photos
death valley IV
06/12/2008 19:35
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso50 - f/2.8 1/2000 sec
Sand dunes at Stove Pipe Wells.
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso200 - f/4.5 1/ 25 sec
The road to nowhere.
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death valley III
02/12/2008 00:46
death valley II
01/12/2008 23:58
thanks giving in death valley
30/11/2008 23:36
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 16-35mm 1:2.8L II USM - iso200 - f/8 -30sec
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8 1/8000- iso100 - f/2.8
No Turkey for the German guys for Thanks Giving... Death Valley instead. We (the Helicopter Boy and myself) went for a photography trip, getting up at 03:30 in the night to catch dawn at Uhebebe Crater around 05:30. Death Valley is quite pleasing in winter time, only 35 degrees celsius, not the 50 during summer. I will post more images in the next days.
shift and tilt
16/11/2008 23:57
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - TS-E 24mm 1:3.5 L - iso100 - f/4.5 - HDR exposure blending of 7 bracketed shots
First shot with the recently acquired Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5 shift and tilt lens. Tilted to the right, the focal plane rotates away from the image plane, the power pole in the middle is in focus, while the ones to the left and right are out of focus. That Scheimpflug Principle opens some fascinating possibilities.
it rains in southern california
02/11/2008 22:21
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso100 - f/5.6 -1/250
Yesterday, a short but heavy rain came in from sea to Venice. This shot was taken just minutes before everybody ran away from the beach to seek for cover - here in L.A. a little rain causes the same reactions as a thunder storm elsewhere in the world. I guess people are too used to their sunny californian weather. Reminds me of London: the Tube breaks down in winter, when a few snowflakes fall and people run to the streets from their offices to take pictures of that white stuff on the sidewalk...
halloween in hollywood
02/11/2008 01:22
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso1600 - f/4 -1/100
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso1600 - f/4 -1/100
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso1600 - f/4 -1/100
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso1600 - f/4 -1/100
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso1600 - f/4 -1/100
Halloween Parade on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood/Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.
l.a. nights II
19/10/2008 22:27
venice beach
19/10/2008 09:46
l.a. nights
19/10/2008 02:06
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso50 - f/5.6 - 1/30
Los Angeles at dusk shot from the Griffith Observatory.
back in l.a.
12/10/2008 23:57
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso100 - f/2.8 - 1/640
Venice Beach - lifeguard tower
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso100 - f/2.8 - 1/1000
Venice Beach - miniature sandstorm
Just arrived in L.A. a few days back, to find things haven´t changed much over here in the last decade (been working here in 1997). Just more cars, different cars than in the nineties, you see these Hybrid Priuses all over the place. Venice Beach still looks the same (except Baywatch isn´t shot anymore...). Charly Temmel still sells his famous Austrian ice cream at the Ocean Front Walk, but has closed his cafe on Third Street Promenade. Prices feel like they have doubled over the years, petrol is still “cheap” compared to our German prices. 30 degrees (Centigrade that is) in mid October is something to dream of in Germany. So I hope to find some time over the next few months to cover my impressions with the camera. But first it is: housing, bank account, mobile phone, driver licence, car, ... I do love cities with proper public transport, something that most likely won´t ever happen in L.A.
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso100 - f/2.8 - 1/4000
A Heidelberger in Los Angeles....
london calling
03/10/2008 15:28
Sony Cybershot DSC-P9
London. Drilling platform of the European film industry. Hectic. No escape. Sometimes beautiful. Sometimes carpet in the bathroom.
Some old shots from London a few years back, 2002-2004. All taken with a point-and-shoot Sony then - more likely as memories than composed pictures. Lived there for almost 3 years altogether working at a few of Soho’s post production facilities.
These images have been posted on www.grobifx.com originally, I move them over here for their proper retirement.
munich sundown
02/10/2008 17:03
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso50 - f/4.0 - HDR exposure blending of 5 shots
First of a series: Dusk at Olypark in Munich. All shot as bracketed exposures for HDR blending and tone-mapping. HDR exposure blending together with iso50 gives a clean and noiseless image. Still the 21mp files of the 1Ds Mark III amaze me every time I zoom into the shots to reveal the fantastic detail captured. Can’t wait to get hold of a new 5D Mark II to see how the same resolution performs with iso settings from 1600-6400. Good to see Canon release some competition to Nikon’s D3 and D700, although I am not the only one, who had wished, they had developed a 12-16 mp sensor instead of another 21 mp. Imagine the possible low light sensitivity: you might have been able to shoot images at iso25.600 with the same low noise as lets say iso1600 on a Nikon D3... That could be shooting a 1/250 at f/4 handheld in a candle lit environment. Another aspect of the 1Ds Mark III will apply to the 5D Mark II as well: only the best resolving lenses will satisfy with that resolution. Most likely the Mark II will replace my 5D as second body and hopefully complement the 1Ds Mark III with it´s low light capabilities to form a great team for all shooting conditions. This series will be my last impressions from Munich this year. Moving to L.A. for a few months I´ll be posting Californian stuff in the near future (I hope a demanding job there still leaves me enough time for some photographic exploration). So after all the Indian adventures it is “from Bollywood back to Hollywood” now...
goodby germany
30/09/2008 09:09
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso1600 - f/2.8 - 1/1600
Winter is closing in, fall has taken over with cold and foggy grayness. A silhouette defying the cold october evening enjoys the last light of the sun on “Olympiaberg” in Olympiapark, Munich.
