the backpack and then connect these to the curved metal rod used to keep the back webbing taught. A small bungee (bottom edge carabiner) keeps the tripod tight to the bike

It is so enjoyable to be able to toodle about at your own pace and at a speed that makes it easy to see the grant vistas or back alleys in front. A benefit of a recumbent bike is that you are at a natural position, like a reclining lazy-boy chair to be looking straight ahead. Parking becomes non issue and you now have access to areas that your car would not be able to get to. I would be great if I could summer bike all year round as I find winter roads way to risky.

Taken with a P&S film camera and scanned

This is and image of my son and I riding our recumbent bikes on one of the Ottawa Bike paths. This is the closest I ever came to an 'Easy Rider' feeling

Niels Henriksen

As I have practiced it, photography produces pleasure by simplicity, I see something special and show it to the camera. A picture is produced. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then it is theirs. Photography, alone of the arts, seems perfected to serve the desire humans have for a moment -- this very moment -- to stay. - Sam Abell, Stay This Moment : The Photographs of Sam Abell by Sam Abell (Photographer), Robert E. Gilka , ISBN: 0934738726

A Photographer’s Mistake(s)

I try so hard ensure sure that I have everything set up correctly with the camera that taking a photo should be easy, almost a photo-walk in the park.

I could blame my problem on the new camera and in fact I am, but in reality this is not the root dilemma. The new Nikon D300 camera I just acquired has almost the same controls and settings as the D200. What could be easier?

I am very fortunate that during my drive into work, that first I am the passenger and secondly I travel east along the very picturesque Ottawa River Western Parkway. As with most parkways, these are scenic routes with grand vistas that have very few if any streets or other side parking areas along its journey. Just pure unspoiled greenery.

I am normally on the road by 6:30 in the morning and with sunrise occurring about 5:15am the sun by this time is just over the treetops lining the outer edges or the grassy open areas that comprise most of the pathway.

While traveling east one sunny morning with no clouds in the sky, I saw these 2 short trees that had at one time been radically trimmed and now with new growth radiating outward, was near the roadway. They were backlit by the sun and had as its backdrop the outer forest that was in the shadow of the sun. Perfect contrast and a photographers’ dream and I knew I just had to have this image.

Tamaron 90mm f2.8 Di 1/8000s f3.7 iso 200

The specific problem is that there is nowhere to park nearby and to find a side street and trek over to capture image and back meant I would be late for work if I did this during the week.

There is always the weekend and I was willing to forgo the lovely feeling of being able to sleep in and get up at my leisure.

I woke up early but both days were too overcast to provide the striking burst of light I needed on the leaves.

So I figured that I would just take a chance and use my own car, have the camera and tripod all ready. I would stop along the road, put the emergency flasher on and rush out to capture a few images.

It took over a week before the morning sky was right, as even the next weekend was not right. That’s 4 precious weekend mornings lost with an early rise and no adventure to chase.

But one morning it was right and off I went with my new camera that I had not even tried once. What would be the problem? Just like the D200 and I knew how to use that camera.

Nikon 70-300mm f2.9 vr @f2.8 1/5000s 130mm iso 200

Off I drove and hopped out of the car with the camera and tripod and my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens and setup ready to take an image. For some reason the camera did not seem to focus correctly. Checked that camera is not on manual focus, this was ok. It did move focus as I changed focal points, but still not a clear image.

The 2 trees where close to each other and I assumed that if I set aperture to f9 that they would be both in focus and the background would be soft enough.

I could not figure out what the problem was. Tried to manual focus and took a few images. I noticed that a little closer to the trees that there were some shadows on the grass and I thought I should go there and try a few as I might experience some flare due to close angle to sun. I then run up and rushed off a few more shots. By this time maybe 5 minutes had gone by and only one bus had honked its horn because of my parking on the road. Ran back and drove away with the assurance that I must have gotten one good shot and no traffic fine.

Later that evening when reviewing the images it just wasn’t the case. The first set of images where properly exposed but had some bleaching due to light entering the lens. The second set while standing in the shadows was under exposed by 2 stops and many images just didn’t have the crisp focus I liked.

