If I could just make it, then I’m sure I will be ok.

So i have started with an image, that if you follow me on twitter @teamdubb you would have seen posted last weekend. This was taken with my iPhone just after I had taken a shot of the fog coming over the island. The next image, is the image from my Nikon. I think you will enjoy it.

No Diving.

At last!….

I’ve been away from wordpress for long enough now. Things have just been way to busy to even think of posting here! Until now….

Had some quality time with my Nikon this week…well, 35 mins last Thursday to be precise. But those 35 mins were all that was needed! I was at kalles inn with the family for the weekend when suddenly this massively thick fog came creeping across the water! I jumped to the chance of getting some shots! I had some crackers that I will post but for now, here’s a little taste…..enjoy.

Family Practice.

Had some quality time with the Family of late. Much needed. Managed to get some great practice shots in too. The shots are nothing special, but I’m just working on different colours, backgrounds, light, angles etc. If you got it. Use it. But remember to have fun too. Which we did.

Also, by the looks of things, I’ve found my logo text at last. Looks good don’t you think?

Coolness

Matthew Watkins Fri May 27 5:00pm

Kalles Inn

Some homework for me. I say homework as I’ve been given the task of taking photographs of Kalles Inn for the new website. These are a few shots from my workplace Kalle’s Inn. Here is one of 4 restaurant buildings we have on the area. This is a traditional Lapland Kota building. Here we can seat up to 60 persons and there is overnight accommodation for 12 persons. The menu we mostly serve in this building is a Cream Soup of Finnish Chantarelle Mushrooms followed buy Finnish Salmon that’s roasted in front of the fire as you can see in the 4th image. For dessert we serve a Vanilla Creme brulee topped with Finnish Cloudberries. As of late i have been introducing more and more main dishes into the menu by roasting Wild Boar, Beef Inner Fillet, Moose Inner fillet and once a whole piglet for a medieval themed wedding! The roof of this building has small fiber optic lights that make up the star sky from the night it was built. The first and second image were taken on Aperture priority at f5.6-f8 using a Polorizer Filter. The third and forth images were taken on fully manual f8 at 40′ second.

The next image is another of the restaurant buildings on the area. This is a little special. It is shaped like a lighthouse! It has a Wood Burning aitokiuas Sauna that can sit 10 – 15 persons and a wood burning hot tub outside that can sit 8-10 persons. On the Third floor there is a restaurant that can sit 8-12 persons. This is the ideal place to spend the months of the midnight sun.

For the image i used an ND filter taken at f20 at 25 seconds plus a polarizing filter. Minor adjustments in Photoshop again and for my eyes, this image is perfect. How about yours?

Coolness

Matthew Watkins Thur May 19 9:01pm

The Krisp Kalm Kvarken.

I finally get to post my images taken a few weeks back. There was no work for the weekend so what do we do? Pack up way too much stuff, and stay at our work place overnight. Well, it was Eurovision Night. Yeah, i know, how sad is that? Well its an excuse for the family to get together and laugh and joke and make fun of the artists performing! We arrived there pretty early in the day so i decided i would venture out to see what shots i could get. It was extremely still and the water was so calm! Here is a Google map shot From where i was shooting if your at all interested.

There are some great locations to shoot around this area and over the summer, i will hope to get as much done as i possibly can. OK , back to the photo’s. I love the effect on the water in these shots! Looks as if you can walk across it all the way to Sweden! These shots were taken around noon time using my Nd110 filter. I think I’m using this a little too much now but I’m really enjoying it! Only a slight Photoshop adjustment needed for each of these. I was using my polorizer filter along with the ND so i was ending up with a touch of vignetting only at the top of the image. So i just cropped out that if i did not want to use it and then just a slight exposure adjustment in each. Also, obviously, i processed 2 shots into black and white which I think work really well.

There’s enough chit chat now so time for the images! I would love to hear what you think off them in the comments section. Good or Bad, criticism is invaluable and much needed and appreciated!

Coolness

Matthew Watkins Thur May 19 8:29pm

Another day, another sunset.

Yip. As the heading says. Another day, another sunset. Another sunset form the set i had posted a few days ago taken at Kalles Inn over looking the Gulf of Bothnia towards Sweden and the town of Umeå. Summer is slowly creeping in, and with that, The sun sticks around for approximately an extra 30 minuets a day. This was taken at Sunset around 8:50 pm over Easter. I have been lazy in my posts of late and the settings i used have been left out of the image post. So i think ill get back into the swing of things with this. Nikon D3000 18mm F16 2 second exposure. I used a little Photoshop in the final image just to brighten the image up and to lighten the foreground and lighthouse.

