a winter night

As with the mornings, the evenings/nights are lovely as well. Cold, but that’s what winter is for.

taken with the xh1 + 14mm, around 17minutes exposure. sooc.


a wintermorning

It is winter, but changes in our climate are visible everywhere. Though winter, there’s no snow. Pity, as I enjoyed it so much. May be, one day, may be, next year, it will come back…

Even without snow, the mornings are great. This morning the view was amazing. Half was frozen, half was not.

taken with the xh1 and 23mm/1.4, images are sooc


weddings…

Every now and then, it is itching, it is begging me, there is this desire, this need, to do weddings again. I know it sounds crazy and you can call me crazy but I really enjoyed the weddings. At least the shooting part, the contact with the people, the wonderful moments, the beautiful scenery, the love. 

What broke me up was the amount of time needed with editing, post-processing, video production, making weddingbooks, the admin and so on. Part of it was creative work, but I love to shoot.

Every now and then, it is itching, it is begging me, there is this desire, this need, to do weddings again. May be I should do it again? Differently, pure and simple, focused only on love, light and moments and less on product? May be …


Gorsko Zrcalo


Days are short, leaving me with little light, so I need to shoot in a short time frame. One day, while driving home, my mind wanders off to a lovely place nearby: Gorsko Zrcalo. There is a small creek there, and situated between the hills, light might be flat, which perfectly would suit my film simulation ‘eterna’.

I just arrive before sunset, and I’m the only person there. I imagine how wonderful this place must be on a cold winter night, everything being white, the valley lightened by the moon and the sky filled with stars. It must be magic.

Enough dreaming. In order to get at least some colour in my simulation, I, in the WB settings, up the reds with 6 and lower the blues with 6, giving me a tone which perfectly fits the atmosphere, at least in my head. I take around 25 photos, below I show you the five I like most.

I really like how the brown and green colours look and love how the highlights have an eternal look. Now I know why this simulation is called ‘eterna’, and for sure I will use it more.



old roses

The roses in the bouquet I bought last week were dried out and ready to be thrown away. I guess we live in a culture (and time) were old things are being thrown away just like that. Probably 100 hundred years ago one would still keep the rose petals and use them for something (though I wouldn’t know what).

Anyway, I looked at them and noticed the leaves had a great structure, almost paper like, and the colours were just lovely. Now I had a choice: either do some work for the firm or photograph those lovely old roses. As old roses are not always around, unlike work, I choose to photograph the roses.

I have a simple setup for the small things I photograph. I use a big window for light, an A-3 paper (either black or white, in this case black) as a background and a white paper to reflect light and/or if needed a black paper to block light. 

The camera is on a tripod and most of the time I use a shutter release as I find it easier to work with. Actually nothing special though the results can be very nice. 

Camera settings are simple: a low as possible iso, aperture between 5.6 and 11, depends on the depth I want to have and the shutter speed I adjust manually. I shoot manual as this is the easiest for me to adjust exposure just as I want it. 

While creating the photos it came to my mind that my camera has the possibility for double-exposures. Since (real) film, I didn’t try this, but I today I fooled around. Actually, it is amazingly easy on a digital camera (at least mine) as it shows you the results and you can still adapt before finalizing the image. This feature I might try a bit more.

The idea I had in mind with the double exposure was to create some softening by taking one image with an aperture of 11 and the other one wide open. In the good old days one would use a B+W Softar (I or II) for this, I remember it took me so long to decide which one to buy (I or II), as they were so bloody expensive for a student.

I must admit I like the results, especially as it was my first time playing with this feature on my camera. As said, it is really neat as you can decide to re-take the images throughout the process, though I only used this once. For softening, the double exposure is not really a science.

Of course the opening image is a double exposure as well. All images sooc, taken with a xh1, the xf35/1.4 and the mcex11.


portrait of astrid and ruud

My brother decided to visit me with Xmas together with his wife. Just a few days but enough to have a great time. We did not only enjoy advent in Zagreb, but we visited ’Salajland’ and the ’chocolate museum’ as well. 

Despite the fun we had, I wanted them to create a portrait with me. One of several seconds, for my project, and to have a portrait of my family.

Though Astrid had problems keeping still, in the end we managed: three seconds, horrible window light and a reflector:

The portrait of Ruud surprised me. He was so serious and came out unrecognizable. Astrid said: ”this is not my husband” upon seeing the image and I must agree, this is not my brother. I’ve most have mistaken the room and photographed someone else.


playing with light

Processing images can be fun, however, I only like it when I have a small amount of images. One or two portraits for example. As soon as I need to do a series, I find it boring so I really try to have my images ready in the camera. For this, I use the colour settings on the camera, sometimes mimicking a filmish look yet trying to keep the colours right.

I was trying a new ‘recipy’, and the low sun hit the xmas table and it looked like the stars aligned. Wonderful colours supported by great light. Deep blacks, highlights as it should be and lovely colours. It must have been Xmas.

