Mellimage Photo Blog

Travel: Organ, Lady's Chapel, Liverpool

2012-02-01T14:39:00.003+01:00

When browsing through the images from last year's trip to England, I am still most impressed by the ones I took in the Anglican Cathedral. Not, because I think these are the best from that trip, but because that Cathedral was so impressive. So here is another one from there, the organ in the Lady's Chapel.

My Town: Inside St. Thomas

2012-01-31T11:53:00.003+01:00

The two main churches of my hometown are St. Thomas and St. Nicholas. St. Thomas is of course well known to all fans of classical music, as Johann Sebastian Bach worked there.
This is an interior shot of St. Thomas.

Glass, toned blue

2012-01-30T10:36:00.002+01:00

As I am going through a backlog of older images, I found this one from our trip to Lauscha, the village famous for its glass work. We saw lots of beautiful glass products there, including this glass. And because the original image had a yellowish/ greenish cast from fluorescent lamps, I decided to tone the image blue.

Germany: Dome of the Berlin Cathedral

2012-01-29T11:07:00.003+01:00

This is an image I took last year on a short trip to Berlin. I met with friends to visit the Berlin Cathedral. It has an impressive dome, which I tried to capture in this image. This image was shot handheld with the G12 and significantly cropped for this version.

P52: Eyes

2012-01-29T10:44:00.005+01:00

This week's theme for the GPlus52 challenge was "Eyes" and I was trying to come up with a creative way of interpreting this theme - and drew a blank. I did not want to post a photo of an eye (or a set of eyes).
Finally I thought of a way to at least make it somewhat different. So I went the route - took an image of an eye I added some text - all words are synonymous to seeing - the thing we do with our eyes. Yep, still not too original, but there you go.
Here is a link to the tutorial that helped me create this image: Text Portraits

Data:
January 28th, 2012
Canon 400D, Canon 100mm
ISO 200, f4, 0.8s

Project Green: Spiraling up

2012-01-28T12:43:00.002+01:00

I do like simplicity and form in composition. I loved how these bamboo spiraled up in a vase. It was an image I just had to take.

Japanese Lantern

2012-01-28T11:57:00.004+01:00

The common name of this hibiscus kind is "Japanese Lantern", but botanically it is called Hibiscus schizopetalus. I found this beautiful blossom in the tropical gardens of the local zoo.

While shooting this image I made sure that I get the blossom into the upper part of the image while I tried to get the pistil quite centered. In post processing I even enhanced this crop, based on the "rule of thirds". The pistil is now totally centered, while the blossom distributes fairly equally on the intersection of the upper third and middle third section. This way, a compositional triangle is created which then (as I hope) leads the eye down to the pistil to stamen, style and stigma of the blossom which are confined to the middle section of the lowest third. I hope this illustration helps.

Data: August 31st, 2011
Canon EOS 400, Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM @220mm
ISO 500, f5, 1/400s

Germany: Marx-Engels Monument/ Berlin

2012-01-26T14:06:00.003+01:00

I shot this image of the Marx-Engels in Berlin during a trip in 2010. By then it had been moved from its previous location very centrally in a small park to nearby location, near the Berlin Cathedral due to construction efforts for the Berlin Subway. The monument had been build by German artist Ludwig Engelhardt from 1977 to 1986, documented by East-German Photographer Sibylle Bergemann. During GDR times it stood right in front of the now torn down Palace of the Republic.

photo by Joachim F. Thurn, Bundesarchiv

Last week controversy over this monument ensued when Construction Minister Peter Ramsauer (CSU) suggested it to be moved to a cementary at the outskirts of Berlin.

Project Spaces: Colorful Pencils

2012-01-25T13:48:00.004+01:00

This image is from last year's trip to the Spinnerei in Leipzig. I do not know what else to tell you other than being drawn to this image by the many colors and the patterns - quite similar to the chalk image I posted a while ago. Beautiful and colorful minispace.

See more images from the Spinnerei here.
See more images from Project Spaces here.

My Town: Interior of the New Townhall

2012-01-24T15:24:00.003+01:00

Already last year I posted a vertical shot of this image. While I recently edited images, I found that the horizontal version of it was appealing too. Which one do you like better?

Two Candles

2012-01-23T16:02:00.002+01:00

I like candle light. This warm light. Especially during the cold winter days they bring light and warmth to every room. So here, a simple close up of two candles.

Milestone: 400 & 100

2012-01-22T07:00:00.001+01:00

Last year I celebrated that my image "Money" had been downloaded for the 200th time at Fotolia. It had been online for almost 4 years at this time. Well, with the Euro being in crisis and money matters being discussed frequently all over the news, this image got more downloads even and was downloaded this passed week for the 400th time!

At the beginning of last year I uploaded another image to Fotolia: "At the crossroads". Right after its acceptance it received downloads and has meanwhile been downloaded 100 times, thus becoming my second most successful image in 2011 on Fotolia.

Project Green: Green Lines

2012-01-21T09:54:00.003+01:00

Plants provide for wonderful ways of capturing green images. And while macroshots of leaves are certainly not new (I know because I've posted them before, see here) I found this image was worth capturing for the different lines of this plant. I have no idea what the name of this plant is. It's leaf looked like a large hand. What I found special when I took an image of this particular leaf was the structure of the lines. Going from one root, stretching in (almost) all directions across the leaf, but without creating too many further side veins.

When I saw this plant last week, I had this image immediately in my mind. Loved the strong pattern. However, I feel had I taken an image of the whole leaf, it would have distracted the viewer from the lines and put more attention to the shape of the leaf. So I decided to go for this very close crop.
The image was shot with my G12, handheld. Make note that this is a wide-angle macro, as the camera was at its widest focal length, which also allowed for some close-distance focusing with this camera. In post processing, I cropped it (to this square form) and then only enhanced the contrast a bit and saturated the green a bit more.

Data:
January 14th, 2012
Canon Powershot G12 @6.1mm (28mm)
f2.8, ISO 800 (auto), 1/500s

P52: Speck's Hof, Ceiling, Leipzig

2012-01-20T21:33:00.006+01:00

This week's challenge theme at the GPlus 52 Weeks challenge was "Up". I had a couple of ideas and also another image in place (which I will post later though). But then, today, I went downtown. One of the special features of Leipzig are its different shopping arcades/ passage ways, like the very famous Maedler Passage I featured a while ago or the newer Strohsackpassage featured in the abstract "Circle and Square". Speck's Hof, one of the oldest of its kind in Leipzig (it opened in 1909), is my favorite one. I will take visitors and friends there whenever possible, just to have them see the beauty of the tiles in the interior courts.

This image was taken handheld with the G12. The trickiest part here was to get the camera plane to the ceiling. Furthermore, I tried to get the light right in the middle. All the same while trying to avoid falling over something or getting run over by other people. It was a good thing that downtown was not too busy today. Still it is the only image I took at that moment. In post-processing I brightened the image a bit, lightened the shadows a bit, enhanced contrasts, cropped and corrected the perspective slightly. And this is the resulting image.

