One of the great things about using Fujifilm X-Series cameras is the wonderful film simulations, they are also one of the worst things. There are a handful of films each with different highlight, shadow, and color tweaks that can be applied to each. So with the various combination of settings, you can quickly be overwhelmed. […]
A new plugin released today adds to Lightroom the ability to export straight to your WordPress Media Library. A handy feature which saves the hassle of exporting to your desktop and then uploading to your site. It works directly with WordPress.com, for a self-hosted site, it requires the Jetpack plug-in. Usage Steps Download Lightroom to […]
Here are a couple of tips for using the Fuji X-Pro2, the tips might apply to your camera even if not the XP2. Hand Grip Base Plate One of my favorite accessories for the X-Pro2 is the metal hand grip, which also comes with a metal base plate. The hand grip improves the handling of […]
In his book Orbiting the Giant Hairball, Gordon MacKenzie tells the following story when he goes around to schools to teach and what happens when he asks the children “Are you an artist?” When asked to the 1st grade class, they would all enthusiastically raise their hands, proud to be artists. In 2nd grade, only […]
I love gear, old cameras are great. They are beautiful objects by themselves, there is something about the high precision and craftsmanship. Its like old watches or cars, both I can really appreciate the design and craftsmanship. However, I have no desire to collect either, and not just because they are more expensive, or in […]
A review of the photography book The Open Road by David Campany. The book is gorgeous, a beautiful red color, plus the titles and design throughout is wonderful. The Open Road is large, measuring over 12″ x 10″ and 336 pages. If you know the size of Magnum Contacts Sheets book its the same size, […]
The Olympus Trip 35 is a fixed lens 35mm rangefinder camera, it is a fun little camera. The camera was made in the 60’s as a travel camera and still is perfect for trips. It has a great lens and is easy to use, and that’s about all of its features. The camera is simple, […]
It’s never been easier to publish photos online, that’s what makes it so hard. Believe it or not, at one point finding a place to upload and host a photo was a challenge. Services have definitely addressed the need, now there are so many options to publishing photos that it quickly becomes overwhelming, this is […]
A bit of a rambling essay on photography, art, enthusiasts, history, and what the hell is going on with digital; and yes it’s probably all just justification for me to get a new camera. In the early days the hero shot – the single amazing photo was what photographers strived for. Large and medium format […]
My Dad was cleaning out some of his old camera gear and gave me his Yashica FR-1, a camera from the late 70’s; our family camera he took pictures of me and my brothers when we were kids. It has a pretty sweet Yashica ML 55mm f/1.2 lens; though unfortunately I didn’t realize until afterwards […]
No light meter? No problem! Announcing, Light WTF, a mobile web app used to calculate your exposure. The site includes a general exposure calculator, as well as specialty calculators for Pinhole Exposures and Moonlight Exposures. Please try them out and let me know any feedback. I find them quite useful when using old manual film […]
As I was putting together a second set of photos for my El Camino Real series, I noticed lots of minor variances and inconsistencies comparing newer photos with the first set. This highlighted a challenge I, and likely many others, have in photography: maintaining a level of consistency throughout a project as you work on […]
“What camera should I buy?” is by far the most common question I get asked. So to gather my thoughts together, here is my definitive and opinionated answer. Do you need a new camera? Let’s get this out of the way first, the real answer is that if you already have a camera, or even […]
The Bronica ETRSi 645 is a great budget friendly medium format camera system, a great deal in the film world. The Bronica is a high quality camera and fantastic lenses that can deliver amazing results. It doesn’t have the hype and lore of a Hasselblad, nor the cost, but can almost match it in picture […]
South of Market is a photography book focusing on a San Francisco neighborhood during a time of urban renewal during the 1970’s and 80’s. This review covers the exhibition catalog that accompanied the de Young exhibit. The original hardcover book is sold out and now quite expensive. Janet Delaney is a photographer who moved to […]
The Nikon F6 just might be the greatest film camera ever made, practically perfect for a primary film camera and here’s my reasons why. The F6 is equivalent to a top-of-the-line digital camera, it just uses film as its medium. We can leave the debate of film vs. digital for another day. Let’s just assume […]
