Richard

June 7, 2013June 8, 2013

iPad in the Field – a comparison

A few days a go, I published an article where I shot a RAW photography in the evening then before getting back to my computer I had saved it to my iPad, processed the RAW file into a jpeg, then edited using layers in Photoshop Touch, then published the result.

All done on the iPad with quite good results I think. Yesterday I looked again at the original RAW file and decided to process it and edit it again on my laptop using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

If you want to see the original post its here.

First of all here is the original RAW file processed into a jpeg.

In this image very little has been done, except a little fine tuning of the highlights and shadows so that all the image can be seen and a little import sharpening.

Now above is the image that was produced on the iPad. Similar to the original file but more to how I envisaged it, when I took the photograph. I kind of saw it in black and white but the red door took ones attention. That night on the iPad I loaded the file that I had processed in PhotoRAW and took the jpg into Photoshop Touch. I selected the red section copied it to its own layer, I then turned the underlying layer to Black & White, darkened the result and then wrote the blog post and published. All from an iPad. I think that is quite an achievement and am very proud of the resultant image.

People have said since the release of the iPad that it is a consumption device, but I think the above image proves that devices such as the iPad and the Android (Insert your favourite Windows RT/Palm WebOS Tablet OS here!) tablets can be used in the field. With their light weight, instant on and good battery life, they make an excellent device for basic editing in the field.

Of course you are all saying that you could make a better job using a laptop, but the iPad fits easily in my camera bag and I do not really notice the weight and do not have to bother with the charger. The truth is I can make a better job with my laptop but do I want to always carry it with me and then share the results of my work with the world. Well yes I want to share but the weight and convenience of the iPad will win out.

Here is the version produced on my laptop using the full power of modern software. Better, well yes but the other image is close, and more importantly, I could experiment in the Pub (Scottish Bar) a few minutes after capturing the image and produce a nice peice of art. A few days later when I had the time would I have remembered to edit this again on the laptop to produce this without already have producing a draft on the iPad. I don’t know but its food for thought.

PS. Dear Apple if your thinking of producing a sub £1000 11″ MacBook Air with a 1400 x 900 display, with battery life close to an iPad, and a 250 GB or more Solid State Hard Disk then please let me so I can replace my iPad.

June 6, 2013June 6, 2013

Shetland Islands – Wildlife

The Islands as well as being blessed with wonderful scenery also have lots of wildlife.

I did two wildlife shoots both of the birds that come to the island. The intention was to shoot surf birds and I also wanted to capture a Puffin.

I had tried to photograph Puffins before on the trip to Harris a couple of years ago, and while I managed a few shots, of them in flight from on deck of a ship the photographs show mainly blurred specks in the distance.

After shooting the remains of a Viking Hall on the main Island I headed to the nearby beach where I had spotted a number of small birds feeding on the beach. The tide was going back out and the number of birds feeding on the beach had reduced but there was now some Eider Ducks swimming and feeding just offshore.

I setup on the beach with the Nikon D200 DSLR and my longest lens and waited. Walking onto the beach had scared away most of the birds but it was not long before a few started to come back.

Once they started to feed I kept moving forwards, when they stopped feeding I would stop and wait. It did not take long before they started to feed again, and once again I would move forward some more.

Its challenging photography and needs time and patience but one can get some rewarding images. What I learnt from this session is that its better to photograph on an incoming tide then outgoing.

For the second wildlife photography session I was intent on capturing the Puffins. The best place was the southern cliffs next to the lighthouse on the main island. There is a car park nearby but its still a good walk to the top of cliffs. The RSPB have a notice board showing what species have been scene recently. One surprise entry was that a pod of Orca had swam past the southern tip of the island the previous Friday.

We climbed to the top and setup; there was lots of nesting birds but no Puffin’s in sight. After a short wait a Puffin eventually emerged from one of the many holes in the cliff side.

It was one of the cooler days we had experienced on the island and most of the Puffins seemed to want to stay in their underground burrows, but as the sun came out so did the Puffins and I managed to get some good shots of them emerging from their burrows.

