On the Rocks

Love in the Dales

'On the rocks' ... Not the marriage obviously! Taken during a recent wedding in the beautiful Peak District, the couple had requested a photograph at the lovely setting on the moors of Grindleford. The spot meant a great deal to the couple and it was an amazing place to photograph at. Groups of people everywhere, harsh shadows and a seriously strong sun made for a challenging shot but I'm really pleased with the outcome. The couple had wanted to stand on the rock and there was very little direction from me, I just let the couple share a moment while I snapped away. Out of shot to the right of camera a reflector was used to bounce light back towards the couple, which helped lift any unwanted shadows. Using a Nikon D4 with a Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 I was able to stand back using a longer focal length and wide aperture. This helped me isolate the couple from the background. Taking the RAW file back into Photoshop I adjusted the levels slightly and cloned out a couple of cars that could just be seen poking above the hedge in the distance.  

Being able to look back on moments like these will always be something very special to the couple, as well as family and friends, and it's always a pleasure for me as a photographer to capture them.   

Shooting with the Fuji X-T1

I've had the Fuji X-T1 for a few weeks now and I'm really starting to get to know it. Such a powerful little camera and the more I use it the more I fall for its many charms. From the exquisitely solid build, retro styling and of course incredible image quality, it's starting to make me seriously consider whether I need to carry around large and heavy DSLR's for the majority of my shoots.

I've been playing with the many film preset jpegs of late, jpegs not being my format of choice as I normally shoot RAW. I still shoot RAW with the Fuji but I also now select one of the jpeg settings along with it, giving me the best of both Worlds. What I really love about the X-T1 files, (and all other X cameras for that matter) is the lovely filmic quality the recorded files tend to have. I have chosen to shoot in B&W jpeg and the results have been fantastic, straight from the camera. Contrasty, bags of detail and moody to boot. Ooh, I can't wait for my next wedding shoot.

Old Cemetery.

Sunlight and Shadows

One of the things I really love about the X-T1 is the Electronic View Finder (EVF). It allows me to see the exposure as the camera sensor will capture it, which can be a massive help when facing tricky light situations. Changing the exposure compensation dial on the top plate of the camera quickly allows me to assess the scene and helps me select the exposure I desire. It really can be a life saver if you're having to work quickly in difficult conditions were time is of the essence.

Decaying Pipe

Sunset over the Boatyard

I was browsing through some of my older photographs today when I stumbled across this image taken at the Boatyard, Wells-Next-The-Sea in December 2013. At the time of taking it I didn't really feel as though it deserved a second look as the dynamic range between the foreground and the sky was just too great for the camera to capture all the detail within the scene. I exposed for the beautiful sunset but by doing so I lost all detail in the foreground (as I didn't have my filters with me to balance the exposure). Everything was in silhouette and as a result I didn't think there was any interest to the image at all. Or so I thought. The amazing thing with the new breed of Nikons is that they have such incredible dynamic range, and by shooting in RAW format, the camera had actually captured all the detail that I just couldn't see at first glance. Careful tweaking in Photoshop to the RAW file, lifting the shadows, adjusting the levels and a bit of dodging and burning has actually resulted in a half decent image, and it's just as I remember seeing the scene at the time. Just goes to show. You should never throw away any digital images, you just might discover a forgotten gem you never knew you had.   

Magnificent Sunset over Wells-Next-The-Sea, photographed with a Nikon D4

The unedited Raw shot

The unedited version clearly shows the under exposed foreground. I tried to brighten it a tad whilst taking the shot but any more and the sky would have been blown. As it turned out, the sky was blown slightly but easy to recover later in software, and by recovering the highlights in the sky the file revealed a gorgeous fiery orange colour. Normally when faced with such lighting conditions I would opt for a silhouette against the sky but the scene just didn't warrant it in this instance.

Looking at both images side by side, in many ways I prefer the original as the edited version looks a bit over the top. ( although I have to say the sky was indeed that amazing colour, the raw file just looks flat ) But this was just an exercise in how far I could push a file and recover lost detail without producing unwanted side effects like noise and hideous artefacts. It's fair to say, these modern cameras are pretty good.