Data:
January 20, 2012
Canon Powershot G12 @6,1mm (28mm)
f 2.8, ISO 800, 1/1250s

Highrise Facade, Chicago

2012-01-15T22:25:00.003+01:00

Once that I had learned to see about the concept of Ministracts I started seeing them anywhere. Chicago was definitely a place to find them. The image today is of a building near Walker Drive in Chicago. I shot much more of the facade to try out different crops. Originally I had wanted to do a symmetrical crop with the darker side taking up as much space as the lighter side of the building. However, I did not like the resulting images. So I tried this assymetrical crop and found this image.

Project Green: Moss

2012-01-14T10:46:00.001+01:00

This is an image from last Fall that I just recently edited. We had been on a hiking trip in a forest when we passed by this patch of moss, covered with water. I loved the lush color and just took a quick photo before continuing on our hike.

P52: Rule of Thirday - Ruler of Thirds

2012-01-13T16:44:00.004+01:00

This week's theme on Google Plus' 52 Project was "Rule Of Thirds". In my photography, I use the rule of thirds quite often, especially since I crop my images a lot in post processing. Thus I was looking for a new take on this theme and came up with the idea of using a ruler and place the thirds in a very measured way. So one of the cropping lines goes directly through the value 3 on this ruler.

I shot this image with my EOS 400D and my 100mm Macro lens. I placed the ruler on my window sill quite parallel to the window to get any kind of shadowing to have the same direction as the image. In post-processing I cropped the image, brightened it a bit and increased the contrast.

Data:
January 13th, 2012
EOS 400D, Canon 100m
ISO 100, f8, 1.30s (+1.33 stops).

Project Spaces: Purple and Pink

2012-01-11T21:15:00.002+01:00

I shot today's image in a store here at home. This store is a hobbyists delight - all kind of supplies for crafts can be bought there - and of course lots of wool for knitting and crocheting. I was really fascinated by how many different kinds of pinks and purples were being offered on this shelf.

My Town: Rotunda, Maedler Passage

2012-01-09T20:49:00.005+01:00

The Maedler Passage is one of the most famous shopping passage ways in my hometown. In its current form, it has its origins in the early 20th century and it is home to the famous "Auerbach's Cellar", which goes back to the 16th century and makes its important literary appearance in Goethe's Faust. What fascinates me when walking through it is its architecture, specifically the light glass ceiling that stretched over the arcade. The rotunda shown below is at the intersection of the arcade. In the Christmas season you'll find a large Christmas tree placed underneath it.
This image however was shot in September while on a trip through down town. I tried to place myself right in the center to achieve as symmetrical an image as possible. The image was taken handheld with the G12, at ISO 400, 1/1250s and the camera set at its widest focal length. In post processing I increased the contrast and cropped it square to emphasize the symmetry of the image.

On New Beginnings

2012-01-09T19:36:00.004+01:00

New Years often come with new beginnings. We make resolutions, we want to do this or that, accomplish one thing or another. Enthusiasm is high. Over on G+ it seem that many photographers are joining different creative projects. 366s or 52s. Or something else. And why shouldn't you? It keeps you photographing, it is fun to see others join in - which keeps you going, keeps you shooting. When I see all that I'd like to join in in many projects. I was very tempted to try a 366 project (take an image each day). But I did not. I cannot commit to so much photography. Why not?

1) Time. I do have a job, which requires a lot of energy as is. I do not have the time to make an image and process it each day.

2) Quality. But time is not the only reason. The lack of time to produce images might, if I were to force myself to take an image each day, would probably not increase the quality of my images. I'd probably take a snapshot each day here or there. Motives might become repetitive, techniques might not be developed further. Would it, with my schedule, be good to force myself to take an image each day?

3) Creativity. I also know that forcing myself to too much, over-committing myself, will most likely kill my motivation, my passion for photography, my creativity. And that is the LAST thing I want to happen. I want to keep learning about photography, develop my vision and my skills, but without losing the fun with and passion for it. Photography to me is also one way to relief stress, a way to re-charge my batteries. I do not want to add stress to my life by committing myself to a project that is hardly feasible to accomplish - and still learn from it and develop my skills.

So here a few tips for those trying to decide on participating in creative projects*:
1) Set yourself realistic goals. Yes, you may want to challenge yourself to photograph more than you've done before. But does it really have to be daily? Consider your schedule, your life and try to realistically assess what you actually can accomplish.

2) Focus on quality over quantity. When deciding on the type of project you want to do, focus on quality over quantity. For instance, you could challenge yourself to learn a new photographic technique and post an image each week using that technique. Plan your shoots, step out of your comfort-zone for your images, try to be original. If you can commit to that every day, good for you. If you cannot, try a different frequency (weekly, twice a week, monthly, bi-weekly - there are a lot of options). BTW, no-one will prevent you from creating your own project. Feel free to create your own project, your own goal, with your own frequency.

3) A missed day/week is not the end of the world. You've not been able to keep up with the project? Do not beat yourself up over it. Do as much as you CAN do. Keep trying, don't let failure discourage you. Get back to it as soon as you can. In the end, these projects are for you to develop your skills and the only person you will really have to answer is yourself.

Last but not least: have fun and enjoy.

*I will admit that this is mainly targeted towards passionate hobbyists

Blue Glass, Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool

2012-01-08T23:07:00.004+01:00

Inspired by my friend Tom McLaughlan's Ministract work I've been working on some more ministract shots myself. But I also find some ministract shots in my older images. While I was looking through some images from last year's trip to England, I found this image. The Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool had so many windows with colored glass, that I just had to take images of them. Some of these make some really nice minimalist and abstract images - ministracts.

BTW, Tom has just created a Ministract book on blurb. Feel free to look at it - and if you like, even purchase it (there is also the option to buy an e-book). All profits will go to AISLA, the Italian charity that promotes awareness of - and research into - ALS a particularly virulent form of motor neurone disease.

Project Green: Turned on

2012-01-07T09:41:00.004+01:00

Ok, so let's turn the power back on on Project Green. I took a short break during the Christmas break with photography. Of course, I could have cheated, but I did not want to post any old stuff found in the archives. So let's get back to the project, turn the energy back on. And how to do that? Well, how about this shot of a power button glowing green?

Data:
January 6th, 2012
EOS 400D, Canon 100m Macro
ISO 400, F8.0, 3.2s (underexposed by -1.66 stops)

P52: Winter - Glowing Snowman

2012-01-06T18:37:00.004+01:00

The theme this week in this 52 weeks project is "Winter". And somehow nothing really resembles winter at the moment - outside. So how do you show winter, when it feels like spring. Well, I received this cutie of a snowman for Christmas. I placed him on my window sill and we both are waiting for snow. Well, waiting for snow might take too long for me to participate in the project, so I waited for blue hour to start to really create a nice contrast between the cute little fellow and the wold outside.

The image was taken with my EOS 400D (settings below) on a tripod. I had set up the scene and manually focused the shot before because I knew it might be harder once it got dark. I took several frames at different times and this one was one of the last frames I took. I found that in this shot it was sufficiently dark and the snowman glowed just like I had envisioned the shot. I tried to minimize the reflection of him by using a polarizer, but it did not take it all away. In post-processing all I needed to do was adjust the contrast a bit and sharpened it for webviewing. I also cropped it to a 4:3 ratio and went in a bit closer than in the original shot.

