Photos – Page 4 – Light Priority

Winter photography

February 18, 2014by roryprior3 Comments

X-E1, 18mm f8, 1/150 ISO 250

We’ve had an unusually mild and stormy winter here in the UK. What that translates to is little traditional cold winter weather and seemingly endless rain with storm after storm. Thankfully between the storms there’s usually been a day or two of halfway pleasant weather which has provided a few opportunities to head out with the camera.

X-E1, 60mm f5.6, 1/100 ISO 1600

The bare branches offer a brief glimpse of these ruins far below in Paper Mill Wood, Cragg Vale. As soon as the trees are green again it’s very hard to see from the footpath. The steep to sheer bank down to the river makes getting any closer all but impossible.

X-E1, 60mm f5.6, 1/100 ISO 400

Landscape shots full of leafless trees quickly start to feel a bit boring to me, so taking a break to do some urban shooting is a nice alternative. This remarkable old building is Hunslet Mill in Leeds.

X-E1, 60mm f5.6, 1/450 ISO 200

Also seen in Leeds, these reflections were spotted by my friend Richard and made for an interesting pattern shot. Leeds is a really gorgeous city with lots of nice historic buildings, well worth a visit with or without your camera.

X-E1, 60mm f5.6, 1/250 ISO 1250

Any time of year is ripe for a little urban exploration, this decaying old truck is parked outside a disused but surprisingly fortified old mill building in Walsden. It would have been nice to get some closer shots but sadly it’s very fenced off and lots of CCTV cameras abound. Still that’s probably why it’s as intact as it is so you can’t have it all.

X-E1, 60mm f4, 1/2200 ISO 200

Some long overdue sunshine at the weekend provided a nice opportunity to get a shot of the local war memorial.

Looking at the metadata for these shots you’d be forgiven for thinking I’ve only been carrying my 60mm lens! I am very fond of the 60, it’s super sharp, has lovely bokeh and useful reach. I’ve also been shooting with my 18mm and recently acquired 27mm pancake, I hope to do a little write up on the later in the coming months.

Fuji, Gear, Photos, Review

Fuji XF 18mm f2 R Review

January 22, 2014by roryprior1 Comment

Part of Fuji’s original XF lens lineup launched alongside the X-Pro 1, the 18mm pancake prime has a bit of a reputation for being the weakest. The problem is this reputation really isn’t deserved. Sure it’s not quite as sharp across the frame as its 35 and 60mm siblings, but it’s a very different class of lens. What it offers is a really compact, wide view of the world with a bright f2 maximum aperture and crazy close focusing abilities. It can also produce some surprisingly nice bokeh, which is unusual for a wide angle lens. I’ve been shooting the 18mm f2 for several months – in fact it replaced my 18-55mm zoom as I prefer shooting primes and wanted something more compact. So far I’ve not been disappointed.

The 18mm (left) next to its larger siblings the 35 and 60mm primes

Sharpness in the center of the frame is really good throughout the range. For landscapes I find f8 is the sweet spot for across the frame sharpness. If available light won’t allow that then f5.6 isn’t much worse. Where corner performance is less critical I have no problem using it wide open or at f2.8 for when I need a hair more depth of field. For scenes where distortion is not disturbing, it’s worth using a 3rd party RAW processor that lets you disable the automatic correction applied by Lightroom, SilkyPix and the in-camera JPG engine. I find this makes the extreme corners a lot sharper. I use Iridient Developer which allows you to disable all automatic corrections, see the sample below for the difference it makes. Applying chromatic aberration correction is also important to get the most from this lens as even stopped down it’s quite pronounced in the corners. It would be nice of course if the lens was fully optically corrected, but then it would no doubt be a lot larger and more expensive, akin to Fuji’s 14mm prime. The trade off for price and size is a bit more work on your computer, but you can still get fantastic results.

X-E1, 18mm f8 1/320 sec

Detail of the extreme right edge showing the softening that distortion correction causes

The 18mm lets you focus extremely close to your subject, up to 18cm (~7″) which is both interesting from a compositional stand point and lets you experience the surprisingly nice bokeh this lens can produce when the depth of field is shallow enough. Nice bokeh and wide angles don’t usually go hand in hand, and this is an area where the prime handily beats the 18-55mm zoom at f2.8.

X-E1, 18mm f2.8 1/80 sec

X-E1, 18mm f7.1 1/125 sec

X-E1, 18mm f2.8 1/50 sec

So in conclusion what the 18mm gives you is a versatile, sharp, tiny lens with nice bokeh. It does have its flaws, but all of them are correctable with post processing. Compared to Fuji’s other offerings, the 18mm definitely has an edge on the zooms that cover its focal length in terms of sharpness, size and bokeh. It may be outclassed by the 14mm, but it still wins on size and cost by a large margin.

