Photography, inspiration and a pandemic

Well, what a year it's been so far! Life during a global pandemic has certainly thrown up a lot of challenges, restrictions and changes that are still taking us, as a species, time to adjust to and adapt to as the "new norm".

I guess i was one of the lucky ones, in that I was already more of an introvert and spent most of my time either alone or around a small number of people.  That and my "day job" switched me to be working from home, so my Mon-Fri is pretty much normal; well, as normal as anything can be in all this.

Now, as anyone who's read any of my previous posts (meanderings) will know, I've been spending a lot of time being introspective. Yeah, yeah, I'm being a little "light" one the whole introspective thing; there's been a lot, but as long as you still retain some level of creativity, it's not a bad thing. Just resist the urge to let it paralyze your creativity. Over-thinking can really do a downer on creating anything. What it has done for me is to allow me a means to strip away the un-needed. To realize that I need to be myself, not try to imitate others and go with my "view" of the world around me. No one sees things quite the same as I do, as my eyes and brain process information uniquely; and yours is unique to you. Add to that my own personal aesthetics, such as selective focus and shallow depth of field, which you may or may not like. 

While 2020 may not go down as one of my most productive years image-wise, it certainly won't go down as my least productive. But what it will be marked as, is a year where I spent the most time working with just one camera and lens combo, and trying to instill/capture a feeling or emotion in the picture. While it is "easy" to produce a technically good photo, unless it has the ability to impart a feeling or emotion into the viewer, it is just a snap shot.

I have travelled a little bit this year, but the majority of the photos I've shot have been in and around the house and garden. And yes, there have been quite a few doggy portraits as their expressions are fun to capture. Some of my personal favorites have been shot on rainy days; and my "keeper" count has crept up a bit more. I'll add a few here for you to enjoy:

Nikon Picture Control

A feature of Nikon DSLR cameras that some people may not know about; or if they do, they don’t use is Picture Control. For the uninitiated, Picture Control offers the ability to shoot pictures with customizable presets (not unlike shooting different film stock). In fact, there are presets available online that provide a film emulation look for select film stocks. And yes, while the camera bodies come with several preloaded presets from Nikon, you can add additional ones yourself; the actual number varies depending on the camera model.

I would like to take a bit of time now to clear up some confusion as to their use. If you do a quick online search you’ll see a lot of people commenting that Picture Control presets only work for shooting in JPG format. This is inaccurate. Picture Control presets are applied in camera to RAW files and JPG files. Now, it’s what you do next to process the RAW files that matters. The only software that reads and applies the Picture Control presets while processing RAW files is Nikon’s own software; such as Capture NX-D. Using any other software, such as Adobe Lightroom, will result in the Picture Control presets (and some other Nikon image settings) to be discarded; resulting in rather dull and lifeless images.

The main camera presets that Adobe ignores/discards are:

1. Picture Control

2. Active D-Lighting

3. High ISO Noise Reduction

There may be some others, but these three settings are ones that are only recognized by Nikon’s own software, and ignored by all other RAW image processing software.

Now if you continue searching the internet on how to improve the “base” RAW images in software, such as Adobe’s, the advice is to essentially disable these settings in your camera. In other words, turn down the image capture capability of your camera. Which conversely means you’ll have to spend even more time in their software as you try to recreate the settings you had to disable. Sorry, not my idea of fun. As regular readers of my (sporadic posts) will have gathered, I now look to minimize my time editing my images and much prefer to “get it right in camera”. Now it’s not like I haven’t spent countless hours editing a single image, my preference is to be the “Creator” not the “Editor”.

Now admittedly Adobe (or any of the other software companies) can’t bear the brunt of any complaints as to these RAW settings being discarded during processing. Nikon (and other manufacturers) are still very secretive as to the RAW file formats they use. That and these third party companies have to make concessions to make their products work with as many cameras as possible; so targeting the most generic and widely used settings/values makes a lot of sense. But it does mean that there are a small percentage of photographers that suffer. You’ll even see some software companies offering unique versions of their software targeted at specific camera manufacturer users.

Anyway, back to the Picture Control settings. Nikon does include a program called Picture Control Utility 2 that apparently allows you to create your own presets. This is not something I’ve done myself, at this time. Instead I downloaded some pre-made presets from the internet, Nikon has a webpage offering various downloads.

And circling back to my earlier comments, to utilize the Picture Control plugins I do my initial RAW processing in Capture NX-D and export as uncompressed TIFF images or JPG; or just shoot in JPG. But as anyone who has sot with both formats knows, solely shooting in JPEG can be restrictive and not the best image quality. To get the best exposure latitude with good shadow and highlight values, you need to be shooting RAW. Although there are times that the JPG is my preferred format, even though the shadows tend to block up and the highlights can blow out (much like it would shooting slide film), as the extended shadow and highlight capability of RAW files can look “fake”.

Like in all other aspects of photography, the goal is to find that aesthetic/look that appeals to you. That and find the best software and process that provides that aesthetic; even if it does entail spending extended periods of time fine tuning the images. No two people are the same, so practice different techniques and find what is best for you.

