I don’t know why, but always when I order stuff, it all comes on the same day. It’s never like every day something, it’s all the same day :) But it’s always fun to get some new toys to play with, isn’t it :)

So today my new tripod and ball head arrived, with few more smaller things I needed to go with it. Since I’m switching from a Manfrotto attachment to a more traditional Arca Swiss attachment, I also had to get few extra plates and more :)

I plan to add reviews of everything over time (I need to try it out in work conditions first), but for now, here are some of the photo from the unboxing, and also an unboxing video. Some people tend to find unboxing videos worthless, but I disagree. Sometime it’s very hard to find out what everything is in the package, and a good unboxing video is a great help there. Like here, I needed a second quick release plate, and I could not find anywhere if there is one bundled with the ball head or isn’t.

This pile will be a nice replacement for my already very old Manfrotto 190XproB with the 496rc2 Compact Ball Head, which I used for the last 6-7 year. It still works nicely, only has to be tightened quite often, and has quite a few scrapes all over it :) So what all I got now? The new tripod is the Gitzo GT2542 4 section carbon tripod, from the Mountaineer series. To go with it, I got the Sunwayfoto XB-44 ball head with a replacemetn Sunwayfoto DLC-50 Knob/Lever Combo Clamp, a DPG-39 Universal Quick-Release Plate, DPL-01 Universal L-type Quick-Release Plate and the DMP-200L Multi-Purpose Rail Nodal Slide, all from Sunwayphoto. I hope I haven’t forgot anything while ordering it :)

So await reviews of all of this (together with the Sony a7R and the Metabones adapter) in the next weeks.

As I always say, it’s very nice to take photos in the early morning. Absolutely no people, and you can even take panoramas without anybody being in the way :) Not that I had a nice sunrise while in Amsterdam, but I did what I always do in that case. Try to do the most shooting during the blue hour, and include only very little from the sky.

This one was quite a big panorama, created from 5 tiles, each one from 4 exposures. You can see a work in progress shot on the side, from when I tone-mapped it in Oloneo Photoengine.

Technique: Oloneo Photoengine, Number of exposures: 2×4, Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D mark II, Lens: Canon 24-70mm F2.8 , Focal length: 70mm, Aperture: 9, Middle exposure time: 6s, ISO: 200, Tripod used: yes, Location: 52.35841, 4.883135

This really reminds me of those time/star portals from different scifi movies. Like if the rails and lights drawn you into it :)

I was a little busy today, so no long description here, but still, this is a 3 exposure HDR, created in Oloneo Photoengine.

Technique: Oloneo Photoengine, Number of exposures: 3, Camera Model: Sony a7R + Metabones Adapter ver. IV, Lens: Canon 16-35mm F2.8, Focal length: 22mm, Aperture: 9, Middle exposure time: 6.0s, ISO: 200, Tripod used: yes, Location: 48.13725, 17.10951

When one takes and edits photos, one has to look at them from many different sides. Even it its the use of HDR, composition, sharpness, color, and much more. But a lot of times, one forgets to take into account, the human brain. The think I have in mind, is, that the human brain works in relatives, not absolutes.

This is simple. You never looks at anything on it’s own. Your brain always compares it with something else. A simple example would be money. If you have to spend 10 more on something that costs 1000, you perceive it as a small amount. If it’s 10 on something that casts 50, it looks quite a lot. But if you think about it, the 10 is same in both instances.

Another typical, more visual example is this. Look at this image, and think about which square looks white? Of course it’s the second one.

But let’s add another square next to them. Which one looks white now? The third one. How can this be, when the first two haven’t changed? Simply. You brain compares the square with the ones next to it, and when it finds something brighter, it declares that to be white.

(it’s not so visible if you look at both images at once, as the brain takes both into account :))

So how this applies to photo? Creating contrast between two areas, will exaggerate what you want to show. Let’s look at few situations:

1. More sharpness – Just think about, when does something looks sharp? When there is something less sharp next to it. You can see this especially in photos with bokeh background. Just by having the background blurred, makes the the foreground pop up more, makes it look much sharper. If you make everything sharp, this contrast effect get’s lost, and everything looks less sharp.

You don’t even have to go the way of a blurred background. Just having parts of the photo sharpened a little less, is enough. Or even just having less detail. Your brain will see the difference.

2. More color – Same as with sharpness, you can make something look more colorful without adding saturation. If you lover the saturation of the surrounding area, it will just look colorful on its own. This is actually also the reason, why sometimes part of a photo may look over-saturated when they are not. You just compare them with other parts of the photo, and it may seem that way.

3. More brightness – This is why most pages view photos on a black background. The photos just look brighter compared with it and more vibrant. But you can see the same effect directly int he photos, where parts may look bright even if they aren’t.

And I could continue like this. The main point is, that if you want make something more dominant, try having it next to something that’s completely opposite to it :)

Yes, I even took a panorama of this :) I just wanted to have a photo where a huge part of it were just the letters, so I did this.

This is a 2 tile panorama, each one from 4 exposures.

Technique: Oloneo Photoengine, Number of exposures: 2×4, Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D mark II, Lens: Canon 70-200mm F2.8 IS II, Focal length: 200mm, Aperture: 11, Middle exposure time: 6s, ISO: 200, Tripod used: yes, Location: 52.35841, 4.883135