Data:
January 6th, 2012
EOS 400D, Canon 100mm
f4,0, ISO 400, 1,3s

News: My first illustrations available for licensing

2012-01-06T10:28:00.005+01:00

I am certainly not turning the route of becoming an illustrator, my passion is with photography. But I created some illustrations (very simple ones, mainly backgrounds) and submitted them to different stock agencies. Dreamstime has just accepted them, so here they are, my very first illustrations.

My Town: Inside St. Nicholas

2012-01-03T21:40:00.004+01:00

St. Nicholas is one of two main churches in downtown Leipzig. It is also reached national fame when it became the center of the peaceful demonstrations in 1989. The early foundations of the church go back to 1165, though it has been re-build several times now. Also noteworthy - Johann Sebastian Bach worked there, as well as in St. Thomas, the other main church in my hometown.

The images was taken last December during the advent season in the evening. It was shot handheld with my G12, ISO 1000, f 2.8, 1/20s at 28mm (G12 has a 28 to 140mm range).

P52: New Years Eve -Three

2012-01-01T19:43:00.004+01:00

On G+ a 52 weeks photo challenge was created and I hope to complete it (hence the Tag P52). Every week has a new theme. Feel free to join the challenge. This week's theme is "New Years Eve". So here is an image from last night. It is actually a composite of two images, cropped square. I was standing outside with my EOS 400 on my tripod, set to M and bulb, so I could control exposure in a more flexible way. In one shot I captured the two bursts on the lower right, in other one the one that is now placed in the upper left. In post-processing, I copied in the one shot, adjusted levels, saturation and brightness a bit and cropped the image square. Hope you like it.

Data:
January 1st, 2012
EOS 400D, Tamron 28-75mm@60mm
f16, ISO 100, 3s

Best of 2011!

2012-01-01T13:50:00.002+01:00

I asked those who follow me on my Facebook page as well as those who follow me on Google+ to select their favorites among 11 shots I selected as my personal favorites from last year. Here are the images, sorted by votes they received.

11. Interior of the New Townhall, Leipzig: 3 votes

10. On the loop, Chicago: 4 Votes

9. Christmas Star: 5 votes

7. Spring Snowflakes in bloom: 7 votes

7. Ice Pearls in blue: 7 votes

5. Green and Red: 8 votes

5. Green Window: 8 votes

2. Circle and Square: 9 Votes

2. Connected: 9 Votes

2. Anglican Cathedral, Liverpool

1. Clear winner: Hallway, Dresden: 29 Votes

Thanks to all who voted, hope you enjoyed this selection.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T13:20:00.002+01:00

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-24T00:18:00.001+01:00

Project Green: Green Tiles

2011-12-17T11:12:00.003+01:00

Today's post is an older image. I am currently sorting through the images I took last year and this year to create photobooks and calendars from them. While doing that I came across this image again which I had taken in a hotel room during the Richard-Marx-Concert-trip through Germany last year. While I like the image from the beginning, I was not quite sure how to edit it until I came across a comment by one of my G+ friends - which inspired me to use a square crop for all those squares.

Once I was done with editing I came up with the idea of further reducing the image to just form by converting it into black and white. This way it also enhances an optical effect. Do you see it?

Project Green: Three Buttons

2011-12-11T01:06:00.003+01:00

The other day I told my colleague about Project Green and he said - well you chose the wrong season to start this project. Yes, there is not much green outside anymore. However, if you cannot find green in nature, try to find it elsewhere. Today's image is of the collar of my favorite jacket - green velvet with three buttons.

TGIF: 2011-12-09

2011-12-09T23:10:00.002+01:00

I almost forgot it is Friday already. Time flies. I love the Christmas season - and I do love Christmas markets and after having been to three Christmas markets in the past week (a small one near my home, the one in the town I work in, and once more in the one in Leipzig), I thought it might be only appropriate to post an image from the Christmas market. Though this is technically only at the periphery of Leipzig's Christmas market - the eastern hall of the central station with a merry-go-round - and the sight I see every evening when I return from work.

Daily Mel: Spinning

2011-12-08T20:47:00.006+01:00

It's Christmas market time in Leipzig. While there are a lot of huts with stuff to buy, food and of course spiced mulled wine, kids will also find stuff to enjoy at the Christmas market - be it the ferris wheels, the fairy tale forest or this historic merry-go-round. I took this image last week while being on an excursion at the Christmas market. The image was shot with my G12 placed on a monopod, exposure time was 0.6 seconds.

Daily Mel: Circle and Square

2011-12-05T18:39:00.003+01:00

As I mentioned in my previous post - I went downtown last week to take images at the Christmas Market (forthcoming). But since I am not too keen on crowds, my friend and I often went off the beaten tracks to shoot Christmas decorations. While doing this, I also found this column and ceiling in one of Leipzig's passage ways.

Project Green: Green Light

2011-12-03T23:42:00.003+01:00

I did a night shoot in Leipzig this week. I went downtown to capture some of the Christmas lights - but also a bit of the architecture in low light conditions. I am not very often downtown, so I never before noticed these colored cobblestones. They are part of an art installation reminding to the every growing number of people who came together in 1989 to demonstrate for change in the GDR. This green cobblestone is this week's submission to Project Green.

TGIF: 2011-12-02

2011-12-02T09:24:00.003+01:00

The photo for today's TGIF is less than perfect from the looks, but the subject was oh so good.
This week I am thankful for the people in my life that challenge me to try new things. Be it that they challenge me to go to new places, to read different books or as in this case - bake my first kind of cake. As you know from a recent entry, one of my favorite desserts from the US is Bailey's cheesecake. Since I am not that often in the US anymore, some of my friends challenged me to make it myself. Now, I never baked a cake before. Even worse - since I wanted to transport the cake to work, I needed to make them into cupcakes and transform a recipe from a cake recipe one into a cupcake recipe. One trial version (was ok, but the sweetness needed adjusting) - and then this one, ready to be tasted by the friends that challenged me.

Result: well, my friends want me to bring one every week now. :) And my favorite dessert has been transplanted to Germany.

Project Spaces: Broken Spaces

2011-11-30T18:33:00.004+01:00

Another submission for my "Project Spaces". The house that I featured a while ago, is being renovated now and I shot this image right after they had started tearing everything apart - and found these broken windows.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

2011-11-27T17:36:00.002+01:00

Project Green: Green Squared

2011-11-27T08:21:00.003+01:00

This week's Green image is from Chicago. I passed by a place where they did some construction and had put up a fence with some green cloth behind. I loved the play of sun and shadow and had immediately this image in mind. In post-processing I only tweaked the colors a bit in order to enhance the abstractness of the image.

Daily Mel: Urban Sunset, Chicago

2011-11-26T12:39:00.003+01:00

Yet another image from my trip to Chicago. I was at Millenium Park right at sunset and loved the pink hues I got to see in the sky. This was taken from a sky walk that crosses Monroe Street and connects the Art Institute with the Millenium Park, but gave me the chance to get a nice street image without being run over by a car.

TGIF: 2011-11-25

2011-11-25T21:56:00.005+01:00

Lots to be thankful for this week. But why not mention my trusty little G12. The G12 and I have been together for a year now. I have taken about 17,000 pictures with it by now and it has become my favorite walk around and take with me camera. I feeds my passion for photography. So I am glad to have this little one.

