Generally I don’t use many Smart Collections in Adobe Lightroom. I do have a habit of flagging a few favourite images with a particular colour flag, and I have a Smart Collection to collate them together, and of course one for my five star images.
Most of my collections are project based or collections of published work or projects.
Reading the Lightroom Killer Tips website the other day, there was a great tip about creating a collection to hold your Smart Previews which I thought was a excellent idea.
It makes it far easier to manage your Smart Previous and get rid of the ones I no longer I need.
First let me state that I am not saying that the OM-D is the best compact alternative, but if you do not want a shirt pocket sized compact then a small Compact System Camera is possibly a better bet.
For a while the Panasonic GX-7 was at the top of that list, but now we have a range of CSC’s which have reasonable built in viewfinders and are jacket pocketable.
For those of us wanting something really small, a true shirt pocket camera then at the moment the Sony Cyber-Shot RX100 III is at the top of the tree.
If size is less then an issue an you want a top real compact then I feel its between the Ricoh GR, the new Panasonic LX-100 and the Fuji
In Lincoln we often have students walking round the city setting up cameras on tripods, usually video but sometimes still.
Watching people use a tripod and seeing how they struggle you quickly realise why so many photographers give up on tripods. I felt that way for a while myself until I found the secret.
The excuse to not use one is generally that there too big and heavy to cart around, but as you watch people struggle you quickly realise how difficult and frustrating they are to use and it’s this that generally stops people from carrying them.
Having been in that position I can tell you that the biggest issue is the tripod head and its two factors that cause the issues.
The attachment of the camera to head.
If just a screw, either direct or a screwed in, it comes loose when you try to position the camera or if one of the cheaper quick release systems the quick release plate comes loose on the camera as you work. This makes it impossible to frame the shot as you like. Buy an Arca Swiss type plate dedicated to you camera body. The good ones fit tight and do not slip.
The tripod head.
If it came free with the tripod it’s generally junk. Try different heads. Personally I love ball heads but hate pan and tilt video heads. Find one you like and get it in an Arca Swiss fitting.
This way using the tripod becomes a joy and if using it is fun and your getting shots you otherwise could not get, then the carrying it somehow becomes far less of a chore.
Good light can make or break a photograph. You can either play it safe or really push yourself.
Looking at a shot it can for the untrained eye be difficult to tell how a shot was lit. The top shot was actually outdoors and is a flower in the garden. I put a black cloth behind the flower and then added a flash to the side and the front. The shutter speed was high as was the flash power, this completely overpowered the daylight giving the feel I wanted.
The shot of Lisa is a very simple lighting setup, Two large soft boxes each side and a softbox over the model giving a kiss of light to the hair.
Once again the shot above is an interesting mix of daylight and flash. The daylight is deliberately underexposed with most of the light coming from a single Elinchrom flash head shooting into a brolly. The most challenging aspect of the shot once I had balanced the daylight and flash was the wind, it was after this shoot I purchased two heavy C-Stands.
Try challenging yourself with flash, either flash on its own or mixed with daylight, and once you find a setup that works file it a way for use when you need guaranteed results, then go out and challenge yourself again.
I did a quick shoot last week to test the D800 in studio conditions, afterwards back in the office, I did not have time for any editing so I quickly imported them to Lightroom, ran through my normal backup routine then added the photographs into a Collection to sync up to the Cloud.
The intention was when I had a free moment or two, to grab the iPhone or iPad and using Lightroom Mobile app to do some initial editing.
The problem was it never seemed to sync and the photographs never appeared on either of my devices. Checking my settings I noticed that it said the app was unlicensed. No matter what I tried I could not get it to sync and it would not even let me log out. In the end I deleted the app from the iPhone and re-installed; once I logged in it burst into life and proceeded work.
Getting new gear is always inspiring, but if you have a new piece of equipment or you have not shot with a particular piece of equipment for a while, its always worth having a practice shooting session.
I now have a Nikon D800 and also a PhaseOne back for my medium format Hasselblad, so I am keen on getting some meaningful practice before I use them for a real paid shoot.
With that in mind I have booked a studio for this week and have a friendly local model, so I’ll be shooting some nice boudoir lingerie images.
The intention is test the D800 and Hasselblad in a studio situation. Plans may have to change as I need a new trigger for the Hasselblad, and the new trigger for the Hasselblad has not yet arrived. I may just have to use my normal wireless trigger that works on my Nikon’s and Leica’s. It does mean i’ll have to get a few dreamy Leica Summilux shots, oh what a shame 😉
So today I’ll be giving the gear a quick check and charging batteries and checking memory cards. Two standard lens for the Nikon and two spare batteries just in case.
I’ll also be planning some wildlife test shoots. So far its just been the Nikon in the garden but later this year I am planning on visiting Hartsholme Park with Chris. He will have his new Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 PRO by then so its going to be a good testing day.
Everyone seems to be bringing out a Mark II or Mark III at the moment.
The full frame mirror-less A7 range has been getting better. Its main issues have been noisy shutter, vibration, a slightly inferior RAW file that seems to do some internal lossy compression before saving.
While I admire the continued efforts of Sony with these endless releases of ever improving cameras I also feel sorry for people that buy Sony gear and then six months later they release a better model. I also find it irritating that they release cameras without battery chargers and lens hoods are often an optional extra.
Currently my full frame needs are met with my Nikon D800, and one day I hope a Leica M9 or M 240 so while my GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) wants me to buy one the limitations and the fact that it would just duplicate my Nikon and Leica system stops me.
Still if your after full frame and autofocus in a small package its hard to ignore.
Photo Walk
The truth of the matter is that within ten years cameras like the low end Nikon and Canon SLR’s will look far more like the Sony A7 then a SLR. They will go mirror-less. Its a matter of cost. Producing a mirror box and optical viewfinder is expensive and when Nikon and Canon do jump onto this, possibly when the autofocus matches there low end SLR’s it will happen.
Then its going to be difficult to see where Sony, Fuji etc are going to go. I feel Panasonic and Olympus have a better chance of being a long term success, as the smaller micro four thirds cameras can make an excellent second small system
