Let me introduce myself. My name is Ton van Dongen. I am a Dutch guy of almost 55, working in the food industry with one hobby: making photo's.
Through this Weblog I would like to share my photo's and the story behind them with you.
My equipment is a Canon 40D with a lot of glass in my photobag.
Currently I am studying in the weekends at the "fotovakschool" in Boxtel, the Netherlands, to learn to shoot better photo's and to improve my CS3 skills.
I have a busy job that brings me all over the world. Making photo's in nature is the biggest relaxation that I can immagine.
Most of the pictures are taken outside, but my study also stimulates me to experiment with alternative photo shoots. Like studio, portret etc.
I like to wander through quiet places in nature. I am financial "director" of the IVN in Den Bosch, which also means a lot of work in nature.
I started this weblog on April 4th and intend to fill it with pictures and their story, in the coming weeks.
The other day I was trying what would be possible with macro. I took the the plush phase of the dandelion (paardebloem), put it in my small studio and tried to enlarge it to its maximum.
For the first one I used the Sigma 150 macro with a 25 mm ring and the 1.4x converter.
For the second one I added another (2x) converter.
Today I was wondering, late at night, through the Kootwijker zand. At the Kootwijker zand there is a forrest that burned down approx. 20 years ago. The carcasses of the trees are still there.
I had to do a task for the FotoVakSchool.
At night when the sun has set, the sky will turn blue for a short period of time (the blue hour).
No photoshopping was done to improve the pictures or enhance the effect.
Today was the first real sunny day in the Netherlands. For the first time this year the themometer reached a value of above 20 C.
I went to visit the Blauwe kamer, an area close to Wageningen, given back to nature. The Platalea leucorodia (spoonbill, lepelaar) were busy preparing their nest in the trees. The Ardea cinerea (grey heron, blauwe reiger) is already a step ahead of the spoonbill, as it is hatching out the eggs.
Next I went to the Millingerwaard, east of Nijmegen. I saw the Ciconia ciconia (white stork, ooievaar) on their typical nest "preparing for their eggs". It was really nice to see how the male approached the female. A group of spoonbills flew by.
When I went further into the area, I watched a Podiceps cristatus (great crested grebe, fuut) relax and shake his feathers and wings.
In the Netherlands we have the saying "that sometimes we cannot see the forrest through the trees", in other words, the situation is so chaotic that you cannot see the details anymore.
Our first assignment at the photovakschool was to create a picture expressing the tree that you can see through the forrest, a detail that is clearly visible against its background. It was clear that the picture was not necessarily to be about trees.
I thought about the concept. First I considered a large number of cars, as you see at harbours at importers of cars. Then I would make them all black/white but one car with an intense colour would "jump out". Next I considered a plate full of rice grains. All white and one black. But in the end I decided to try to make a picture of a water drop bouncing back from the water surface.
The technique was quite complicated. The critical parameter was to get a very short flash. I used my Canon 40D, a Sigma 150 mm macro lens and a Speedlite 580EX flash. This flash has a stroboscopic function and I needed that to make the picture.
I put a screw in the centre of the water to focus, then fixed the focus, removed the screw and dropped water drops into the water.
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Als eerste dient u een blog aan te maken- dit kan sinds 2023 niet meer.
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If you are interested to get a professional print [framed or non-framed] of one or more of the pictures, then please send me an email and I will take care of it.
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