Time to leave the country for a warmer place...
Once in a while I like to name these posts after songs, this one is “Goodby Germany” from “And One”. The right music for the moment is the soundtrack to my life.
night trip
27/09/2008 17:53
bejeweled
27/09/2008 03:00
indian wedding
18/09/2008 14:46
Canon EOS-5D - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - is1600 - f/4 - 1/30
Canon EOS-5D - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - is1600 - f/6.3 - 1/30
Canon EOS-5D - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - is1600 - f/4 - 1/640
During my stay in India, I had the pleasure to attend an Indian engagement and wedding ceremony. Spanning over 3 days, the celebrations differ quite a bit from our european weddings. Always remembered will be the groom traditionally riding on a white horse to the wedding venue, where the bride and her guests wait. We have stuff like that only in fairy tales... The groom’s family and guests join the procession, dancing to the tunes of a “louder than everything else big band”.
You get to see the women dressed in colorful sarees and their hands and arms painted with henna. The men dressed in stylish Indian clothing, if they avoided the kind of standard business suits, that look the same all around the world.
hippies hate water
06/09/2008 06:29
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso800 - f/7.1 - 1/4000
The Hippie-Trails to India still seem to be alive, or some of the species have survived in Goa since the 60´s and 70´s...
The image shows some grainy noise, which can easily be explained. It is a 1700 x 1700 pixel crop of a 5624 x 3736 pixel file shot at iso 800, showing the amazing detail captured, but obviously emphasizing the inherent noise.
the kids of rajasthan
29/08/2008 03:34
take off
23/08/2008 03:17
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM -
iso400 - f/5.0 - 1/6400 - HDR composite of 3 exposures
To get the detail in the clouds and the shaded underside of the lantern, a HDR capture was necessary. 3 shots (-1.3 ev, 0 ev, +1.3 ev) were merged in Photomatix. As a fast moving object, the bird was only in the first exposure (0 ev), so that guy is technically LDR (low dynamic range), only the background and the lantern are merged. I had to wait a while and shoot a few times, to get this one. Birds tend to do what they want, not what the photographer would love them to do...
bombay boys
22/08/2008 03:43
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso200 - f8 - 1/160
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso200 - f8 - 1/200
Guys having fun and showing off after the celebration of Holi. Whenever you show a camera, there are different reactions around the world, but in Mumbai you always find a group, who wants to pose for a picture.
LEICA APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100 on Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III
19/08/2008 17:00
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100- iso100 - f/2.8
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100- iso100 - f/4.0
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100- iso100 - f/5.6
A few months back there was the tough decision, whether to stay with Canon or switch to Nikon, as the D3 was released. I decided to buy the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III as it fits my professional needs best with its 21 megapixels. It is a great advantage to have that resolution for visual effects photography on a movie set. And Canon allows to adapt a variety of lenses from different manufacturers like ZEISS, LEICA, MAMIYA, PENTAX and others. So you can choose among the finest lenses available.
The 1Ds Mark III being very demanding with lenses to deliver the full resolution, that it is capable of, I started to look for lenses with outstanding performance. After reading a few reviews, especially Diglloyd´s ZEISS ZF lenses and his insights on the Leica APO-Summicron-R 90/2 ASPH, I bought a Contax ZEISS AE 35/2.8 Distagon and recently a LEICA APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100, both used, but optically in perfect condition. LEICA lenses don´t come cheap, when new, so it is a good idea to look on ebay. As long as you buy from an ebay shop, you have the right to give it back here in Germany, if it doesn´t meet your expectations. Something you can´t do, if bought from private party.
I choose the APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100 over the APO-Summicron-R 90/2 ASPH, as they ought to offer quite similar performance (the Summicron leading by a bit), but the Macro-Elmarit offering the welcome close range up to 1:2 magnification. Read Erwin Put´s columns on Leica lenses for details.
I won´t get into deep technical reviews of lenses with all their characteristics and performance (see Diglloyd and Puts for that), I will evaluate just the rendering of a lens under my personal shooting conditions and what they bring to the table for my requirements.
