Fisheye star trails over Tapiola

Another star trail experiment from the roof of my apartment building. This time with a 8mm fisheye lens towards Tapiola. I took a total of 364 shots at 30sec exposure for a total exposure time of 182 minutes so just over 3 hours. Unfortunately some clouds came over and obstructed the visibility of the stars so I didn’t get a much longer view of those than last time. Also some condensation started to appear on the lens and the last 150 or so images were kind of hazy. It makes for a nice effect on the corners though with the city lights and moonlight in the upper left corner. Because of these problems the whole image is heavily processed but I hope someone likes it!

8mm fisheye, 364 x 30s stacked, f/5.6, ISO160

 

Floods of 2011

The current winter has been extremely warm and pretty rainy so as a result the water level of the sea was unusually high in December. The walking routes that go along the bay I live next to were under water many times. Here are some random photos of the flooding on different dates.

The rising sea has brought up some weird stuff

Shoreline has moved above the trees

Same trees as on the last photo but on a different day

A trash bin

“Water on the road”

Nice bench if you want to soak your feet

The (underwater) walkway is right next to the trash bin and light pole

The geese are happy with the new feeding ground

And a nice sunset for the end

 

Stars and startrails

I have been doing a little bit of star photography lately. I have used both single long exposure and stacked methods. I still have much to learn but I think these are a good start. The shot with the cityscape is from yesterday when there was a full moon. All the others are taken during Christmas night when there was an excellent clear sky and I was pretty far from any major light pollution sources as we were at my grandma’s.

Stacked image from the roof of my apartment building
(111 shots, 30sec each, so 55½min total exposure, f/5.6, ISO200)

Single exposure with 8mm fisheye, 1905sec (31,75min), ISO100

Same shot with the fisheye but 13sec and ISO6400

15sec exposure, f/2.0, ISO1600, trees lighted with flashlight

Again trees lighted with flashlight, 10sec, f/1.6, ISO1250

 

Happy New Year 2012!

These are from the roof of my apartment building. Not quite as spectacular as Sydney but still fun to watch

Since there were no fireworks at this moment I tried to make my own with the camera…

 

Underground construction

The subway network is expanding here and they have been working for a few months already in Tapiola where I live. I have been meaning to photograph the construction site/sites for a few weeks and finally got around to it tonight. I took this shot on my way to the supermarket in Tapiola center. The whole area used to be parking space and grass field. If everything goes according to plan we should see a new park area and parking spaces there in 2015 when the metro is supposed to start operating. You can find more info about the project from the official website if you are interested: http://lansimetro.fi/en/frontpage

The metro construction site in Tapiola

 

Sunny and warm December

Last year there was plenty of snow this time of the year and sea was frozen. Today it was a nice sunny day (most days have been grey and rainy) and almost 10 °C out. Plenty of geese are still here and lots of ducks were enjoying the warm day too.

Teeth

The leaning tower of goose

One step at the time

A happy mallard

Last of the flowers hanging on

 

The kissing students – HDR version

The kissing students

 

Trip to Tartu

I was visiting my girlfriend in Tartu, Estonia the other week. Here are some random and not so random photos from the trip. There are some from a walk with the dogs and some of the famous statue of kissing student’s in the Tartu main square. And also some dog photos since there was a big dog show during the weekend and I took lots of pictures there. You can read more about the show and get a link to all the photos from my girlfriends blog: Ammin eläintarhan elämää (only in Finnish) if you are interested.

The kissing students

The kissing students

The kissing students and the town hall

Taking it easy

Scary demon!

Let’s go!

Loving my new look..

A little hard to see

Weird lights

Weirder lights

A bridge crossing a slow river

Old school eyewear

 

Morning mist and deer

Some more deer photos from Porkkala and two more from last summer from Throsvik. There was a really nice morning mist this time too but the photos don’t quite do it justice. You can also see a hunter’s tower in these that’s just like the one I was sitting in.

Hunter’s tower in the mist

Deer on a misty field

The Deer, The Tower, The Mist

Crossing the field

Smelling the other side

That’s one small step for a deer, one huge leap for..

The other side

In the yellow

And in the green

 

HDR Sunset in Porkkalanniemi

I tried some HDR photography last week in Porkkala cape during sunset. Even though my “real” camera (EOS 7D) and most of my better lenses are in Tartu with my girlfriend and I only have her EOS 450D at the moment some of these turned out quite nice I think.

HDR Sunset at the tip of Porkkala headland

Pine tree against orange clouds

Another sunset HDR

A small pine near a pond

Weird dead tree bending all over the place

Evening mist and almost full moon

 

White-tailed deer

I went to Porkkalanniemi yesterday in hopes of seeing some deer and other animals. I was there very early when it was still fully dark and climbed to one of the towers that hunters use and settled in with my thermos. It turned out that I was almost a bit too early since I saw only one deer during dawn. But when the sun started rising higher and the field was fully lit the deer came out in numbers. In total I saw about 20 of them. Here are some of the best photos, you can check a larger gallery out on my Google+ page here.

First scout on the field

Mother and her “baby”

This guy stopped for a quick rest on the way to the coast

These are from my walk back to the car

All alert and ready to go

 

Mushrooms

I have been mushroom hunting quite a bit this fall. These are some quick shots with my cellphone camera. Also sorry for not updating the blog in a long time. I will try to update it more regularly from now on.

Half a bucket of yellowfoots/funnel chanterelles (suppilovahvero) and two humongous boletes (tatti)

Catch of the day: about 15 liters of funnel chanterelles and about 2kg of sheep polyphores (lampaankääpä)

 

Korkeasaari Zoo

We were in Korkeasaari Zoo last Friday. The day was sunny and really hot but we still managed to get some great photos even of the large cats. Here are some of the highlights, please click here to see the complete gallery. The bears were especially active and funny after a long winter hibernation.

A brown bear having lunch

Snow leopard napping

Amur leopard

A semi-wild goose chic has come to see the exotic animals (or free food) too

Owls are wise creatures I hear, the young ones don’t look so convincing though

Asian lioness and her cub playing

Remember to check the gallery for many more photos, thanks!

 

Sealife Helsinki

It was a rainy morning today so we used the opportunity to visit Sealife Helsinki. The lighting was very dim and the aquarium glass made photography even more difficult but here are some of the best shots anyways. You can see all of them in a dedicated gallery here. Unfortunately I didn’t remember to write down the species so if you recognize any of these please leave a comment telling me what I photographed, thanks.

#1 Lionfish?

#2 Nemo

#3 Some sort of ray

#4 An octopus

#5 Some kind of crab

 

Sunny day in Seurasaari

We went to Seurasaari with my girlfriend last week. The weather was nice but quite windy. When we were coming back towards our car we saw what we were looking for. There are lots of squirrels in Seurasaari and they are quite used to humans and come to take treats from your hand. These two we quite funny.

 Give me a hug! (click the image for a larger version)

Let go, this is mine!

Thanks for the almond!

I’ll be back for more!

Tasty stuff, try some yourself!

Lots of gulls around there too

Difficult landing in the windy weather

A pigeon on a branch

And a collection of old dead standing trees for the end (click for a larger version)