In examining the metadata I had inadvertently set it to manual exposure.

It was then I realized that there wasn’t a problem with the lens but that I had forgotten to set up the dioptre for my so out-of-focus eyes. (big stupid grin)

The camera did have Live View with zoom but I had not bothered at that time to learn how to use it.

There was also the problem that the image framing was not great and the sunlit grass seemed too bright. Could I be a worse photographer?


I can hear all of you laughing now.

Lessons Learned Time

The first lesson is that for me rushing, if I am unprepared, just doesn’t work.

I didn’t really give myself enough time to understand the shoot, calculate proper aperture setting

Do check in the eyepiece for the camera settings before you shoot. It provides all the information you need to understand if it will work for the subject (Priority Mode, shutter speed, f-stop, exposure value and metering mode).

One problem I have also noticed is that with the D200 I used to reduce the exposure when there was a high dynamic range and some specular highlights and I didn’t want these blown out. It appears that the D300 better captures these with normal settings and I don’t need to reduce exposure as much. That is why the shadow shots were so under exposed.

There is also the problem, which I described, in a previous article ‘What My Mind Saw, What My Camera Saw’ is that especially when travelling quickly by a subject your mind captures what you want to see not what is actually there.

Great pictures can happen in a fleeting moment and be gone but most great images come from carefully studying the scene and then determining the correct light and how to frame the photo with just the right elements in their proper place within the story.

To use any fine instrument as an extension of your hand only comes with much practicing with all the features so that there is no thinking about how to hold. Just your artistic vision is needed.

I do hope to go out again and try once more and to be there at least a ½ hour before sunrise so I can carefully plan the shot. I may not be able to get it the way my mind sees it but it should at least be better.






Niels Henriksen


Photographer’s Showcase


In today’s reading list we have 2 unique B&W photography blogs. Each with a new perspective.

Xavier Rey Photoblog has a very captivating almost edgy B&W style. He only publishes about once a week but I do like his varied subject matter from boxers to tranquil seascapes.




The second is A Photo A Day Keeps The... whatever - you know the rest Which was active until 11 May and has an eclectic collection of older photographs from various people. Even it ti dosen’t start up again it is worth a glance over to the stie.

Spring Tune-up Time

Keeping things in proper working order means, that from time to time, looking under the hood, or in my case examining the inner workings of my mind to see how well it’s working and if I need a tune up.

By trying to explain a bit about why I like to write these articles and illustrate some of my images, it forces me to examine more about myself, and that may lead to new understandings and most importantly a clearer vision of where I need to go in the future.
Feedback from you would be greatly appreciated, as I don’t have all the answers.

I’ll throw in a few pictures to help those of you who aren’t big on self-awareness sessions like this.



A Milestone – at least a small one

I have been posting ‘My Camera World’ photography blog for a year now and for me that’s an achievement. A fair number of you have been along for the journey and that may be a bigger achievement.

I want to give a big thanks to all of you for hanging in and also to those who have joined along the way.


Why do I blog?

The 2 main reasons why I started to blog where;

- To get exposure as an artist and to help with print sales, and
- To give back to the photographic community.

While I like to think that the first part was the most important, it really wasn’t that strong a drive, as I should also have been updating my web sites and portfolio.

Giving back or sharing knowledge was the most important as I, in my learning journey, receive a lot of help from many photographers and artists in developing my skills. I still get and need help today and hopefully will forever. If you are not exploring and learning then you may be stagnating.

Along the way I found other motivations to continue blogging.

One is that it forces me, in a positive sense, to take more photos and to challenge myself and improve my artistic capabilities.

The best part is that I have connected with some wonderful people and should we eventually meet in person I am sure we would have a wonderful time together either chatting or going about and taking photos.



Blog Format

I decided to only publish once a week, as I wanted articles to have a little depth, a story and to include more than one reasonable picture.

With a day job that pays for the fun I have with photography and a lovely wife that I enjoy spending time with and maybe being a little lazy I find that I don’t have the time to publish more than once a week. Part of the problem is that I am a consummate tinker and I will for the pure pleasure spend at least an hour on each photograph to bring out the best qualities and to give a bit of vision to each image.