Manufactured Landscapes is the first major retrospective of Edward Burtynsky’s work, published in 2003. The book is a beautiful collection of several series that he has created, these are Railcuts, Mines and Tailings, Quarries, Urban Mines, Oil Fields and Refineries, and Shipbreaking. Burtynsky creates amazing photos of large scale projects, and landscapes; looking at the […]
The results of testing out various film stocks to see what they look like and how they shoot. I tried to shot all photos consistently, all taken with Nikon F6 camera with auto exposure and matrix-metering, no exposure compensation. The majority are shot with Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens, though I might of used a 50mm […]
Uncommon Places is a book by Stephen Shore, originally published in 1982 from a series of photos he shot during multiple road trips across North America. He revisited the work in 2004, expanding the 49 plates in the first edition to 156 images that in his words more accurately reflected the breadth of the project. […]
There are numerous ways to do photography at night, for the majority of my night photography I’ve simply done single long exposure shots. So all the light would be captured on film or on the sensor in a single shot. If you are using a high ISO and wide shutter, you end up with a […]
One of the great benefits of using Lightroom is the ability to sort photos based off exif data. I can filter by camera or lens pretty easily for digital cameras which automatically attach exif data to each photo. For analog photography, it’s not quite that easy. I send my film out to get developed and […]
The oft given benefit of mirrorless cameras like my Fuji X-T1 is the size and weight of the camera. It delivers great performance and image quality while being much smaller and lighter, so you are more likely to carry it around and no neck pain. Additionally, with a smaller camera the entire system and support accessories can […]
The above photo looks like an interesting story. Why is she hiding from her upset father? Is that really her father, how much trouble is she going to get into when he finds her? What did she do to upset him? However, the above stories would all be wrong. The power of cropping the image […]
Getting into photography can be intimidating with all the jargon and technical terms. Your camera itself is pretty intimidating with the dials, menus and buttons galore. This guide is to explain some of the fundamentals and help improve your photography. Photography: Light and Time Photography is all about recording light, which is exactly the definition […]
Night photography usually means bringing a tripod and setting up for long exposures. This doesn’t have to always be the case, here are two ideas on taking some shots at night, no tripod required. Bokeh Lights One such type of shot you can take without a tripod is bokeh lights. Bokeh is simply the aesthetic […]
I mentioned yesterday my desire for a panorama film back for the Bronica ETRSi. I actually purchased a 35mm back which I thought was this back I wanted. It wasn’t. I discovered this after shooting a roll through, there are two different backs for the Bronica system. The 135N back, which I bought, allows for […]
Here’s almost everything pulled out of my typical bag I carry for a night photography shoot. It is a bit more than I normally carry, but night is a little less forgiving and you’re need a bit more equipment. Coffee and warm gloves might be most important. Camera with Bulb Setting Memory Card or Film […]
I noticed the other day I’ve been shooting digital for about as long as I shot film, this observation prompted this retrospective on my gear history and future. I started to get “serious” about photography back in 1999, my first camera was a Canon EOS 3, the pro-sumer autofocus technical marvel of the time; it […]
I started an idea for a photo exhibit over 14 years ago and haven’t done much with it since the initial burst. I cleaned up my photos and came across the original scans I made, all the shots were done on black and white film. I may or may not add to it down the […]
I set out on a 30-day challenge to shoot Street Photography, which I define as people in an urban environment; with a strong emphasis on people. I’m not that comfortable taking photos of people, so pushing myself to take more portraits and interact more. Most of my shots have been turning out a bit bland. […]
I’ve started a “30-day” challenge to primarily shoot street photography, it likely will go longer than 30-days but will be at least that long. I hope to find the time by going for walks during lunch time start. We have a discussion board at work on photography and had a good thread about street photography […]
Last year I wrote about my new Fuji X100s camera; it was (and still is) a great camera, one of my all-time favorites. However, as the tech and camera world goes, something new comes along and Fuji announced the interchangeable lens X-T1 just a few months after I purchased the X100s. The XT-1 is everything […]