Now to adding some examples. Both of these images were shot on a Nikon D700, with Active D-Lighting set to Auto and using a Picture Control called Kodak Ektachrome P (downloaded off the internet). Both were simply downloaded to and basic RAW processed in Nikon Capture NX-D, then exported to JPG format. The only other thing done was to reduce them down to 72DPI (in Photoshop) for web use; this step can also be done direct in Capture NX-D. Other than that, they are both straight out of camera.

New update and new things to come

Not sure if anyone still reads my blog posts, especially given my irregularity of posting. But if there is anyone out there reading this, thank you for persevering.

I am going to look to making some changes to the content and format of my posts, based off blogs I read with somewhat regularity. This way I think I can encourage myself to be a bit more regular in posting updates on my journey. I like the concept of providing small sample of images, and accompanying them with a descriptive text as to technique, medium, subject and/or inspiration. And as I am still (slowly) trying to determine my “voice”, “look”, “style”; a more structured approach may be just what’s needed to help things develop. And yeah, pun very much intended there!

The past year has seen a lot of changes, some good, some not so good and some indifferences but each has provided some growth. Travel has come and gone; short trips to the Outer Banks and an extended trip to Maine. All provided an opportunity to take photographs, both on film and on digital. Although not as much on film as I had intended. When it came down to actually hiking any real distance, less weight/bulk is getting to be my preference. Not that my Mamiya 645E outfit is excessively heavy or bulky; it just proves awkward to fit in a camera bag to carry securely. 

I’ve also been doing some (so far limited) experiments with different films in an effort to identify which film stock I want to concentrate on shooting. To that end I’ll be posting some example photos and talk about my experiences with the different films. I’ll also be posting more sample digital photos and discussing the different settings and styles I was creating.

So stay tuned for the upcoming changes. Until then, keep shooting.

Been a while since my last post

Wile it's been quite some time since my last post here on my blog, I have been making some story posts over on a site called Medium and if anyone is interested in checking them out, my profile can be viewed at https://medium.com/@ian_mildon.

As you may be aware, I have recently returned to shooting with film. So much so I have now accumulated quite a few "new" film cameras and lenses. My collection now includes a Mamiya 645E medium format camera and three lenses (45mm, 80mm and 210mm); and my newest addition, a Nikon F2A and a pair of Nikon lenses for it. I managed to find a 50mm f/1.2 and a 35mm f/2 at a good price.

Not that my switch to film has been smooth sailing up to this point. While shooting color film on the Mamiya has been pretty fruitful, my forays into black and white have been rather disappointing. So far I have used only Ilford films (HP5+ and FP4+) and found them to not have very great contrast. In fact, I've found them to be rather flat; for my tastes. So I intend to experiment a bit more and see if I can identify a good film stock for my tastes.

The Nikon F2 though is only on it's second roll of film and I'm hoping this one will come out better than the first. I had run a roll of Kodak Portra 400 through it and, even though it was a little old, I expected reasonable results. Instead the images were so badly under exposed, grainy and showing color shifts that I started to wonder if there was something wrong with the camera or the lens. To test this out I decided to compare its metering to my Nikon N90s and swapping the lens between them. Doing this I did indeed find there was a difference, of between 1 and 2 stops of under-exposure on the F2. Believing the DP-11 finder was defective, I started pricing up the option of replacing it; and the need to manual compensate on ISO settings to bring it back into line in the mean time.

It was then that I found what may be a contributing factor to the error. If you remove the finder, there is a small-ish light seal on the back of the camera body that seals against the finder. This seal was "dust" and in serious need of replacement. After sourcing a replacement light seal kit online ($7) I was able to get it replaced. Once completed, I reached for the N90s to do another metering comparison. Would it still be off or would it now be a match?

Thankfully for me the two cameras were now providing the same values for exposures. Which means the finder was not faulty after all, it was light leaking between the body and finder. So, lesson learnt, if using a "vintage" camera, check the seals and either pay to have someone replace them; or if you are confident in your own skills, there are numerous online options to buy kits to do it yourself.

Oh, and like with my medium format photography, I'm also currently experimenting to find which 35mm films I'm going to primarily shoot with. For both formats I am wanting to find a good color and B/W film (that suits my personal tastes) so I can get a consistent look to my photos.

And if anyone is interested in checking out my film gear, there are several photos over on my Instagram feed.

Film photography is far from dead

While most of my recent articles have been posted on Medium, under the Coffee House Writers publication (https://medium.com/@ian_mildon), I am still intending to write the occasional article here on my own personal blog.

Today I'm going to go against the "grain" of modern photography and focus (pun intended) on film photography. Yes, I know it's 2018 and the vast majority of photographers are shooting digital, but there are a growing number that are returning to film. Maybe not shooting full-time on film, but they are at least including it in their repertoire.

When I started my photography journey, it was with film. Predominantly color negative film, usually the cheapest store brand from the local Jessop's camera store. Which while not expensive, it was a decent ISO100 film. My camera at the time was a Cosina CT1A, which I used mainly with the included Cosinon 50mm lens. This was a time of exploring the world of photography and experimentation to see what I could do. And I would try just about any subject matter; landscape, city/urban, portraits, macro, etc.

