• Julius Koivistoinen is a young Finnish student passioned about photography. He's mostly self taught but has already been working as a photographer for a couple of magazines published not only in Finland but worldwide, and his photos have reached to become the cover shots of those magazines for plenty of times. In addition to commercial work, he loves to work on personal projects and with smaller clients. Currently he's available for assignments near Helsinki and Lahti.
    Be sure to visit his portfolio and Flickr page!

    Today is 137 days left

    • February 22, 2010 11:24 am

    Greetings from Lapland!

    We at the Finnish paratroopers have an annual two and a half weeks long Winter Camp training in the North Finland which is one of the most exciting moments of our service… And definitely one of the hardest too.

    One day for example we skiid 27 hours in a row and our orienteerers estimated we advanced 55-60 kilometres during that time. It’s no miracle after a week-long military exercise my feet reminded more of two junks of cheese than a pair of feet, I’m telling you. :)

    Well, now the experience is behind us and I gotta say it was everything we wished – and feared for. At times we got to enjoy perfect sunny days but sometimes the nature tried us with freezing cold weather also. I can recall a few nights when we were out training and there was -30°C… One night we saw beautiful northern auroras too.

    Still, never again!

    *****

    Have been studying the bike messenger and fixed gear bike culture quite a lot lately and I have to say it’s swallowing me into itself. Doing what you want the way you want, dedicating fully to it and being aware of everything around you are themes that always rise up when I read books, articles and interviews on the subject. And I have to agree – going fast on two wheels brings a liberating lightening to one’s mind. I just can’t wait for Spring to arrive!

    Anyone who’s even a little familiar with the biking cultures I mentioned know that they’re nowadays very related with style, which brings me to my newest purchase worth mentioning: a messenger bag by Chrome. The model is called the Metropolis and I just love the simplicity and functionality of the whole thing.

    The bag itself is HUGE but surprisingly slim even when fully packed up because it’s like glued to your back. This makes it possible to dump everything I want into it and still be able to move fluently in a crowd and whatnot. Try the same with a Lowepro bag for example and you’ll lose your sanity – I did!

    I have to note that due to the winter still hitting us in our faces I haven’t been using the bag on a bike yet (doh!). But it already made an impact on me which has to be a good thing as I’ve heard it just then gets to its full potential.

    It’s true a messenger bag like the Metropolis isn’t the best carrying option if you’re on foot only as it really might stress one’s shoulder. When I went for a portrait photo shoot for an evening with the gear seen above it already felt little uncomfy at times because the bag didn’t rest on my back like when on a bike. And this is from a fellow who’s been regularly carrying backpacks weighting 30-40 kilograms for days.

    Overall I’m highly satisfied with the Chrome’s courier bag as it sets me free from having to carry one or more separate bags because I couldn’t get everything (the gear seen above for example) to fit into just one! My thumbs are up.

    *****

    Hopefully you’re now thinking: “To what photo shoot he might had went?”, because I just thought of revealing it.

    Me and Wilhelm Blomberg use to take photos of t-shirts for Threadless.com for fun and free tees… But mainly for fun. Sooo, here are some photos, please eyeball them. Thanks!

    Welcoming a new member in camera bag

    • April 17, 2009 4:26 am

    I just fell in love with street photography again. I’ve been photographing the streets of Helsinki and went on a trip to Saint Petersburg where I documented the local people with my camera a lot too.

    Or it might just be the camera particularly which is creating such a thrill in me.

    For a long time I’ve been drooling after the Canon’s EOS 5D especially due to it’s full frame sencor and the advantages brought with it and the camera’s slim body also. So I finally took the plunge and got that camera body of my dreams!

    A comparison between images taken on Canon EOS 350D and on Canon EOS 5D
    (Thank you Marja for being such a lovely model as always!)

    Some of you might be thinking why didn’t I invest on the new 5D mark II instead, but I just don’t need all the features it has, so it would have been waste of money to me. I’ve been using the old 5D at work for a long time already so I knew what was the perfect choice for me.