A wedding in the Dales

The Happy Couple

I photographed a fantastic wedding in the Dales a couple of weeks ago. The couple were great, the location stunning and the atmosphere brilliant. I always love the confetti shot and I could tell that this one was going to be just that little bit special. The guests had formed two semi organised lines and the couple were to walk between them and towards me. What made this one particularly special was the fact that it was partially backlit, which meant that the bubbles and little bits of brightly coloured confetti were illuminated perfectly as they caught the sun. Setting the Nikon D4 on continuous focus and the shutter release to high, I rattled off about 25 images as they walked towards me. That might seem a tad over the top but when you consider over 80% of the images were captured perfectly sharp it allowed me to pick my personal favourite from  the many keepers. I was looking for nice expression, good dynamic walking pose and great confetti. The Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 limits depth of field at longer focal lengths so the background was nicely blurred in the final image. I think this image captures the day perfectly and I hope the couple will look at this picture in years to come and be transported back to that wonderful moment.  

Perfect Day

Candid moments

My favourite part of any wedding shoot is capturing those precious candid moments that just happen as the day goes on, ( especially as the drink starts to flow). No setup staged poses, just naturally beautiful and often very funny moments that can be over in a blink of an eye, but always make a wedding album or book. These three images below show just how important natural moments are, for when the couple and friends and family look back at them in years to come, they will bring back many happy memories.

I like to use a longer lens for this type of photography so choose my Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 . Good usable range, not too heavy and searingly sharp. Coupled with the Nikon D4 it makes for a formidable team. By standing further away and using a longer lens people tend to not notice you and act far more naturally than they would if you were using a wider angle lens and standing much closer.   

Final adjustments

Capturing moments like this can be priceless

Rude

This last image showing a gentlemen being rather rude was over in about a second. Anticipating the moment, focusing, composing and pressing the shutter button at just the right time takes practice but is great fun and very rewarding when you nail the shot.

Fuji X-T1 first impressions

Fuji X-T1

So my Fuji X-T1 arrived just under two weeks ago and I decided to write a short piece outlining my initial impressions after its first professional photographic outing.

I was photographing a wedding in the beautiful Yorkshire dales and it was a full days shoot. 19 hours in total with very little down time. It was a biggie and I needed my gear to work faultlessly throughout. The last thing you want on these really long days is a camera or lens malfunction. The weather was glorious, the venue was superb and the entire day was a photographers dream. Lovely couple, great guests and a brilliant live band. At the moment I only have one battery for the X-T1 and this is quite clearly not enough. I knew this was going to be the case and realised I was only able to shoot the mornings session with it. I have two more batteries on order at present so this won't be a problem in the future. Since my Nikon D4 and D3s were to be the main work horses throughout the day I wasn't concerned.  I really didn't think I would use the Fuji at all during the bridal prep, just the odd shot, but as any wedding photographer will tell you, lighting can be quite tricky when shooting in these situations. The make up artist will position the bride next to a bright light source, more often than not the window so careful exposure is needed. Cameras are normally tricked in to under exposure, at least a stop, possibly more and if you and the subject/s are moving around quite a bit this can be a pain. Not so with the X-T1. The Electronic View Finder ( EVF ) shows the exposure in real time and as the image will be captured. This means you can work so much quicker adjusting the exposure compensation dial on the top plate of the camera as you go along. I actually found myself putting the big Nikons down and concentrating on shooting almost entirely with the Fuji. The size of it, or should I say lack of size really made it easy to manoeuvre around and it was a joy to hold. Nice grip and a tactile feel. That does cause a few small problems however. The four way controller on the back of the camera is tiny so pressing the right buttons while holding the camera to your eye can be slightly tricky. I got better with this over time though and I'm pretty familiar with the setup now. I did find myself accidentally pressing the red video record button on a couple of occasions as I tried to rotate the exposure compensation dial and maybe in a firmware update Fuji could introduce an option which would allow the user to effectively turn this button off if not needed.      

Top plate

The camera is beautifully made. Quite light because it is so small but feels solid with a metal construction. Every control you need is right there on the top plate or available on one of the six customisable function buttons dotted around the camera. The EVF is lovely to look through offering a really large image full of detail and colour. The focus peeking option is great. It allows a magnified view of the part of the image that you require in focus making critical focusing that much easier. 

