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.