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Photos

Happy Holidays

December 24, 2013by roryprior

Have a great Christmas and New Years everyone, I hope you get some awesome pictures over the holidays 🙂

Article, Photos

Autumn in the Valley

November 26, 2013by roryprior

The seasons are distinct here in Yorkshire, during autumn the valleys become full of a beautiful array of hues as the leaves and moors change colour. The images here are all from my X-E1, mainly using either my trusty 60mm f2.4 or newly acquired 18mm f2. There are a couple shot with my 50mm Takumar as well.

X-E1 60mm, f6.4, 1/105 sec

The grasses and reeds on the moors change colour throughout the seasons, here augmented by drifting clouds of mist. It’s amazing quite how quickly the mist moves and changes, in the time it takes to walk a short distance to recompose a shot the mist can have completely cleared an area.

X-E1 50mm Takumar, f5.6, 1/300 sec

X-E1 50mm Takumar, f5.6, 1/250 sec

This shot and the one above were taken in Cragg Vale which had just seen its first light dusting of snow for the winter up on the hill tops. The densely wooded hillsides positively glowed in the bright morning sunshine.

X-E1 18mm, f8, 1/125 sec

The low winter sun can make even mid-afternoon feel more like golden hour. The long shadows it creates can also be a nice element in your photos. I liked the contrast here between the increasingly leafless trees and the almost spring-fresh look of the grass.

X-E1, 60mm, f5.6, 1/110 sec

Some interesting trivia here, in the shot above the walled area with the railing is actually an old and long forgotten graveyard. Once attached to Mount Olivet Baptist chapel. It contains a small jumble of overgrown headstones from the late 1800’s.

X-E1, 18mm, f8, 1.8 sec

Many of the valleys around here used to have their rivers harnessed to power mills, as such you’ll see many weirs, walls and mill ponds about. Sadly the mills themselves are in most cases rarely evident anymore save for the odd wall or chimney left standing.

X-E1, 60mm, f5.6 1/950 sec

Article, Photo, Photos

Heptonstall Festival 2013

September 22, 2013by roryprior1 Comment

On September 21st the West Yorkshire village of Heptonstall hosted a fantastic festival with various live acts and stalls selling local food. With my pro photographer friend Craig Shaw, I spent about 8 hours walking around taking photos armed with my X100 and X-E1. My go to lens for this kind of event is Fuji’s fabulous 60mm f2.4. It’s often maligned as being too slow to focus but I generally find it works a charm, especially with the most recent firmware update making it far faster. With its lovely smooth bokeh and decent reach, it’s ideal for capturing portraits. I’ve also been trying out the fabled 35mm f1.4, although I’m still not sure if it will earn a permanent place in my gear bag.

X-E1, 35mm f5.6, 1/640 sec

Heptonstall is the quintessential little Yorkshire hill-top village, with beautiful old buildings and narrow cobbled streets. Yet it has thus far managed to avoid becoming overly touristy like nearby Haworth. At the centre are two large churches, the oldest of which is now a well preserved ruin. That ruin formed the main stage for the days events.

X-E1, 35mm f2.8 1/850 sec

With a strong family element to the festival, an Alice in Wonderland themed parade and Mad Hatter’s tea party were part of the lineup. There were performances from local school children and CBeebies TV celebrity Mr. Bloom. Two actors enthusiastically portrayed the Queen of Hearts and the White Rabbit.

X100 23mm f5.6 1/170 sec

Various musicians played for the crowd including several bands. The nice thing about small festivals is that you’re often able to get very close to the performers so you’re not reliant on monstrous zoom lenses or a press badge to get some of the action.

X100 23mm f2, 1/320 sec

The X100’s 23mm lens feels incredibly wide after you’ve been shooting with 35 and 60mm. It forces you to get much closer to your subject which can lead to more interesting compositions. I’m quite pleased with how this shot of guitarist James Paul turned out. The X100 actually performs very well wide open at f2 for portraiture.

X-E1, 60mm f2.4 1/320 sec

X-E1, 60mm f2.4, 1/1600 sec

The 60mm has lovely bokeh and avoids the fringing you see around highlights on the 35mm wide open. The 35 comes into its own in darker conditions like inside the White Lion pub where I took the shot below.

X-E1 35mm f1.4 1/100 sec

X-E1, 60mm f2.4 1/70 sec

Dull lighting on the main stage during the day meant a bit of post processing was required to lighten performer’s faces and make things appear less flat.