    One more thing before I let you to jump on the photos taken in St. Petersburg. I want to address my love towards the Canon EOS 5D + 50 mm prime lens combo by showing the following three images of one photograph. The images don’t just come out outstandingly sharp, but the focal length is just right on a full frame sencor. It is not too tight nor too wide, just perfect!

    Canon EOS 5D, 50mm f/1.8: 1/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200
    The first image is the photo uncropped, the last one is a 100% crop.

    Ok, here they are (click the photo below). Please enjoy the gallery and maybe even leave a comment considering them here. Thanks!

    Stepping into the dark side

    • December 10, 2008 2:43 am

    MacBook 13

    For my whole life I’ve been a PC user so you may just guess how frustrated I have been at times while at it. Change-over to any other platform has not been an option to me though as formerly I’ve been very into computer games and still am doing minor programming and stuff like that which in my opinion just aren’t very well supported for example on Mac.

    In the near future I’ll be travelling a lot so I thought a laptop would be a neat thingie to have. Just imagine how much time would it spare if one had the opportunity of browsing through his or her photos while being on the run. Also when I’m on a serious(ish) assignment after that one striking picture it’s important to me to actually see how the work is coming out. Especially after I’ve experienced some catastrophical photo shoots because the photo looked sharp on the camera’s teeny weeny LCD screen.

    I was actually becoming very keen to the David Tejada’s idea of using an external DVD player as a bigger screen as seen in his blog entry here but eventually was turned down by the lack of all right DVD players’ availability. They were always too good or too bad. Having just a portable screen with me would be a bit restricting too I thought but that’s another story.

    So this year my christmas present came very early to me and oh boy how excited I was. It was the Apple MacBook 13″ 2.4GHz with 2 GB memory and 160 GB hard drive and the reason I was in such a hurry with it was its irresistible price. Less than 900€ – what a bargain! So obviously they were sold out in just a couple of days.

    My first impression on MacBook was totally positive. It’s light, powerful and has a bright, clear screen which is just perfect for my needs. Portability is a must for me and I have a bigger screen at home if needed so the 13″ (33 cm) screen size is just fine. The computer starts up and is ready to use in a blink of an eye compared to anything else in the price range and it stays alive quite a while too as the battery should last at least for 4 hours.

    Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard succeeded to impress me with its simpliness and lightweight which leaves more resources to the programs I’m using and less confusion to me. Using Lightroom is absolutely painless as what goes to the performance. Pointing the cursor using the trackpad only is of course clumsy and takes patience if you’re in the need of accuracy but I’m ok with that as far as I don’t have to carry a mouse with me.

    Have been trying out shooting in tethered mode too, straight into Lightroom by having folder watching function enabled. I had some serious problems using Canon’s CameraWindow with Mac software as it just gave me an error: “Cannot detect camera.” So if you confront this same issue make sure you upgrade into EOS Utilities which is downloadable from Canon’s website. That worked for me and now I’m able to burst away with my camera and watch how my work of art simply pops up onto the vivid screen of this beauty. It can’t get much more simple than this!

    Can't wait to open the box

    My shiny new MacBook straight out of the box

    MacBook

    My workflow has upgraded to a brand new level!

    MacBook 13

    So yeah… So far I’m loving it!

    Me and my brand new MacBook - Photo: Julius Koivistoinen

    Autumn is coming

    • September 2, 2008 11:41 pm

    A girl walking on streets of Helsinki city. Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    The photo above is one of many images from my today’s trip to the central Helsinki. (Read: A photo gallery containing these shots is under construction.) I restrained myself to use my EOS 350D DSLR and one lens, the new one, only… And oh boy what a combination it was!

    Still not sure what lens it might be?

    May I present you, Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM!

    Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM. Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM. Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM is the replacement for my 90-300mm plastic toy. Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM. Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM. Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM and Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM. Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    See the setup here – 3 strobes @ 1/8 power. CTO and CTB gels used on the flashes behind lenses.

    Me. I just ran 10 kilometers during the global Nike+ Human Race event. Photo by Mark Turunen

    In other news

    I attended to Finnish version of the global Nike+ Human Race event which was a really fun experience even though the number of participants was nothing compared to other countries’.