Coolness

Matthew Watkins Sun May 1 11:01pm

Is That The Postman Dear?

Finally, it has arrived! well, it arrived 3 weeks ago but only now i have my hands on it. The B+W ND11 3.0. What an amazing slab of glass. Its heavy too! i really was not expecting that! I have a few ND filters, but being the amateur i am, i picked up the cheapest ones i could find. Boy do i regret it now. I had a ND2 Nd4 and an ND8 by a company called digital filter……… i think they were 8 euros for the 3. What can you expect. They served their purpose anyways, i had some practice out of them, a few ideas and hopefully all my mistakes. I doubt it mind, mistakes are always there lurking, and your bound to make a few, but that’s what mikes the good stuff worth while. I also have a cheap polorizing filter, its from a company called Kenko. That set me back 12 euros, but its OK. Its a circular and, for what I’m using it for, it does its job. But, I figured it was time to spalsh some cash, build on the kit and pick up this filter! Man I’ve been searching out pictures of this filter at every opportunity and my god, there are some crackers out on Flickr! It was at a reasonable price when i searched for it, so decided to go for it! Its 52mm diamiter as both my lens’ the 18-55 vr 3.6f and the 50mm 1.8f are 52mm in diamiter. Now, from what i have been reading, the more common thing to do is to buy a 72mm filter and buy step down rings to fit your other lens’. Too much trouble for me, so I opted to do it this way. If, or when i get a larger diamiter lens, and i would like to use the 110 with that, i will get a larger one, but until then… I’m happy. So from what i can gather, this bad boy sets me back 10 f stops, perfect for long exposures. here is a chart that i have found on the net that kinda explains the purpose of this filter….

No Filter    With Filter
30sec          8H 32min
25sec          7H 6min 40sec
20sec         5H 41min 20sec
15sec          4H 16min
13sec          3H 41min 52sec
10sec         2H 50min 40sec
8sec           2H 16min 32sec
6sec           1H 42min 24sec
5sec           1H 25min 20sec
4sec           1H 8min 16sec
3sec           51min 12sec
2.5sec       42min 40sec
2sec          34min 8sec
1.6sec       27min 19sec
1.3sec       22min 12sec
1sec          17min 4sec
1/1.3sec   13min 8sec
1/1.6sec   10min 40sec
1/2sec      8min 32sec
1/2.5sec   6min 50sec
1/3sec      5min 42sec
1/4sec      4min 16sec
1/5sec      3min 25sec
1/6sec      2min 51sec
1/8sec      2min 8sec
1/10sec    1min 43sec

1/13sec     1min 19sec
1/15sec     1min 9sec
1/20sec     52sec
1/25sec     41sec
1/30sec     34sec
1/40sec     26sec
1/50sec     21sec
1/60sec     17sec
1/80sec     13sec
1/100sec   11sec
1/125sec    9sec
1/160sec    6.4sec
1/200sec   5.1sec
1/250sec   4sec
1/320sec   3.2sec
1/400sec   2.5sec
1/500sec   2sec
1/640sec    1.6sec
1/800sec    1.3sec
1/1000sec  1sec
1/1250sec    0.82sec
1/1600sec    0.64sec
1/2000sec   0.51sec
1/2500sec   0.40sec
1/3200sec   0.32sec
1/4000sec   0.25sec

The idea i had behind buying this filter was that my love of photography is Long Exposures. As i have said in other posts i love setting up a scene, clicking the shutter, and waiting for the finished results. So, to do really good long exposures, it helps if there’s not a lot of natural light present. Living in Finland, the winter time does not pose a threat to this, there is 3-5 hours of sunlight MAX for 2 months of the year, so then long exposures can be taken most of the day. But, Summer is fast approaching! So that means 24 hour sunlight! For approx 1 month of the year anyway, so that got me thinking. Hopefully this is the answer. I will post more about the filter and the process after i have had the chance to use it! I am so looking forward to it!

