Richard & Caroline's Blog – Page 128 – Family, Photography and other misc news

September 19, 2013September 20, 2013

iOS7 24 hours later

Well its now just over 24 hours since I updated to Apple’s latest and greatest iOS. If you read the internet forums its either the greatest thing ever or the biggest disaster ever and Apple will go bust in days.

So far I like it, lots of improvements to functionality. I do find it slightly less intuitive but one quickly finds ones way around. The biggest issue is for me is the icons look a little odd and a bit like cartoon icons. They may work better with the more colourful iPhone 5c. Also so I am not sure I like the way folders take on the colours from the background it can look a little odd sometimes.

Overall I like it, and its a much improved OS. In case you are wondering the photo above that I am currently using on my lock screen was taken last year in the studio. A strongly lit background with no light on the model. I had her repeatedly jump up in the air while I photographed her. It was a fun shoot, quite a laugh for both of us but very tiring. The pink gradient was added later in photoshop.

September 17, 2013September 16, 2013

Camera’s ver Phones

If you check the stats on Flicker, you will see that the iPhone is the top camera.

Phones get a lot of criticism on the camera front, but if you compare them to most low end compacts they are pretty good, and as you tend to always have your phone with you its understandable why so many good pictures are taken with phones.

With the release this week of the iPhone and its improved camera and clever dual colour temperature flash you can see from this and from the recent Sony announcements on the phone front that phone camera manufactures seem to be thinking outside of the box and finding solutions to problems that camera manufactures have been unable to solve.

If your after a compact, apart from high end compacts or mirror less cameras its hard to recommend any that could do a better job then most camera phones today.

September 16, 2013September 14, 2013

iPhone 5S, 5C and iOS 7

Well its going to be a busy week for Apple. We have the release of the new hardware this week, basically tweaks and improvements to my current iPhone 5.

I am more interested in iOS 7, there are some significant user interface improvements that I am looking forward to, and I will be one of the first to upgrade all of the family Brown Apple devices to it on Wednesday when its released a couple of days before the new phone.

If your after more details about the new Phones and iOS 7 check out Apple’s website and also MacRumours, as well as some interest thoughts from Chris on his Blog; (i)Phone Update Part 1 & (i)Phone Update Part 2.

September 13, 2013September 13, 2013

Projects – Kings Cross

Its always good to have a few photography projects running, I have one based on female backs, one one drinks and two based on location, one a local park, with each shot taken from exactly the same point through a period of several years and then this one based on Kings Cross in London.

The Kings Cross Project is a set of photographs showing the people and architecture of this great train station. I have been photographing the area with either the Leica M4 using film or my M8, with all shots processed as Black & Whites.

I was in London again yesterday so once again while waiting for my train back home I took the opportunity to work the area some more.

As projects go this one is pretty relaxing and focuses on the building and people in it. When ever I go to London it makes a break to work on this and build on my ideas.

September 12, 2013September 10, 2013

A Compact with an EVF

In the continuation of the partnership with Panasonic, we have one of the most interesting small sensored compacts yet.

Since the world went digital viewfinders are the exception rather then the rule.

Fuji with the little X10 produced the first small compact with optical view finder and have upgraded it this year with the X20.

Now we have a new small compact to add to this list of one. The Panasonic model is called the Lumix DMC LF1.

While the Leica model is called the Leica C Type 112. Its a jointly produced model with the electronics being Panasonic and the lens being Leica. The only other difference is the firmware, with Panasonc and Leica using their own firmware giving them each a different colour signature.

The big thing about this camera is the small Electronic Viewfinder a first for a small sensored compact.

Most people would go for the Panasonic model at £200 cheaper it makes sense if you live in the EU. The EU enforces a two year guarantee for electronic goods, so apart from the Leica look from the files due to the Leica firmware the only extra you get is a free license of Adobe Lightroom.

