Surfacing Common Merganser

25.11.



Common Merganser surfacing after catching a fish. Nikon D90, AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED, 300mm, ISO 1400, f/5.6, 1/640 s

Yesterday I was lucky to spot uneven water at Tokoinranta, Helsinki so I was able to wait for something and I was lucky enough to have camera pointing more or less into the right direction. The framing is not perfect, but nevertheless, I do like the result.



Another version of the photograph where I tried to extract more details of the bird.

The Glass Wigeon, Bird Competition: #23 Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope)

Eurasian Wigeon. Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM, 200mm, ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/30 s.

In the morning I spotted a Wigeon on the shore of Töölönlahti. I think it looks very much like the famous glass design birds by Oiva Toikka, doesn't it?

Mute Swans at Töölönlahti

A young Mute Swan spreads it's wings at Töölönlahti. Nikon D90, AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED. ISO 400, 210 mm, f/5.3, 1/640 s.

Mute swans nested in the Summer at Töölönlahti and one can see them almost every day there. I've only once spotted them at Eläintarhanlahti, the next bay. They are very tame and easy to shoot. This is just one of the many photographs.

Bird Competition: #39 Canada Goose (Branta Canadensis)

31.10.



Nikon D90, Nikkor 24 mm AI f/2.8, ISO 200, f/8, 1/400 s

There are a few lingering Canada Geese at the shore of Töölönlahti and today I shot them with a wide angle for a few minutes. Shooting birds with a manual focus wide angle lense is not something what one does often, mutta I like today's results.

Freedom Tower Construction Site in Fog

28.5.2013



Freedom Tower in Fog. Nikon D90, AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED, 18 mm, ISO 1600, f/3.5, 1/30 s.

In the late evening me and my wife Heidi were returning from the Brooklyn Brewery and after some obligatory shopping we saw Freedom Tower in Fog. I had only the kit lens with me and I was quite sure that it would be too dark to shoot without a tripod, but I was pleasantly surprised when I checked the pictures back in Finland.

Konttainen in Infrared

21.7.

From IR

Konttainen in infrared. Nikon D90, Nikkor AI 24 mm, ISO 200, f/8, 30 s.

I had the opportunity to visit Kuusamo for the first time in July thanks to my wife, mother and father in law. The trip was a very pleasing one. One of the things I wanted to shoot was Konttainen in infrared. I used my old, trusty Nikkor 24 mm AI, planted my tripod into the Lake Konttainen and took the picture. Here's the result. While I like the picture it seems to me that ultra-wide lens would have been a better choice. Unfortunately I do not have an 77 mm infrared filter for my Nikkor DX 12-24 mm.

Bird Competition: #5 Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

From Birds 2013

A mallard drinking from an ice raft. Nikon D90, AF-S DX VR Nikkor 55-300mm 4.5-5.6G ED, 300 mm, ISO 1600, 1/1600 s, f/5.6.

Harlem Meer in Infrared

29.5.



Harlem Meer in infrared. ISO 200 Nikkor AI 24 mm, f/8 30 s.

I visited New York City again in May in order to join my wife Heidi when she graduated from the New York University and help her to move back to Finland. This time I dragged a tripod with me and I had the intention of doing some infrared photography. I ended using the tripod only twice and this is the only publishable IR image from the trip. It's not perfect, but I like it.

I don't have a camera modified for IR photography but I have a 52 mm IR filter which I can use with several of my primes. The downside of the relatively cheap price is long exposure times, but it's still fun way to do photography.

Bird Competition: #3 Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)

From Birds 2013

Note the sinister look of the female (left). Nikon D90, AF-S DX VR Nikkor 55-300mm 4.5-5.6G ED at 300mm, ISO 800, f/7.1, 1/2000 s. Tokoinranta, Helsinki, Finland.

The Spring has finally arrived and almost all Mallards have gone. Now there are gulls, Mute Swans, Canada Geese and Common Mergansers.

Bird Competition: #49 Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis)

From Birds 2013

Barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis). Nikon D90, Tokina 80-400mm, 400mm, ISO 360, f/5.6, 1/25 s.

I had lent Tokina 80-400 from a friend an tested it. Unfortunately was unsharp at the telephoto end.

Bird Competion: #32 Who Framed the Yellowhammer?

From Birds 2013

Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella), Helsinki, Finland. Nikon D90, AF-S DX VR Nikkor 55-300mm 4.5-5.6G ED, 300mm, ISO 200, f/6.3, 1/125 s.

Tram #8

From Twilight Exposure

Nikon D90, AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED, 28mm, ISO 1600, f/5.0, 1/25 s.

In August I was lucky when returning from my regular pub: the tram was in the right place at the right time and this shot turned out to be nice though a kit lens is certainly not what one usually would like to have when it's dark.

