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Range Finder Style Shooting – Street Style

Like most photographers me and Chris have a large selection of Camera Bags.  Recently we got together and had a bit of a compare of our latest street gear.  We both have added new bags to our kit recently.  Chris went with the very well regarded Billingham Hadley Pro, which is a great camera bag.  I went a slightly different path.  A Leather Scaramanga Satchel.  Not a dedicated camera bag, but quite capable of holding a iPad or 11″ MacBook Air and a Leica and spare lens, battery and X-Rite Colour Checker.  If packing my Leica M4 instead of my M8 then I can also easily fit in a light meter and spare film.

With street shooting, fitting into the background is key.  Small mirrorless cameras are ideal for this, especially ones such as the Fuji X100, Fuji X-Pro1 and the Leica M range.  These cameras have optical viewfinders that show greater then 100% of the field of view.  This enables you to see what is about to leave and enter the field of view, enabling you to pick the decisive moment.

Also as part of fitting in, not only the the small none threatening camera but also a camera bag that does not look like a camera bag.  Our two bags in the top photograph are very good examples of this type.

The Fuji X series have received a mixed review.  The image quality is certainly high but there is some controversy over the none standard Bayer filter.  The biggest complaint I hear is the focusing, but with the model I tested with the V2 firmware, indoor under poor artificial light it did a great job.

If your interested in the Fuji, check out Chris Bennett’s Photo Blog.

Subject to the weather i’ll hitting the street tomorrow to shoot a roll of film with my trusty Leica M4 and leather satchel bag, hopefully that we get me my picture of the month for January.

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Review – Photography Goals for 2012

Whitby Cross

  1. Shoot 10 portfollio quality images over the year.
  2. Shoot my Red Beach Image thats in my head.
  3. Shoot my Dancer on Beach Image thats in my head.
  4. Shoot at least one picture a month on film.

So how did my 2012 goals go.

Well for portfolio images, 10 is a tough target.

Glass and Green Bottles

But I think I got there, I certainly have lots of stunning shots to choose from, lots of Landscapes and this year I did a lot of street photography.

For 2, and 3, unfortunately I did not get round to getting the shots.  I did manage to find the location and had short listed and tested a model but unfortunately our calendars never matched.  I’ll be testing a few more models in the coming three months with the hope to getting the shots this spring.

Victorian Garden

The film side went well.  I shot a lot film on my Large Format Ebony, and my Medium Format Hasselblad as well as on my Leica M4.

The Garden

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Yearly Mileage 2012

Tomorrow is the first day at work for us this year.  As normal will be heading in on our trusty motorcycles.

As is traditional for us, we have noted the milage on both our bikes.  Once again we had a light year again for us.  The big holidays of the year were all in the car as they were photography focussed.

Llagollen
Llagollen

Our Honda Deauville finished the year on 60133, again only light commuting duty by Caroline.  So she completed 672 miles last year.  She is getting old now and we only use her occasionally.

Caroline mainly travels on the GS now.  If your a lady and would like a big GS but are put off by the height then do what we did and order the low seats, we have both seats, the standard seat which when set on its highest position is perfect for some one like me over 6′ 2″, and the low seat option for Caroline who is 5′ 6″, who can then confidently put down both feet.  The big GS is also actually lighter and easier to handle then the Deauville.

Crossing the Ford
Crossing the Ford

Our Lovely BMW R1200GS finished the year on 27158, no big trips for us last year but a weekend round North Yorkshire.  She completed 5299, still quite low for us.  This next year is also going to be a light year.  We are visiting the Scottish Islands again with the Large Format Camera gear, so the car again will be the order of the day.

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Photo Tip – Metering for Winter Scenes

Sony A55 Panoramic
Sony A55 Panoramic

With our modern cameras and there multi pattern metering, we expect our photographs to be correctly exposed, even if there a little over exposed, the head room available in RAW files due to the nature of the Bayer filter means we can get a lot of information back.  Underexposure then we just brighten the image.

The problem with under exposure is noise, as we brighten ie amplify the signal, we also amplify the noise, even at base iso’s this can be noticable.

Its always a good idea when shooting winter snow scenes with lots of white in them that can fool a meter into over exposure, to check the histogram and if necessary give an extra stop or two of exposure.

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Nikon Rumours – Nikon 1 announcements J3 and S1

January is the annual CES show, and rumour has it that Nikon will be announcing some more glass and bodies for the Nikon Series 1 range.

A few fast primes would be nice and there looks to be another body on the way, a replacement for the J2, to be called the J3, and a new body called the S1.

It will be interesting to see what they have in store.  As a compact replacement there great little cameras but definitely second cameras and not a primary camera.

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Merry Christmas

Winter; especially December and January is a period of celebration for many regions, so Happy “-insert you region’s ceremony here-“.  If your not religious then enjoy your day off, unless your having to work to keep the rest of us safe. 