As you can see from the above photographs I finally managed to get some pleasing photographs of Puffins.

June 4, 2013June 4, 2013

Shetland Islands – Landscapes

It took a while but we finally arrived and settled into our cottage we had hired for our time up here. The scenery outside the window was fantastic, wherever you go on the islands the views are fantastic.

In someways it can be a difficult area to photograph. You need to choose a focal point, dramatic landscapes you see with your eyes and feel in your hearts do not translate well to photographs.

As I have already mentioned in previous blog entries; on this trip I did not take a laptop with me but just the iPad. The above photography is a bit of a cheat, with the hill behind the stone there is no sign of human habitation, but in the above view there is actually a power cable running across the scene. I’ll be re-editing this shot in Adobe Photoshop but this version was actually processed on the iPad. The RAW converted to a jpeg with PhotoRaw and then taken into Photoshop Touch to have the wires removed.

It is incredible what you can accomplish now with these tools.

We visited quite a few of the islands and I found a number of locations that will make fantastic photographs, but I actually only took two large format shots. Most of the photography was snapshots for future reference using either the iPhone or the Leica M8. The problem was the light. The weather as you can see above was fantastic; that is fantastic for a holiday not for dramatic photography. We were closer to the arctic circle then we were to London and the days and nights merged into one. It was not often dark and the sun too high for great photography. Still I got a few nice shots and have found some locations that I’ll be revisiting. I’ll certainly be visiting next time closer to the equinox then to the Summer Solstice.

June 3, 2013May 31, 2013

Arriving on Shetland

The overnight ferry arrived in the capital Lerwick at 7am. We had a walk round the town and enjoyed a large cooked breakfast when we found an open cafe.

The town has a mix of modern docks but also some of the small original Victorian docks, little used now but very photogenic. The new Shetland Museum and Archives are next to the original docks and one can easily while away a couple of hours.

I’ll be spending the next few days scouting around the islands and finding good locations. I’ll also be visiting the beaches and cliffs in the hope of getting some good wildlife shots. It will involve a lot of walking and we intend exploring some of more remote islands.

May 31, 2013June 29, 2013

Photo of the Month – May

Leica M8
Leica 35mm f/2 Summicron-M ASPH
24mm, 1/350 Sec at f/5.7, ISO640
Post Processed in Adobe Lightroom V5 Beta
On a Mac MacBook Pro, OS-X 10.8.3

May 30, 2013May 29, 2013

Travelling up to Shetland Islands

The Shetland Islands are some of the most beautiful islands in the British Isles. The easy way of getting there is to fly and to hire a car. We did it the hard way, a long drive up on day one, stopping at Kinross.

Day two was and easy drive to Aberdeen where we caught the over night ferry to Lerwick, the modern capital of the Shetlands.

Once on board we found some comfy recliner arm chairs and made ourselves at home.

The ferry was due to depart at 19.00 that night. Just before we set sail I headed up on deck with the Leica M8 and the 35mm Summicron.

I photographed a few structural items on deck and also took a few shots of Aberdeen with my iPhone which I tweeted (@r1chardbwrn).

As the ship started to sail we had quite a crowed join us on the top deck, as well as photographing the city, disappearing into the distance and setting sun, I photographed some of my fellow passengers as we watched the city disappear over the horizon.

I thought the people on board made more interesting subjects then the scenery.

When we took the ferry from the Isle of Skye to the Outer Hebrides I took the SLR, long lens and monopod, this time with it being an overnight ferry to the Shetlands, the big lens and SLR’s were safely tucked away in the boot (trunk to our American Friends) of the car. I spent the crossing trying to photograph the puffins. So this time my subjects were the ship, crew and passengers.

That evening I once again backed up my shots to my iPad and added keyword and metadata information to them using the PhotoSmith App. Time to sleep and rest ready for our arrival on the Island.

May 28, 2013May 29, 2013

iPad Photo Editing in the field

The iPad (or insert your favourite Android, Palm WebOS tablet OS here), are consumption devices and toys not suitable for real work is what you are always told.

