Showing posts with label Black and White. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black and White. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 November 2015
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
this moonscape brought to you by minecraft
Well, brought to you by real life minecraft anyway.
It really is incredible, when you think about it, what we do to the landscape in order to build roads, buildings, and other things we take for granted.
 |
| There has been, for as long as I can remember, a gravel pit here bisected by a gravel road. But it has changed into this much larger moonscape in the last year or so. |
 |
| The view off to the left and back from where I stopped the car. |
 |
| Looking back... |
 |
| Off to the right... |
Wednesday, 6 May 2015
black and white
More fun with black and white.
These are out of the camera jpegs again. The only adjustments are to exposure. I lifted most of them a little bit. Otherwise, this is what the camera gave.
These are out of the camera jpegs again. The only adjustments are to exposure. I lifted most of them a little bit. Otherwise, this is what the camera gave.
Sunday, 1 February 2015
black and white OMD
Inspired a bit by Kirk Tuck, I decided to operate my OMD as a black and white film camera. This is what I created.
These are out of the camera jpegs with no adjustments done in Lightroom but for a minor crop or two.
Seems to work. I think I have found my new normal for a bit.
I think that one day very soon, I will go out and use these camera settings and "shoot a role of film" - iso 400, monotone superfine jpegs straight from the camera, shoot in manual and nail exposure in camera, PanaLeica 25mm f1.5 lens, OMD E-M5 camera body, green filter on the monotone, and contrast up one tick - and see what I get. Should this come to pass, I will share the results here.
These are out of the camera jpegs with no adjustments done in Lightroom but for a minor crop or two.
Seems to work. I think I have found my new normal for a bit.
I think that one day very soon, I will go out and use these camera settings and "shoot a role of film" - iso 400, monotone superfine jpegs straight from the camera, shoot in manual and nail exposure in camera, PanaLeica 25mm f1.5 lens, OMD E-M5 camera body, green filter on the monotone, and contrast up one tick - and see what I get. Should this come to pass, I will share the results here.
Sunday, 21 December 2014
the curious relationship between us and fur
There is something about furry creatures which appeals to us at a very deep level. Even when we try to resist it, the furry out there win us over.
In this case, there is no hope.
Why even try?
In this case, there is no hope.
Why even try?
Monday, 11 August 2014
Monday, 26 November 2012
it is starting to be time
I miss taking pictures.
I need to go someplace.
I think, this weekend, I will marry these thoughts with action, take my camera, and just go somewhere and make some pictures.
It has been too long.
I need to go someplace.
I think, this weekend, I will marry these thoughts with action, take my camera, and just go somewhere and make some pictures.
It has been too long.
Saturday, 17 November 2012
out wandering again
I am not a huge train fan, unlike some of my friends, but I do enjoy the infrastructure that rail service - be it freight or passenger - brings to a city.
Today was a day for wandering around on the bike with friends. The Santa Claus parade was this morning, bringing in officially the start of too many decorations and the over playing of seasonal music. Coffee was, as usual, had at our favourite coffee shop in Uptown Waterloo. Errands were run. A picture taken. North of 40km was put on the bike. I realized I am not going to beat last year's mileage total of 8345 km sadly. I will be on target though to have at least 16 000km on my bikes and legs during the time spanning the 23 months prior to this coming up Christmas, which is a lot I suppose. So I will come near to matching it. There are 7100km, give or take a couple, on the legs thus far this year, but I suspect that time won't allow me to get another 1300 by New Year's.
It is my plan to leave early in the morning with camera in tow and take some pictures of some fog. We are due for some below zero temperatures with fog and clear skies above. Often, those conditions provide some simply gorgeous skies and wonderful light.
Today was a day for wandering around on the bike with friends. The Santa Claus parade was this morning, bringing in officially the start of too many decorations and the over playing of seasonal music. Coffee was, as usual, had at our favourite coffee shop in Uptown Waterloo. Errands were run. A picture taken. North of 40km was put on the bike. I realized I am not going to beat last year's mileage total of 8345 km sadly. I will be on target though to have at least 16 000km on my bikes and legs during the time spanning the 23 months prior to this coming up Christmas, which is a lot I suppose. So I will come near to matching it. There are 7100km, give or take a couple, on the legs thus far this year, but I suspect that time won't allow me to get another 1300 by New Year's.