Writing does not come naturally to me. I have to work hard to structure my thoughts into coherent and readable text that you might be able to understand. Sometimes I think my mind is a big round-about with too many off ramps for divergence. I am also lucky to have my wife as my chief editor.

I have been planning to do two part series on Sharpening techniques and White Balance and these would probably be a mid week post. It takes time, as I need to create every image I plan to use as examples.



My Photography Career

My interest is art. Almost all forms and from a previous articles you saw some of these examples.

I would never make it as a professional photographer as I have a habit of wanting to do things my way and to my standards. This means spending whatever time it takes to get it perfect or whatever that means as an artist. With this model, productivity would be low and I would have to work many hours to make some reasonable income.

I abhor failure in myself and rather than fail I’ll just keep some images as unfinished works. This is why I don’t do Weddings. The client’s expectations for the single event, with no way to redo it, would be too much stress for me.

I have taken some pictures at a few friends weddings for fun and the couples, on a few occasions, liked my work better than the photographer they hired. It was great to give them images of their special day for free.

I try to develop and print a few images that people would be willing to hang on their walls. I don’t need to make a lot of money this way, but I try and charge an amount that is reasonable and at the same time is not a give-away price. I want people to appreciate these works and be willing to invest a little to get a signed and numbered piece of art. I do print images in smaller sizes, 8x10 or less, that I don’t sign and sell for less.

I will be retiring soon from a career type job (IT project management) and that will give all the time I need to pursue and chase the things I love and to finally to have more time for painting.



Where do I go with the Blog?

Just like it never hurts and only helps to reflect on your artistic vision, the same is true when you blog. In some ways blogging is an artistic outlet and here I am at the very beginning of learning.

The lame name I originally picked (My Camera World) was just a quick thought about discussing my photography and the equipment I use. I have not really discussed much about equipment, as there are so many good sites already and therefore I am not sure that I can add much.

I have been trying to focus on creativity ideas as an artistic expression related to composing and enhancing photographic images. It seems to be working as the readership (feedburner count) slowly increases and there have been other web sites or blogs that have referenced a few my articles.

I have been planning to move to the Wordpress platform as it will provide for tab pages where I can now incorporate my print images, FAQ and other material into one software package.

My web site (so out of date now) is called ‘ Light and Colour on Canvas ’ since I paint and print photos on canvas, so it seemed an appropriate title. I will probably call the new site ‘Light and Colour’ and would keep both sites running until I feel that it has fully transferred onto the new site, not just users, but reasonable search finds.

I am a little unsure about the content for future articles, but for the most part I would still like to describe how I approach my creating and editing. My technique is not necessarily the right way or best way. Just one person’s approach to art and hopefully it might help some people with their creative ideas.

I currently only show my images, because I feel that I should be able to demonstrate any techniques myself. This does make it a little harder as I have to plan and then shoot the photos for articles. There are so many good images available it would be easier to ask to use these, but somehow I feel it is better if you see my struggles.

I definitely would like to hear about any ideas you might have with articles I should write or any comments on these thoughts in this article.






Reader Interaction

This blog does not get a lot of reader interaction. I am not really sure why. The obvious conclusion is that the writing style does not lend itself well to comments.

I am just an ordinary person on a continuous and life long learning journey. I don’t know everything, but what I do know is that when we get together we learn more by sharing with each other. There is not a photographer that I could not learn something new from.





Summer Holidays and Postings

This August I will be going to Denmark to visit my family, which as I mentioned last week, I only discovered existed in 2005. This is so cool as I always wanted to be from a large family and now its come true. I will try to have a few posts pre-created to publish every second week. I am not sure of my ability to post in Denmark plus all my images are in RAW format. If I try and save in JPEG format also - wow! Where do I get terabyte memory cards?


If any of you would like to write an article in a similar approach, please contact me.





Your thoughts?

Please fill in the blank space here, as I would like to hear from you. Not just the Good, but the Bad and Ugly. (I did enjoy that old western movie)



Thanks again,


Niels Henriksen







A “Photographer’s Showcase”

This highlight does come with a bit of a warning as once I saw the utterly stunning images, I started to doubt that I would ever be able to get near this point of photographic greatness.