X-E1, 60mm f2.4 1/125

X-E1, 60mm f2.4 1/100 sec

Nizlopi gave a rousing performance as it began to grow dark – a true test of the 60mm and X-E1’s autofocus system. Both performed well. The fairly dim LED spotlights didn’t do much more than add a bit of colour to the performers so quite a bit of brightening was required in post to make things pop. When shooting in these kinds of conditions I recommend switching over to manual or shutter priority and choosing the minimum shutter speed you feel will deliver you sharp results. With the 60mm I try and stay at 1/100 at a minimum.

Article, Fuji, Gear, Photos, Review

A Fisheye View

September 10, 2013by rorypriorLeave a Comment

Fisheyes are an interesting and exotic breed of lens. They offer a super-wide, uncorrected view of the world, often covering a field of view as great as 180º. Whether used to exploit their characteristic distortion or as a software corrected wide prime, a fisheye is a great photographic tool.

Samyang 8mm f2.8 UMC fisheye

The Samyang* 8mm fisheye is specially designed for use on mirrorless cameras and comes with a variety of mounts to suit different systems including the Fuji X and Sony E mounts. The main benefits of the lens being designed for mirrorless cameras are its small size and light weight. Given you’ll probably not want this lens on your camera constantly, making it pocketable gives you a good excuse to carry it around for when that right moment arises. Presently the Samyang is the only native-mount fisheye for the Fuji X system.

* Samyang lenses are also sold under several other brand names including “Rokinon” and “Bower”.

The lens is made of high quality plastics and metal. As is typical of Samyang lenses, the fit and finish are excellent. The mount is all metal and a thick plastic integrated hood provides some protection to the front element. The lens uses a clip-on style plastic cap that once mounted stays firmly in place. Typical for a fisheye, the bulbous front-element makes using filters impossible. You could possibly affix a small filter inside the mount at the rear of the lens if you were desperate and could find one less than about 35mm wide.

Like all Samyang lenses to-date the 8mm is manual focus and has no electrical contacts to talk with your camera. As such it won’t record aperture information in your photo’s EXIF data. You can however specify the focal length in the settings on your Fuji so that will be recorded. You’ll also need to enable the ‘shoot without lens’ option as the lack of electrical connection will make your camera think there’s nothing in front of the sensor.

You might be wondering if manual focusing with the lens will be a problem, especially if you’re primarily used to shooting with auto-focus lenses. The good news is you’ll rarely ever need to worry about focus – because of its extreme wide nature you’ll have a massive depth of field to work with. As long as you set your focal distance to around 2m you’ll have everything from your feet to the far horizon nice and sharp. If ever in doubt the magnified view in MF mode on your camera combined with focus peaking should make getting tack sharp shots every time simple.

This little lens is extremely sharp, especially when stopped down to between f5.6 and f8, you’ll be hard pressed to find any softness even in the extreme corners. Wider open and the centre remains fantastic but the corners naturally get softer. My copy of this lens is slightly softer in the bottom right corner than elsewhere in the frame.

Here are some 100% crops taken at f8. Processed with Lightroom 5.2 using default settings. No distortion correction applied.

Chromatic aberration (red and blue fringing) is well controlled and is easily corrected in software when visible.

Applications

Fisheyes tend to be thought of as novelty or special effect lenses. While they certainly can be used in such a way, software correction makes them usable as super-wide primes, within certain limitations. Even without correction careful framing and composition of your subject can hide much of the distortion.

Landscapes

For typical landscape shots with a fisheye the main rule for creating a fairly undistorted view is to align the horizon with the middle of the frame, that will keep it flat. Depending on your subject you may be able to get away with tilting up or down a little. You could even use the effect to exaggerate the height and shape of a hill or valley.

This square crop of a portrait photo has had no distortion correction applied and the subject matter makes the distortion all but invisible.

Another rule is to try and avoid vertical objects on the periphery of your shot as they’ll appear to bend somewhat comically. Buildings, trees, lampposts, fences and so on. Where possible get them in the centre of the frame where they will have barely visible distortion. Where it’s simply not possible to avoid vertical subjects towards the edges of the frame either for practical or artistic reasons help is at hand. A piece of software called Fisheye-Hemi by Image Trends does an amazing job of fixing vertical distortion while leaving horizontal distortion largely untouched. Most software that corrects fisheye distortion tends to lose large portions of the edges in an attempt to recreate a standard rectilinear projection as you’d see from a corrected wide-angle lens. Fisheye-Hemi solves this problem by applying more limited corrections which don’t skew the edges of the frame.