I did (briefly) add a Zorki 4K rangefinder to my arsenal. It came "standard" with a 50mm lens and took some good images, if you remembered to first remove the lens cap! Yes, I was guilty of that oversight at times. I can't even remember now why I sold it on but I did.

After some time I acquired another camera, this time a Mamiya DSX1000. A solidly built (tank-like) 35mm SLR with a 55mm f/1.8 lens. With this I continued my "shoot anything and experiment" ethos.

Now i know this is currently a high level overview, as I just want to give a little backstory. Because once 2000 arrived, I left England and moved to the US. And to save space and weight, I actually left my cameras in England! I also, effectively, stopped photography for a few years. Then when I restarted, it was with digital, when I purchased a Nikon D100. Now as this is about film, I'm going to completely skip my digital cameras and photo work.

A few years ago, I once again decided to get back to using film as a break from digital. I'd also been reading about the life and work of Robert Capa at the time. There was no way I was in a postion to get a Contax rangefinder, like the one he used but I could get the next best thing, a Kiev IIa. This is a Russian made camera, directly copied from the original Contax designs. To give a very brief history, Russia got a chunk of Contax after WW2.

The Kiev IIa is a great little rangefinder and the include Jupiter 5cm f/1.2 is a good lens. It's fully manual and no built in metering. I like using it with one exception; the eyepiece for the rangefinder window is so small that, now I'm wearing glasses, it's almost impossible to look through. Of course, I could always take my glasses off to focus and frame, but that means if I need to make any adjustment to a camera setting, the glasses need to go back on or I can't read any of the settings.

A  few years later I added another film camera to my collection; a Holga 120N. This is commonly referred to as a "toy camera" and it shoots on medium format film (120 film) and can use the 6x6 or 6x4.5 formats by dropping a "frame" into the camera. It is a very basic design, with no metering or adjustment of any kind other than its zone focusing and the cloudy/sun slider. It has a 60mm f/1.8 plastic lens that can give good images, but that's not always the intended "look". The camera is known to give a soft focus, often dream-like look to it's images. Then add in the possibility of light leaks and it all sounds like a disaster waiting to happen and a waste of time, effort and film. And you're now missing the point of this camera. It is in the "it's so bad it's good" mindset. It is a fun, don't take it all so serious camera that you don't have to really think about to use. Just set the lens to the desired zone, frame the image in the big optical finder and trip the shutter. Then wait to be surprised as to the final image when you get the film developed.

Toward the end of 2017 I, finally, took a trip back to England and revisited my home town. While there, I found my old Mamiya DSX1000 right where I had left it 17 years previously. And to my bigger surprise, the meter still functioned on the old button battery. How's that for "long life"? I also found I had left some unexposed film in the fridge (yes, my preferred method of storing film). Suffice to say, I made room for all this and brought it all back to the US with me. Now I will have to carry out some tests to see how well the Mamiya performs now, especially after spotting that the light seal around the prism and mirror has disintegrated. Not only did this strip of foam provide a seal to keep light from hitting the film from the eyepiece, it also helped to cushion the mirror as it flipped up to take a photograph.

This journey is now up to date, but not complete. I still have the desire to shoot film and have been looking at what used cameras are on the market (and in my price range). I also needed to find out if there was anywhere local that offers film developing; other than the drugstore option. And that's where I found a nice little bargain in used camera bin; a Nikon N90s. While this may not be an obvious first choice for a camera (an F1, F2, F3 or F4 would be nice to have) it is in pretty good condition, works and above all, was $50! Also, as I shoot Nikon digital cameras, most of my existing gear works with the N90s. I've run a roll of Agfa ISO200 color film through it to see if there are any issues, film is being developed, and it now has a roll of Ilford HP5 Plus in it. I also picked up a compact Sigma 24mm f/2.8 lens (for $45) as I intend to do some night time long exposures and it is a great little fast aperture wide angle lens.

And on that note, with all my experiments with film, one thing that always piqued my interest was reciprocity failure. For those unfamiliar with this term, film is created and rated to be shot within an upper and lower exposure time frame. If you shoot it above/below those limits, unexpected things can occur in the image. That's why very high speed images have a unique look, as too does long exposure images (on film). Both have pushed past the manufacturers expected exposure range and into the "unknown". The most obvious result of this is color shifts, whereby the chemicals in the film have reacted differently than "normal" and as you push the exposure time even further, these shifts can intensify and some almost surreal results can occur.

Will I stop at these film cameras? Nope! I'd love to get a medium format camera (SLR/TLR or range finder) and spend time with the larger negative and the inherent increase in image quality over 35mm. Plus there are always other great, iconic cameras that I'd love to shoot with. 

New beginnings

I've been in North Carolina for three weeks so far. Not that I've really explored yet, but what I have seen has certainly shown promise for photo subjects and direction.

Not done a lot yet in the way of photography, although I have started dabbling in video a bit more. I did consider picking up a small "action" camera for things like timelapse and pov work, but until my finances recover a little from the move, I'm sticking with trying things out with my little Sony point and shoot. Not like it's a slouch, it can record in 1080P hi-def; it does suffer from the 29 minute clip limitation that all non video cameras suffer. Despite all this, I'm still finding it a valuable introduction to video.