This image was taken this past week with the G12 during a night photography course I am currently taking and earned me some compliments from the instructor as I was the only one shooting with a compact in a group of DSLR shooters. :) The image was cropped to 2:3 ratio though and was then converted to black and white. Disturbing elements were removed by cloning or dodge and burning techniques.

Project Green: Connected

2011-11-19T23:42:00.004+01:00

When I introduced "Project Green", I also introduced another project I want to work on over the next years and that is the "Project Spaces". "Project Spaces" is inspired by the images that are found on Spaces Images. Spaces features images of places "where people live, work and play." While with "Project Green" my goal is to post an image that features that color every week, my goal with "Project Spaces" is to build a portfolio of images that fit that very description. I posted an image combining both projects taken in a parking garage in the same post. This one, combining both themes again, was taken at the same location.

Daily Mel: Cloud gate during blue hour, Chicago

2011-11-19T12:17:00.003+01:00

I've been to the Cloud Gate (aka The Bean) before. It is just a fascinating place to be. I love all the reflections of the city in that sculpture and made it a point last saturday to visit it just after sunset.

TGIF: 2011-11-18

2011-11-18T19:26:00.003+01:00

This week I am thankful for the fact that there IS light at the end of the tunnel - and as you can see it is not a train! Thankful for the people in my life who help me see and reach that light.
(Image was taken in Thuringia end of October).

Daily Mel: On the Loop at night, Chicago

2011-11-17T21:42:00.002+01:00

Two days ago I posted an image from the Loop in Chicago taken during day time. I returned to the very same spot in the evening, just when blue hour was coming to an end and waited for a train to depart the nearest stop to create this image. In the end I tweaked the original colored version into this slightly sepia toned one.

I did something similar with Sunday's image from Michigan Avenue. Hope you like it.

Daily Mel: On the Loop, Chicago

2011-11-15T20:49:00.002+01:00

This is another image from my recent visit in Chicago. When there I prefer to stay in the Loop area because I am most familiar with it and it is close to the kind of attractions and places I tend to visit. This time I stayed on Wabash Avenue and saw the trains on the Loop quite regularly. Fascinated by that I waited to take this image.

Project Green: Green on a Facade, Chicago

2011-11-13T18:43:00.003+01:00

Just before I am going to leave the Windy City, let me share one of the "Green" images I found there. This is the facade of the "Wit Hotel" in Chicago, designed by Jackie Koo. I think without my friend Tom McLaughlan introducing me to the concept of Ministracts I'd never seen this image.

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8475071191700126586

Daily Mel: City lights, Chicago

2011-11-13T16:10:00.004+01:00

Last night I went out to take some images during the blue hour in Chicago. I really like Chicago and always enjoy being here, but in the past, I had no time to shoot images when I wanted to due to other committments. But this time it worked. And this is the result of a quickly grabbed shot while crossing Michigan Avenue.

Project Green: Green Door

2011-11-12T17:26:00.003+01:00

One of my favorite things to look for when shooting images are doors and windows. Especially when I am in rural areas I find myself inspired to look for nicely painted doors. With that being said, this is how I found this door on our recent trip to Thuringia. It may not be all that fancy and special in the way it is painted, it is just a green wide door with windows in it. But I loved the rustic milk can with the flowers in front of it, turning it into a scene you'd not find in an urban setting.

TGIF: 2011-11-11

2011-11-12T02:12:00.003+01:00

How do you know you have great friends? Well, when they open their home for you when you need a place to stay, when they travel quite some distance to meet you for dinner or to cheer you on during an important event, when they set an alarm on their cell phone just to let you know they are with you in spirit during that important event, when help you with a big project, regardless of how meticulous it is. In this past week, my friends have done all that. And when do you really really know you have great friends: when they hand over the last piece of Bailey's cheese cake available at the restaurant, because they know you love it. This week has really shown me, what wonderful people I have in my life. Thank you all sooo much. Love you lots.

This is that last piece of Bailey's cheese cake. It was gooood!

Daily Mel: Fall Reflections, Thuringia

2011-11-07T16:25:00.004+01:00

As the Saale river runs through the town of Ziegenrück, it goes down a small artificial waterfall. As the water backs up before going down it creates a really calm surface that reflects the trees. In the spot I was in when I took this image, I had three elements - the calm surface of the river, that reflects the fall colored trees - and the waterfall. Now trying to integrate all these three elements, I am not sure the compositions works all that well. What do you think?

Daily Mel: St. Bartholomaeus, Ziegenrueck, Thuringia

2011-11-06T19:58:00.003+01:00

The town of Ziegenrueck in Thuringia has a beautiful little church, called St. Bartholomaeus. The church itself stems from the 13th century, burned out in the 17th century and was rebuild. The current painting style stems from the 1920s. I loved the rather simplistic, but colorful and friendly decorations of the church, especially the green painted altar areas. ;)

Project Green: Hooked on Green

2011-11-05T12:39:00.002+01:00

Sometimes it is amazing what you see when you start to look. And I think this is an advantage of "Project Green" - I am now intentionally looking for green subjects and I find there are a lot more green subjects in my environment than I thought.
These are hooks on an advertisement board.

TGIF: 2011-11-04

2011-11-05T00:40:00.003+01:00

I am still under the impression of this beautiful weekend we spent in Thuringia. So this is what I am thankful for this week. This image was taken on one of the hikes and shows the Saale River as it runs through the mountains of the Thuringian Forest.

Daily Mel: Thuringian Forest in the Fall

2011-11-01T17:41:00.005+01:00

Another image from the weekend trip to Thuringia. As I said in yesterday's post, fall colors were peaking, providing for some interesting patterns in the forest.

Daily Mel: Thuringia in the Fall

2011-10-31T20:14:00.003+01:00

There is this small and tiny town in the Thuringian Mountains that we visit (at least once every year). It is called Ziegenrueck - a name that goes back to a sorbian word refering to the meander of the river Saale that runs through the town. Usually we go earlier in the fall, but this year, we arrived there at the peak of fall. This allowed me to capture this little tiny town in a very picturesque way.
This shot was taken handheld with the G12.

TGIF: 2011-10-28

2011-10-28T11:15:00.003+02:00

Today's TGIF image was not taken this past week, though I am sure, had I tried I could have found a similar image. This image was actually taken in 2002 or 2003 at one of my Michigan friends' vineyard. As I am preparing to go to Michigan to finish off a project there, I am thankful for the friends I've made there - friends who I've shared a lots of laughter with, shared sorrows with, friends I grew with. But also friends who are still there and are always supportive. This image is to remind me of them.

Project Green: Wet Grass

2011-10-27T12:50:00.004+02:00

This is from a recent walk. The temperatures have dropped so that in the mornings we often find leaves and grass to be covered with frost. Even though it warms up during the days, you can find spots, where the remains of the frost do not disappear during the day. This is why I found this patch of grass in the shadow, with those droplets still hanging on it.