    I ran the distance of 10 kilometers in 54 minutes and could have easily continued further. I’m confident of myself being ready for the next year’s half maraton. :)

    Still around here somewhere

    • August 28, 2008 2:27 am

    Hi all! Long time no see.

    Julius and Marja in LondonFor those who care, I apologise for neglecting this blog for such a tremendous amount of time, but let me explain myself…

    First of all I’ve been out there living. On my summer holiday I travelled with Marja through the city of London exploring the urban culture and meeting new people for a week. Plus, there’s no London without a portion of fish and chips in an atmospheric pub! (There’s no photo of it though. Sorry!) We also enjoyed amazing local attractions in Saint Peterspurg while visiting my grandparents there and finished the whole package by going to Viljandi Folk Music Festival in the Southern Estonia. We were so dedicated to listening to music and dancing with Marja that we didn’t even take a camera with us. And that’s huge from us!

    Here are some of our travelling photos from London and St. Petersburg:

    Julius ja Marja @ London, Lontoo

    Kirkko veren päällä

    Isaakin kirkon kattotasolla

    Tiiviisti veneilemässä

    Marja ja Pietari

    Julius ja Marja @ Pietari

    Pietarhovi

    Pietarhovi

    Pietarhovi

    Illanistujaiset kotona Pietarissa

    Äiti, isovanhemmat ja serkku

    Another reason for me not updating this blog has been work. I’ve been hired as photographer for three different magazines including Softaaja in which my work has been seen already previously. It’s been a wonderful opportunity for me to work in a studio and I have learned a lot! Many shots I have taken there are still waiting for their first publication in the magazines so you folks have to wait for a while for the newest pieces of my work. I’m pretty excited about them already.

    Until then here’s some of my work for them:

    Softaajan kansikuva 6/2008

    Rekyylin kansikuva 5/2008

    Rekyyli 5/2008

    Riista, haulikot

    Softaaja, Kalash AKS-74UN

    I was shooting airsoft ages ago but didn’t link to the gallery from my blog. See the gallery from the link below: (Also, see how cool Väinö and his moustages look below.)

    View gallery
    Airsoft in Mustavuori

    Väinö Huhtalo

    One more thing. There’s a new gallery of a skateboarding competition (SkateSM 08) coming up in the near future so stay tuned! Here’s few teasers for you:

    Skeittauksen SM-kisat 08 Kiasman edessä

    Skeittauksen SM-kisat 08 Kiasman edessä

    Skeittauksen SM-kisat 08 Kiasman edessä

    Oh, and I bought a new lens but I will tell more about it later! You may guess what it is by judging from the following photo. *tease* ;)

    Over and out!

    Julius Koivistoinen

    Canon EOS 5D lainassa

    • May 23, 2008 6:04 pm

    Sain kyseisen kameran lainaksi lehtikuvausta varten Softaajaan ja oih, kuinka ihastuinkaan siihen! Kameran täysikokoisen 35mm kennonsa ansiosta sillä valokuvaaminen on kuin aivan eri ulottuvuudesta. Huomattavimmat erot olivat ensin tietysti laajempi kuva-ala (1,0x kerroin) ja suurikokoinen etsin, mutta erityisesti kuvanlaatu on ilmiömäinen aikaisempaan kokemaani verrattuna. Kameran kyky hallita suuriakin ISO-herkkyyksiä ja sen tuottama bokeh olivat tiputtaa minut tuoliltani.

    Itse Softaajan valokuvat tulossa kesäkuun alussa. Stay tuned.

    Briefly in English: I got to borrow the Canon’s EOS 5D for photo shoots for Softaaja and the performance of it made me almost drop from my chair! The actual photos for Softaaja are coming in the beginning of July so stay tuned.

    Canon EOS 5D, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM: 1/160 sec f/4 ISO 3200. See 100% crops from the photo beneath after the jump.