I did break out my DSLR last night though, the first time since moving to NC. Since I've been here I've noticed the night sky is a lot more photogenic than where I was in OK, and last night was particularly attractive. Of course it also highlighted one of my "pet peeves" about photography; how there is still no camera or process that can (accurately) capture what the eye can see. Of course this is also further complicated by the fact that no two individuals will see the same scene exactly the same, as differences in their visual acuity will come into play.

I've not done much with night-time long exposures; not since I played with reciprocity failure of different film stock and how the colors morphed. A lot is due to how digital cameras behave at longer exposure times; instead of color morphing you are more likely to get "noise" in the image. Newer cameras are able to better handle this, but I currently use an aging Nikon D2X, so have to rely on my software to clean up the images.

This is a fairly good representation of the night sky I saw while walking my dogs; although it's far from what my eyes really saw. The eyes can perceive a lot more subtle colors, shading and transitions than the camera can capture. I would really be interested to know if any camera maker is working towards the capability of the human eyes.

I believe the stars and other celestial objects in the photo are "real" and not digital noise but it's not that easy to tell, so I let my noise reduction algorithms do their best and left it at that. For the technically inclined the details of the photo is, 30secs @ f4, ISO 1600 (H1), Tokina 12-24 @ 12mm.

Changes

A lot can change in our lives, sometimes the pace is slow and others it is much faster. Whichever pace it takes, the end result is inevitable; change will happen.

In the months since my last post, a lot of changes have either happened or are still in the process of happening. The biggest, and still ongoing change in my life is that I no longer work for the University of Oklahoma. Also within the next couple of weeks, I will no longer be living in Oklahoma. Instead I will be living in North Carolina. So, among other things, this will give me a whole new realm to explore photographically.

Photo wise, I did take a trip to South Dakota a couple of months ago and spent 10 days camping. And wow, this was an eventful trip and not for all the right reasons. Before we got very far into South Dakota, from Nabraska, we ran into a nasty hailstorm. Up to golf-ball size hail and so heavy it was a "whiteout" and we had to pull to the side of the highway. Suffice to say, the truck hood and roof was pretty badly dented; whereas our camping trailer was heavily pockmarked and had a roof vent smashed in (letting in the hail and rain). So the first order of business afer we got to the campsite was find someone to repair the vent to keep any further weather out. If that wasn't enough of a hassle, during the drive there I had noticed some noises coming from the driver's side front wheel; suspecting the wheel bearing being worn. Picked out a local mechanic (close to the campsite) and booked it in for repairs. Then on the day of the repairs and while driving there, the brakes failed and emptied the contents of the fluid reservoir all over the road. Luckily for me the mechanic (Wicked Wrenches in Rapid City, SD) was able to arrange a tow truck to get me to the shop. A couple of days later, and after a new wheel bearing and all new front brakes, I had my truck back and could start to explore the area.

The two main locations we wanted to check out was Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Both iconic rock carvings, on vastly different scales; Crazy Horse being the larger carving. It's also not that easy to take images other than the classic views of these locations. Not unless you have time an opportunity to make multiple visits, at different times, in different weather and different seasons. Unfortunately, I didn't really have a lot of flexibility due to losing so much time with truck issues. So I stuck with the "tourist" frame of mind and went for it!

Mount Rushmore was pretty impressive, and the iconic figures quickly pop into view as you approach. And as you enter the main path towards the monument, they stay in your view as it's perfectly straight and centered on the monument.

Once you reach the other end of the path the monument is pretty dominant, although the visitor's center is very informative and well worth a visit, providing the history and backstory to the site.

However, for me the lady performing the "hoop dance" was a captivating sight to watch and was an unexpected bonus; and one I was glad to have a fairly high FPS capability.

Now, using  slower shutter speed could have given a completely different view as blur would be introduced but I chose to stay fairly fast to capture more detail.

Then the next day we visited Crazy Horse. The difference in scale is pretty impressive and I can see why the locals recommend visiting Mt. Rushmore first. And Crazy Horse is all the more impressive in that is is entirely funded by donations and the profits of the on-site shops. Unfortunately you cannot get as close to the monument as you can with Mt. Rushmore (unless you wish to pay for a special tour) so a long lens is an essential to get a close view; or you can switch to a wide angle lens and photograph the scale model of what the finished carving will look like.

Not that you can't get a good view of the monument but I certainly hit the limit of my available zoom range when shooting from the visitor center area.

My personal recommendation is to hop on one of the tour buses that will take you closer, as well as give you some further insight into the history of the area.

And yes, I know I could have zoomed in a lot closer here, but I really like the context of the image and the sense of scale that you can't really convey from a zoomed in shot. Also while here, take the time to explore the visitor complex as there is a lot to see. There is a lot of fascinating indigenous art and crafts as well as earlier work of the sculptor. Among the sights I found this wonderful, life-size Kachina doll.

All in all, south Dakota is a great place to visit. My only regret is that I didn't have more time to explore and to visit these sights ant different times of the day to maximize lighting options. Suffice to say, when the opportunity to revisit comes, I'll be heading back.