Daily Mel: Beauty in black and white

2011-10-24T19:56:00.004+02:00

I hardly ever do black and white images. And usually not of flowers. But when I saw this image of a Chrysanthemum, that I took this past weekend, I thought it was gonna look best in black and white. Originally the Chrysanthemum was orange-red with yellow tips at the end of the petals. I did not care too much for the original color combination, but loved the shapes, so I decided to go for black and white.
To achieve this black and white toning I created two layers from the original background layer. I desaturated one, and converted the other one to greyscale using the channel mixer and an orange filter. That latter layer came out really strong black and white - a bit too much. So I lower the opacity and had it blend in with the layer below that was just saturated until I liked the effect. Removed some spots, sharpened the image and this is the finished product. What do you think?

Daily Mel: Posing just for me

2011-10-22T19:17:00.003+02:00

I went for a walk today. At the local cementary I met her. She was playing with her companion, but then saw us standing there looking at them. She came up to me, I told her she is beautiful. I asked her for her portrait. She turned around and walked away, which caused my mom to laugh out loud. But she moved to this place, looked at me and gave me permission to take her photo.

Food: Mascarpone Cream with Strawberries II

2011-10-22T12:58:00.004+02:00

When I shot the entry for Nicolesy's contest, I tried several set ups for the contest image. While I ultimately used the one in the glass, here is another from that shot in which I think the light hits the strawberries even better.

Recipe for this dessert can be found also in the original entry. It is quite easy to make, try it!

TGIF: 2011-10-21

2011-10-21T21:35:00.007+02:00

There is a lot to be thankful for this week - starting from the gorgeous weather we've had for most of the week, to coffees with friends, giggles with friends, support from family to time for being creative. I had taken a bit of a break from photography in order to finish the other project, and even though I was occassionally taking images, they were just snapshots, while by now I start to think more about what to do with my creativity, which areas of photography do I feel I would like to develop further - and how can I do that. This is where inspiritation comes in and this is what I am thankful for this week - some of the inspiring photographers I've met and had contact with. While I've mentioned some before - like G Dan Mitchell, Darwin Wiggett or Blaine Franger, I've come in closer contact with some other photographers through Google Plus. Two are worth mentioning - Varina Patel (see that is mentioning #2 for her) and Tom McLaughlan.

Varina, who has herself a circles project inspired me to adopt a project generally. As I've mentioned before, my project is going to be "Project Green", where I'll post one image featuring green as dominant color or subject. As a thank you this image of a heart full of circles is for her:

Tom's images are largely dominated by graphic elements, they are abstract and minimalist, yet simply beautiful. They have taught me to look a bit more for graphics, shapes, patterns. And without Tom, who loves to shoot images of vents, I'd not taken this image:

Now aside from "Project Green", I will also try to develop a collection of images about Spaces (inspired by the great folks at Spaces Images, which I only hope to join some day). Let's call it "Project Spaces". So these will be new tags added to the list of labels, you see on the side. And I've also updated the list of photographers I recommend, Tom and Varina are there, so is Jay Patel, Varina's husband. Check them out.

And if all that inspiration flows together - an image like this may appear - a green space.

Dail Mel: Green and Red

2011-10-21T09:34:00.002+02:00

This is an image from last week's walk. These vine leaves are turning their colors on the wall of a cementary. I stood there for a while looking for some compositions (and ignoring the strange looks people passing me by gave me) and then I found this shot, which reminded me to one of Varina Patel's images (this will be the first time she is mentioned here today, but there will be a second time later). I loved the overlay of these leaves and the nice contrast this gave. And while looking great as an rectangle, I thought cropping it square would balance the shot further. Image was taken with the G12.

Daily Mel: Red and White

2011-10-17T21:12:00.004+02:00

Not much to say about this image of a (rather wellknown) building in Leipzig. Since the image was shot with the G12 from afar this is actually just a crop out of the original image.

Daily Mel: Lazy Afternoon in the park

2011-10-16T20:27:00.003+02:00

Glorious weather here, so I took a walk in the nearby park and caught this peaceful scene. This image will also mark the beginning of a new project, inspired by Varina Patel's "Circle Project" - "Project Green". In this project I will show case images that feature green as the dominant color or as subject. I will post at least once a week an image for this project.

Daily Mel: Gradient Green

2011-10-16T15:06:00.005+02:00

We've got a glorious fall weekend here. So I took my mom for a walk yesterday. With the sun being deeper, I had the chance to shot some backlit images. This leaf just struck me as interesting because of the gradient green in featured. On Google Plus we have today Straight Out Of Camera Sunday, where I just posted the unprocessed image. This image was taken with my G12 (which I love to take on walks) in RAW (ISO 800, F 4.5, 1/1000s, 31mm, which is KB equivalent 140mm). In post processing I did a bit of noise removal, removed some spots, increased contrast through level adjustments and sharpened the image (added my framing and watermark to it as well). And this is the final processed version.

TGIF: 2011-10-14

2011-10-14T19:58:00.004+02:00

This week I finished a major writing project. While there is still a lot of work to do on it, a lot of the stress developing it has passed - and I received something back I am thankful for - more time for myself. My schedule is not dominated anymore by this one project, but also allows me to enjoy other things - like walking, but also reading. This is my stack of things I want to read next:

And as you can see, the book that I won in a recent photography contest has arrived too, Nicole S. Young's "Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots".

What are you thankful for?

Daily Mel: Chocolate squared

2011-10-14T10:05:00.002+02:00

On Google+ we have daily photography themes and today is Food Friday. Since I enjoy shooting food, I think you will see a lot of food photography on my blog on Fridays now. Here is an image of a box of chocolates I received for my birthday. While I often shoot from the lower angles (10-45 degrees), here I knew a 90 degree angle would work better to show the arrangement in the box. And since the box was square, I thought my best cropping option was square too. What do you think?

Daily Mel: White layers

2011-10-13T23:55:00.000+02:00

In my first TGIF message you could see one image with a rose in a vase my mom had given me. This particular type of rose, from my moms garden, is so very lush with big blossoms that I shot a few more images of it. I loved the layers of the white petals and instantly had a square cropped image in mind. And this is the result - shot handheld with the G12.

Daily Mel: Old Townhall Reflection, Leipzig, Germany

2011-10-10T20:48:00.003+02:00

On my recent walk through downtown I saw this reflection again. I have seen it many times before and had always been fascinated by it. That day the light was just right as it hit the clocktower of Leipzig's Old Townhall. The clocktower is reflected in the glass facade of a passage way right across from it. The problem I had in creating this image was that many of the reflective windows have advertisements/ store names on it. So I used my G12 to make a wider image and then cropped it to get this result - with the distorted reflection of the clocktower.

Daily Mel: Rainbow

2011-10-09T07:23:00.003+02:00

This past week I saw a beautiful rainbow. Bright as I had not seen it before. But precisely that day I had unpacked my camera from my bag. So I thought I'd share this rainbow image which I took about a month ago.

Daily Mel: Baltic Sea Sunset

2011-10-08T19:47:00.003+02:00

As I went through my archives I re-discovered this sunset shot I had marked for editing, but had not gotten around to yet. It was shot during our vacation on Hiddensee last year. I composed it intentionally so that the setting sun was in the lower right corner. I loved how the sunrays outlined the patch of clouds, but there was not much interesting stuff going on below the sun to be included in the image. In post processing I decided to go for a rather wide (16:9) crop to accentuate the cloud patch. Now I wonder if this all works. What do you think?