A recent article at the Luminous Landscape made reference to a photo book 'Landscapes of The Spirit' created by William Neill that was out of print but the photographer had decided to publish in an eBook (pdf) format.

A few sample images convinced me to purchase the ebook for $15 and it was well worth the price. The author has decided to restrict printing, which is fine by me. I may explore this approach for some books I would like to create.

He does have a few hardcover books left that he will sign and sell for $80.

Skagen Denmark ‘The Land of Light’

First I would like to thank very much all those who are regular readers of this photography blog. I have decided to post the blog membership of readers as presented by Feedburner. For the last month the total has remained over 500, which for me is a form of acknowledgement that the images and articles provide some enjoyment to you.

Feedback, whether comments on articles or as represent by number of readership, helps to keep me excited about continuing the weekly writings.


The SoFoBoMO project was a bit all consuming for a period of time and except for those images I have not been able to get out and take new photographs as I normally would.

As photographers, we are sometimes just ordinary tourists and this week I want to show some images I took from the very unique spot at the tip of Demark on the main land peninsula known as Jutland. The nearby picturesque village known as Skagen lends its name to the area.


This 4 km long point of land is where the waves and currents from Skagerrak (west) and Kattegat (east) smash into each other. Because of the wind and wave action the seas tend to be in opposing directions and there is great crashing and convolutions of a disturbed area. This sand tip has grown 1 km longer in the last 100 years as the sand is swept up the western coast of Denmark. Occasionally a small sand island will form off the tip, commonly known as seagull island, but will disappear within a few months.


Picture of my wife Claudette with the 2 seas colliding behind her. If you have ever witnessed large river rapids these waves have a similar form. The 2 seas each have their gentle rolling waves, but at the tip they crash together forming standing waves


Below are many of the tourists walking along the sand spit to the tip.



This is a map of Demark with Sweden on the right.

There are no cars allowed in the protected area and you need to embark on a sand trolley to head out to the sand point. The map below from google earth shows some of this landscape.


During the 19th century many painters were attracted to this area because of its special kind of light by which it was given its nickname ‘Land of Light’ and an artist community formed to capture its unique quality of life.

The village of Skagen is extremely beautiful and in many ways very representative of the traditional Danish houses, small, almost cottage like, but with pure white trim and brilliant yellow walls and red tile roofs.



While many people do drive to Skagen, for the locals bicycling is a main mode of transportation within this village, which can be seen in several of the images below.



There are very many small restaurants with patios where you can enjoy the quietness of a picturesque and small village. To stroll around is be in another time where the hustle of everyday life has failed to venture this far north.


Being a fishing community, fresh fish has always been an important ingredient in the food of Skagen. Fried fish is served with delicious specialities from the moors, such as honey-preserved cranberries. Also the famous Danish open-face sandwich can be obtained with the artistic approaches to decorating the toppings.

The bright blue summer skies and the red and yellow buildings make for classic colour combinations as photographic images as this church image demonstrates below.


If I wasn’t touring the rest of Denmark with my sister and her husband I would have liked to spend several weeks with my watercolours, capturing that special light this area is known for.


On a side note, I have upgraded my D200 to a Nikon D300 camera. I am not sure that this the best use of my funds since with the upgrade cost it’s the same as if I had rented the D200 for $900 for 16 months. I knew when the D300 came out that I would be upgrading eventually because of the low noise at high ISO and better colour rendition, but I figured it would be a few years away.

I found out from Henry’s store that the previous warranty was not transferable to the new camera since it was over a year old and they were not able to include it for the new owner or even let the owner contact me to transfer for them.

I never buy warranties except for laptop computers or new digital cameras, as I was able to use it on my D70, which I still have because of its ability to capturer good Infra Red (IR) images.


When I read about the live view capability and ability to fine tune focus in contrast mode (Tripod setting only), and have it connected to a 7” DVD player, I figured that I just had to have this now. This would have been easy if I was a professional, but an amateur who only sells a few prints, it may take a long time to recover the costs.