And now I need to get back to packing in preparation of our move to North Carolina; I've put it off long enough to get this post put together but really need to get back to it.

Nothing stays the same

While I may have played around with video cameras in the past, I have always been strict that my working camera was photos only. The trend of having cameras that can shoot photos and video struck me as a compromise; where both "sides" were not optimal.

But as time has passed, I am understanding the appeal more and more. There are times when a still image can't convey the scene to it's maximum and being able to quickly switch over to video would be very advantageous.

Now, as regular readers will know, I currently shoot with a rather aged Nikon DSLR. One that does not have video. I do however have a little pocket sized Sony that does have video on it. Which is all well and good but the image quality is not really there for publishing and/printing. It only shoots in JPG and to me, "overcooks" the image processing. Anyway, I would rather have everything in the one body to keep a consistent look and feel. Plus, the lack of switching between cameras means less to carry, which my shoulders would be very appreciative of.

Of course, this will nescesitate upgrading my primary camera. Which is financially out of reach at the moment, but it does give me a chance to decide on what upgrade path to take. I am currently shooting a DX format camera and am wanting to go "full frame" so whichever route I take will eventually mean all new lenses too. So I am also considering switching brands! (shocked face)

Ever since I really got into photography, and reading photo magazines, I dreamt of owning Nikon gear. And for the last 10 years of so I have. Yet today I am not sure if I want to keep on going down that route. Currently there is only one Nikon body I feel would meet my needs; and even it is starting to age, with no signs of a refresh or redesign. That and the fact Nikon no longer seems to be innovating, plus a slew of quality control issues with several bodies makes me feel like looking elsewhere.

Now I can hear some of you saying go Canon. And while they are good cameras, plus currently​ the number 1 brand with professionals, they are also not really innovating. And yes, I did consider switching to Canon but ultimately decided against it.

In fact, my current train of thought is a little more radical. I'm looking at going "mirrorless" and switching to Sony. The a7 II (a7R II or a7 II) bodies from Sony are looking really interesting and with the latest firmware, they have overcome a lot of the initial issues. And with the release of their new a9 body, they are seriously becoming a contender in the professional arena. Also, they are continuing to expand their lens collection; they already have the the three lenses I would be wanting, covering 16mm through 200mm. And on top of that, the overall costs would be pretty similar to what I would be looking at by sticking with Nikon or switching​ to Canon.

There is also one other reason I'm looking at Sony. They have a great app for my phone and tablet that provides full remote control of their cameras. No more having to purchase or carry separate remote controls is a nice prospect. It also means, if I shoot in JPG format, I can transfer images straight out of the camera and post to Instagram. A interesting proposition to traveling light and not having to pull out my laptop to download, edit and then in turn transfer the images to my phone so that I can share them.

Anyway, this is all a "pipedream" at the moment until I can gather the funds to upgrade. Who knows, Nikon may surprise me and tempt me to stay. Only time will tell.

Back to basics

I've been undertaking a lot of introspection lately and revisiting where it all began for me and photography. At times the acquisition of new gear and the pursuit of new styles, techniques and attempts to specialize can distance you from your true, creative spark.

Without belaboring the point, I have been deconstructing my work and working to retrain my creative eye. Examining pattern, color, texture, as well as tone and contrast of black and white images. I'm also not setting any particular genre to what I photograph as I want to not set any artificial restrictions on myself.

Now I know that this is not necessarily going to producing many spectacular images or much to share here or on my website but that's not my intention anyway. This is something that should lead to new work, mainly projects for myself to build my portfolio and website.

The first couple of images in all this came by way of my macro lens. Both were images taken in natural light and utilizing long exposures to achieve the needed depth of field. The first of these is of a maple tree seed where I wanted to capture the texture and subtle coloring.

The second image was more for color and shape and to add an extra challenge to the natural light long exposure is that this was a honeysuckle flower outdoors. Took several attempts before the wind was still enough to not affect the image.

And then on a more mundane level, I finally completed setting up SEO on my new website. It was something I kept telling myself I needed to do but kept putting off. Well, I can now report back that it is complete. I even went as far as setting up website analytics so I can see how well it is doing and if I need to fine tune anything.

Changes....complete, or almost.

It's done! My newly created, newly redesigned website is live and hosted by Wix.com; no more trying to make do with a GoDaddy website.

The differences in building a website with each host is like night and day. While I always struggled to make things look good on GoDaddy, Wix made everything simple and easy to do. They even automatically created a mobile version of my site. Now, admittedly I don't have everything complete; images need captioning, SEO needs setting up, and likely several other different little tweaks will get made; but the main thing is the site is now live and much improved.

One other thing that I am pondering is how best to proceed with this blog. Currently it is still being hosted on Blogger and is "mirrored" on my website via the use of a Blogger app. But the thing is, the app doesn't look that great. If I can't give it a more polished look I may look into setting up my custom domain in the Blogger settings and hosting the blog from my website.

Whatever I choose to do next, I hope you stay tuned and join me as I push forward with my new and improved web presence. I also have plans to offer a storefront to allow the easy purchase of prints. The future is definitely looking better, in many ways.