Well to be honest they’re not suited for Photography heavy lifting but its surprising what you can accomplish.

I went out with a small Billingham Hadley Bag carrying an iPad, Leica M8, spare memory cards, camera batteries a couple of lens for a walk while the rest of my Photo gear was safe in the hotel.

I took photographs of the pretty little church, a few other buildings and a few people who looked interesting.

We then passed a rather small old garage that had stood unused for a number of years so I had to take a few shots.

After a meal we were relaxing and I decided to see what I could do with a few of the images. I have a iPad2 and using the camera connection I imported all my photographs, I usually make a backup of my photographs at the end of the day like this when I do not have a computer to hand. This then gives me two copies, one on the memory card and one on the iPad, once back home I always ensure I have three separate copied before wiping the cards.

Once on my iPad my first job was to use my PhotoSmith App to create a collection holding today’s Photographs, then I added location meta data and keyword’ed them. This App can then sync this information over to my master Lightroom Catalogue. I then used my new Raw processing software PhotoRaw. I loaded a few images and created a few full sized jpegs with a few tweaks.

The photograph of the garage was one I most interested in. I thought as a desaturated imaged leaving a little red in the imaged but removing the rest would work well. The kind of work I wanted to do really needed the HSL model of Adobe’s Lightroom but what can you do on an iPad?

With the garage image in PhotoRaw I had the import sharpening set to Auto, I have tested a few of the manual sharpening import options and there is even a setting for my Leica but Auto seems to produce the same settings as the Leica setting and seems to give the best results.

I gave the image a slight contrast boost, lifted the shadows and warmed and desaturated the image very slightly. I then saved it as a full sized jpeg and opened the image in Photoshop Touch. A quick selection of the coloured area to place it on its own layer, I could then turn the other layer into a Black & White image. Another layer containing the inside view enabled me to brighten that area. Once again it was saved and then opened in SnapSeed, where I warmed the image and added the frame. And so there you have it. An imaged processed from the Raw and the published on the web, all using my iPad. Even this post was written and published using it.

May 27, 2013May 22, 2013

Packing the Gear for a Photography Trip

Travelling light can mean different things to different people. While some would carry their Smart Phone others think a full Digital SLR kit with full set of fast glass from 24mm to 300mm f/2.8 is travelling light.

I’ll be heading out to remote areas of the British Isles and travelling light. The subjects are Landscapes and Wildlife.

For the Landscapes i’ll be shooting film on Large Format, so i’ll be carrying my Ebony, a couple of lens, filters, light meter, dark cloth, loupe and of course a big heavy tripod. All of this will be packed away into a small Crumpler shoulder bag. Apart from the tripod which is essential the gear is relatively light.

For the wildlife then it will be 24-70mm /f2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8 and 300mm f/2.8, i’ll also be packing a TC17 which multiplies the effective focal length by x1.7. Just in case i’ll also be packing a 12-24mm for Landscapes. I am only packing eight sheets of film so once thats gone i’ll be using my DSLR’s.

Lastly for when I don’t want to carry a camera i’ll be carrying the little Leica M. So thats my gear, travelling light for Landscape and Wildlife!

May 24, 2013May 23, 2013

Wildlife Inspiration – BBC Spring Watch

Heron in Flight

Next week BBC Spring watch starts, one of my favourite BBC TV programs. I’ll be using the program for a little inspiration as I intend to do a lot of wildlife shooting that week. So lots of travel, carrying big heavy cameras, and early mornings.

Richard & Chris

May 21, 2013May 19, 2013

Lightroom V5 Horizontal and Vertical Adjust

A few people have mentioned to me that they could not find the new Horizontal and Vertical adjustment tool in Lightroom V5.

Lightroom V5 crop tool

When I first heard of this tool I immediately went into the crop tool menu (short cut just press the ‘r’ key) and looked for the new tool there. As you can see above no new tool there, though you can see the new circular gradient tool, to the left of the adjustment brush.

The new tool has been put in the Lens correction section. If you want to see it in use then check out the post last week. So if you want to have ago, download the beta and have a play.