Motorcycle selfies, not as easy it looks

It’s good to set yourself a challenge and this week mine was starting to create more of a theme to the motorcycle content on Instagram and ‘up my game’ in how the shots are done. Step one of that is the dreaded selfie and developing a colour grade that I’m happy with.

There are some amazing content providers making this look so easy and after two hours of trial and error yesterday, I take my hat off to them, or should that be helmet!!

Second shot, still with the XH1 and the 23mm f1.4

I eventually had to take a seat and think about this……

As with most things it’s great to be able to learn online, dissect other creatives images and figure out camera placement, focal lengths and lighting. Initially I thought that a relatively wide angle lens, a 35mm or similar was the goto option for this kind of image but I’m not sure it is, you get a decent shot but its lacking something and I couldn’t quite figure out what?

Fuji XH1 and 23mm f1.4

So as with most things, try, try and try again.

Another lesson re-learned, know your gear! Could I remember how to get the Bluetooth or WiFi remote to work on the Fuji to give me control from the iPhone? No! 10 second timer it is then ! Fortunately with a 23mm lens the camera is only about 2m away from me here. While we are thinking out loud, lets talk about product placement as well, what’s the point of Instagram unless there is something to promote or sell, I think the secret to success when you are shooting solo like this is to have some go to poses that work, allowing you get exposure on all the critical pieces, oh take your time as well. You’ll notice here the glove lying on the ground, a sign of frustration setting in that I didn’t notice it. I’m also in two minds about the grading / edit on these images, I felt its a bit much.

Fuji XH1, 23mm f1.4 post edit in Lightroom and Luminar AI

Is it cheating to edit it?. Rather than rethink the lens choice, I went back to the overall image, tried to pose to get all the products in place and visible, then added a little post edit work with Lightroom and Luminar AI. Kind of happy with the result but not so happy about having to edit it. At this point I decided to head home, make some fresh coffee and consider my choices so far….

So, back out we venture with some different gear…..

Fuji XH1, XF 50-140mm at 123mm

And here it is! Nice and simple, the best shot of the day, three hours of testing and reshooting.

The usual suspects help out a lot, late in the day, early evening sun helps provide that golden light which really suited the colour of the bike and the gear, little to no post processing required and I like the natural colour grade.

The compression from the longer focal length helps pull the image in and give it a bit more context even with a tighter field of view, this would work well with a dramatic backdrop. Product placement could be better but its a solid start.

The only issue I had in getting this was the remote trigger. I checked the Fuji manual on setting up the wifi remote app, it does work, however at this focal length the camera was a good 10m away from me and the bike and the signal kept dropping, so it was back to the 10 second timer and quick sprints in motocross boots !! In fairness to Gaerne they aren’t the most flexible but I did manage.

Overall pretty I am happy with how this turned out and even managed to have it featured on the social media for Gaerne and Fuel Motorcycles. All in all a good day of learning and a decent start on a project.

Bike - Triumph Scrambler 1200 XE

Exhaust upgrade - Zard

Helmet - Shoei Ex Zero from Urban Rider

Jacket and Pants - Fuel Motorcycles

Boots - Gaerne SG12

Goggles - Oakley

Get outside, learn something new, stay breezy!

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So that was a hiatus.....

So, if ever there was a break from media, this was it…..

The blog hasn’t been updated for sometime, but thanks to life presenting opportunities to ponder what happens next, that is all going to change.

Look out for more content from May this year….

Hello Tokyo

So, I’m back, from what has been one of the best trips I have ever had. 

I took ten days off to do what I thought would be whirlwind tour in Japan, start in Tokyo, go to Kyoto, Mount Fuji area and a couple of random desitinations by train.

Needless to say it didnt work out that way! But that helped make for a great trip! A roller coaster ride from the day I arrived to the day I left. 

Having been back a month or so, what do I miss most…. the culture, the food, the people and the anonymity of such a vast city.

I flew into Narita Airport and had a couple of hotels booked for my stay from that point it was free fall into the one of the most engaging places I have ever been.

The majority of my stay was spent in Tokyo city itself, where to start? This is such a large city with so much to see, a month there is not enough. Factor into this that when night falls the city takes on a whole new character then you can quite easily spend months just wandering around, which I happily did. 

Every inch of Tokyo is being used for something

I can’t help but be won over by Tokyo at night. I’ve been back about a month now and I have almost 2000 images to work through to collate a series of prints for sale on the website and for a small exhibition of neon life.

Every corner that you turn at night leads down another interesting neon lit street

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New music Sunday

Some new tunes to help you start off your Sunday.  Follow the link below to Spotify.

 https://open.spotify.com/user/yesitsreal/playlist/1Uj0fisIQKHSoN3jxjDTrL?si=j3QKUem9TKSaKO3QmZ60yA

The Exposure Triangle

So as an opener to learning about our cameras lets talk exposure..... no point in taking a picture if you can't see whats in it! And we're keeping it simple!

