I’m getting a bit curious of buying a Sony RX100 as a complement to my DSLR, and as an upgrade to my old compact, Olympus XZ-1. Seems like a good camera with a reasonable big sensor, bright lens and still a really small camera.
Does anyone have an opinion on this one?
– Walter Hagen
Yesterday a F1-friend of mine showed me this amazing version of Fairytale of New York.
Katzenjammer, Ben Caplan And The Trondheim Soloists – Fairytale Of New York from Stene Osmundsen on Vimeo.
Best wishes for the weekend!
Spotifylink: Katzenjammer – A Fairytale Of New York
As an experiment I’ve set up a page on Facebook. The page will be a way to be noticed when there are new things published on this blog. It may also be a better way to share thoughts and ideas in a better way?
The link to the new page is http://www.facebook.com/saarimner
Welcome to visit
“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.”
― Emily Dickinson
Currently we’re receiving a lot of snow here in Stockholm. The airport is closed, the public transportation system is out, but the roads are still pretty ok.
It may sound strange but I kind of like these situations (as long as nobody gets hurt), because it brings people together. Everybody is friendly, and starts to talk to each other without anything more to talk about than the current weather. Maybe that explains why Londonders and Dubliners are among the most friendly people in the world (due to all rain)?! 🙂
This is a pic from the early stages of the snowfall, and it actually snows even more right now. But as long it’s possible to stay inside there is no reason for complaining.
Best of wishes for the evening
“I love snow for the same reason I love Christmas: It brings people together while time stands still. Cozy couples lazily meandered the streets and children trudged sleds and chased snowballs. No one seemed to be in a rush to experience anything other than the glory of the day, whenever and however it happened”
― Rachel Cohn, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares
As the holidays are getting closer many of us will fly “home” to our loved and close ones. When I was younger I used to be really afraid of flying, and every single trip was a long preparation. Which aircraft were I supposed to fly with, what were the accident rates, what are the actual odds of anything happening and so on.
Earlier today I found these two amazing time-lapse videos of planes, landing. What the most of us experience as smooth landings doesn’t look that smooth when they are time lapsed. Notice that the camera is still, and the planes are moving around, not the opposite, in the last one.
I think that these two clips would’ve been a big therapy back in those days, in the preparation of getting “home”.
The technique, with taking out the blue and use it as a “green screen”, seems btw really interesting.
I hope you have a great start of the week.
Link to Cy Kuckenbaker
…and the clips:
To read more about how the video was made, click here
Original link: http://boingboing.net/2012/10/29/sped-up-video-makes-real-airpl.html
“A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.”
― Steve Martin
The first snow has arrived in Stockholm just in time for Advent.
Cold days like this are super for a morning stroll, and when it comes to many photographers best time of the day, “The Golden Hour”, it’s great for us Swedes that we easily can combine a good long sleep and still enjoy those early moments. At least in Winter….
If you have missed this video with these two great small fighters, you should check it out. 🙂
When we watch the news it seems like the security cams just catches the bad guys.
This video is about the opposite…
Best wishes for this November Tuesday
One of my first posts on this blog was about which iPhone Photo-apps I preferred. And since then I now and then have posted and reposted that list.
(link to app-store) – From my previous post
If you like filters and sharing images with the rest of the world you’ll love Instagram (my nickname on Instagram is @pedrohansson). I’m surprised how creative and actually really beautiful images that are shared at Instagram. And many of those just using their iPhone (1) What I think separates Instagram from many other “filter-apps” is their strength as a company. You can feel the quality.
© Pedro Hansson – iPhone-Image using Instagram-app
Upplands Väsby Sweden
(1) A portion of the images at Instagram are shot with professional equipment
One of the downsides with “phone-photo” is usually noise, and dealing with the small sensor. With this app I’ve rescued many images that sometimes get to dark, with to much noise, and so on.
It’s not a traditional photo app with ton’s of filters and picture bending operations, but it’s a great tool to use to enhance images.
Link to the company:
I think that almost everyone that’s interested in taking pictures with the iPhone have come across this app. In my opinion it’s one of the easiest out there to use, and it comes with quite a lot of features as well.