Bird Competition: #14 Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)

From Birds 2013

Nikon D90, AF-S DX VR Nikkor 55-300mm 4.5-5.6G ED, 300mm, ISO 800, f/7.1, 1/160 s

Bird Competition: #20 Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)

From Birds 2013

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), Nikon D90, AF-S DX VR Nikkor 55-300mm 4.5-5.6G ED, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 s, ISO1600

Today was an interesting day in nature. A cold, crispy weather (-12 °C is not something we see every day in March in Helsinki) and sun was shining brightly. In a local wood I found a woodpecker, the only time I've been able to photograph this common bird when it's neither flying nor pecking a tree. So while this quite noisy and there are too few pixels per bird it was a nice experience.

Suddenly crows started to warn about something. I couldn't see anything and they calmed soon down. When I started to move a big bird which I was unable to identify flew away from a tree only five meters or so from me. The crows started the uproar again.

The sunday night was crowned by aurora borealis which I unfortunately missed by fifteen minutes or so. I found one spectacular image at Google+.

The Excitement of Rarity

From Birds 2013

A mallard peforming Pugachev's Cobra? Nikon D90, AF-S DX VR Nikkor 55-300mm 4.5-5.6G ED, ISO200, 1/400 s, f/8.

Birders are after rarity which is not always a good thing. Animals are disturbed which can be fatal especially during the nesting time. The photographical downside is that we have a lots of pictures of rare species and few of common species.

Are common birds dull? By no means, no! There's hardly more common bird in Helsinki during Winter than mallard and I think they're fascinating birds. One can photograph them, study their behaviour and be sure that they don't care about you at all.

Bird Competition: #30 Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) and #31 Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)

From Birds 2013

A mute swan (Cygnus olor) and a common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) meet, Helsinki, Finland. Nikon D90, AF-S DX VR Nikkor 55-300mm 4.5-5.6G ED, ISO200, 1/800 s, f/5.6.

Southern Helsinki has some areas where the sea is not frozen even in February and they offer an easy and quick way spot birds. Fifteen minutes in a bus, fifteen minutes shooting and back by the bus again. This time I spotted common mergansers, common goldeneyes, a pair of mute swans accompanied by a young whooper swan and of course, in a Finnish Winter, great and blue tits.

Affordable Quality Glass

February 20^th

From Helsinki 2013

Linnunlaulu, Helsinki, Finland, Nikon D90, Nikkor AI 24 mm, 15 s, f/8, ISO200

"Affordable" and "quality" is a rare combination in photography. Cameras and lenses are precision instruments and as such things cannot be cheap. However, good glass lasts decades, so the second hand camera market is very much alive. Some of the used lenses are excellent and cheap.

From Twilight Exposure

My personal photographical precious is Nikkor AI 24 mm f/2.8. The AI-S version of this lens is still manufactured. So what good is a lens that doesn't autofocus and doesn't even meter on some Nikon bodies? Plenty. The lens is small, though heavy for it's size. The optical quality is excellent and the old-style manual focus is good for night photography. One can set the aperture to f/8 and focus to the infinity and the picture will be sharp. The modern AF-S lenses focus beyond the infinity so focusing them in very low light is not easy.

An old lens I bought from ebay at 100 euros (postage included) in some way performs better than the modern AF-S lens which costs twenty times as much.

Bird Competition: #28 Great Grey Owl (Strix nebulosa)

From Birds 2013

#28 Great grey owl (strix nebulosa), Nikon D90, Nikkor AF-S DX 55-300 mm, 240 mm f/5.3, 1/60 s, Kannelmäki, Helsinki, Finland, 2013

I've always been interested in trekking, nature and wildlife including birds but I wouldn't say they're a hobby to me. However, in January a long time friend of mine asked me if I'd like to have a competition with him. Which one would be able photograph most bird species in 2013? Neither of us is an active birder. The competition is not very serious and not even the real point. The fun and shooting is.

The rules are simple: a bird must be identifiable, alive and non-domesticated.

From Birds 2013

Nikon D90, Nikkor AF-S DX 55-300 mm, 280 mm f/5.6, 1/60 s, Kannelmäki, Helsinki, Finland, 2013

The owl is 28^th bird species photograph this year. The owl attacked something in the snow immediately I shot the main picture.

Twilight Exposure

From Twilight Exposure

The Hands of Daibutsu, Kamakura, Japan 2007

I've always been fascinated by images and loved turning life into them whether my tool has been water colours, oil or a camera. Drawing and painting is a skill long lost due to neglect but in my twenties I got interested in photography and bought an Olympus OM-2N. However, shooting film was way too expensive a hobby for a student.

I bought my first DSLR, a Nikon D50, in 2005 and I currently shoot with the much better D90. The digital age has made photography affordable. My favourite photography genres are street, food and night photography. As a long time Linux user and programmer I'm also interested in the software used in photography and a self-written pile of Python is an important part of my workflow.

I pondered for a long time whether I should start a photography blog or post an occasional photography text to Äijäruokaa, the food blog. I concluded that I want to write about photography so often that food blog readears are probably not interested and that I want to write in English.

I will write about gear, linux photography software and, of course, I will post photographs.