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    A confession

    • April 23, 2008 7:16 pm

    Have you ever wondered why some photography are lacking of the “wow”-factor and look flat while other shots may look so great that you drop? Maybe some photos look so amazing that you can’t even believe they’re real. Well that may be just the case…

    Machine gunners

    (click the image for additional info about it)

    I’d like to share a series of images where you can see the development of one of my photos (above) from the original file to the image which hopefully does indeed have some of that “woahness”. My post processing starts off with Lightroom’s basic brightness, color and contrast adjustments and after that I do dodging, burning, cloning etc. using Photoshop. It may sound pretty simple – and it is – but I think it really makes the difference!

    What do you think?

    Portrait exercise

    • April 19, 2008 11:24 pm

    Got my first umbrella – a silver bounce umbrella – and this is me testing it for my first time. Thanks to lioncat and my lovely sister for hanging around in front of the camera.

    Me (Julius) and Jorma (lioncat)

    Canon EOS 350D, 2x430EX, ST-E2 (see the lighting setup below)
    1/200 sec, f/5.0, ISO 100

    Lighting setup for my portrait exercises

    Nature morte

    • March 21, 2008 2:07 am

    Koulumme täyttää tänä vuonna todella pyöreitä: 100 vuotta tulossa täyteen. Tämän kunniaksi koulussamme on järjestetty erilaisia projekteja, joiden päämääränä on kohentaa koulurakennuksemme yleiskuvaa. Oma osanottoni koostuu valokuvateoksista, joissa pyrin käyttämään valoa luovasti. Kuvissa esiintyy vanitas-maalauksille (Vanitas Wikipediassa.) tyypillisiä symboleja pääkalloista lähtien. Kuvaamataidon opettajamme Pirjo sanoikin osuvasti: “Nyt sitten viimeistään tulevat nuo koulumme kaapeissa lymynneet luurangot esille.”

    Kunkin kuvan valo on lähtöisin yhdestä ainoasta salamalaitteesta.

    Lisätietoa kuvien esille panosta tulee kun synttärit koittaa.

    Canon EOS 350D, EF 17-40mm f/4L, 430EX, ST-E2

    [nggallery id="10"]

    Muodonmuutos!

    • February 9, 2008 2:48 am

    Jo pitkän aikaa blogin pystyttämistä kammoksuttuani, syttyi minussa vihdoin palava halu saada oma pieni paikkani päteä arjen asioista. Olen huomannut joskus halua tuoda asioita esille, mutta minulla ei vain ole ollut sopivaa kanavaa tehdä tätä. Ehkä myös siksi, että koen muiden internetyhteisöjen (Flickr yms.) olevan paikkoja, joissa tuon ainoastaan työni esiin. Ne ovat ikään kuin “virallisempia”. No, mitä mieltä olette nykyisestä ulkoasusta?

    Old webpage versus new webpage

    Tästä se lähtee… Ensimmäinen pätemiseni. Yeehaw!

    Jo kauan kaipaamani päivitys kittilinssilleni on löytänyt tiensä luokseni. Canonin EF 17-40mm f/4L. Kyseessä on samalla minun ensimmäinen Canonin Luxyry-sarjan objektiivi. Olen valitettavasti tosin ollut nyt kuumeen takia pedin oma, joten testaaminen on jäänyt satunnaiseksi räpsimiseksi. Sen verran osaan jo kuitenkin sanoa, että yllätyin, ja vähän petyinkin, minkä verran kyseinen linssi vääristää kuvaa kroppirungollakin. Ongelma tulee tosin esille ainoastaan ulos zoomattuna ja onhan vääristymän määrä lisäksi paljon pienempi entiseen Canonin EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 -lasiin verrattuna.

    Tähän asti olen tyytyväinen, enkä malta odottaa päästä käyttämään kyseistä linssiä myös kentällä!

    Briefly in English:

    For ages starting a blog of my own has been a dreadful thought to me but at last I got inspired to do it. Mostly because there has not been any channel for me to take up ordinary daily subjects even though I would have wanted to. So, what do you think about the new design?

    So the first thing I’ll be blogging here is about my replacement for the kit lens! Canon’s EF 17-40mm f/4L. I’m really excited about it. Too bad I have struggled with cold for these past few days so my shots have been mostly random. I can’t wait to take this new beast to the field!

    Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L

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