Author: Richard

While we get some good days in winter, model shoots are not the first type of photography that comes to mind.

Now with spring here and some nicer days I am starting to look at planning a few location shoots. Its always good to have alternative plans but sometimes you just have to go for it.

Walking Ted the Greyhound early one morning with the Leica M over my shoulder I spotted the moon coming out of the clouds.

As I walked over the fields I kept looking for some nice foreground, just as the scene started to improve the clouds came in and spoilt it somewhat.

Still I got a few pleasing images.

This weekend was the biggest photography show in the UK.

The last time we visited it was a stop to charge the car on the way, as there was no real charging at the NEC if you were arriving by EV. This time was very different, we booked a spot in a dedicated EV carpark where every space had a slow 7kWh slow charger.

The trip down was uneventful and we arrived, parked up, set the charge limit to 90% and plugged in and left the car to charge.

First up was the Nikon stand and I got my hand on the Z9, Z8 and the ZF for the first time. Amazing cameras.

Most of the big players where there, and despite what you may hear on social media, stands like OM (Olympus) were heaving with interested parties. Looks like there is lots of life left in MicroFourThirds.

Many of the stands had demonstrations, and we spotted Gavin Hoey from Adorama on the Godox stand.

Adobe had Lightroom demonstrations, Macro demonstrations on the OM stand and a number of lighting stands had some interesting subjects to photograph.

I managed to get to the Fuji stand and tried out the X100VI, nice but still a few issues if you have large hands and are used to the big bright optical viewfinder of a Leica M. I’ll still hold off. The new Fuji GFX 100II was a different matter, this camera is very impressive. Despite the poor light in the hall its autofocus was quick and reliable.

If you like small cameras like the Fuji X100 but want something with a little more potential, cameras like the OM5 with a small 17mm prime would make a great everyday carry, and with the show offers, was available body, lens and a grip and batteries for only £1000, that’s £600 under the Fuji X100VI. Something to think about.

So did I buy anything, well yes I did, a book about Peter Lindbergh to inspire my fashion photography and a new rucksack. Dragging a camera bag and laptop back into work is a bit of a bind, so I treated myself to a Peak design rucksack that can hold my IT equipment but also my camera equipment.

While, architecture and landscapes take up some of my time, it is mainly people photography that’s the bulk of my work.

A dog walk in the country does produce the odd pretty landscape but people photography has a great deal of variety.

Street photography is challenging and fun, though now with the day job in IT and working from home, I do not get to indulge as often. One thing I do try and do regularly is some black and white fashion photography in the studio.

Some simple portraiture is always fun.

Working out doors can be a challenge with the British weather.

Outdoor work can often be more models in overcoats rather than pretty dresses in the sun.

Sometimes you have to bring your own sun like here with a flash to the front and a gelled flash pretending to be the low sun coming thought the trees.

Either way, from portraits to weddings, to corporate headshots, people photography is a wide ranging subject.

Press, action, wildlife, the driving forces that continually move forward photography.

Folding 10×8 single shot cameras were used by the press at first, then as technology moved on cameras and film got smaller and smaller.

Large format press cameras went from single frame to double sided film holders, enabling a camera man to get two shots quickly.

Medium format came along, smaller and lighter, and amazingly twelve frames available on those twin lens press cameras.

Leica revolutionised photography with the invention of 35mm film photography. For press and action. , this meant smaller lighter cameras and thirty six shots to a roll. The small rangefinder became king.

With the Korean War western photojournalists were mixing with colleagues from the east who had these new fangled Japanese SLR’s. The Nikon F was for its day small light, had a vast array of lens available to it and could take a beating.

From then on Japanese 35mm SLR ruled the day.

Now with rumours flying of the end of production of the SLR and its lens, it will like the Leica M rangefinder become a niche product, as the world again moves on to mirrorless. With video now being a key part of news mirrorless cameras make more sense, and with cameras like the Canon R3, Nikon Z9, sports and news photographers have mirrorless options that can match and some would argue now beat the best SLR’s out there.

Some will always prefer the optical viewfinder, as do I with my Leica M10, but when shooting fashion my Nikon Z7 has become my camera of choice.

Colour or Black & White?

Or shall we say what colour?

In cinema, colour grading is a big thing to give a mood to a scene. If you watch the matrix movies the colour grading for the scenes in the matrix and outside in the ‘real’ world are very different.

I do occasionally colour grade some one off images but rarely.

But for my last shoot of last year, a lifestyle, and lingerie set, I did some extensive colour grading. The smart modern kitchen set suited it well so I toned the shadows a steely blue, while just giving the highlights a hint of extra warm tone.

With one set of images I combined some in camera work with post. This image above has the cool colour grading of the first but I also used half CTO on a small soft box. The majority of the light in this image is from a large shoot through umbrella, there is then a small soft box with a orange gel on it, to give the warm sunlight look.

With these first two images the colour grading while noticeable is relatively subtle. In this image above the colour grading is more more obvious, its selective colour saturation and grading which gives it a monochrome look.

Lastly a standard black and white image. Even with this, using digital capture there are lots of options available. The image is still made up of the three colour channels and by changing the amount of each and their ratio to each other you can dramatically change an image.

A vintage look. What would you have done?