Change, change, change

I can never make my mind up as to whether change is a good or bad thing. This is not helped any by there seeming to be so many (albeit small) changes I've needed to address lately.

Chief among them is that I have recently overhauled my image editing processes. This has been a somewhat, drawn out process but I'm glad to move on from doing everything in Lightroom. I'd have to say a big contributor to this has been my acquisition of the Nik Collection; and my getting around to fully exploring it. Now instead of making a lot of edits directly in Lightroom, I am using Dfine for noise reduction and Sharpening Pro (output) for final sharpening. These two tools are miles ahead of the adjustments within Lightroom and the resulting images are much improved. And on the subject of Lightroom; it has a weird habit of skewing the colors when importing NEF RAW files from my cameras. Testing out the different Camera Calibration settings certainly pays off and using the Camera Standard setting gives my more vibrant (and red) reds. No more orange tinted reds!

Oh, and while on the subject of the Nik Collection, I have to mention Silver Efex Pro! I am loving the B/W conversions I can do with the software. I've even created my own custom preset so I can quickly replicate the look across any image. In my opinion it is the best B/W convertor available.

The other big change is concerning my online presence, as GoDaddy has completely changed their website building software and "obsoleted" my website. Now I know that I need to redesign and update my website but I do not like their new software, which is clunky and not the most intuitive. Of course, I already have a sore spot where they're concerned and their poor Mac support; hence why this blog is no longer hosted on their domain. So, I'm now looking into alternate hosts and platforms to start fresh and bring my website and blog back together. I'm also no longer considering a free solution as, unsurprisingly, you do get what you pay for.

I can't really talk about image editing and workflow changes without providing some samples, so here are a couple of images from my recent trip to Pikes Peak in Colorado. Regular visitors to my blog will recognize them, as I did post the color image previously; albeit with my "old" image editing workflow settings. Hopefully you can see the changes in the finished image.

And here 's the same image after running it through Silver Efex Pro and my custom preset.

Traveling more

While 2016 has been a year of change for most people, for me it has provided me the opportunities to travel more. Regular readers will already know of my recent vehicle change to a Ford F150, which with our 16ft travel trailer, has provided a home base for several camping trips.

June saw us camping for a few days at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Oklahoma.  And while I did not take a lot of photographs, I did enjoy the chance to escape the "rat race" and watch the sunsets over the lake while walking my dogs.

August saw us off to Colorado Springs for a long weekend; primarily to visit the Tiny House Jamboree. But it also provided an opportunity to visit the popular attraction of Pikes Peak. The views while driving up (and down) Pikes Peak were amazing and the summit provided some great views . While here I did take a 360 panorama but for some still unknown (to me) reason, I have not been able (yet) to process it successfully and get all the elements to align correctly.

December saw us off to spend a long weekend at Beavers Bend near Broken Bow, OK. It was a great change of pace to spend not only my birthday, but also the new year away from the "rat race". And while it may not have been the most photogenic of locations, I still enjoyed wandering around, either walking my dogs, or carrying my camera to see what I could find. Was also great to experience a selection of different visitors to our camp site: crows, squirrels, woodpeckers, raccoons. And to also spot some deer in the distance while hiking one of the trails; although Jax thought he was up to the task of hunting down a full grown deer! And while he wasn't able to go off in pursuit, he did manage to scare them off with his "battle cry".

I still need to work more on balancing my personal time and my photography time. Currently I'm still not spending as much time with my camera and photography as I would like but 2017 should see a resurgence of my work, as I make a greater effort to shake off my creative blocks and my technology burn out. Hopefully I can also shake off the carpal tunnel issues I've been suffering lately too.

Some things change; other things stay the same

There have been a lot of changes (and some not so much) since my last blog post; however long ago it was.

First and foremost (as it's the largest change in size) I traded in my Subaru for a Ford F150 pick-up truck.  This is primarily to provide us with a decent tow vehicle for our camping trailer; which enabled us to spend a week in Colorado (near Colorado Springs) and provided me an opportunity to visit Pikes Peak and the spectacular views from the summit.

It also provided me with a great photo platform for a visit to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, here in Oklahoma. To me this is a wonderful location to escape the "noise" of civilization and unwind. When there's no vehicles driving down the gravel roads, all you hear is the sound of nature, mainly just the wind. You might be wondering just what I meant about the truck being a great photo platform; well that has to do with the local inhabitants of the prairie preserve, the bison heard. Jumping in the truck bed gives a great elevated vantage point that also prevents any errant bison from getting too close to me; a great safety feature.

The above is a 180 panorama I took from a scenic outlook spot with a 35mm lens (50mm effective). And I have to say that the rolling hills so remind me of parts of Dartmoor National Park in England, which is an all time favorite location of mine, that I grew up visiting as often as i could. Colorado helped to provide me a renewed taste of rocky and elevated terrain, something that's pretty lacking in Oklahoma. And I certainly intend to start traveling more to interesting locations.