TGIF: 2011-10-07

2011-10-07T18:29:00.003+02:00

This week has been very very busy at work and I am glad and thankful for the support I receive from my boss, my colleagues, my advisors, my friends and my family as I am finishing up this very important project I am working on. Yet, I was not able to capture their support in an image. So what else could I post about, what else have I've been thankful for?

I am thankful for this little girl who so carelessly enjoyed swinging on that swing as the sun was setting. I've actually used this swing myself, but seeing her brought a smile to my face.

Overall, however I also need to say that this image signifies another thing I am thankful for this week: the weather. Until yesterday we had merely clear skies and mild temperatures that even allow for nice walks in the evening. After a hard day of work I can use those walks to recharge my batteries. Since then the weather has changed, we've got rain showers and it is significantly cooler. Limits my walking. So here another one of those clear blue skies we had - with the heart shaped balloons the couple let go last Saturday.

Daily Mel: Leipzig from above

2011-10-04T20:22:00.004+02:00

I have a 101 in 1001 missions list running which is nearing the end. One of the missions on it that I still needed to complete was one I started last year: to climb the four towers of downtown Leipzig. There are four towers open to the public there: the university tower, the tower of St. Thomas, the Tower of the new townhall and the tower of St. Nikolai. The tower of St. Nikolai was the last one that I needed to climb and accomplished that last weekend. Here is the view from St. Nikolai towards Market Square.

And to show you the different views here is the rest:

This is the view from the tower of the new townhall, taken September 1st, 2011. You can see the tower of St.Thomas in that image.

The view from St. Thomas - on the right hand side you see the tower of St. Nikolai, taken August 2010.

And this is a few towards the northern parts of Leipzig, with the park and my favorite oak tree in the center of the image. This was the first image I took in this series - in August 2010, posted last year already.

Daily Mel: Roof Ministract

2011-10-03T09:31:00.003+02:00

On Google+ I got to know some very interesting photographers, some that will certainly receive more mentions on here in the future. One who left an impression right from the moment I discovered his work is Tom McLaughlan. Tom McLaughlan introduced me to a concept called "ministracts" - images that are minimalist or abstract or both. Now Eric Leslie and I are also maintaining a list of Daily Photography Themes to which people post images every day. Today is Ministract Monday for the first time. Here is my attempt at this concept.

I took this image last Saturday while climbing the tower of St. Nikolai in Leipzig. Loved the pattern of the roof, but also the shadow provided by the hook on it. To accentuate the hook, I cropped the image square. Due to the tiles, the image may be to busy to be minimalist, but it is certainly abstract.

Daily Mel: Frauenkirche and Luther Monument, Dresden/ Germany

2011-10-02T15:57:00.003+02:00

At the end of August we went for a day trip to Dresden which is the capital of my beautiful home state Saxony. Back then I had posted an image of a hallway I had seen there, but today I want to post an image of one of THE landmarks of Dresden - the Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady). I am sure most readers will have heard of this landmark - the church was originally buildt in the 18th century as a Baroque church, but destroyed during the firebombing of Dresden in the Second World War which destroyed also most of Dresden's inner city. During GDR times the ruins of the church remained and served as a "memorial against war". Only after unification of Germany and funded largely by donations from around the world the reconstruction began and was finished in 2005.

We had arrived in the morning just before the church opened its doors for visitors. This had the advantage that the square was not yet very crowded, light was not too harsh and allowed for some nice photos to be taken. In this one I looked for a slightly different perspective that gave more prominence to the Luther monument in front of the Church. Image was taken with my G12.

Daily Mel: Let them fly

2011-10-01T18:52:00.003+02:00

Today we went downtown to climb the tower of St.Nikolai. From the tower we saw a couple in the street just distributing heartshaped balloons to people passing by and guests. So we waited until they would let them fly.

Later while walking through town I saw the bride again, showed her the picture and asked if she wanted e-mail copies of it. Hope she is having a great wedding day. If its worth anything, the weather's been awesome!

TGIF: 2011-09-30

2011-09-30T22:12:00.003+02:00

There is so much in life to be grateful for, at the very least, I could be grateful that today is Friday, which marks the beginning of my weekend. But there is more than that - and I think this should be a regular feature on this blog. This idea is not new, I saw it on Salbjörg Rita Jónsdóttir's website for the first time. On the other hand, another friend of mine used to great her sister with some kind of TGIF note every week. So why not combine it and post one image of something I've been grateful for in the past week. And since I'll be starting today, I'll give you two images.

I am thankful for having friends that will do things for me that make me smile. One of my friends from work baked these mocca muffins for me for my birthday, put the candle on top and served it for breakfast at work. Since she knows I do not bake, she also gave me a baking book to help me to learn that. I love how my friends encourage me to expand my horizons.

I am also thankful for having a family on whose love and support I can always rely on. They too make me smile. I need to thank my mom for giving me this vase and the rose for my birthday. I can always rely on my mom picking things for me that I'll love and cherish. She knows my taste in things very very well. That goes specifically for that vase - simple, but special shape, clear graphical lines. The flower is a rose from my mom's garden (the type is called "Nostalgia") - of all flowers I got it is the last one to still be fresh today.

What are you thankful for?

Daily Mel: House Facade, Leipzig/ Germany

2011-09-27T20:48:00.007+02:00

Many buildings in the downtown area of Leipzig have been restored since German unification. Many houses turned from simple ugly grey stone buildings into architectural gems. After being restored many more of the beautiful original details became visibile. This house in Petersstrasse is just one example.

I may have mentioned it before, I love my hometown, I think it is pretty and I love to showcase it on here, but also love to show it to friends visiting the town. Late August I had the chance to meet blogger, (microstock) photographer and world traveler Holger from Veo el Mundo. Holger stayed in Leipzig for a few days and created a beautiful timelapse video that portraits my hometown in just such a wonderful way. Check out his blog entry here and enjoy the video:

Leipzig Timelapse Video, Germany from Holger Mette on Vimeo.

Daily Mel: Yellow

2011-09-26T18:53:00.003+02:00

I received a nice flower bouquet for my birthday containing some lovely yellow gerber daisies. And while I also photographed the whole bouquet, the circles of the gerber daisies' blossoms inspired this close-up.

Daily Mel: Froebelsterne

2011-09-25T13:54:00.003+02:00

Ain't I lucky to have a sister who loves to do handicrafts?? I am. My sister loves to create all kinds of things from paper in the christmas season and I have by now several things she made for decoration at my place for Christmas. A few years ago she made this collection of "Froebelsterne" (aka Moravian Stars), which are quite often folded by children in the pre-christmas season. I loved all the colors and and shapes, so after last Christmas I asked if she'd mind borrowing me her collection before she'd pack them away for the rest of the year. Of course, they are still at my place and I am still not done photographing them - I think she'll get them back just before the next Christmas season. :) For this shot I just threw them all on white background and created this curvy shape - just to display them all.

If you wanna see how these are made, check out this video, though I cannot assess if it is any good.

