Photography, random posts and very little about kebabs.
Here are the two selections for the PDI side of the first quarterly competition.
First image, titled Millennium Point.
Taken on one of my lunch time walks at work. Fujifilm X-E3, XF28mm, ƒ8 – 1/420 – iso200
The Second image is titled: The Church
Fujifilm X-Pro2, XF18-55mm, ƒ6.4 – 2min – iso200 – SRB ND1000 Filter fitted.
I wanted a slow exposure to capture a ghostly image of the minister as the service was conducted. A bit of negative Dehaze tool has created a HDR effect.
In a change from most years, this season I’ve decided to take the print competitions more seriously. One of the main reasons is we struggle with prints in the Interclub competitions – so anything I can do to help this season has got to be worth it. Previously I’ve talked about printing and came to the conclusion that a lab print is better value with the limited quantity of prints required for the year (10 probably would cover them – I tend never to re-enter any of my images more than once).
So the first two prints are ones that have been viewed 4000 times between them on Flickr.
The left image is titled Cigarette Break (Fire Office Passage, Birmingham). It’s in my top ten with 2,800 views.
Technical Details: Fujifilm X-E3 – XF27mm – ƒ/2.8 – 1/950 – iso200
Printed by Steve at Palm Labs on Kodak Endura Matt Paper.
The right image is titled City Refections (Shine and Shade on Flickr) – Taken from the back of Grand Central Station (Birmingham). This one is a little less successful as it’s propping up the top 20 with 1822 views.
Technical Details: Fujifilm X-E3 – XF27mm – ƒ/5.0 – 1/55 – iso200
Printed by Steve at Palm Labs on Kodak Endura Metallic Paper – I’ve tried a number of images with this paper and it lifts with image a little – not too sure what will happen when viewed on the daylight balanced lightbox the club has though.
The intension with publishing of these images well before the submission date is to keep on top of where my images are going. I intend to do the same with the digital competition, however these last few weeks haven’t been great – so some things are slipping through the net a bit. Hopefully all back on track again soon.
As a photographer I should really be printing shouldn’t I?
Well it’s taken me long enough to get round to looking at printing. I don’t mean printing at home as that is pretty much a false economy. A decent A3 printer, configured to use continuous inking systems and the cost of paper you’re looking at around £400 just to start. And that’s before you factor in calibration etc. So printing then – Labs prints aren’t cheap, but when you consider how much I print then Lab costs mean I can probably do 40-50 prints before it costs more. And by lab prints I mean A3 and above.
The above image I’ve had printed by Palm Labs for £10, we had a few calibration issues with some moiré patterning so I’ve ended up with 3 other prints (which I gave Steve £10 for) which were going to be binned – which for me are fine for print samples. This print could not be done at home as it’s 32″ x 8″ so already a home printing solution wouldn’t be viable here.
The next step is framing, the library pano is no use for club competitions due to the size, but the intention was always for get a frame and mount for it. Currently the cheapest price is around £35 from a company called Picframes – who I have no experience with, but at that price it’s certainly worth a punt.
This time it’s a few scans of a couple of recent lunchtime walks around Birmingham. Using my Canon AV-1 and loaded with Ilford Delta 400 I took a walk around the rotunda side of the city.
A mixed bag as you can see, but it’s a struggle to find new viewpoints in the City – I’ll keep trying and hoping the avoid the usual suspects in terms of pictures.
Time for another delve into the Archive of my last decade of Lightroom images. What spurred me on this time was a new Instagram hub (https://www.instagram.com/brutifulbirmingham/) which concentrates on Brutal images from the past and present (not that there’s much left!).
I know I’ve published a number of Central Library images – but I knew that there are many I’ve discounted previously – so time for a revisit.
All images were taken on the same night during a 4am Project visit to the library complex. Images shot on combination that I never really liked, my Canon Eos 5D MkII and 17-40 f/4 L lens.
The last image is a pano of 3 images rather than a fisheye.