Interiors

Fisheyes are a great way to show off interior spaces large and small. With such a wide field of view you can get three walls, the floor and ceiling of a room all in one shot. Distortion correction in software may be necessary depending on your subject and desired look, but even uncorrected a fisheye shot can provide a fascinating seldom-seen view. If you can find somewhere with lots of curves to exploit, the fisheye will work wonders.

Again no correction applied to this image, the fisheye emphasises arches and uneven walls.

Dramatic effect

As already mentioned you can use a fisheye to exaggerate naturally occurring curves, be that in man-made things or the landscape itself. In the shot of York station below, the distortion adds to the sense of space and scale. You can also use the lens’ characteristic of making the subject in the centre appear small compared to its surroundings to great artistic effect as well. If there were a person standing on the platform edge in this shot they would appear tiny surrounded by the vast station building for example. Sadly no one obliged at the time! When placing people in a fisheye shot it’s best to keep them near the center to avoid unflattering distortions.

Fisheye-Hemi has been applied here to straighten the verticals while retaining the pleasing curves of the platform and roof.

Problems and Considerations

The problem with such a wide-angle lens is its often hard not to be in your own shot, whether you want to be or not. Tilt down too much and you’ll likely have your feet in the photo. Hold the lens too near the end and you may find a stray finger arching in. Even when you hold your camera perfectly you may find your shadow hard to avoid with the sun behind you. Be prepared to experiment to get the best composition and resigned to occasionally having to correct unavoidable intrusions into the frame by your body or shadow in post.

The Samyang is also a little prone to flare, if you’ve got the sun in your shot be very careful about the angle you choose as the lens can produce quite a pronounced ugly flare that will be quite a bit of work to remove in Photoshop.

Article, Photos, Project

Project: Alexandra Shed

August 14, 2013by rorypriorLeave a Comment

Shed is rather a diminutive term, but Alexandra Shed was the last remnant of Hawksclough Mill. A large cotton (or woollen) mill on the edge of Mytholmroyd on the bank of the Rochdale Canal in West Yorkshire, that had stood there since the mid-1800s. When I saw it was starting to get demolished I realised I had a unique opportunity to preserve a little bit of West Yorkshire’s industrial heritage through my photography. All shots taken from public rights of way.

X-E1, 18mm f5.6 1/550 sec

The mill from the canal side, showing the oldest part of the remaining mill building. The part demolished chimney just pokes up above the roof at the rear. The old mill chimney had been taken down while the building was still in use, presumably for safety reasons.

X100, 23mm f4 1/80 sec

From the road side you could look in on the part of the building that saw the most recent use with what appears to be a little old stock left behind from the former blenders and slitherers.

X100, 23mm f5.6 1/90 sec

X-E1, 60mm f5.6 1/40 sec

The view further back in the building is revealed as the demolition crew work back from the road side. That rear wall is part of the original 1800s mill building. Note the old windows and doors had been blocked off.

X100, 23mm f5.6 1/40 sec

From the canal side at the base of the chimney where part of the rear wall had collapsed. Note the old pulley wheel on the collapsed wooden framework.

X-E1, 60mm f5.6 1/240 sec

I’d hoped they might repurpose the old mill building once the more recent part had been stripped away, but sadly it too came down brick by brick.

X-E1, 8mm f8 1/150 sec

The building had been derelict for quite some time and part of the back wall had collapsed, allowing nature to start to reclaim the land.

X-E1, 60mm f5.6 1/125 sec

X100, 23mm f5.6 1/90 sec

X-E1, 60mm f5.6 1/125 sec

With the middle of the building ripped away the well worn staircase is in plain view. Note the fold down side boards that presumably made it possible to raise or lower carts without needing a lift. You can see a mangled cart in one of the early shots above.

Today nothing of the old building remains apart from a 1 story high wall composed of the old mill’s rear wall. Where it had collapsed its been repaired with reclaimed stone. The old windows and doors all bricked in. Now Alexandra Shed is just a memory for those who once worked there and who passed it in their daily travels. If you know anything more about this old mill I’d love to hear from you, get in touch.

Article, Fuji, Gear, Photos

Old Lenses, New Tricks

August 6, 2013by roryprior1 Comment

When I got my X-E1 I decided to get a mount adapter so I could try out some old film lenses to open up some more creative possibilities. After a bit of research it seemed like m42 screw mount lenses would be ideal. They’re cheap and plentiful as the mount was popular across a wide range of cameras for several decades. I mentioned to my Dad I was interested in getting some m42 lenses and it turned out he had some near mint condition Pentax Takumar’s from his college days. So I took possession of a 50mm f1.4 SMC Takumar and 135mm f3.5 Super Takumar. These old lenses were made at just the right sort of time to have damn good optics and have basic lens coatings which help minimise flare and improve contrast.

