Nikonian Martin Joergensen http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/ Nikonian Martin Joergensen's Blog. Martin is known from the Nikonians Podcast "On Location" en-us Copyright 2011 Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:30:00 +0100 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Orbis ringflash adapter MJ0_3849.jpgI have always been fascinated by ringflash photography, but the only ring flashes I have shot extensively with myself have been the compact macro ones.
Large, studio-style flashes have been out of my reach due to some agonizing price tags.
But that has changed. With the appearance of ringflash adapters from several manufacturers, ringflash photography has become if not directly inexpensive then at least approachable. The ringflash adapter is in essence a light modifier, which will fit on your speedlight and transform its light to a ring shape.

I have fooled around with the Orbis adapter lately. Orbis is a New Zealand product, but widely available. I have been very pleased with its capabilities. But before I go into details about the Orbis, let me just briefly describe the physique and principle of a ringflash to you.

Ringflashes fall in two main categories: small ones for macro work and large ones for portraiture and fashion. I'm covering the first category here, and will return to the macro ringflash later.

]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/03/orbis-ringflash-adapter.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/03/orbis-ringflash-adapter.html Flashes Gadgets Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:30:00 +0100 I said so! PW's do it smarter! pocketwizard-minitt1-flextt5.jpgBack in September after having attended Photokina, I hinted that PocketWizard had something up their sleeves in my podcast from PhotoKina as well as in this blog.

They wouldn't go official with it, but my conversation with Lorenzo Gasparini did leave me with the impression that there was something interesting cooking. As a reply to my question about PocketWizard and exposure control, Lorenzo Gasparini said: There's no exposure control... not at this point.

]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/02/i-said-so-pws-do-it-smarter.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/02/i-said-so-pws-do-it-smarter.html Flashes wireless Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:30:00 +0100 The Photographer’s Eye freeman.jpgIn a recent podcast on High Dynamic Range I mentioned Michael Freeman's book Mastering High Dynamic Range Photography, which is an excellent book on HDR. But I recently got my hands on another Freeman title published by Ilex - ”The Photographer’s Eye” - and I have to say that this is the best how-to book on photography that I have read in a very long time.

The scope of the book is to get the reader to think about the process of creating an image – outer and inner frames, the dynamics, the composition, the exposure, the decisive moment – everything that makes a great picture. Freeman refers to it as designing pictures, and I like that term because it so strongly implies that there is more to it than just pointing the camera and pressing the shutter release.



]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/02/the-photographers-eye.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/02/the-photographers-eye.html Books Shooting Sat, 14 Feb 2009 21:46:21 +0100 How On Location is produced martin-joergensen-recording.jpgSeveral people have asked me what gear, software and methods I use to produce the On Location podcasts, and after having replied to several directly and in our forum for podcast feedback, I thought it would be time saving to recap it all and expand a bit here.

I will go through it in the sequence I follow when I make my weekly shows. These are the typical steps:
1) Prepare, research and maybe script
2) Record on location and/or at home
3) Mix and edit the sound
4) Create and tag mp3
5) Create images for the slide show
6) Record mix and edit the sound for the slide show
7) Produce the slide show
8) Publish

In general I use a very low tech, dogma approach to the project, and try to keep gear, software and time used at a minimum.

]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/02/how-on-location-is-produced.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/02/how-on-location-is-produced.html On location Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:00:00 +0100 Canon sucks... literally canon-sucks.jpgThis story is just hilarious! It seems that Canon's service center in Russia has been receiving some complaints, which were a bit surprising - over vacuum cleaners!
And for a good reason, because some one has been selling Canon brand vacuum cleaners, and obviously managed to get others to believe that we were talking brand name products. The looks of the machine with the Canon logo could fool most people and add to that the manual and number plate seen here.
This Canon does hopefully suck.
Thanks to Canon Rumors for the heads up.
]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/02/canon-sucks-literally.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/02/canon-sucks-literally.html Gadgets Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:09:05 +0100 Great ways of combining images photosynth-inauguration.jpgI have always loved panoramas, 360 degree images, gigabit pictures, Photosynth and all the other technologies, which combine several pictures into one – or at least into one experience.

The recent time as shown some “real life” examples of these technologies, and I'd like to dig out a couple and illustrate what I mean. ]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/01/great-ways-of-combining-images.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/01/great-ways-of-combining-images.html Post processing and workflow Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:49:54 +0100 It takes a lot of people to shoot Bond

As much as I respect renowned celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz I cannot help think what almost any decent photographer could do with a prop dock on a tropical island, Sean Connery all dressed up, lighting gear galore and about a dozen assistants.

She certainly produces nice shots, but then again: with the setup she has (and the paycheck she gets), she'd better.

]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/01/it-takes-a-lot-of-people-to-sh.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/01/it-takes-a-lot-of-people-to-sh.html Flashes video Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:32:16 +0100 Flash Waves strobe triggers MJ0_9381-01.jpgI had had my eyes on these flash triggers for a while, and had tried to purchase a set since they were first announced. They seemed to be a good compromise between the industry standard in the form of the expensive Pocket Wizards and the cheap so-called eBay-triggers, which are found under a large number of different names.