Daily Mel: Shooting Frames

2011-09-22T21:49:00.002+02:00

I am reviewing a few older files at the moment and just came across this one from the Spinnereirundgang in Spring. Shot in the same arts supply store where I shot the other frames and the colorful chalk. Loved the details on these frames and how they were presented at the store.

Milestone: Won!

2011-09-17T18:44:00.002+02:00

A few weeks ago I posted two entries for Nicole S. Youngs, book give away - one for her blog theme "sweet" and one for the Google+ theme "spicy". Today I learned that my entry for her blog give away (Mascarpone Cream with Strawberries) won. So I am looking forward to reading Nicole's book "Food Photography: from Snapshots to great shots".

Image by Nicole S. Young

Daily Mel: Lighthouse on Hiddensee, Germany

2011-09-17T13:00:00.003+02:00

Today's image was taken exactly one year ago. On this day, last year, I was on vacation on the island of Hiddensee at the Baltic Sea. It was a crisp, cool and windy day and we went on a hike towards the northern lighthouse - a major landmark of the island. I just recently re-discovered this image by going through old RAW files on my PC. Hope you'll enjoy this.

Daily Mel: Entrance area, New Townhall, Leipzig

2011-09-13T21:15:00.003+02:00

Another shot from last week's trip to Leipzig's New Townhall. I found that the architecture of the building had a lot to offer, especially nice little details. I found this niche at the main entrance and loved how the light threw some shadows from the fence right before that niche. In hindsight, however, I wonder if it makes the shot too busy. What do you think?

Image info: shot with the G12, handheld, postprocessing included cropping, contrast correction and an overlay of a slightly sepia toned/desaturated layer.

Daily Mel: Elbe Valley, Saxon Switzerland, Germany

2011-09-12T16:57:00.004+02:00

Just to add on to yesterday's image and to show the beauty of my homestate here's another image from Saturday's hiking trip to Saxony Switzerland. This is a rather classical image, a view into the Elbe Valley from the Bastei. Due to the sunny conditions and harsh light of the early afternoon, I had a hard time exposing this image correctly. Play around, setting up a tripod in the middle of a mass migration of hikers was also no option. So in post processing I had to crop the sky, which was completely overblown from the image.

Daily Mel: Saxon Switzerland

2011-09-11T16:28:00.004+02:00

Yesterday I went hiking with my family in Saxon Switzerland, a mountaineous region in my homestate Saxony. The area is characterized by sandstone rockformations that are used for climbing. The National Park is a wonderful hiking area with several great view points. This one is across from the "Wehlener Blick" near the entrance to the ("Schwedenlöcher" a canyon with a steep ascent/descent to/from the Bastei from/to the Amselgrund (we did the descent, 700 steps down)). I shot this image in the afternoon with my G12, which is a brilliant camera for hiking trips like these for me. Only thing I wish I had had, was a polarizer, to cut a bit through the haze/ reflections.
BTW - see the small things on top of the rockformation in the center? Those are climbers standing on top of the rock.

Daily Mel: Sculpture, New Townhall, Leipzig/Germany

2011-09-09T15:45:00.003+02:00

As you know from last week's and yesterday's post, I took a few images at the New Townhall in Leipzig last week. Today's image was also taken at the Obere Wandelhalle. Unfortunately I was not able to find out what/ whose sculpture that is. But I loved its placement in the frame with the light from the staircase behind it being so bright.
The image was taken with the G12, in pp I did some noise reduction, adjusted the perspective, the lighting, enhanced the contrast. Hope you like the result.

Daily Mel: Out of Order

2011-09-08T21:10:00.003+02:00

Don't you just love it. You know you wanna go up to a higher floor in a building and as you reached the only elevator in that building you find this sign on the door "Elevator out of order".
Well, I found this sign last week in the tower of Leipzig's New Townhall. The good thing was, we had been able to move up part of the 75 metres to the visitor's platform with another elevator, so we only had to climb the remaining 225 steps. Not too bad and totally worth it.

Daily Mel: Christmas Tree and Playful Concepts

2011-09-07T20:21:00.004+02:00

Robert Kneschke posted a free e-book the other day where he presents survey data on how much microstock photographers pay their models.(If you are a microstock shooter and you speak/ read German and interested in this question, check out this e-book).
I already mentioned in my "people are key" post that I buy my models and once I own them, they become my "slaves". Well, I recently extended my collection and got 45 new slaves for 2€ only (had to pay 2€ for a set of 12 previously. So I put them immediately to some use. And since it is time to shoot and upload Christmas images - this is what I came up with. Hope you like it.

This image is currently available for licensing at Dreamstime
and pending approval on other outlets.

Daily Mel: Red bicycle

2011-09-06T21:04:00.003+02:00

Today's image is from last week's trip to Dresden. We passed by this brightly painted old fashioned bicycle which caught my attention. Loved the brigh red, so I just had to stop quickly to take the photo.

Daily Mel: Parking Garage

2011-09-05T20:53:00.004+02:00

While last week's entry "Shadows on the Wall" was inspired by G Dan Mitchell (his wife could name it), today's image was inspired by the style of images I see on Spaces Images. While shooting images last week I often found myself looking for images that I could imagine being sold there. I do not shoot architecture or interior shots very often, but I like looking at such images. "Spaces Images" an agency featuring images of the human space and has (I've mentioned this before) a collection of images that is characterised by very clean lines, sometimes minimalistic compositions. Most images have a very modern and airy feel to it. Looking at their image collection (via their facebook page) has definitely changed the way I look for images when I am out shooting with my camera. This can lead to funny stories - but they may be left to be told another time... .

Food: Spicy

2011-09-03T15:45:00.004+02:00

Nicole S. Young those the same contest on Google+, but the theme is different: "Spicy". I do not eat spicy food, so participating in this contest is not all that easy. Quite honestly, this entry may get discqualified, because it is not 100% a photo, but an illustration. When Nicole announced the contest, I came up with this idea right away. I was struck by how the word "pic" (often used by photographers for pictures) fit between the letters S and Y, which are part of Nicole's name - look at her blog name NicoleSY. So I added a chilli pepper to the mix - to spice up my idea -et voilá.

Yeah, I know, not very original. Chilli peppers. Spicy. Lame. Now if this was Brian Matiash's contest, maybe I'd stand a chance with my spicy planking image. (He likes planking images!!!). And come on, that is creative - who has a planking on a chilli pepper image?

No? Ah well, not important that I win. I had some fun shooting images and have a few more shots to upload to the stock agencies (even though these ones, will never go there...).

Food: Mascarpone Cream with Strawberries

2011-09-03T13:59:00.004+02:00

This is my entry for Nicole S. Young's book giveaway. As you may know, Nicole is a great food photographer who just published her book "Food photography: From Snapshots to great shots". This entry is for the theme "sweet". I hereby present you with my favorite desert: Mascarpone Cream with strawberries.
I found this recipe earlier this year and tried it for my family back then. The original recipe calls for raspberries to be purred and put through a fine sieve. It's delicious this way too, but today I tried it in a different way - with diced strawberries.
This is how this was made:
Ingredients (serves about 3 to 4 people):
250g mascarpone
250g quark (curd cheese, if not available try cream cheese)
juice from 2 lemons
1 pack vanilla sugar
about 300 g Strawberries, diced
1tbs sugar

Mix the diced strawberries with 1tbs sugar, let sit for half hour.
Mix the remaining ingredients and whisk till smooth. Add a bit of milk if you need to get your mixture creamier. Fill about 1 tbsp of the mix in a glass, add some strawberries, fill the glass up with the cream and add some strawberries for topping.
This dessert is so easy it can be done within 15 minutes (and I am NO domestic godess). The dessert is best enjoyed after it sat in the fridge for an hour or two.

