Landscape – Ritva Sillanmäki Photography

This week Donna invites us to share tricks .

I know…It’s Tricky! Enjoy the chance to think outside-the-box for this challenge. What tricks do you use to get the shot you want? I don’t know if I really have any…. editing, that is my main trick.

One thing I often do to get great nice bokeh shots is have a flower in my hand outstretched towards the sun coming throughout the trees and taking a macro shot that way… easier on my knees 🙂 mostly I like to take close ups so that the object is back-lit.

somethimes you just have use thte natural settings, bend down and get the shot.

Water , droplets splash… usually I need assistance, often from my husband, or the water dripping down from the spout to the water barrel below. Or like my here my husband dropping Ice into the the glass

Drops in a barrel

Trick, well I think the most impostant trick is to be observant and have patience especially when photographing nature, animals, bugs. Well anything really, many times getting a a good shot is due to a good luck. Right time at the right place. How you place the camera. Mostly that you pay attention. That’s my trick really.

People photography is a art of its own, you have to find the essence of the person, and the right angle to bring the best of the peole features, expressions to shine in the the photo. Once again, be alert.

Composition, framing the photo is essential for a great shot depending what you want to enhance and showcase in the photo. Below some shots from Amalfi coast.

#Lens-Artists #Lens-Artists Challange

Lens-Artists Photography Challenge #242– NEW EXPERIENCES

lens-artists, Photography

LENS ARTISTS PHOTO CHALLENGE #242: NEW EXPERIENCES

This week Anne invites us to share experiences . Experiencing something for the first time can be exhilarating, exhausting, and engaging.

Seeing something new in nature, visiting a new city. Listening to music, sounds of nature, art in all forms. I thing I get most from seeing, experiencing natures wonders.

I have also got great joy visiting the Great ocean road in Australia. I have done several posts from that trip. I still have lots of shots not share. Awesome place. Waterfall, rolling hills, animals in the wild… I could go on and on..

I love the rugged coastline there and in Northern California

and Oregon also, memorable and beautiful experiences.

Seeing the red woods in California Sequoia National Park, the magnificent trees.

Seeing the desert and it rough beauty of Valley of fire In Nevada

Thailand, Sri Lanka, India the different type of nature, culture. European countries with the long history and beautiful architecture, Italy, The Amalfi coast, Venice. France, Paris, Nice´ on and on I could go here too

You need not go far, you can experience a misty morning or evening. Sunset or sunrise that amaze you in your own yard. It is a new experience everytime, if not, would we not try to capture when ever it is possible.

Experience – is seeing the same old as something new everytime -living the moment. It can be as mundane as experiencing your morning coffee everyday. Maybe today with toast, tomorrow with pancakes… I don’t know, we must not forget the little everyday moments.

#Lens-Artists #Lens-Artists Challange

Lens-Artists Photography Challenge #241– Spring

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #241 – Spring

This week Sofia invites us to show you what Spring means to us. Is it about new beginnings, Nature reborn or a new chance to go and enjoy the outdoors?

This is a no brainer, I mean, obviously it is about light. Me and so many other when the spring begins to show first signs of more light the constant marvel of it… we do, every year as if this was something unexpected. The joy of it is so awesome, it wakes us up from the winter hibernation, we slowly come put of houses.

When does spring start? In 2023, the official first day of spring is Monday, March 20. This date marks the “spring equinox” in the Northern Hemisphere. That is today!

( Is the spring equinox the same as spring solstice? Equinox vs Solstice
An equinox occurs at the start of the spring and fall. The solstice occurs during the summer and the winter. Occurs on March 21 (Vernal equinox) and on September 23 (Autumnal equinox).

No matter where you are on Earth, the equinox brings us a number of seasonal effects, noticeable to nature lovers around the globe. At the equinox, Earth’s two hemispheres are receiving the sun’s rays equally. Night and day are often said to be equal in length.

The fastest sunsets and sunrises of the year happen at this time. We’re talking here about the length of time it takes for the whole sun to sink below the horizon. Sunset or sunrise you have to be quick to act, if you wait long enough you will only see tail end of it.

First you notice is the snow and ice melting.The fields with the soil coming visible and mornings of mist. Everything is brown. Only moss glows green. The lakes and sea is been freed from under the ice.

Everywhere! Forget about the weather for a moment, and think only about daylight. In terms of daylight, the knowledge that spring is here – and summer is coming – permeates all of nature on the northern half of Earth’s globe.