During Photokina 2008 I got the chance to meet with Korean SM-Development, the company behind the triggers, and managed to bring home a set – one transmitter and two receivers. I have since then used them for almost all my off camera flash shoots, and can now report about my experiences, which are overall very good. ]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/01/flash-waves-strobe-triggers.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/01/flash-waves-strobe-triggers.html Flashes Gadgets wireless Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:52:35 +0100 Most read in 2008
Starting from the tenth spot a small news story on a fancy strap begins (or rather ends) the list, which then consists of a mix of technical, gear-related articles and opinions. My flash modifier series seems quite popular, which is good, but I like the fact that my opinion on the megapixel race and the value of pictures is placed high. Both types of entries will be high on my list in 2009. The first place is somewhat a surprise, but I guess a few references on other blogs and incoming links have lifted my rumor-piece to a first place. The number of visits to the first three entries are about the same, so it's not like a clear winner. I have omitted the front page from the list. Its number is about ten times the top ranking story, so a lot of people see the front page and don't get much further - as it is on most sites.

10 Black Rapid Strap
9 Flash modifiers
8 I filmed with a D90
7 A mini snoot
6 Too many pixels
5 Flash diffusers
4 Flash filters or gels
3 Flash snoots and grids
2 Why your images are worthless
1 Nikon's bigger brother

]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/01/most-read-in-2008.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2009/01/most-read-in-2008.html Blogs Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:27:19 +0100 Tasteless espresso leibovitz.jpg I usually respect Annie Leibovitz for her work. I read Vanity Fair regularly, and Leibovitz' pictures are always worth some attention. I'm not exactly overwhelmed by her style, her compositions or her lighting skills. My guess is that most skilled professionals would be able to do a lot of what Leibovitz does, if they had the resources that she has. But she sure does a decent job of most assignments given to her.

]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2008/12/tasteless-espresso.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2008/12/tasteless-espresso.html Blogs Photographers Sat, 20 Dec 2008 02:08:36 +0100 Yeah Baby! composer.jpgA few years back I stumbled over a weird contraption called the Lens Baby. A primitive lens  construction – no offense, it really is – consisting of a single lens, a bellows and a Nikon mount. No aperture, no focus ring, no electronics, no nuttin'. Just a lens, which you can bend and squeeze to almost any position. The samples I saw shot with this little thing and its price made me order one right away. It's not often you get a lens at less than 100 USD.

It was fun, but not an easy lens to master. I ran around for a couple of weeks and bent and squeezed I did land a few lucky punches, but never really got the effects, which I thought I would, and the lens spent more time in its small plastic bag than on my camera. The loose aperture rings, my inconsistent results, the dark viewfinder. No, I didn't find that easy at all.

But that has changed now!

]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2008/12/yeah-baby.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2008/12/yeah-baby.html Gadgets Lenses review Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:54:37 +0100 New design IMG_2103.jpgAs you have probably already noticed, there's a new design on my blog. The new design is of course meant to tie my activities together with the Nikonians by providing a similar look and not least links to other parts of the humongous Nikonians site. The original blog was kind of an experiment, and was just launched with a standard design. It has been the plan to do a redesign all the time.

If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the blog or the new design, feel free to contact me. Use the comment field below.
]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2008/12/new-design.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2008/12/new-design.html Blogs Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:03:11 +0100 Why free can make you money MJ0_2056-01.jpgGiving stuff away for free can be a very good way of making money. I have written about that before, and the current economic state of the world makes this even more true. People will spend money even more unwillingly due to threats of downfall and recession. It's not like they won't spend money. They will. In particular if they know that the stuff they buy is good.

The last few weeks there have been a few entries on Danish professional photographer's web sites – mainly on the Photographer's union's web pages. Most of these photographer's are photojournalists who come from a world of stable jobs, regular freelance agreements, strict segregation between amateurs and professionals and magazines and newspapers as the typical customers paying the tariff.
One entry reads “Free images, free newspapers, free stories, free entry. Soon the only thing not free will be the ride to work”. This piece and a couple of others on similar photojournalist's sites mainly cover an incident where a newspaper published images taken by an amateur photographer who gained free entry to a concert in exchange. ]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2008/12/why-free-can-make-you-money.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2008/12/why-free-can-make-you-money.html Photographers Selling pictures Marketing Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:20:19 +0100 Too many pixels? nikon-775.jpgWith the introduction of the new D3x 24.5 megapixels monster from Nikon I cannot help think that one can get too many megapixels.
Maybe I should rephrase that: I could definitely get too many pixels.
My humble D200 does 10 megapixels, and that has been sufficient for most of my uses. I do get images published in glossy magazines and I have landed a few covers on such magazines. A lot of these shots were actually done with an older 6 megapixels camera, and my favorite example of the sufficiency of pixels is a Nikon CoolPix 775 image, which I had featured as a full page in a fishing magazine. For those not born back in April 2001 when this camera was introduced, we're talking 2 megapixels or a stunning 1600 by 1200 pixels.]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2008/12/too-many-pixels.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2008/12/too-many-pixels.html Bodies D3 D3x Medium format Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:37:10 +0100 It's hard to beat the Strobist! Best Photo Blog 2008, I will have to get out of bed extremely early to beat David Hobby and his blog The Strobist – arguably the most influential and popular photo blog and one of the most influential tech blogs at all on the web.

David has managed to turn his profession as a newspaper photographer into a passion, which he has managed to spread out to literally hundreds of thousands of readers. His small spare time project aiming to inform and educate on the use of small flashes – strobes – has become the place where small light fans – including myself – hang out and get inspiration, learn, discuss, post images. And it has formed the base for David's professional life as The Strobist.]]> http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2008/11/its-hard-to-beat-the-strobist.html http://blog.nikonians.org/martin_joergensen/2008/11/its-hard-to-beat-the-strobist.html Blogs Flashes Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:07:22 +0100