Close up of the dials of the beautiful Fuji X-T1

Rear view of the X-T1

The 18-55mm Kit lens

The images that come out of the camera are lovely. Very sharp and full of detail. One area to watch though is the smudging of grassy or leafy areas of images, particularly as they start to fall out of focus. I noticed this whilst using Adobe Camera Raw to process my R.A.F. files. Most of the time the images were just fine, but occasionally things looked decidedly awful. Reading the many forum debates on this subject and the apparent fact that Adobe cannot fully work these files out yet, I decided to look elsewhere for a raw converter. Many people suggest using either Photo Ninja or Capture One for PC and I have just downloaded a beta version of Photo Ninja. Images processed using this program are stunning and that painterly effect is just not there so I would highly recommend giving it a go. I have yet to try Capture One but I also hear very good things about this program also. Below is the link for the latest version of Photo Ninja.

   http://www.picturecode.com/download_prerelease.php

Size doesn't matter

As I mentioned at the top of this post, this isn't really a review of the camera, rather a first impression. And first impressions are very favourable, especially now that I have found a raw program that can deal with X Trans sensors found on Fuji cameras. Come on Adobe, sort it out. If you don't you'll find many people jump ship as Fuji cameras become more and more popular.  

Lovely case and the four way button setup

One final thing I wanted to talk about concerns the aesthetics and protection of the camera. The X-T1 is a lovely looking thing, reminiscent of film cameras from years past. For that reason it deserves a beautiful case. I was browsing online for Fuji cases when I came across this rather lovely looking example. Black leather with white detail stitching. It looks great on the X-T1 and fits a treat. I bought the full case for protection whilst travelling, but the top part can be detached leaving just the half case fitted to the bottom of the camera if you want to travel light. The matching wrist strap is fantastic. It allowed me to carry the camera safely at the wedding without it getting in the way. You may want to check it out here,

  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251474247489?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Also available in  other colours.

Full case

Close up detail of the stitching

I will start to upload some of my images taken with the X-T1 in the coming weeks, both from my recent wedding shoots and also hopefully some landscape stuff, so please stay tuned. 

Pentax ME Super

The eighth camera in my 12 months of film project is the classic Pentax ME Super. Much loved by the many people that used it during the late Seventies and Eighties when in production, it's still very popular today amongst students and people shooting film such as myself.

Pentax ME Super

The construction is solid, typical of the era, and putting many modern cameras to shame. At its core it's probably best designed for shooting in aperture priority mode, where the user selects the aperture and the camera decides on the best shutter speed to use.  There is a manual mode however, where on selecting M on the right hand dial on the top of the camera, allows the user to control shutter speed with the two buttons found next to it. This makes the Pentax very flexible in all shooting conditions, and I found myself using the manual mode on quite a few occasions. Like most cameras of this time, if the battery fails whilst in the field then it can still be used when 1/125 is selected from the top right hand dial. Maximum shutter speed is a useful 1/2000 second.

Top view

ASA dial

Back view

Main command dial

I was shooting with a Pentax-A zoom lens which had a 28-80mm focal length and a macro mode. The lens was good, sharp throughout, but not particularly fast, with a maximum aperture of F3.5-F4.5, depending on focal length. The shutter made a nice positive sound and was quite well damped, but I did find focusing with the camera a slightly unpleasant experience. Sometimes I found it difficult to lock focus with the camera as the central spot of the lens went too dark for me to see. I have a feeling this was more user error than the camera lens combo, but it did slow me down enough to cause frustration. I haven't experience this issue with any of the other cameras so far in this project.    

Bluebells

Loads of grain in the Bluebell image. I was using a Fujicolor 200 ASA film which expired in 2006 so the colours are somewhat interesting.

Discarded bucket

Love the bucket shot. So many items are left on or near the beach. Makes for some very interesting photography.

Gnome in the garden 

Nice view

Private

Fishing pots

The camera uses LEDs to aid exposure through the viewfinder. They do the job well but I have to admit I do prefer needle exposure meters. 

My overall impressions of this camera are a bit mixed. I love the build quality and the look of the camera but I found it slightly frustrating to shoot with, in particular the focusing screen which I just didn't fully get to grips with and I didn't really like the two buttons that controlled the shutter speed when in manual mode. But there is no denying the fact that it is a great bit of kit and for its time, pretty cutting edge. Looking at many on-line film photography sites like http://35mmers.tumblr.com/ it's quite clear to see that Pentax cameras are still going strong and I imagine will do so for many years to come.