Notice the arc of the sun across the sky each day. You’ll find that it’s shifting toward the north. Responding to the change in daylight, birds and butterflies are migrating back northward, too, along with the path of the sun.

The longer days do bring with them warmer weather. People are leaving their winter coats at home. eople are raking the leaves from their yards. Trees are budding, and plants are beginning a new cycle of growth. In many places, spring flowers are beginning to bloom.

new fresh green – not visible here yet, but it is a sign of the glorious days of spring finaly here.

Spring is full of hope, l ight, beauty and blooming of nature. One of the best of season’s

#Lens-Artists #Lens-Artists Challange

Lens-Artists Photography Challenge #240 – The road taken

lens-artists, Photography

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #240 – The Road (most often) Taken.

John from Journeys with Johnbo is hosting this week, this week’s theme is metaphoric–and not about a physical road. For this week’s challenge, I want you to think of your favorite type or style of photography as the road you’ve chosen to take most often.

I got my first own camera in my late teens. I took photos of friends and family and photos when traveling. Safe to say there are not that many photos from back then, film was expensive as was the development, and you never knew how they turned out until you got the envelope back.

When I got my kids, well I took tons of pictures of them, here I found few from the archives that I have scanned. So safe to say, I am a people photographer from the beginning. I must say, I have improved a lot, even if I say so myself over the years. I love taking photos of people trying to capture something real, and try to find the beauty we all have in ourselves, fing the best angle to get a the essence of what I see. Now I photograph my grandkids and my husband is often in my photos if I need to get a heasshot for some challenge.

Eventually when I got my first good camera I started taking photos of nature, photos from our travels. Then I got a new macro lens – then details. I learned to edit my photos and that made my photos get better, me being able to highlight more what I what to showcase in the photo.

I have mixed some of my early on photos with some newest ones. Basically I take photos of what ever I fancy, anything that catches my eye, that I find intersting I take photos of.

I have to say that hiking to place that are far and through difficult tracks is not my thing. Even though I admire the beautiful photos other have captured from these place. I look for topic near me 🙂

#Lens-Artists #Lens-Artists Challange

Frosty trees at dusk

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Photography

White trees

I stopped several times to capture the beauty of the moment of lovely winter views with snow covered trees and hovering mist

52 Frames: Week 34: Peace!

52 Frames, Captures from Finland, Landscapes

Through the hustle and bustle or the humdrum everyday lives we lead and see around us, we come across small moments in time that make us stop, take a deep breath and slow down. We’d like to see you capture a moment of Peace ☮ this week.

Have a little think about any places or scenes that calm you down or center you – a tranquil lake setting, a walk through a wooded path with a close one or something close to home like your grandpa taking his afternoon siesta. It’s all about the image evoking a feeling of serenity, calm and tranquility.

August Sunset at the countryside, this was my choice this week

The idea doesn’t necessarily need to be minimalistic , all that matters is whether the viewer understands the point of view and story your photo ought to be showing. The lighting and overall color tone of the scene will be important too, so please spare a thought for those aspects too.

There are tons of places, people and scenes that can convey this purest of emotions; so as we usually say, take a few deep breaths, center yourself and take your shot.

I have been at my summer house. One word, that can be said about the place is that it is peaceful. Hardly any neighbors, no traffic sounds. Silence, if you do not take to account the natures sounds. I took shot of this tail of the sunset ( aiming the camera towards northwest) the colors towards west were so vibrant, even if the moment was peaceful the colors would not convey that. So I turned towards the more muted tones. I had several ideas for this week, but did not get anything done towards making them become reality, planning is not enough. I hope this shot still shows peace.

The shots below show the vibrancy of the sunset and even if it was peaceful the colors do somehow tell the story, or what so you think? The blues in the last shot say it better, no ?

52 Frames: Week 33: Water!

52 Frames, Landscapes, Still life

Water – just like us humans, comes in all sorts of shapes, sizes and even colors. It’s universal and something that is absolutely essential to life on this planet. We hope you’re inspired enough to make the most of the topic.

If you have follwes me for a long time, you should know I love the sea, lakes and all water views, I take lots of photos of photos of them. I have also come into a habit of taking shots of water bottles in restaurants and cafes

You could, of course, go with a classic landscape / seascape bringing a sense of majesty to your image or perhaps go with a more down-to-earth shot of kids having a pool party

Maybe a shot showing off your technical chops with water droplet macro photography is more your style. Why not showcase the immense power of water crashing against a shoreline or go entirely the other way and take a serene shot of tranquil and still waters in a long-exposure image?