Below some images of the Xmas diner, homemade pumpkin soup, a turkey from my village, salad, red cabbage with apples and Brussels sprouts with ‘kulen’.

All images sooc with the xpro2 and the xf35.


driving home for xmas

Long time ago, when I still lived in The Netherlands, I used to drive to Zagreb for Xmas. A 13-16 hour drive, depending on the weather and traffic. Normally, during this trip, Xmas music was playing aloud in the car. “Driving home for Xmas” was on of the favorites of course.

This week, on Xmas-eve I was driving home as well, only this time from work. I fooled a bit with the camera, just for fun, enjoying the light and colours around me.

All images sooc with the xpro2 and the xf35. And yes, I should clean my car window…


review sigma dp3 merrill

Several years ago I was looking for a camera for a new project. After selling-off most of my wedding equipment, I had a D700 with several Zeiss lenses, but it did not suit what I needed. The camera was great, but I wanted more detail. Browsing the internet I stumbled across the Merrill series from Sigma. 

The photographic world was divided. The camera had great output, but it’s performance was slow, so slow, and you could only shoot up to 800 iso. Some self-acclaimed street photographer influencers said the camera as a no-go for street photography. Good for them, but meanwhile I saw gorgeous images from a guy doing street photography in a small french (I believe) fisher’s village. Who was wrong, or, who was right?

For my new project I didn’t need speed. I needed detailed files. The best would be a large-format film camera, but limited availability of film in Croatia made this a no-go. Second best would be a medium-format digital camera, but the price made it a no-go. I decided to bite the bullet and buy a second-hand Merrill from Japan. It costed me 400 euro’s. If not good, I could always sell it again.


So, let’s talk about the good parts first.

Before I start, you need to be aware this is my opinion, based on my needs. The project I wanted to do consisted of long-exposure portrait, captured with as much as details possible. Based on this need, I bought this camera, for this project only. Keep that in mid while reading my ‘review’.

The camera is simple. Which fits me, as I shoot manual anyway with it. I switch it on, adjust my aperture, focus manually which goes great, press a button to see if all is sharp, and I take an image. Simple, easy and therefore great process. Nothing special, except for the manual focus, this is really wonderful with the dp3 Merrill. So smooth, yet, it ‘clicks’ into focus, really love it.

The output is great. Wonderful files, full of detail. It must be as they leave me with tiff’s of 350mb. If you want detail, you need this camera. It is simple like that. Ofcourse, nowadays, a medium format delivers so much more, but it has its price. Both in real cash as in size. To me, the Merrill, being a compact, has the best output I’ve seen until today. 

The camera is small, and unknown, which gives me something to talk about with my sitter. No one expects such results from a tiny camera as this. As sometimes people are shy, this is quite a positive bonus.

So, three positive things: simple, great output, unobtrusive. Not bad.


So, what’s bad?

Define bad. We could say, where are other camera’s better in. There are many points which you could mention: iso performance as well as auto focus performance, white balance, speed, menu system, raw processing. The camera is not performing that well on many points. What bothered me most are:

Writing speed. Though I don’t take many images while creating a long exposure portrait (up-to 4/5), the camera needs about 5 - 7 seconds to save the image and all this time, I can’t create another portrait. Annoying, yet by now, I accepted it.

Processing. I first need SPP to create a tiff. I’d rather had it at once available in C1, but it ain’t going to work. By now, I accepted this workflow, though it is still annoying.

Battery life is the worst I’ve ever had. After shooting with a DP Merrill, you will never accept any complaining about battery life anymore. It is like you are using film: after 36 shots, you need to replace the battery. That said, for my present project, each session I take up to five portraits, so my battery actually lasts rather long. It is all about putting things into perspective.

All other is not bothering me. At least not so much that it is worth writing about it. So, three bad things which are outweighed by the positive ones.


Should you buy it?

I guess it all depends what you want. I’ve created over 200 portraits with it, shooting maximum 1000 images, which doesn’t seems a lot, but it is about the process. With long exposure portraits, one doesn’t shoot that much. Back in time, when I bought this camera, it was worth it and I’m glad I bought it. Nowadays, for sure technology has caught up, and I could (and in fact I did) create the same kind of portrait, with same detailing, with my present Fuji set-up. Nowadays, I would - for that reason - not buy it. 


Should I sell it? 

Lately this question is crossing my mind. I have too much equipment, too many specific camera’s. Life should be simple and I should gear down. One studio set, one travel/daily set. More one does not need. In that sense, the Merrill is too much and not needed. But then, the Merrill is part of the project. A special camera, for a special project.


Conclusion 

To me, the Sigma DP3 Merrill proved to be a great camera. It fitted the needs I had and still does. It has it quirks, but the output is what matters. As long as my project goes on, the camera will have it’s place. With an average of five images per portrait, I guess I could still shoot another 25.000 portraits. Anyone interested for a session?


Update

The Merrill has been sold. To a student who needs it for her art project, so at least, its duty will be still to serve art. Great.

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