Month: March 2012

In my continuing search for the perfect small camera, I spent some of Friday looking at a Fuji X10. This is a greatly little zoom compact with an optical finder, not suitable for everyone but a nice camera.

Now obviously with its small sensor it’s not on my list, but the Fuji X-Pro1 is. The reviews of its image quality are showing it to be a real contender. The lens also release with it are top notch.

Once again like the new Nikon D800E and the Leica M9 it’s missing the anti aliasing filter so it shoots a far higher resolution image then it’s mega pixel count would indicate.

The X-Pro1 and the very good X100 was not available but the little X10 was and they share many interface characteristics.

I love the direct controls and optical viewfinder, if I was in the market for a compact it would definitely be in my top three. Now I use my Nikon V1 as my compact camera.

To be perfectly honest, the lovely Charlotte does not need a lot of post production after a studio shoot, but I thought it was time to give Photoshop CS6 a try using my normal workflow.

This was a straight RAW file, taken from the camera and into Adobe Lightroom V3 not V4.  A few tweaks for colour, and import sharpening, then it was into Adobe Photoshop CS6, exported from Lightroom as a Tiff.

First I played with the selection tool, the shot was taken in front of a white washed brick wall in the studio, I thought it might look better with a plain white background.  Now depending on your subject this can be easy or hard.

With Charlotte and her beautiful blond hair its really tricky getting the selection right.  The pale blond hair and the white background blend making it a difficult selection.  Now for those of us that upgraded from CS4 to CS5, the refine edge option in the selection tool was a real boon, but would still have struggled with a shot like this.  The new CS6 refine edge tool completely blew me a way.  Never has a selection been so good so fast.

The above photography was processed in about 15 minutes total.  I really rushed it.  This was more a test of the tools then to produce a great image but it did a terrific job.  Once I put her on the white background I made a few corrections to remove the odd freckle then softened the skin with a little blur and sharpened it up a little more round the eyes and hair.

A very fast rough edit but I think the improved tools in CS6 will really save me time.  Any tool that can shave an hour of post processing a set of images for a portfolio or wedding shoot is worth the upgrade.

Still lots of new functionality to play with, but for me, Photoshop CS6 is looking like a big hit.

Now Adobe, how about a deal for us Lightroom V3 and CS5 users; a double upgrade at a reduced price please!

Once again this week has seen us taking a walk along the Brayford Pool in Lincoln. The weather has been very warm for the time of year, and lots of swans, ducks and seabirds much in evidence.

The camera of choice for this kind of work is usually a SLR but on my lunch time walks I have been carrying my Nikon V1.

With a mix of landscapes and wildlife I am really starting to understand the camera now and understand its strengths and weaknesses.

I feel a future blog post coming.

This week has seen us hard at work, generally stuck in the office.  At lunch times its been a quick 30 minute break, either a walk to Coffee Aroma one of the best coffee shops in England and certainly in my top two (closely followed by The Window).  Or if we have less time a quick trip to the local multinational coffee shop who sell coffee flavoured beverages rather then what I call ‘real’ coffee.

One of the great things about Lincoln is whilst it is a city it does have some very pretty areas.  Most days this week for my break I walked along Brayford Wharf taking snap shots with my trusty little Nikon V1.

As you can see Spring is really kicking off now.

Digital has many advantages over film, and I will be the first to admit, I shoot far more digital then film. Most of it will be on my my Nikon D200’s. I also have lots of fun, and have many treasured images from my iPhone, and my very old Nikon S3 Compact.

One of the advantages of digital is that it is a) very convenient but also b) has more dynamic range then slide film. There is also the instant feed back factor, which makes it a great teaching aid.

In comparison to digital I shoot very little film, and often I can be disappointed with the results.

Even when I get back a good shot from a film shoot, I look at the CD before I look at the film, these are basic scans of the film and I am often a little disappointed.

November’s Picture of the Month, was a film shot. The scan shows limited dynamic range as you would expect from Fuji RDP50 Velva. I love the image, but when I compared the actual slide under a Loupe, it showed far more dynamic range then the basic scan. What looked like blocked up shadows had excellent detail in the slide and a high quality scan would get this detail out.

With digital there are many techniques I use, such as digital blending or HDR (Using a set of bracketed images), to extend the dynamic range, but when its a single shot, film, surprisingly has advantages over digital in high contrast situations. While the dynamic range may be less, film handles the extremes far better then the abrupt limits of digital. Film is also easier on the eye when you push the image for enlargement.

Many people think that the more megapixels you have the higher the quality of image, this is wrong, the more megapixels you have the more you can enlarge and print. This is where film can be better then digital. If you try and print a digital image too large it looks odd. Where as film if you push too far, looks far more natural.

In this modern digital world, I will enjoy digital and shoot stunning images with my digital cameras, but I will also continue to shoot film and enjoying the results I get.

Film verses Digital: Which is better, neither, they are different, and I will continue to shoot both.

Its just typical or maybe just fate, but the one day I do not have a camera with me, I walk past Brayford Pool in the middle of Lincoln and spot duckings and for the first time a young Great Crested Grebe.  While I have seen them at Hartsholme and at the lakes at Whisby Nature Reserve, I have never seen them in the centre of Lincoln before.

That will teach me.  Unfortunately an iPhone does not cut the mustard for wildlife photography.