Don’t feel restricted by needing an external location either – you can get epic water shots inside your home too. Try getting a creative still life shot by using water as a prism. Or use it to enhance a portrait or with food photography.

The possibilities are boundless. 💦

ISO: There’s a lack of light – so remember to adjust your ISO settings appropriately, the higher you go, the more digital noise you will encounter.

Long Exposure: To compensate for the lack of light, long exposures work well for getting sharp images of static subjects like cityscapes and smoothening water ripples. Anything under 1/125 you want to rest your camera on a hard surface or tripod.

Light Shaping: Use lights to shape the exposure – you can isolate your subjects more easily since the background will most likely be darker due to the absence of ambient daylight.

Shoot Manual Mode: Consider shooting in Manual mode to correctly adjust parameters to get your desired exposures.

White Balance: Artificial light in urban areas can add different color casts to your image. See if adjusting the white balance can add more depth to your image.

52 Frames: Week 32: Night Photography!

52 Frames, Landscapes

it’s Night Photography this week.

This was last weeks challenge, but here I am posting about it now. I have several night shots that I like, but not being able to use them. And as I was visiting relatives at this time I was not able to go and take photos during night time. On our drive home I took this shot of the moon, think about it from a moving car, not too bad, slightly painternly look it has, but all and all, I am rather happy with it.

Somewhere in Southern Finland on the road home, this moon lit the way for us

The thing about not having that sun around, is that everything is darker! In order to get more light to your sensor, you’ll want to slap that camera onto a tripod. or rest it on a flat surface, and set your shutter speeds to lower settings, like multiple seconds, and the night scenes in front of you will come alive!

Taking shots, illumination of neon signs or street lights lend a completely different look and feel to the very same location than if it were shot in daylight.

Ever taken portraits at night of a subject lit by a storefront window? Not all night shots need to be taken outside the house – some very creative shots can be taken inside too. Have a think on that!

Get creative with light painting or try and capture the moon- night time is just magical for photography.

If you live in a part of the world where the 🌞 is still up when most other places are much darker, that’s cool too.

TIPS:

ISO: There’s a lack of light – so remember to adjust your ISO settings appropriately, the higher you go, the more digital noise you will encounter.
Long Exposure: To compensate for the lack of light, long exposures work well for getting sharp images of static subjects like cityscapes and smoothening water ripples. Anything under 1/125 you want to rest your camera on a hard surface or tripod.
Light Shaping: Use lights to shape the exposure – you can isolate your subjects more easily since the background will most likely be darker due to the absence of ambient daylight.
Shoot Manual Mode: Consider shooting in Manual mode to correctly adjust parameters to get your desired exposures.
White Balance: Artificial light in urban areas can add different color casts to your image. See if adjusting the white balance can add more depth to your image.

52 Frames: Week 31: Choose Color!

52 Frames, Landscapes, Still life

Look around and we’ll see something we take for granted – color. Our wonderful world is filled with it, so this week we’re asking you to Choose A Color. Make that color the theme and inspiration behind your image. Colors evoke moods and feelings – how you choose to compose and use them is what will guide the viewer through the image.

Choosing to focus on a single color in particular is both creative and good use of light, contrast and saturation is what can make or break an image. Pick a color and make it the dominant and outstanding and leave no doubt about which color you wanted to make the main point of your shot.

I am having huge problems with my computer, so much that I need to buy a new one, so these are old shots that I have here already used in my previous posts over the years. I am not able to access my computer files, or additional hard drives to add photos or load new ones from the camera disk. I am able to access the internet for now, so I am using these here this week.

Think landscapes of rolling green hills, or food shots of red chilli peppers or the all encompassing golden color at sunset – there’s a noticeable dominant color there and that’s what we’re looking for.

Composition: Compose your shot so there’s no doubt as to which color you’re trying to use. Think about any emotions or moods your photo can evoke and bring that to the forefront. You could use a lot of negative space to direct interest to your subject or go in full-tilt and fill the frame
Lighting: Lighting and shadows add depth to an image and can change an image dramatically. An underlit and underexposed image brings to mind a different mood than a bright, well-lit one.
White Balance: . Using and adjusting white balance while taking your photos will be valuable
Contrast: If there are multiple colors and shades in your image, ensure that there’s one that’s visibly up front and recognizable – it contrasts and stands out from the other shades and tone of the image.
Post-processing: Feel free to go nuts with post-processing and editing to render some cool color effects. But remember, less is more.