It is my plan to leave early in the morning with camera in tow and take some pictures of some fog. We are due for some below zero temperatures with fog and clear skies above. Often, those conditions provide some simply gorgeous skies and wonderful light.
Thursday, 15 November 2012
festivus is upon us
Workers in the Uptown today were putting up a Festivus bush. I know, they should be using a pole, but this is Canada, we still have trees, and if you squint hard, it might look like a pole with twigs, so I called it a bush... or something.
Either way, no matter how you look at it, it is way too early for such things.
In other news, it was one of the most beautiful days we have had in a while for just wandering about. So I did some. Wandering that is.
Later, on the way home from work, I was reminded why I always keep a camera close.
That is a lot of Toyota Corollas - and the train kept going for almost five more minutes after I snapped that one out the driver's side window.
In other news, it was one of the most beautiful days we have had in a while for just wandering about. So I did some. Wandering that is.
Monday, 29 October 2012
sandy amongst us
Today Hurricane Sandy made landfall on the Eastern Seaboard of North America. I won't go into a lot of what makes this hurricane significant from a meteorological point of view, but will instead let my thoughts and prayers extend to those who have been and continue to be affected by this storm.
Here, far inland like we are, not much is going on (yet). The satellite image (GOES Eastern Canada) looks like this around 10pm.
It has not really reached us yet.
Around town, we have been very fortunate so far, to my knowledge at this time. Power was knocked out for some of the city, but crews were able to restore power fairly quickly. Leaves are everywhere, and some light weight branches have been knocked down - that is all I observed while I was out at a meeting tonight. Winds are gusting to 67kmph at the local airport, but are expected to reach 90kmph (higher in exposed areas).
Otherwise, it seems business as usual.
We shall see what the morning brings.
Here, far inland like we are, not much is going on (yet). The satellite image (GOES Eastern Canada) looks like this around 10pm.
It has not really reached us yet.
Around town, we have been very fortunate so far, to my knowledge at this time. Power was knocked out for some of the city, but crews were able to restore power fairly quickly. Leaves are everywhere, and some light weight branches have been knocked down - that is all I observed while I was out at a meeting tonight. Winds are gusting to 67kmph at the local airport, but are expected to reach 90kmph (higher in exposed areas).
Otherwise, it seems business as usual.
Tuesday, 23 October 2012
why I sometimes like jpeg
Approximately six or so years ago, I revived my interest in photography with my first "good" digital camera. It was one of those Canon super zoom things with just enough manual controls to give the illusion of full control without really allowing it. Today, I use a blend of gear - an Olympus E-3 dslr which is showing some wear but generates lovely results, and a Fuji X-10 compact for taking everywhere.
It was, and is, fun
Today, though, I do things a little differently than I did when I started working with digital cameras. My technique is better, my understanding of how to expose and compose a picture is better, and I have developed a work flow that serves my purposes very well.
For example, I always shoot raw and expose to the right. At first, I had no choice and shot jpegs but when I have a choice, I shoot raw.
If you are interested in photography, you know about the raw vs jpeg debate. If you don't it goes something like this: raw = more flexibility, more depth, better highlight recovery, better shadow detail, a higher level of detail because there is no data loss, etc etc etc while jpeg = faster, more convenient, nail it in camera and don't need pp, etc etc etc.
Funny thing is, both sides of the debate are right. And both are wrong.
In reading about the X-10 that I use as my take anywhere camera, it would be easy to come away with the idea that the raw functionality of the camera is not needed since the jpegs out of the camera are somehow sprinkled in magic pixie dust or something which makes them better than any other camera's output under the sun.
