Photography

I love photography. My go-to equipment is remarkably minimalistic. I mainly shoot outdoors and without external lighting using my Canon 100D and a macro lens from Sigma (105 mm F2.8).
Starting in 2021 I also work with a Fujifilm X-T3. For this lovely camera I also mainly use only a macro lens. The Fujifilm macro is from 7Artisans (60 mm F2.8).
Let’s not fool ourselves: Some photos are even taken with the iPhone. Nowadays you are always ready for the “perfect” shoot.
The art of photography has a very fascinating effect on me. I can spend hours with a camera and pictures. Some say I have an eye for unique shoots.

I have added a gallery right below the introduction. Why not spend some time there?
In case this is not enough: Feel free to check out my Flickr account. I add new pictures regularly.

Visit my Flickr account

Caleesa

Animal Portrait

During on of my last visits to Berlin, a friend asked me to photograph his dog. In the short time before Caleesa (the dog) wanted to go home again, I managed to shoot this unique animal portrait. The bokeh effect was created manually in post production. The rest of the picture is un‐ touched.

knitting time

Photo Challenge

In the photo podcast, Happy Shooting tasks are provided in regular intervals and discussed usually at the end of the podcast episodes. The winners are also picked there. The big challenge is always to shoot a new picture within a short time period. This requires and trains a creative and open mindset. With the autumn picture on the top, I won in November 2019.​

Bee macro

Macro Photography

After the first years of photography, it became clear that I prefer to work with a macro lens. My lens is from Sigma (105 mm F2,8 EX Makro DG OS HSM). The Sigma is known to be exceptionally light-sensitive. Since a few months I also own a Fujifilm XT-3 with a 7 Artisans 60 mm F2.8.
Mainly I photograph plants, bees, bumblebees, and butterflies. I like to work with a lot of bokeh.

Comment on the winner picture: Im Herbst auf der Alb...
schützen nur mehrere Lagen. Link to picture
"The whole thing has such an autumn feeling, because it is held a little bit lower by the exposure, I think it fits quite well, it supports the mood." (Translated)
Chris Marquardt HappyShooting Podcast (#637 - 1:21:06)
All time favorite. <3
... hakuna matata. Link to picture
“This is called "All time favorit - Hakuna Matata". Here is a photo where a movie is shown to be watched on TV. [...] That is done interestingly! [...] I consider it extremely atmospheric because of that!" (Translated)
Boris Nienke HappyShooting Podcast (#654 - 1:41:44)
Pixel art
... Mensch hinter Glas Link to picture
“Then I would like to discuss "Pixel art" by Tanja. This is a person behind a glass [...] through the sharpness or even non-existent sharpness, it becomes quite unclear. [...] Here we see a natural structure that then somehow makes a pixel-like impression and that this is then completely out of focus, I find it perfectly fitting and good." (Translated)
Chris Marquardt HappyShooting Podcast (#715 - 1:33:12)
Positives Druckergebnis
... nach ersten Fehlschlägen Link to picture
“Tanja shared a positive print result. [...] That's sweet. A 3D-printed fox, with the right filament in the right color. [...] It's really cute." (Translated)
Chris Marquardt HappyShooting Podcast (#719 - 1:39:51)
Für manche ein Seil...
für andere ein Faden Link to picture
“I would take one right away, the 16, it is the picture by Tanja Eppler. It caught my eye because I find the exposure incredibly beautiful. We see a picture that is actually monochrome. In this case, sepia white, if you like, but I assume it's a colour picture. It's a rope running vertically through the horizontal image. It's a landscape picture, but it's separated vertically from the rope exactly in the middle and this rope is almost black on the left side - so it's very dark because it's very steeply lit from the right - I would even say diagonally right slightly from behind. So that we only have a very narrow edge on the right side of the rope that is illuminated. Like a crescent moon, but a rope. This also leads to the fact that the structure of this not so thick rope comes out well and there are individual fibres of this rope that stick out like badly combed hair. It really has a structure like a typical parcel string. [...] In the back you can see a background to the left of this black rope, which again gets some light and has a paper-like structure (maybe the parcel is paper?) and to the very left it becomes really black. From left to right we actually have black, then we have a dark sepia, then we have black again, then we have a light sepia and then we have a medium sepia, which becomes light again to the right. - It's a beautiful colour gradient of the light and it's really wonderful, because this rope stands out on the right side of the rope with the lighter tone of the background and on the left side with the darker tone and the background plays this pattern again with only a slight offset. I liked that very much, because you have to fiddle for a long time to get such a lighting, to compose it so cleanly. The sharpness is actually only given in the centre of the picture on the rope - the rope is blurred upwards and downwards, I assume this is taken in perspective - but I can live with it quite well." (Translated)
Boris Nienke HappyShooting Podcast (#748 - (1:33:24))
Mothers...
für manche auch nur ein Stich ins Herz Link to picture
“What do we see? Really cheesy Sunday crockery, the fine china that you only really take out for very special occasions in a good German household, Mother's Day for example. There are flowers on it and it has a gold rim and under no circumstances should you put it in the dishwasher. On the plate is a Mother's Day muffin, a chocolate muffin probably with pink cream on top and a sugar leaf with "Mothers" written on it [...] and there's a knife stuck vertically in the top of this plate, stabbing like a dagger. The photo itself is pretty [...], a simple, basic set [...] and everything just fits together. [...] It's a bit like an English detective story." ... “I like the contrasts in this picture, we have a very rustic-looking table [...], with the fine Sunday crockery on top, which reminds me of visits to my grandma's, it feels so familiar, and then the muffin on top, which is being stabbed, those are three points of contrast in the picture. [...] When I saw the picture for the first time, I had to laugh. I had the association, mother-in-law - dragon in law. [...] I thought it was very funny and, on the other hand, the mental cinema started with Miss Marple, 20s - 30s crime novels and I think it's very successful. [...] It's not a snapshot, it's well thought out." (Translated)
Chris Marquardt and Boris Nienke HappyShooting Podcast (#807 - (59:58))
Schneewittchen
...wo bist du? Link to picture
“An apple by Tanja [...]. We simply see a large shot of a very dark red apple hanging from a tree [...]. Is it hanging or is it sideways or is the picture rotated 90 degrees? [...] I have no idea. What do we have? A classic red-green contrast, lots of detail on the apple and a nice reflection. " (Translated)
Chris Marquardt HappyShooting Podcast (#823 - (51:00))
Kandierte Pekannüsse
... in Zucker fallen, ist das beste, was einer Nuss passieren kann! Link to picture
"Tanja Eppler has a small glass bowl on a wooden table with 3 pecan nuts in it. All beautifully coloured in brown tones. The pecans are candied." "The flavour is practically on the tip of my tongue." (Translated)
Chris Marquardt and Boris Nienke HappyShooting Podcast (#827 - (57:08))
Stille Nacht
Pro-Tipp: Einfach bei Regen auf den Weihnachtsmarkt. Da ist Platz zum Liegen! Link to picture
"Maybe it's at a Christmas market, the atmosphere comes across well. The focus is on the front of the muffin man and the cup behind him is blurred. At the back left, it looks like a raindrop is on the lens and there's a bluish light - and now I'm in the mood for a muffin." (Translated)
Chris Marquardt HappyShooting Podcast (#834 - (36:28))