After preparing the dessert in the glasses, I went over to my studio and tried different shots. At first I used a color combination with some blue background but found that the green of my dish towels (yeah, I use what I have available even if it is not the most fancy thing) set off the red of the strawberries best. I set the glasses on my normal desk in my office/studio, because that way I could get some window backlight. I used a selfmade reflector to the right and one off-shoe flash to the left to lighten the front shadows. (This photo actually marks then a first published attempt of off-shoe flash usage!!) Overall I took about 18 different shots, selected the one I liked most, cropped it a bit, enhanced contrast, did some selective sharpening. Done.

What happened to the dessert meanwhile? Well, let me tell you it was YUMMY. See?

But now that I have eaten all that (note the amount I made is usually for 3-4 people) - I am full and definitely need to walk off all those calories. So off I go to enjoy the beautiful sun outside.

Daily Mel: Hibiscus blossom, close-up

2011-09-03T10:01:00.006+02:00

I am not someone who has a green thumb. I hardly have any plants at my place. However, I've been able to keep my two hibiscuses alive. And one decided to bloom last weekend. This time the blossom faced upwards and I thought this was a nice opportunity take an image that is a bit different.
Image was shot with my camera set on a tripod, Canon 100mm macro lens, focused on the end of the stem. Light came through the window and was diffused through my blinds (I know why I wanted light blinds). In postprocessing I cropped it a tiny bit tighter than the original and added some sharping to the stem.
How do you like it?

Daily Mel: Red, white and blue

2011-09-02T09:38:00.003+02:00

Today's image is from Monday's trip to Dresden. Ever since I started doing photography more seriously I have been drawn to play with colors and this image is just an example of that. There is little else I can say about it - I saw this and photographed it. Even postprocessing was easy - straightening some lines, correcting for noise, cloning out some dirtspots, increase contrast a bit. Done. That's all there is to this image. Now enjoy.

Daily Mel: Interior of the New Townhall, Leipzig/ Germany

2011-09-01T16:18:00.004+02:00

Today we took a trip to the New Townhall in Leipzig. Our primary goal was to climb its tower to enjoy a view over the city from 75m (we accomplished that). However, we also got the chance to experience some of the interior architecture of this building, which was finished in 1905 and has served as Leipzig's townhall since. The image shown here was made in the "Obere Wandelhalle" - a hall that is used for events (like concerts). I found the interior of the New Townhall really wonderful and shot several more images there.

Milestone: 500 images online

2011-08-31T22:45:00.001+02:00

Today I reached another milestone - I have now more than 500 (501 to be exact) images online at Dreamstime. I had uploaded the last batch already in July, but never got around to keywording and submitting them until yesterday. The newly accepted batch is quite a mix of recent images: there are the two blue doors from England, the summer bouquet, the image of the spinach-minced meat bake, but also some simple backgrounds and then this image, that I shot last winter after fresh snow had fallen. Are you ready for winter yet?

Daily Mel: Shadows on a wall

2011-08-30T20:39:00.003+02:00

There is not much to day about this image. Taken yesterday, somewhere in Dresden. Clearly inspired by one of my favorite photographers. Wanna name my inspiration?

News 2011-08-30

2011-08-30T14:25:00.003+02:00

Another round of News will be coming your way - and as usual I will first summarize/translate some of the most recent stocknews (collected by Robert Kneschke) before presenting other news worth thinking about.

Robert mentions that Shutterstock now allows images with foreign language content/text's inside for as long as you provide a translation in the text. I am not sure how new this feature is, though, I submitted some German language content a while ago and had it accepted, of course, I had submitted a translation in the description. Most of my own German language content is however available exclusively at Fotolia.

Dreamstime offers a new section of the website, where contributors can point out illegal use of their images on the web. In doing so, Dreamstime is one of the few agencies who actively works for the interest of its contributors.

Fotolia introduced its third revamped version of the website, introducing a sleaker and cleaner design but at the same time decreasing commissions to the contributors again - mostly hit are those providing vectors to them, as vectors can now be sold in the same price scale as photos - to some that adds to a cut of 70%. Further all subscription commissions on images were lowered - the premium subscription allowing for subscription of extra large files completely cancelled. For me personally this means I receive now for a subscription sale 0.29 credits instead of 0.32 and for a premium subscription sale 0.29 instead of 0.37 credits. And this also marks the second commission cut to contributors in this year alone. Good news though - the introduction of V3 was no disaster (some contributors may remember the V2 disaster) - and maybe the improved search functions are responsible for an increase in sales I've seen recently (though it may just been the end of the summer low).

And then Istock dropped a bomb yesterday. No, not a commission cut, no, not new, even higher Redeemed Credit targets - Istock changes its Artist Supply Agreement (ASA). Under the new ASA contributors loose the right to decide which of the collections in the Istock/Getty Family they want to opt-out of. Granted that independent contributors cannot opt into all collections at Istock (specifically not the higher priced ones), their images will now be mirrored to the lower priced collections at Istock -without earning you any redeemed credits. Further, the agency, no distributor, has now the right to use your images for free for promotional purposes (and you will automatically opted in in that too) and will also clawback any royalties gained through sales that appear to be fraudulent (i.e. Fraudulent credit card use). So the burden is on the contributor - the profits go to the company - and that with the industry's lowest commission percentages.
To many independent contributors over at the microstockgroup this feels as if Istock is saying:
"The fact is pretty plain. If you want to contribute to iStockphoto as a non-exclusive contributor your files will also be available on the partner sites. Period. If you decide that isn't for you we appreciate that. You can close your account and only submit your work on alternative agencies. It's entirely your choice." (Lobo from the Istock Forums, quote provided by Cogent Marketing).
To me personally this means I might be pulling off the remains of my portfolio there (though I have not decided on that yet). Because it is not just about commission cuts anymore, it is about being forced to remain independent or become exclusive. And by becoming exclusive you become vulnerable to further changes in the ASA's that may prevent you to decide freely about the usage of your imagery - unless within the Getty Family (and once an exclusive the barrier to completely leave the agency becomes higher, as you loose everything, at least for a short while, if you should decide to leave Istock). Of course Getty and Istock still occupy a large share of the market (I regularly see Getty images or Thinkstock images), but I do not like such dependence. I do not like dependence anywhere. So while from a financial point of view exclusiveness at Istock seems interesting, they've lost my trust not just with taking away commissions, but with taking away my decision rights about where I am offering my images. And I am afraid, the (micro)stock market has not seen the end of that yet. Looking for solutions on that.

On that not so happy note, I'll leave this entry. There were a couple more things I had originally planned to write about in this entry. I think I may come back to them later.
If you have comments/ thoughts on these, feel free to leave a comment.