Midsummer

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

it is that time of the year again, the amount of light we get, the longest day passed, but we are now celebrating midsummer here in Finland, lot’s of people are driving to countryside to enjoy the this festive season, to be bitten by mosquitos, but some may choose to stay in the cities. Well we came to our summer house to enjoy the light nights and warm summer days that the forecast has promised us for this weekend.

I am still coughing my brains out, tired from lack of sleep as soon as I try to lay my head on the pillow, well in my case at the moment pillows you can say bye bye to sleep. So I haven’t had any energy to post anything. But for midsummer I have to do something to celebrate, I took these at out last visit, it was full moon time, I never got around to posting them, so here is some beauty from one of my favorite places. Beautiful Finnish countryside in the summer.

Holiday

Cities, Landscapes, Photography, Travel

I am currently on my vacation here are few shots from my trip, but I will come back to this topic when I get back home. Oh by the way I am in Crete 😊

A touch of spring

Captures from Finland, Photography

We are having a beautiful day with temperatures on the plus side and you can hear snow melting, but do we still have lots of it to melt.

My husband was doing his best to give the spring help by making creeks so that snow and ice would melt quicker

Memory lane- Oregon #4

Photography, Travel, Traveling US

At first I will take you to the Oregon coast line, unfortunately I do not recall what beach or location other than coastline, at the time I did not write them down, for me it is enough that they are beautiful locations and loved the views. These are from 2013, might not look the same anymore

This is the second last post from this location, but it was such a great spot so obviously I have tons of photos. You can see the Heceta Head Lighthousee in these

Heceta Head Lighthouse

I would love to travel see new beautiful places, but I cannot due to the pandemic, so I am on a memory lane trip to some of places I have been. Hope you will join me on the scenic tour of lovely places.

Memory lane- Oregon #3

Photography, Travel, Traveling US

This is the second last post from this location, but it was such a great spot so obviously I have tons of photos. You can see the Cape Arago Lighthouse in these

This is the second last post from this location, but it was such a great spot so obviously I have tons of photos. this is the

Memory lane- Oregon #2

Photography, Travel, Traveling US

Memory lane- Oregon

Photography, Travel, Traveling US

I am sitting at my desk watching the snow fall and dreaming of sunshine and warm weather.

So, I was going through my archives, again, for photos that I haven’t really edited. So I edited them. I have lot’s of photos that I have not taken that need a closer look. Some need to have the horizon straightened, maybe add little contrast and light. So I have done that. Touch here and there.

I am so restless, I would love to travel see new beautiful places, but I cannot due to the pandemic, so I am on a memory lane trip to some of places I have been. Hope you will join me on the scenic tour of lovely places.

Moment of light

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Photography

Autumn in the city

Cities, Landscapes, Photography

I took my husband to the doctor and during his visit I took some autumn color shots from the city. The flu season has started after being almost nonexistent during Covid, my husband had it and now I am sick first time in three years. I had forgotten how it feels. Not nice.

Well anyway, I am giving you an overload of fall photos, bear with me, soon it will be dark and gloomy.

Driving into the mist

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Photography

Sunny Sunday 3

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

I have had luck with sunny Sundays, two in a row. I went for a drive searching to find Ruska ( one word in finish language to describe the process of nature turning to the beautiful colors of autumn)

Here few more photos from that day.

I found some lovely spots. I will share some now and some other posts as usual I have lots of shots and I like to share 🙂 Hope you like them.

This colorful time passes so quickly as the leaves fall and sooner than we want to be, we are already surviving November. I have several years been doing that here on my blog with fellow bloggers.

Sunny Sunday 2

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

I have had luck with sunny Sundays, two in a row. I went for a drive searching to find Ruska ( one word in finish language to describe the process of nature turning to the beautiful colors of autumn)

I found some lovely spots. I will share some now and some other posts as usual I have lots of shots and I like to share 🙂 Hope you like them.

This colorful time passes so quickly as the leaves fall and sooner than we want to be, we are already surviving November. I have several years been doing that here on my blog with fellow bloggers.