Wednesday 8 December 2010

Kirkstall Abbey

I wanted to get used to my Seagull 4A TLR today as I have had it a while but not really got to grips with it. I went to visit Kirkstall Abbey which I have visited about a million times since I was young.

The Seagull has been a challenge for me as I have only had low light levels to work with and the ground glass used for the viewfinder is very dark. So I set off today with the bright winter sun and no clouds to have a go at using it.

You have to focus the Seagulls lens before you can use your DSLR to take the shot. Which makes juggling the camera, the DSLR and also the dog lead a challenge (the dog comes on most walks with me!). This is not a close up camera, minimum focussing is from 1 meter so any flower macros are out with this camera.

It has a grid on the glass too which is to help lining up your shot, it can be a little distracting but I quite like it.

Here are some of my shots - I edited them in Photoshop CS3 using Adobe Camera Raw. Then post processed them with some of the actions I mentioned in the first post.



I absolutely ♥ the natural vignetting that the viewfinder provides. It reminds me of Holga and Lomo shots.

Temple Newsam

I took the dog for a walk at Temple Newsam in Leeds. It's one of my favourite places in Leeds for photography as there are so many different things to see and do. They have a farm with rare breeds, sprawling woods, formal gardens with a hot house which has varying plants from the national collections. It's a peaceful place.



Wednesday 1 December 2010

RAW vs Not RAW

I have only just got my head around RAW after nearly 4 years of full time photography. It daunted me because I like the easy way you can transfer over your JPEG's and instantly view them.

Then one day I thought I would give it a try and - well lets say I'm blown away by the amount of versatility you get and how much control over the photo you get. With TTV its easy to have photos blown out or too dark , RAW can - to a large extent help recover those lost pixels.

Take these side by side images that I took a week ago.

This is the original image, blown out very faded and not much contrast. A throw away, forgetful shot.

         
 I use Adobe Raw with the downloaded Nikon D300 info installed. It adjusted my exposure, I upped the strength of the blacks, split toned the shadows and highlights, adjusted the saturation and hue and finally came out with an image I ♥.