That said, today I took the first shots with the APO-Macro-Elmarit and if deeper exploration over the next few weeks doesn´t prove me wrong, I have to say, that this a truly outstanding lens. Just the one you need on a 1DS Mark III. Have a look at the beautiful bokeh (the look of out-of-focus areas) in the shots above, while the lens renders amazing detail and sharpness even wide open at f/2.8. It seems stopping down isn´t necessary to improve performance. The following 100% crops show the actual pixels: dust and a hair on a synthesizer´s keyboard.
I can´t wait to shoot more with that lens...
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100- iso100 - f/2.8 - actual pixels
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100- iso100 - f/4.0- actual pixels
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100- iso100 - f/5.6- actual pixels
portrait
19/08/2008 01:10
sandy feet
15/08/2008 15:00
bollywood sleeps
14/08/2008 17:41
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso100 - f8 - 30sec
Film City - a large studio complex in the hub of the indian film industry: Bollywood in Mumbai. The state government has built Film City at the outskirts of the National Park, Goregaon, where leopards, tigers and snakes call the shots. I took the shot from the rooftop of a 22-story apartment building, just before dawn. Luckily the guard at the entrance was sleeping, when I entered around 4 am, so no questions, what I would want on the roof in the middle of the night. It was a great experience to witness dawn over Mumbai from that height. Just had to stay in the middle of the roof, as there were no railings to keep me from a final flight...
The next image is a HDR (high dynamic range) composition of 3 single shots. I used Photomatix for the exposure blending to get all the fine detail in the shadows as well as in the highlights and the sky. The exposures were taken at -1.3ev, 0ev, +1.3ev. Sometimes a range like -2,0,+2 or even wider is better, that depends on the dynamic range, that a given scenery presents to your camera. For professional work on a movie set, I normally shoot 5 exposures from -4,-2,0,+2,+4 ev, or even 7 from -6 to +6 ev, that gives enough dynamic range in most situations for real HDR image based lighting in 3D computer graphics. For pure artistic photography, that dynamic range is in most cases over the top and produces a lot of data (the 21mp raw files of the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III are around 25 mb each). If the scenery presents an extreme range from shadows to highlights, one should measure the dynamic range using a spotmeter, then bracket the exposures accordingly. It doesn´t hurt too much, to have more exposures than necessary, but it definitely hurts, if you didn´t capture the necessary range and find that out back home after the shoot...
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso200 - f8 - 2,5sec -
HDR exposure blending of 3 shots
dark fields
13/08/2008 17:03
he who walks behind the rows
12/08/2008 17:16
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 16-35mm 1:2.8L II USM - iso200/400 - f5.6 - 20sec/30sec
- composite of 6 images - Lighting by Udo Smutny and Michael Grobe
Another composite of my last lightpainting session in bavarian outskirts. Luckily there was no wind, so the leaves were kind enough to hold still for all the 20-30 sec exposures. Backlight is again a 1 million candle power halogen spot, front lighting is a rather blueish led-flashlight. The colors have been graded to taste and the layers have been handpainted on top of each other to reveal the right amount of light for key, fill and rim.
Inspired by Stephen King`s “Children of the Corn”.
togetherness
11/08/2008 05:41
the tree and the lamp
11/08/2008 05:14
holi - festival of colors
10/08/2008 12:09
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso400 - f4.5 - 1/2
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso200 - f8.0 - 1/200
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso200 - f8.0 - 1/200
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso1600 - f4.0 - 1/30
Holi - the festival of colors. A spring festival in February or March (this year it coincided with Easter) celebrated all over India. On the first day bonfires are lit to burn the demoness Holika, on the second people start early in the morning to throw colors in each others faces. That means dry color powder as well as liquid water colors. Children use balloons, water guns and their fathers don´t hesitate to pour full buckets over each others heads. As much as I would have loved to shoot right where the action is, I had no water proof housing for my camera and on the first night already a ballon full of liquid color missed my camera by only a few inches to explode on my chest. The camera is weather sealed, but you really don´t want liquid red color on your camera body and lenses... So next day I chose to wait inside, till the action is over and explore the aftermath in the afternoon. That little dog would be clean again after a few days I was assured, like the kids, who had fun with him...
reach for the stars
07/08/2008 08:23
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 16-35mm 1:2.8L II USM - iso200/400 - f5.6 - 20sec/30sec - composite of 8 images - Lighting by Udo Smutny
What do you do during a nice summer evening at the bavarian countryside...
First you have a proper “barbecue” - we call it “Grillen”, which requires lots of dead meat and beer or “Radler” for the ones like me.
Then at midnight you go into the wild for some shooting. Grab your camera, tripod, a few lenses and lots of light...
Lightpainting... a technique I used for some surrealistic photographs 20 years back and recently re-discovered. You shoot at night outdoors or in a dark studio indoors with a long exposure (e.g. 20 sec or as long as necessary) and reveal your objects by lighting them in painting style. You use your light source like a brush.