Coolness

Matthew Watkins Wed Apr 27 9:04pm

Replot Bridge

Replot Bridge. The Longest Bridge in Finland is 1,045 meters (3,428 ft) long and  has two supporting pylons are both 82.5 m (271 ft) high. The bridge took 4 years to construct, and before this bridge, the only way onto the island of Replot was by ferry….or so I’m told. I’m sure some intoxicated Replotians decided to don their speedos and give them selves a wash in the Kvarken….No doubt! This first picture is taken deep into the Finnish winter. I drive this bridge nearly every day to get to work, so as i was driving home one evening, i decided to do a spot of night photography. Never mind that it was minus 16 that night and i really was not dressed for the occasion! It is a 10 second exposure at f18. I love the fog passing under the bridge and how powerful the moon was on that night. I think this was around 2330 and in the month of December.

 

 

From one extreme winter shot of the bridge, to 3 Spring shots. A dark, murky, dirty one of the first days of spring type evening! The fog just called out for me to take these shots! It had been like this all day, and as i was driving to work, i saw these shots and knew that i would have to stop the car when driving home and spend some time at the bridge.  They were all around 6-10 second exposures at f18 and i was very lucky to get some traffic trails in the middle shot. It was on a Monday night these were taken, around 2130 and for the full 45 minuets i had spent at the bridge, 4 cars passed. Unbelievable. But at least i caught them. I cant wait to get some summer shots of the bridge with my new B+W ND 110, if it ever arrives from the shop! Hope you enjoy the shots!

 

 

 

Just a quick addition….. Blog has reached over a thousand views in the mere 3 months that it has been alive, of course I’m extremely pleased with that! If you would like to follow me on FaceBook the link is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Matthew-Watkins-Photography/215054331845365

and twitter im @teamdubb Thanks in advance!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coolness

Matthew Watkins Wed Apr 6 11.13am

Night Photography Fun

A little more Night Photography fun here for you. I love night photography. Find the object, set the camera, press the button, wait in excitement for the results!…What could be better? This first photo, is of a Fallen Birch Tree at work. It has been such a hard winter this year with incredible amounts of snow falling. This is a result of a snowstorm that occurred. The tree had split and fell over one of the area lights. Exposure was 8 seconds and at f16. Enjoy.

Next, is the church in Vaasa again. I have posted photos of this church on a previous blog post. But they were daytime captures and converted into black and white. This was a 20 second exposure at f16. Myself, i love the negative space between the tree and the church in this shot. This church has so many great angles and veiws, all that i have tried my best to capture, and hope to post up as the blog progresses.

Last one of the post. This is taken at the small harbor area near Strandgaten. It is overlooking the Restaurant Ship ‘Faros’. This restaurant has quite a lot of business throughout the summer months, not as an eating place, but as a drinking place. It is another long exposure, this time a 30 second f16 exposure. There are some traffic trails in the background from the main road leading to Sundom over Vasklot Bridge.

Coolness

Matthew Watkins

Vaasa Night Time Experiment

*BING*…..Experiment time! I went out into the darkest depth of the town of Vaasa one Friday night. Boy i could not have been worse on the choice of nights! But, it was an experiment as stated, and experiments fail…..sometimes! I dont regard this as a failed experiment mind, but as an attempt!…a Mark I…. An  ‘aye, ill give it a go mun, why not init’….(oh the joy of thinking in Valley speak! It would be sold for millions!) Went off on on one there for a bit, sorry about that! So, Friday night. Bad choice of nights, but it was a night when i was traveling home late from work, so in many ways it was perfect! It was a crisp, clear, minus 9 degrees night. I started out taking a few pictures of certain places in the town center. I really wished i had packed my headphones for the trip so i could drown out the drunken people shouting and screaming from the market square. Mind, cant complain too much as not too long ago, i was there! So that was the main reason why i stayed on the outskirts of the town center and did not venture any further! There were a few Passer by’s with the odd shout of ‘take my picture!’…in English!! What have i got ‘ENGLISH SPEAKER’ stuck on me somewhere?!? Never mind…the car they were driving gave me some nice traffic trails, so for that i am thankfull!! So, i hear you say…whats the experiment leading up to? Well if its not too obvious, then you will just have to wait…and wait patiently! But in the meantime, enjoy the photos on this page, and the others.

Coolness

Matthew Watkins Thu Mar 31 8:36pm

 

p.s

Yes, you are write… I have changed the layout, text on top, photos underneath. Hope it works out for the best, or ill swap them back.