Here’s a youtube review of the app:
Link to the company: http://www.snapseed.com
Link to app-store: https://itunes.apple.com/se/app/snapseed/id439438619?mt=8
I downloaded Snapseed quite a long time ago (in technology terms) and I immediately liked the GUI. Professional and really easy to use at the same time. I can’t say that this app is the best in terms of amount of filters or in number of parameters you can change, but I think it’s one of the best apps in quality and GUI.
(link to app store) – From my previous post
I guess Adobe don’t need any further presentation. In the image-industry they are one of the biggest, and the Photoshop-software have been around for quite awhile. With Photoshop Express you get one feature that I think is necessary if you’re keen on getting the noise out of your pictures, Noise Reduction (this feature is actually the single feature that I use in this app but Noise is almost always a problem when you’re using mobile phone cams so I use it on almost every pic I share).
Below you have the same picture, with and without the reduce noise function in Photoshop Express.
iPhone-image of Visby sunset without reduce noise function (Click image for large version)
Same picture as above, but now with reduce noise (Click image for large version)
A note to using this function is that, when you reduce noise, also loose details so the result will, as always, differ depending on what you want to show. Photoshop is free but you have to spend a few bucks on getting the Reduce Noise Function
Link to the company: http://www.eyeapps.com/Home.html
Link to app-store: link to App-store
One of the apps that I’m using the most. The iPhones built-in functionality for HDR is quite good but this app is so far ahead in terms of control and image quality. If you don’t know what HDR is and are interested in getting some new ideas for your photographic session I suggest that you look into it. In short HDR is using several exposures (over- and under exposed) to create one image. By using several exposures you can use the lighter information in the under exposed image and vice versa. HDR-apps can also being used for creating motion and ghost-like effects.
Another side-effect with HDR is that you can find colors that otherwise aren’t possible due to over- and under exposure-difficulties.
A side effect of using two images is that you need keep the camera absolute still, otherwise you get some blurry effects.
© Pedro Hansson – iPhone HDR-image of
South Kensington Station in London
I hope you can use some of the app-tips above. Happy for comments. What is your best photo-app and how do you use it?
Link to the company: http://www.eastcoastpixels.com/cgi-bin/product.php?p=4
Link to the app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/phototoaster-photo-editor/id433671262?mt=8
This is, together with ProHDR and Photoshop Express the photoapp I’m using the most. I started off with using the “junior-version” but upgraded to the full version later. What I really enjoy with PhotoToaster is that it has some really nice filters to enhance the picture without making them look “too funky”. Focus on many of the filters are almost like a pre-set Photoshop app.
Link to the company: http://powercam.wondershare.com
Link to the app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/powercam/id453180850?mt=8
The last app on this list is PowerCam. This is app that I only use when I wan’t to do Tilt-shift images. With Tilt-shift I don’t just mean the effect when things will look like a miniature world. I use it more frequently when I wan’t a nice bokeh (from Wikipedia: the blur,or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image). This app does that better than any of the other I’ve tried on the market.
Earlier today I found a great service for those who play guitar, Youtab. This great service gives you the chords from youtube-videos. Among all the famous songs I found a great cover of Rihannas “Diamonds”.
I’ve always loved music and from time to time I’ve posted some tracks on this blog, but to try to keep this blog a little bit more “clean I’ve made a new page on this blog where I try to keep “the best music right now. This page will be updated over time and I hope that I may give you some new Music inspiration over time.
I hope you have a nice evening
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.
~George Washington Carver
Sometimes we pass those persons with a really strong character. It doesn’t matter if they stand up and shout, or as this woman, just sits at a bench, they have an aura.
Before I took this photo I exchanged some words with her, and I really got the impression that she was so calm and satisfied with her life, the way she had lived it, and I guess that gives an aura in itself.
At the end of our small conversation I asked for permission to take a photo, and she just said ok, and went back to her earlier calm, relaxed pose…
Earlier today I entered Rodposse. photo contest. I’m not sure whether I’ll fit or not, but I thought that I might do something more with my photos.
Link to the contest: http://rodposse.com/2012/11/19/15th-challenger-the-dogs/
My contribution was a photo from a while back, that I thought turned out well, especially when it comes to lighting.
