This week Anne presented us with a new theme for the weekly challenge: “Fairly Tale”. My first notion was to take my bag and disappear in the woods, where I was certain to find something fitting. But alas, the week was suddenly at an end and I had not taken any images fitting at all.

But a youth spent in the world of fantasy has left me some items I could use, such as this sword. I bought this when I was about 16 years of age. It cost me more than I earned each month on my paper route, but I felt it was a good deal back then. Not too sure nowadays, but it is still a cool sword. Even when kept hidden away. I don’t want my eldest running after her little brother with this… Not that I think she is able to wield it. It is quite heavy.

Nikon D80 with Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG Macro at 105mm;ISO200;1/60 sec at f/11

This is my first try at smoke photography. Photography for me is not just about taking pictures, as I like to try new projects from time to time and experiment. To learn new techniques or simply try something new, I like to play with my photography. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it don’t. As a first attempt, I’m rather pleased with this result, and will definitely do this again.

I used a simple setup with the camera and flash on a tripod, lighting the smoke from the side with a black background (and a black card between the flash and background to prevent spill from the flash). Yes, black. In other words, this effect was achieved with some help from Photoshop. The images, three in total, were inverted in Camera Raw before opening in Photoshop. In Photoshop they were made black and white, and colour was added to each image. Then it was simply a matter of combining the images.

This image is a part of the X/52 project, where one image is produced every week based on a new theme. The theme for this week is “Two Colurs”. Other great images can be found here:

Sonja Middelhuis: Alpakka i sort og hvitt
Jelrik Nylund-van Berkel: Jeckyl and Hide
Ståle Ertzgaard: Vårtur
Line Storlid: Warmer than my dream of summer heat
Vibeke Prestmo Valestrand: Furet værbitt
Anne: Rødt/Sort
Yngve Thoresen: Elusive
Anne Ueland: Friends Forever

Third picture in the project X/52 – 3/52. I had many ideas for this project, but ended up spending the weekend at home with my son who was sick. Today, I managed to sneak out for an hour and take this image. The subject this week is movement, so light trails seemed fitting.

Other takes on this week’s subject:
Geir Ertzgaard: Being Moved
Ståle Ertzgaard: Sporvogn til besvær (A street car named trouble)
Anne Ueland: Yatzy
Jan Ivar Vik: I siste liten

When desserts look like this…

I decided to take this with natural light (the little that was available). Since I did not have a tripod with me (or anything else that could be used really), I needed to use wide apertue and higher ISO. But I got the shot, and that’s what counts.

The bolts of lightning strikes down on Oslo. I used the evening and early night standing on my porch until the heavy rain forced me to go inside. I was considering setting up my camera to continue shooting through the night, recording pictures on my computer, but the sheer amount of pictures I would have to go through in the morning made me think otherwise.

This one I was really pleased with.

The picture was taken in a dark room with a flashlight swirling around the bottle. Using slow shutter is fun to do, but requires a lot of patience getting the right shot.