Okay, back to the bison. For my photos of them I broke out an old Nikkor 300mm manual focus lens I have. And here lies a few discoveries: 1. I'm seriously out of practice using a manual focus lens, especially on moving targets and 2. the manual focus system on the Nikon D2X is not that great for moving targets. It uses a range-finder style indicator to show when you are in focus but the focus target is in the center of the viewfinder, so focusing and then recomposing provides plenty of time for the subject to move; I so miss the split focus indicator on my old manual focus cameras, so much easier to use and didn't require you to "centrally focus". Anyway, it unfortunately meant, as I found out later, that most of my photos are a little soft on focus, or off by a lot.

Now for the things that haven't changed. I'm still spending 8 hours a day in front of a computer for my "other job" and have lost my desire to spend long periods in front of a computer when I am away from the office. Unfortunately that has seriously effected my photography as, shooting digital photos, you have to do everything on a computer. Suffering from technology burnout is not conducive to being a photographer. Maybe I need to step away from digital and go back to film for a while, and have the photo lab do all the work for me. That way all I would need to do is any additional editing and sorting.

Whatever I decide to do, something will need to change so I stand a chance to recover my passion and drive for photography.

Visit to Robber's Cave State Park

I recently started what could be a long running project, visiting and photographing National Parks and State Parks; starting off in Oklahoma, my “home” state. Not the I have visited many yet, in fact, this recent trip to Robber’s Cave was my inaugural trip. For anyone interested in visiting, you can find out a lot of information on the Robber’s Cave page of the TravelOK website here: http://www.travelok.com/listings/view.profile/id.6415

As it turned out, weather affected things somewhat, as there was rain and storms moving through the area as we were traveling to the park. In fact, for a while I was not sure if we would be doing much more than holing up in the cabin we had rented for the entirety of our 2 day stay. Luckily, the morning after our arrival was a lot drier as the weather front had moved away. It was still damp from the previous day’s storms but it was not actively raining anymore.

My plans were not set in stone but I was wanting to take some 180 and 360 panoramic shots as well as some HDR/regular landscape and detail shots; which is pretty much what I did. The climb up to the cave was interesting as the ground was still a little wet and the rocks were slick in spots, plus I was carrying my backpack of camera gear and a large tripod strapped to the side. Once I reached the summit of the climb and neared the cave entrance I was greeted with nice panoramic views of the surrounding area. And one of the biggest things I had noted was how clear the air was here; moss and lichen were everywhere. Trees and rocks were covered, creating fascinating textures and patterns.

Now on to the photographs.

Picture 1 is a 180 panorama of the actual cave. I took this so that I could capture the entirety of the cave entrance without having to use an ultra-wide lens, and subsequent image distortion.

Picture 2 is a simple landscape shot using an 8mm full-frame fish eye lens and is looking out from near the cave, out over the valley.

 
Pictures 3, 4 and 5 are closer detail shots of the patterns and textures the mosses and lichens were making.

 
Picture 6 is from a HDR bracket set of the Devil’s Slide feature below the cave.

 
I also took a HDR bracket set 360 panorama, which due to viewing issues will be posted to my 360cities account. It is not a full 360/180 circular panorama as I didn’t include a zenith and nadir shot but it is still a great view of the cave and surrounding area.

Still going!

After taking some time off from photography I want to reassure all of my readers that I am still alive and well. It's a new year and I am starting to put together some plans for photo projects, primarily for panoramic and HDR (and maybe panoramic HDR's) landscapes and cityscapes. One thing I did pick up to assist me on these new endeavors is a Garmin GPS so I can get accurate location details for geotagging my work. This is especially important for the panoramas as there is the possibility of having them featured on Google Earth. Some may say that using a cellphone app should be sufficient but I found that there are some major downsides to this when compared to using a "true" GPS device. I haven't set any specific journey times as yet but will certainly keep you all informed as I get my plans solidified. Stay tuned for me to come...

Time and Panoramas

First off, where has the time gone? I can't believe how long it's been since I last wrote anything here; life just seemed to keep getting between me, photography and this blog.

I've kept myself pretty busy though and am delving into the world of panoramic photography. Helped out, along the way, by my purchase of a Nodal Ninja head, rotator and leveling head; then topped off by finding a great deal on a "like new" 8mm fish-eye lens. Not that I won't be experimenting with some longer lenses to produce some "giga-pixel" style partial panoramas. Add in some plans to experiment with some HDR work too and I have enough experimenting to keep me busy for quite some time.

Along the way I did run into some obstacles, not that they weren't fixable, but all they did as slow me a little. The first was the need to learn yet more software - plus, should I keep working with open-source (free) software or find the money for a commercial package. I'm currently still using Hugin on my Mac for stitching the panos together and other than a few issues to overcome (wonky control points, zeniths and/or nadirs not stitching, wonky horizons) it's doing a pretty great job of pulling the shots together.

Of course, one big issue with panoramic shots, especially the circular 360 ones is how best to display them. If you just post them "flat" on a webpage they look weird and distorted. And as not everyone has access to a dedicated viewer; I signed up to try out a couple of dedicated hosting sites. Long story short, due to some issues with sizing and format, all my panoramic work to date is posted to my profile on www.360cities.net and as they offer the option for embed codes, I hopefully will be able to share them here. If not, I do know how to convert them to Google Photospheres which I believe can be self contained.