Bodhi Day

December 8th – On Bodhi day some Buddhists celebrate Gautama’s attainment of enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodhgaya, India.

Hanukkah

December 9th – Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights and marks the restoration of the temple by the Maccabees in 164 BCE. Hanukkah is celebrated at roughly the same time as Christmas, but there is no connection at all between the festivals.

Yule

December 21st – Yule is the time of the winter solstice, when the sun child is reborn, an image of the return of all new life born through the love of the Gods. Within the Northern Tradition Yule is regarded as the New Year.

Christmas

December 25th – The day when Western Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Oshogatsu

January 1st – Shinto New Year, one of the most popular occasions for shrine visits.

Guru Gobind Singh

January 5th – Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) was the tenth and last of the Sikh Gurus. He instituted the Five Ks and established the Order of the Khalsa.

Orthodox Christmas

January 7th – Most Orthodox churches use the Julian rather than the Gregorian version of the Western calendar. As a result, they celebrate Christmas 13 days later than other Christian churches.

Makar Sankranti

January 14th – Makar Sankranti is one of the most important festivals of the Hindu calendar and celebrates the sun’s journey into the northern hemisphere.

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A Biker’s Night Before Christmas

On the Biking Blog “Ride it like you stole it!” which is sadly no more by Dave Dragon, there was a poem “The Biker’s Night Before Christmas”.

I have posted this before but as it is Christmas Eve I thought I was worth posting again.

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the pad,

There was nada happenin’, now that’s pretty bad.

The woodstove was hung up in that stocking routine,

In hopes that the Fat Boy would soon make the scene.

With our stomachs packed with tacos and beer,

My girl and I crashed on the couch for some cheer.

When out in the yard there arose such a racket,

I ran for the door and pulled on my jacket.

I saw a large bro’ on a ’56 Pan

Wearin’ black leathers, a cap, and boots (cool biker, man).

He hauled up the bars on that bikeful of sacks,

And that Pan hit the roof like it was running on tracks.

I couldn’t help gawking, the old guy had class.

But I had to go in — I was freezing my ass.

Down through the stovepipe he fell with a crash,

And out of the stove he came dragging his stash.

With a smile and some glee he passed out the loot,

A new jacket for her and some parts for my scoot.

He patted her fanny and shook my right hand,

Spun on his heel and up the stovepipe he ran.

From up on the roof came a great deal of thunder,

As that massive V-twin ripped the silence asunder.

With beard in the wind, he roared off in the night,

Shouting, “Have a cool Yule, and to all a good ride!”

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Interesting Mistakes

During a test shoot earlier in the month, after changing the lighting and taking meter readings, I then forgot to change the settings on the camera.  Luckily when shooting digital I always check the shot and the histogram after the first shot after lighting, set or positional change on the back of the camera.

So the above shot is over exposed but the rest were correct. This over exposed shot would normally be rejected, but with the help of the recovery slider in Adobe Lightroom and some adjustment of the back point, it has made a nice and striking high key photograph.

Its always a good idea once you have the photographs you need, to then go on and experiment a little, as in the above mistake, you might a nice shot hiding.

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Presents for the Birthday Boy

It was my Birthday recently and I asked for a few unusual presents.

Now me and Chris have an interest in coffee as well as cameras and a few weeks ago Chris emailed me a link to a blog from a guy mad about Leica’s and Coffee; just like me.

The site was CoffeeGeek.

It was while reading this site I spotted an interesting post about shaving. As you may be able to tell in the photograph above, I usually have a few days of stubble showing. Shaving has always irritated my neck and whether I use one of the latest multiblade cartridge shavers or an electric razor, I still get a sore neck.

The post linked to a few shaving forums, and these guys are real shaving geeks. Very knowledgable and trying to put a bit of fun and ritual back into what most consider a chore.

So after a bit of reading up and learning how bad for your skin modern canned saving cream and multi-blade shavers are, I had family members buy me a new shaving kit.

It consisted of a Badger Hair Shaving Brush, a Merkur 34C DE Razor, Traditional Saving Soap, Bowl, Stand and a multipack of different blades ranging from Derby Blades from Turkey right up to Japanese Feathers, some of the most fearsome and sharp razor blades money can buy. While the products are a little more expensive then the standard, the soap is very concentrated and will last a long time. The blades can be found for as little as £11 for 100 blades which means after a year you are saving money.

Though its not the money saving I am interested in. It is whether this stops my sore neck and makes shaving a pleasure instead of a chore. If it succeeds then it will be one of the best birthday presents yet.  If I get on well with the DE razor I might take up Caroline’s offer to buy me a straight (ie a cut throat) razor; maybe for my next birthday.

If you are interested in finding out more then you ever wanted to know about shaving, check out www.badgerandblade.com and sharpologist.com.

Oh and thanks for The Shaving Book Andrew, an interesting but also very funny read.