Part of this has to do with fanboyism I am sure. And part of this has to do with lousy raw format support by Adobe and Apple (through no fault of their own - does Fuji give over how to process the EXR sensor raws? I am not sure) and rather lousy software from Fuji to process raws. And a large part of this has to do with the truly excellent jpeg engine that Fuji has in their cameras.
The trick, by the way, when shooting raw with the Fuji is to shoot raw and jpeg at the same time, select size medium and fine output, set the DR to 400%, and use LR4 to convert the half size generated raws into DNG upon import. This gives nice and chunky low res raws with huge dynamic range which are very flexible and somehow the aberrations that people have reported from EXR raws seem to be gone. I don't know why, but I do know I get my best results this way.
However, for those who like to just shoot and who are not into a lot of pp work, jpegs are much much easier.
Which brings me to why I sometimes like jpegs.
Every one of these pictures is a straight from the camera jpeg from the Fuji X-10. All I did was crop the picture a bit, and in the case of the motorcycle, remove the number plate data. For shooting in black and white, the jpeg engine in the camera produces exactly the results I like with no messing around at all and does so consistently and well. All I have to do is remember to tweak the exposure compensation dial on top of the camera and focus on composition. The camera does the rest.
For colour, and for my Olympus gear, it is raw all the way. But when I feel like shooting black and white, it is, in my opinion, hard to top what I am getting out of my Fuji.
Incidentally, for those who use this camera, the settings I used for the above pictures are as follows: Medium Size, Fine, DR at Auto, Sharpness -1, Highlight Tone +1, Shadow Tone -1, Noise Reduction -2.
It was, and is, fun
Today, though, I do things a little differently than I did when I started working with digital cameras. My technique is better, my understanding of how to expose and compose a picture is better, and I have developed a work flow that serves my purposes very well.
For example, I always shoot raw and expose to the right. At first, I had no choice and shot jpegs but when I have a choice, I shoot raw.
If you are interested in photography, you know about the raw vs jpeg debate. If you don't it goes something like this: raw = more flexibility, more depth, better highlight recovery, better shadow detail, a higher level of detail because there is no data loss, etc etc etc while jpeg = faster, more convenient, nail it in camera and don't need pp, etc etc etc.
Funny thing is, both sides of the debate are right. And both are wrong.
In reading about the X-10 that I use as my take anywhere camera, it would be easy to come away with the idea that the raw functionality of the camera is not needed since the jpegs out of the camera are somehow sprinkled in magic pixie dust or something which makes them better than any other camera's output under the sun.
Part of this has to do with fanboyism I am sure. And part of this has to do with lousy raw format support by Adobe and Apple (through no fault of their own - does Fuji give over how to process the EXR sensor raws? I am not sure) and rather lousy software from Fuji to process raws. And a large part of this has to do with the truly excellent jpeg engine that Fuji has in their cameras.
The trick, by the way, when shooting raw with the Fuji is to shoot raw and jpeg at the same time, select size medium and fine output, set the DR to 400%, and use LR4 to convert the half size generated raws into DNG upon import. This gives nice and chunky low res raws with huge dynamic range which are very flexible and somehow the aberrations that people have reported from EXR raws seem to be gone. I don't know why, but I do know I get my best results this way.
However, for those who like to just shoot and who are not into a lot of pp work, jpegs are much much easier.
Which brings me to why I sometimes like jpegs.
Every one of these pictures is a straight from the camera jpeg from the Fuji X-10. All I did was crop the picture a bit, and in the case of the motorcycle, remove the number plate data. For shooting in black and white, the jpeg engine in the camera produces exactly the results I like with no messing around at all and does so consistently and well. All I have to do is remember to tweak the exposure compensation dial on top of the camera and focus on composition. The camera does the rest.
For colour, and for my Olympus gear, it is raw all the way. But when I feel like shooting black and white, it is, in my opinion, hard to top what I am getting out of my Fuji.
Incidentally, for those who use this camera, the settings I used for the above pictures are as follows: Medium Size, Fine, DR at Auto, Sharpness -1, Highlight Tone +1, Shadow Tone -1, Noise Reduction -2.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)