Best wishes for the evening
This is my photo, and you’ll find the story about it here -> https://saarimner.com/2011/11/19/a-man-with-two-dogs/
I think Autumn has a special purpose in terms of reflection. The autumn isn’t always sunny, warm or cozy but it gives us time to breath and reflect. To stop, and listen to where we are, what we are, where we’re going and maybe serve as our yearly soul examination.
Soon the “bright white winter, the alpine season, the long walks in snow-season” will be here…
This is a photo i took last year while walking along Nacka Strand. It was a really great feeling in the summer air, and this couple really draw attention. I can’t really say what I like with this photo other than it, for me, reflects life.
“Where there is love there is life.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
Best wishes for a new week
If you’re on your way out, maybe you’ll find some historic dance moves to bring to the party… 🙂
Best wishes for the weekend everyone!
I’ve always enjoyed different forms, and I guess there are always nice things to search for while we’re enjoying our lives.
This photo is taken in Spain from the restaurant in a hotel where we stayed during some days, for playing golf. I think the proportions came out pretty well.
“Keep your best wishes, close to your heart and watch what happens”
― Tony DeLiso
Monday is a special day, it’s almost like a mini 1:st of January. Every week I try to set some goals for myself. A goal might be a burden if you tell everyone what you have in mind, so I always try to keep them for myself. For me, this is a way to make sure that I’ve made some progress, and actually a way to make me feel better when I know that I either reached the goal, get closer to it, OR maybe the goal has changed for some certain fact that I didn’t know about before the week started. Anyway, the goal keeps me at focus and brings meaning to my actions.
The upcoming week is full of great activities even on evening time, Keane-concert tonight, Soccer game on Wednesday and a night at Magic Bar on Thursday, so I guess I’ll have to try to just enjoy every bit of the week to gain energy together with all the great people I will spend my time with.
I hope you all have a great start of the week.
It was a cold and moist evening in Stockholm. One of those evenings when the sky is pitch dark, and the lights hit, in contrast to the sky, the ground with that magical reflection. While walking at Söder, towards Medborgarplatsen I thought that the lighting, and the people walking to their next destination felt really special.
This is a great time-lapse of New York during the hard days when Sandy moved in over land. If you like photography I think you will enjoy the angles and composition in many of the scenes.
Best wishes to all of you that were in the middle of this storm.
Hope for a quick recovery to a normal situation
This image was shot on a cold winter evening in Stockholm in December, almost a year ago. I think it was my third attempt, using my “walking technique with an open shutter”.
The image is taken on the pavement just outside Casino Cosmopol in Stockholm. If you look carefully you’ll discover a person moving against me.
Yesterday I came across this old clip of two famous Swedish Table Tennis players. This is a big sport world-wide, especially in China and when you see this video it’s hard to argue against their amazing skill.
Some quotes for the weekend
“Remembering you are going to die, is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” -Steve Jobs
“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” –Elbert Hubbard
Spotify link: REO Speedwagon – Roll With The Changes
Happy weekend!
“4th episode of the speech controlled elevator. Hidden camera from a norwegian talk show hosted by artist brothers Bård & Vegard Ylvisåker, known as YLVIS. Click CC to turn on/off english subtitles.”
This little story was sent to me by a friend of mine. I think it’s a really telling story of how things can turn out when you just go ahead with something, and never stops for a minute to reflect, train or think.
The photo is taken in a national park just outside Stockholm. This photo suffers a bit from Chromatic Aberration (look at the purple around the edges) which I will soon make a new blog post about, and how you can clean it up. Other than that I think the framing and composition in the photo went pretty well.
I hope you will have a good day
Busy
Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter ask for a job in a timber merchant, and he got it. The paid was really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best.
His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work.
The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees
“Congratulations,” the boss said. “Go on that way!”
Very motivated for the boss’ words, the woodcutter try harder the next day, but he only could bring 15 trees. The third day he try even harder, but he only could bring 10 trees.Day after day he was bringing less and less trees.
“I must be losing my strength”, the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.
“When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” the boss asked.
“Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees…”
– Stephen Covey
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