If you live outside the EU then the Leica makes more sense as you get a two year guarantee with Leica products and depending on which non EU country you buy it in you may only get a six or twelve month guarantee with the Panasonic.

So its your choice, is the Leica Badge, the Leica Firmware and Colour signature, a license of Adobe Lightroom V5 and the two year guarantee worth £200 to you?

September 10, 2013September 9, 2013

Summer Colour or Black & White

I find my photography tends to develop in phases. I’ll shoot mainly colour for a few months then shoot mainly Black & White for a few months.

This summer has seen me shoot a lot of Black & White.

The reasons are complex. Most people think of summer shots as being colour, like the shot of the flower basket above.

This last weekend saw me taking a lot of photographs, while I was working on Sunday shooting for a client and providing them with nice colour photographs as they expected, I always give them a few Black & White options.

The Saturday saw me in Lincoln as it was Lincoln Folk Week shooting for myself. There was lots of dancing and events going on. Many of the dancers were wearing colourful outfits, but once I got home I found myself converting many of the photographs to Black & White.

The reasons were mainly two fold. First, some of the shots were taken in bright midday sun, like the shot above, the very bright light and high contrast was at the limit of the dynamic range of the camera. While a lot of post processing did get it back under control, it was easier to produce a Black & White image which suited the lighting conditions better and this also brings me to the second reason, I just think some of these shots look better in Black & White.

September 9, 2013

Apple System Status

Cloud Computing is the new buzzword. Rent computing power, hosting, email etc all from on line providers. Its not really new but has become a lot bigger.

The last few weeks some of the big players have had major outages, Google, Microsoft and Amazon have all been hit. A self inflicted outage recently occurred at Apple, due to a security issue. Apple closed their developer site for a week while the issue was fixed.

As more and more of us rely on these services repliability and knowing whats happening becomes more important.

If your an Apple user then its likely you use their iCloud services. If you are having issues you can find out the status of Apple’s services here:

http://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/

September 6, 2013September 5, 2013

Wacom Intuos Pro

Back in the golden years of Hollywood the retouchers tools were a soft B pencil and a scalpel. In the darkroom cardboard masks and little circles of card to stuck to wires to dodge and burn was required.

In the hands of experts, blemishes were removed and complexions made perfect.

Today we use our mouse or touchpad, but often for more detailed work the experts day a pen and tablet is the order of the day.

This week is Photoshop World and many manufactures and software developers are releasing new versions. One of the offers that did catch my eye was the new Wacom Intuos Pro from Wacom. I am not sure yet if this is genuinely a new pen and tablet or just a rebrand of the well known Intuos 5, but as I will be having a major office redesign soon I may just have to test one out and see if there is a place for one in my current workflow.

September 5, 2013September 4, 2013

Adobe & Creative Cloud

Adobe came in for a lot of criticism when they release the Creative Cloud. If you just wanted a single app is was expensive, if you wanted and used a lot of the apps then it was good value.

As a photographer I want Lightroom and occasionally Photoshop. For users like me the full price is too much. Well today during Photoshop World Adobe announced a new offer better focused on photographers. They say its a limited offer which would be a shame as its much more focused on what a photographer needs.

It will be interesting on the take up.

September 3, 2013September 6, 2013

Is Film Over?

People are often surprised to find out that I still use film.

I sometimes shoot 35mm film on my Nikon FM2 and my Leica M4 for fun.

I shoot landscapes on my medium format Hasselblad and my Large Format 4 x 5 Ebony, both of which I still use film.

Its a bit like an artist using watercolour or oils to paint with, some artists use one, some the other and still some, both. As a photographer I mainly shoot digital but film for me has a place too.

While the selection of films is gradually reducing, film use is growing, and some film manufactures are increasing their production.

Today Kodak came out of Chapter 11, they are back in business. Film users are worried but I think there is still hope. We have to admit film now is always going to a small niche product and I am not hopeful for colour but I think Black & White has a bright future.