Path To Linnaeus Teaching Gardens

Here is an embedded version of one of my latest panoramas, which includes a link to my profile on 360cities.

While on the subject of 360cities, it's pretty nice having the ability to geo-tag the photos, and have the ability to have them featured on Google Earth. This did, however, throw a challenge my way. I very soon found the shortcomings of the GPS feature on my cellphone (and all cellphones) - they're not very accurate. A lot of it comes down to the app you use, so after a lot of testing I found one that can locate me to within 10 feet of my actual position; or at least it was doing that in my tests. The real challenge will be accurately tag my position when I'm off in the middle of nowhere, especially when there's no cellphone signal. Did you know that cellphones use their cell tower triangulation signal to boost the GPS accuracy? I didn't until just recently. If push comes to shove I will just look to picking up a full blown, standalone GPS unit as I know there are locations I want to photograph that have little to no cellphone signal (such as parts of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state).

Guess I should sign off for now, get some sleep, then plan my next photo session. Then test out my updated GPS app for geo-tagging the shots and get some more panoramas in my profile.

Road Trip

I recently did my first "great American road trip" (or at least my version of it) and drove from Oklahoma out to the Pacific Northwest, to visit Oregon (and then extended it on to include Washington).

We were pushed for space due to using my wife's small 4-dr sedan (as my Subaru is having some issues) so was not able to take a very large amount of camera gear. In fact it was a very minimalist setup of my D2x body (and charger), Tokina 12-24 f/4, Rogue ExpoDisc and a cleaning kit. I also had my little Sony WX350.

As I was doing the bulk of the driving, I didn't take very many road/road-side photos; so it wasn't until we got to Oregon that I got a chance to break out a camera and take some photos. We spent 3 days in Portland, staying in a tiny house hotel and exploring the area.

After our 3 days it was time to decide on what to do next. We still had over 1 week of vacation to go and on a whim decided to head north and check out Washington. Originally we were considering checking out Seattle but instead chose to follow the 101 and head towards the Olympic Peninsula.

For the next 3 nights we stayed in a KOA campsite near Port Angeles. We didn't get to explore the area as much as we would have liked but Port Angeles is a great place and we plan on returning, sometime to spend more time and explore it fully. The small matter of pets not being allowed on the park trails limited our options some, as we had our two dogs with us.

A handheld pano of Port Angeles' waterfront

Being mindful of time, as we had to insure we got back to Oklahoma on time, we decided to move on after the 3 days were up. Our next destination was Neah Bay as we wanted to check out Cape Flattery and Tatoosh Island. All I can say is "WOW", it is more than worth the hike out to the cape for the views you are presented with. Here are a few photos taken with both my cameras of the cape and island.

View to the west of the cape, with a fog bank heading to shore

Blanketed by fog

More foggy views

This was just to the north-east side of the cape, before the fog bank came ashore

A view of Tatoosh Island (and lighthouse) while blanketed by fog

Here is a closer shot of the lighthouse on Tatoosh Island

A handheld pano of Tatoosh Island, from Cape Flattery

From here we handed (generally) south and camped overnight at the Mora campground near Forks. It was amazing to be amongst so many old and tall trees - and also to have no sound but the wind in through the trees and local wildlife; and the occasional noisy campground neighbor. I had to take a photo of where we camped as the large trees behind our tent were something to see.

Our campsite at Mora

Waking up in the shadow of those trees was something to experience - it was also our 15th anniversary, which just added to the occasion.

As we were fairly close (and it was in the general direction we were headed) we took a detour to check out the Hoh Rainforest. All I can say here is I can see why Mick Dodge loves the place so much; great guy too, as we found out when we bumped into him at the ranger station. What a bonus for our anniversary - and yes, we got a photo with him! I actually didn't take photos while there as I was too in awe of the natural beauty. A photographer could spend years documenting the rain forest and I knew in our brief visit I would barely do it justice.

Next stop was Ruby Beach, as we wanted to visit the Pacific Ocean and dip our toes - and let our two dogs dip their paws. We had a bit more in the way of fog over the water but it was still amazing to step out onto the beach and experience the ocean.

A handheld pano looking out onto Ruby Beach and the Pacific Ocean

Jax and Amber avoiding the Pacific as the waves unsettled them

And yes we did all dip our toes and it was COLD! It definitely woke us up and both Jax and Amber made every effort to avoid the waves from there on out.

From here we headed to another KOA campground for the night and as we found out later, we were not too far from Mount St. Helens.

Can anyone guess what we decided to do for our last day in Washington? Yeah, we drove up to the ranger station overlooking Mount St. Helens and the views were amazing. If you're in the area it is well worth the drive to go and visit.

Mount St. Helens

Handheld pano of Mount St. Helens

To say I will return to Washington is an understatement as I absolutely loved the place and next time I will have a much more comprehensive photo setup with me - including a Nodal Ninja pano head for my Nikon. One of my goals is to make some HDR and Giga-Pixel panos of Mount St. Helens, and of Cape Flattery/Tatoosh Island.