While often photographers try to light everything in one exposure, I prefer a different approach for static objects. I light every part of the image on separate exposures and combine them later in Photoshop. That leaves me much more control and freedom to create the desired lighting and I guess it is a tribute to my history as a Technical Director, lighting shots for feature films in the realm of 3D computer graphics.
For the shot above, 8 exposures were taken, a 30sec at iso400 for the stars and 7 20sec at iso200, while lighting the objects with a 1 million candle power (55 watts) halogen spotlight. The spotlight needs to be in constant movement to prevent hotspots, smooth circling provides softer light. The blue color was introduced later in Photoshop, easily possible, if the objects are lit on separate exposures.
I am going to get lights with 2 million candle power, as that will enable me to shoot at iso100 without extending the exposure times further, resulting in better image quality due to lesser noise.
Lightpainting is a technique, which I will explore deeper, it is great fun and delivers the unusual covered in darkness. It is for the night creatures, who love to be on the move, when others sleep...
the eagle has landed
30/07/2008 15:55
the colors of rajasthan
29/07/2008 13:29
Canon EOS-20D - 28-70mm - iso400 - f11 - 1/750
Canon EOS-20D - 28-70mm - iso200 - f4 - 1/500
Canon EOS-20D - 28-70mm - iso400 - f11 - 1/500
In late 2007 we went to a small town in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a salt desert in Rajasthan, for the shooting of a Bollywood movie. It was a great experience, to be in this world of colors and textures, would have loved to stay there for a couple of days longer to have more time for photography. It seemed as if I had been the first european guy there, at least it felt like that to me. It was sometimes quite tricky to take pictures without someone in front of the camera, a few guys were quite keen to be on every photograph. So they constantly moved into frame with a smile...
It is a different and beautiful world out there, if you have the chance, go off the usual tourist track and explore the real beauty of India.
synchronicity
26/07/2008 13:45
last exit for the lost
26/07/2008 13:45
where the night has
become elizium
for the sleepless souls
and our days to come
may be i'll just pass away
or may be i'll stay
but i feel alive with you
and i feel some kind of heaven
hear me
give me some kind of heaven
At The Gates Of Silent
Memory
Fields of the Nephilim
parallelism
26/07/2008 00:35
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso400 - f3.5 - 1/1600
This photo of a series had to be taken silently without the attention of the subject, otherwise the opportunity for this shot would have been destroyed. So the camera (EOS-1Ds Mark III) with the EF 70-200mm attached rested on my knees, while I was sitting. Zoomed to almost 200mm, live view enabled me to focus manually to precisly focus the shoe, the aperture wide open limited depth of field. Using autofocus would have had a great chance of missing the exact focus. It takes some practice to shoot hand-held with live view at 10x magnification for focussing, especially on a shaky boat.
The 100% crop below shows the actual captured detail.
100% crop - actual pixels
holy cow
25/07/2008 15:18
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso200 - f8.0 - 1/80
Yes these guys are all over the place in India, in the cities, on the streets. And they have the right of way. Imagine that in New York, London or Berlin...
But then... I´d love to have some elephants around in Munich... I know they can become dangerous, but I definitely would prefer them to all the dogs in the parks...
live the dream
24/07/2008 02:36
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - ZEISS ZF 35/2,8 DISTAGON -
iso100 - f4 - 1/40
Canon EOS-650 - Kodak Ektachrome 100
What is a classic sports car all about? What makes it so desirable that you switch off your rationality and don´t even think about it´s uselessness for daily transport? Emotions - there are cars that deliver pure emotions. When you approach, you get weak knees in anxious expectation of sliding into the drivers seat. The cockpit fits you like a tailor-made suit, you sit just a few inches above the asphalt, that soon will fly beneath. The design is futuristic and almost timeless, not the average modern day car, but a masterpiece of one of the few world class designers.
John Z. DeLorean`s DMC-12 is one of those cars. Designed by Giorgio Giugiaro and developed with the support of Colin Chapman`s Lotus, the car became a stainless steel gullwing beauty - dream of an extraordinary man.
By the way... the first photo shows the smooth rendering of the Contax ZEISS AE 35/2.8 truly a great lens delivering a destinctive and admirable look. I highly recommend the ZEISS ZF lens line for shooting with a high resolution camera, that needs only the best lenses to deliver the maximum quality.
at world`s end
20/07/2008 14:08
lost in the clouds
16/07/2008 05:32
Wasserfuchli
14/07/2008 15:23
mumbai harbor
12/07/2008 09:09
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM -
iso200 - f13.0 - 1/1250
A fisher boat is traveling lonely across Mumbai Harbor in full midday sun. The haze once again beautifully faded the layers of the city skyline and overall the image screamed for black and white.