Dateline: May 4th 2020
I’ve been photographing weeds again, and this one is Cow Parsley (when I was young we called it ‘Mother Die’ – probably because it’s poisonous!). I photographed this specimen with an 11mm macro extension fitted between the Fujifilm X-T30 and the
18-55mm kit lens. F=55mm, (+ 11mm for the extension) f/4 @ 1/2000th sec (because of wind) on ISO3200.
Dateline: May 4th 2020
Escaped from the Cocoon, and walked up the Belfast Road, hen down Tullyhubert Road. The wee pond there is always good for a couple of shots. The swans are gone, but this heifer was down near the water, and making a nice reflection on the surface.
Fujifilm X-T30, F=55mm, f/4 @ 1/100th sec, on ISO1600. Time was 8.35pm, sunset conditions. Classic Chrome film simulation.
Dateline: May 3rd 2020
To pass the time today, I’ve been looking over some old wedding photography files, and playing with image manipulation. This one is an image of Inch Abbey near Downpatrick, Co.Down. I’d been photographing a wedding at Loughanisland, and after the ceremony I took the bride and Groom over to Inch Abbey for some romance, – only to find that because it was a bank holiday, the site was packed with tourists, including a council-employed tour guide, dressed as a monk, who was eager to assure me that he wasn’t a real monk!
Today, I dredged this image up from the digital slurry pit where the old wedding files live, and gave it some Lightroom treatment, (when this image was made, around 2008/9 I didn’t have Lightroom). I increased its presence, desaturated the ruins and the sky, and gave the grass and trees some saturation, then put it into a edge/border mask and framed it with my standard frame.
Here’s what it looks like…
Dateline: May 3rd 2020
There’s this white flower growing among the bluebells in the Cocoon garden. Apparently it’s a wood anemone, and I haven’t a clue how it got there, for it wasn’t there last year! Anyway, I’ve just shot it.
Fujifilm X-T30, with Nikon 300mm Macro Lens, MF, f/8 @ 1/400th sec on ISO1600. Focus Peaking on.
Dateline: May 2nd 2020
Here’s a coffee-pod holding device sitting on our kitchen bench, located in the Cocoon kitchen. You may well ask, why would anyone in their right mind make a black and white photograph, with a Fujifilm X-T2, of a coffee-pod thingy anyway? There may be several reasons:
YOU be the judge!
Dateline: May 2nd 2020
Even when you are in lockdown, and you’re confined to the house, it’s worth having a camera with you all the time! This morning I went upstairs to my study at the front of the Cocoon, and looked wistfully out my window, wishing I had somewhere to go, or some work to do, when I saw this sight, a couple on a tandem cycle, resting on the pavement below. I had the Fujifilm X-T2 on the desk, with the 18-55 kit lens fitted. It was set to the Acros film simulation, and manual focus, and I just couldn’t resist the urge to press the shutter.
Let this be a warning to other cyclists. If you park your bike outside the Cocoon I may shoot you.
Last night I read an interesting post by Dee Tutor on LinkedIn about Ghosting Techniques, and I thought one or two of you readers might like to make it an interesting project for next week! All you need to do is nip over and read Daria’s blog, find an old and particularly interesting looking graveyard, (now that we’re allowed to visit graveyards again) and have a go!
Read D Tutor’s Blog Post HERE.
Try to shoot from the back of the headstones, – to avoid someone being offended that you’ve used their family grave in a photo.
Continue reading Ghosting Techniques
Dateline: April 30th 2020
Out for my single daily permitted exercise period this evening. along with the Fujifilm X-T30, fitted with the 50mm Nikon manual focus f1.8 prime lens. On the walk this evening I’ve been looking at the hedges!
Here’s a few images of what I found…
Dateline: April 30th 2020
Raining outside the cocoon today, so I looked around for an indoors subject and settled on an ‘uplighter’ lampstand that I bought many years ago in B&Q. I fitted the Nikon MF 50mm lens onto the Fujifilm X-T30, – the full frame equivalence would be around 75mm. The aperture was set at f/8, to achieve pin-sharp focus on the pattern of the glass, using the camera’s focus-peaking; the shutter speed was 1/250th sec and the ISO was 800.
The lamp is set against a background of white louvre blinds, backlit by the natural light from outside, so the bokeh produced a simple white backdrop. The lamp is silver, the backdrop white, so I chose to use the camera’s ACROS film simulation mode.
Here’s the result:-
Dateline: April 28th 2020
I had to be at a funeral this morning, and of course, no matter where I go the camera goes too.
Later, in the cemetery, I noticed some wind chimes hanging from a tree. I just snapped… using the 300mm MF lens, F=300mm, f/4 @ 1/500th sec (the wind chimes were moving in the wind – as you’s expect) ISO200. Weird sepia effect added in post-capture processing, and over-saturated.
Portraits2Go.co.uk 