The live view with external monitor is very akin to using my 4x5 view camera, which I enjoy very much for its ability to precisely set focus, but is a bit of a pain to lug around as I need to have the film developed at the few stores that still support view camera technology. The D300 now provides some of these benefits in a smaller unit.


I hope to have a few new pictures in the next few weeks.



Niels Henriksen

All images taken in August 2004 with a Cannon A40 2Mp point and shoot camera



There is a good web site that has many naturalist type pictures of the tip of Skagen Skagen, Denmark

Indoor and Outdoor Studio Photography – Table-Top Flowers

Occasionally the weather does not permit us to be able to go out to get the flowers shots we would like to capture. Maybe even the flowers that are interesting are not available at the moment due to wrong time of season for flowering.

Why not cut some flowers from the garden or buy a bouquet at your local flower shop. The benefit is that after the shoot your house has a flower arrangement for display and enjoyment.

The important element with the indoor flower photography is finding an appropriate background. I’m sure that the dining room hutch, other furniture or those purple walls may not present the flowers in their best setting. The choice of a suitable backdrop becomes a key decision in presenting your subject in its full glory and prominence.




The Favourite – Black Cloth

For the images in this article, which are singular in design, I used a black fabric. Not just any fabric, but thick felt material. The reason for this choice is I wanted material that, even though black, would reflect very little light. Some black fabrics have a bit of sheen and depending on the strength of the light will reflect some of this light. It can be removed in Photoshop, but when it is used outdoors you will be surprised that the material has turned into a dark grey tone.

I selected a heavy felt material, as I wanted this fabric to not show any folds and creases, which a thinner cloth might show when removed from storage.

For singular flower images I like the black background as it keeps the focus on the subtle colours and tones of the flower. The Gladiolas flower, while very beautiful and delicate, is also difficult flower cluster to isolate a single flower for a photographic image.

To better present the singular flower cluster I decided to overlay a close-up section to form a composite image.

These images were lit by direct light from a side window and the fabric was moved back far enough in order not to receive any of the direct light rays.

I wanted the long stalk to dominate and the close-up image to add extra texture and volume to the image. An Angle Gradient tool was used to create the mask pattern as I found the standard linear did not create the right effect. I wanted the tones to vary in the background to add more interest and depth.

A Photoshop action (they sure make life easy) was used to create the framing effect.


Other Flowers as Background

Other flower arrangements can be used as backdrops but these need to be larger to fill the entire field of view and also be far enough in the background to be blurred by the lens.

In the article I wrote on using the reverse 50mm lens for macro images, I used other flowers behind the main subject for different colours and textures.

The above image is Red Gladiolas converted to B&W as I found that even when adjusting the saturation it did not add to the image. I highlighted the pistols in the main flower to add more focus and darken some of the top petals.


Use your own Photographs or Paintings

Depending on the size of your flower arrangement you can even print one of your images or find an image on the web that has the copyright set to creative commons for such use. Even a painting that you have hanging of the wall would be suitable.

In a previous article I used a copper plumbing tubing to create a moveable vase for outdoor photography and thereby you could have any of the nature scenes around as a suitable backdrop.




Do make sure that the backdrop image is set far enough back for adequate DOF blurring. The subject needs to be pin sharp and the background soft and diffuse in detail.

This was taken outdoors on the patio table with the black cloth as a backdrop. The cloth was placed on an angle so that the direct sun did not light any of the material directly.




Niels Henriksen


Photographer’s Showcase

Thomas Laupstad form the Photos from Northern Norway: highlight in his photographs and stores some of the unique and mystical charm of Norway.

This country in the last few years has taken on a special meaning to me, as in 2004 I found out that I have 11 brothers and sisters in Denmark I never knew existed. My parents and their ancestors are mainly from Trondheim. Norway. This August I am heading back to Denmark to visit 4 sisters I haven’t met and my 3 brothers. Over the last few years these 3 brothers have come to Canada to visit me. I may tell this story one day.


Davidlind has a blog Virginia Breeze that include writings, good poetry and image about his life in Virginia and Virginia Breeze II , which is his main collection of nature images from the same area.