Summer, 135mm, 1/₅₀₀ sec

Both lenses have nice bokeh, the 50mm in particular. The 135mm can show some quite pronounced bokeh fringing wide open so is best used stopped down slightly, at least if being used for a colour shot. It’s impressive how sharp they both are considering their age and the demands placed on them by a 16 megapixel APS-C sensor.

Canalside Garden, 50mm, 1/₁₀₀ sec

I find focusing the lenses fairly straight forward using the magnified view to check for critical focus. The X-E1’s 2.0 firmware which added focus peaking definitely makes things easier still. Shooting moving subjects is undoubtedly a challenge so you need to carefully consider your composition and pre-focus as much as possible. The 135mm’s focus ring requires a considerable amount of turning to go through its range which has the advantage of making focus very accurate, but the downside that it can be frustratingly slow if you’re in a hurry.

Impervious to Water, 135mm, 1/₃₂₀ sec

There are lots of great m42 lenses out there that are easy to adapt to use on mirrorless cameras (and less easily on Canon and Nikon DSLRs). If you stick to names like Pentax and Zeiss you won’t go far wrong. Of course there are plenty of super cheap lenses from obscure branded Russian, Japanese and German companies and some may be fantastic, but it will be a lot more hit and miss. The older a lens is the more likely it will have performance issues on today’s cameras, so if you want a lens not just to use as a toy or special effect purchase, go for a later model with coated glass. Also beware of dust and fungus – never buy old lenses from sellers who don’t show you the innards or at least guarantee the glass is clear. A few dust spots won’t hurt and are inevitable, but fungus and other nasties will degrade the optical quality. Also make sure aperture rings are functional as they can seize up after decades of inactivity. On auto m42 lenses you may need to adjust the auto/manual switch before the aperture will close so beware of that.

Photos

Armley Mills

August 5, 2013by roryprior

Spinning Mule, 23mm, f4, 1/₂₀ sec

This past weekend I had the opportunity to explore Armley Mills, an industrial heritage museum on the outskirts of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. With a plethora of old machinery preserved inside including the amazing spinning mule, pictured above, the mill is a treasure trove. It was fairly dark inside and with bright sunlight streaming in through the windows, exposure was a little challenging, that said the overall light was wonderful. The muted colours inside and strong contrast lent itself beautifully to black and white. All pictures were captured with my X100.

Bobbins, 23mm, f2, 1/₁₂₅ sec

Working the Mule, 23mm, f2.8, 1/₁₂₅ sec

Empress Works Pully, 23mm, f2.8, 1/₆₀ sec

Article, Photos

Onomichi City

August 3, 2013by roryprior

Onomichi is a small city in southern Japan that lies on the coast of the Seto inland sea in Hiroshima Prefecture. It’s famous for its many temples and steep narrow streets. I took these photos while exploring the city in early November 2011 with my Nikon D7000. I had my 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 zoom with me but mostly used my Samyang 14mm f2.8 and Nikon 35mm f1.8.

Onomichi Backstreets, 35mm, f5, 1/₁₆₀

The winding backstreets are tightly packed with buildings, mostly homes with a few shops, bars and restaurants. Many streets like this were so narrow even a small Japanese car couldn’t hope to fit.

Saikokuji Temple, 14mm, f8, 1/₅₀₀

I was a little early for the autumn leaves but you can still see a few turning here at this hill top temple.

The Last Temple, 14mm, f8, 1/₃₂₀

The last of 25 temples on Onomichi’s temple walk. I think I missed one or two on the way, but it was satisfying to finish here, thankfully at the bottom of the hill.

Onomichi boats, 35mm, f4.5, 1/₆₄₀

Behind the temples amidst the tightly packed houses in the back streets high on the hillsides are a number of derelict old homes which are being allowed to slowly collapse. With doors missing or fallen in and even whole walls having simply buckled and fallen away it’s not hard to catch a glimpse inside without having to put yourself in any danger (you really don’t want to be exploring collapsing old wooden structures thousands of miles from home no matter how good your travel insurance is).

Nature mirrors art, 35mm, f5, 1/₁₆₀

Time stood still, 35mm, f5, 1/₁₆₀

House of faded stickers, 35mm, f4, 1/₁₀₀

The stickers in this old ruin caught my eye, things like this more than just the old detritus hint at who might have once lived here. A cat lover and basketball fan perhaps? What would they make of their home now, rotting and falling apart?