Yesterday I bicycled round lake Tysslingen and made this image of whooper swans with Super-Takumar 135mm/3.5 M42-lens on Canon EOS 350D. The swans here are an attraction for wildlifephotographers every year, and they were lined up at the fence with their big tele AF-lenses… all getting the same image I guess, of the same birds and with the same weird look on their faces when they looked upon my little Takumar ;)

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Which one do you like best? And do you have any thoughts on the conversion to black and white?

For me this is a typical piece of swedish nature shot with old Asahi-lenses (Super-Takumar 28mm/3.5 and S-M-C Takumar 55mm/1.8), and an extension-ring. Lingonberries, heather and mushroom. Late summer/early autumn. The Takumar lenses are so nice for closeups, good sharpness and good bokeh. Slim and light, which is really good when you crawl in the woods ;)

And you need to crawl to get good closups. It’s most often not fun looking at pictures taken with the ground as background.

If you click on the images, you go to the Flickr-page – just click the browsers backbutton to get back here.

I wonder how you look upon this question, “What makes a good picture?”. I believe it is when the artist manage to communicate a feeling.

This image of grass, I wanted to relay the sence off standing in a field with waving straws, the freedom. One might even start thinking about what happened to the straws not standing up any more: Crop field circle by aliens? Animals having a feast? Winds?

But the image is very simple. I have tried to cut out what I wanted to show and no distractions. That’s why I sometimes have a hard time with photographers who want the biggest effect out of everything, to use the most extreme angle or perspective or color just because they can not because the image needs it. It’s also why I have a hard time with photographers only concerned by technical qualities – they bore me to death. But that’s just me.

This field was made with the 60′s M42-lens aus Jena Sonnar 135mm/3.5 zebra on Canon EOS 350D.

Water avens (Geum rivale) is a beautiful flower. Sadly I can’t remember which lens I used here, but I think the Yashinon-DX 50mm/1.7 is a very lightly candidate. It’s nice to digg through the archive sometimes, you find some wonderful pieces forgotten.

These beautiful flowers Aquilegia vulgaris grow in a place near my home (yes, I live in a nice place). They come in different shades of blue to white. In swedish they are called Akleja, according to Wikipedia en english name is European Columbine. The image is made with my lens Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm/3.5, an M42 lens attached to my Canon EOS 350D. I also used an M42 extensionring from Chinon. I kind of like the result.

Flower with Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 55mm/1.8 on Canon EOS 350D. Might have had an extensionring on too.

Growing up

This is another picture from yesterday. The sunrise was making the forest on the other side glow. A bit harsh light for photography really, but I liked the contrast and the calm water. Like the prebvious this is also shot with the (Carl Zeiss) aus Jena S* 135mm/3.5 zebra on my Canon EOS 350D.

As i said, a lot of theses right now. I think it is a challenge to crawl on the ground and try to get a good angle with my hendheld EOS 350D, an extension/macroring and a manual lens. Great fun! ;)

Leberblümchen

Swedish nature near my home a mild winter, but with some ice. This is Asahi Super-Takumar 135mm/3.5 version. There is a creek making it’s way down the hillside and a small waterfall I go to sometimes.

Ice pattern with Super-Tak 135mm

Spruce on ice with Super-Tak 135

Ice world with Super-Tak 135