Image from Photography Life 

It always seems a complex matter but its best to start simple and build on a good foundation.

The exposure triangle: Three things to play with, Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO. I can't recommend enough how much you should play with these settings, its the best way to learn but remember to try and only change one option at a time so you can see the effect on the image and the other settings.

Aperture: That little hole inside your lens that you see changing, thats the aperture, the bigger it is (the opening) say f1.8 the more light gets in, simple. The bigger it is, the fewer things other than the focus point are in focus in the depth of the image, thats called depth of field. The smaller the aperture, say f11, the less light gets in but you will have more items in focus throughout the depth of the image. Use a low aperture, f1.8, to make your subject stand out from the background and a higher aperture, f11, to capture a landscape. 

Shutter: Thats how quickly your shutter opens, stays open and then closes, the quicker it opens and closes the less light gets in. A fast shutter, such as 1/1000th will catch a fast moving subject but let in less light, a slow shutter such as 1/15th wont catch the moving object as well but will let more light in from the scene. So if you're out shooting some sport on a sunny day then 1/500th all the way, if you're out in the city at night with a tripod taking some street scenes then you'll be down at the 1/15th end or lower, cool thing, people moving through the shot will look like ghosts!!

ISO: This is the sensitivity of your camera sensor, usually starts at ISO 100 and then goes up in number for example to ISO 6400 and higher. The higher the number the more light is absorbed by the sensor, the offset is that a high ISO can lead to some 'noise' a loss of colour and a grainy effect to the image, don't sweat it! you got this with high ISO film as well, just get know the useable limits of your camera or use it to artistic effect. So, if you're out in bright sunlight you'll be using ISO 100 or thereabouts if its darker at dusk or in the city at night you'll maybe be up as high as ISO 6400 to get the shot. As a side note AUTO ISO on most cameras is your friend, just remember to set the working limits that suit your camera.

The secret sauce to all of this, when you change one of the three parameters it effects the others, so play around in manual. Couple of examples:

Sports day: You want to have a fast shutter to catch the action so open up your aperture, f1.8 and bump up your ISO so yo can get up to 1/500th or higher, just remember that you focus point as you will have a 'shallow' depth of field, less things in focus.

Landscape: So, here you want to get as much depth of field as possible, so you guessed it, set your aperture to f11, f13, you shutter speed depending on the available light may end up being as low as 1/30th of a second which is about as low as you want to go when you don't have a tripod, so you'll maybe have to bump up your ISO to ISO 600 or higher to compensate if the shutter speed drops below 1/30th. There is a whole session to be had on minimum shutter speed for a given lens, we'll cover that in the future.

Summary.

So hopefully you're seeing a pattern here, when you are looking at your scene and composition you'll be thinking about what is important, depth of field, shutter speed, available light and from there you can tweak your camera settings. A good place to start is using your camera in either Shutter or Aperture priority mode, with Auto ISO off, this will let you see what changing one setting does to the other. To put it simply, bump one setting up and the other goes down and vice versa, play with it and see how you get on. Once you're comfortable with that then add in a change to your ISO and you'll have endless options of how to expose your shot.

Remember there is no 'right' way to expose an image, its subjective, just try not to completely blow out the highlights or totally under expose the shaddows.

Two final thoughts on this, shoot in RAW, always, trust me on this and the final note, your camera may have an 'Exposure Compensation' dial this does nothing when you shoot in full manual, it will only have an effect on exposure if you shoot in Aperture priority or shutter priority.

Now get outside and take some photographs.

Manual exposure -1/250th, f5.0, ISO 100 with a single Speedlight as the light source 

New service from Revolver

How we do learning..... 

So, photography can be such a gear game, do you shoot Nikon, Canon, Fuji and on it goes, we put no weight behind that at all.

We care about what you want to shoot and how we can help you get the results that you want, time and time again.

Our approach is very simple, we charge a flat rate of £75 per hour including expenses for Glasgow and Edinburgh based sessions. We offer a discount on two hours If you wish a longer session. The session is driven by your requirements, you tell us what you want to achieve and if we feel we can help you out we’ll Promise to give you all the tools you need to improve your game.

What do you need for your session?

It’s simple, bring your camera, bring an open mind and maybe a note book so that you can take down some details of what we cover. The session will focus on practical work rather than reading instruction manuals and text books, we think hands on learning is the best way forward.

Our aim is to cut through a lot of the static and get right to the signal.  There are so many ways of achieving a look in photography and our aim is to help you build up your own photographic skill set that you can develop with us or on your own in your own time. 

What can we cover?

Pretty much anything you throw at us, we have access to a really great group of people who can cover everything from portraits, landscape, studio lighting to post capture editing in Photoshop. 

Our flat rate covers all expenses, the only bolt on cost is for studio hire if required. We’ll generally shoot on location with you so that the day is relative to what you need. We feel this is the best model we can offer and as the session is not syllabus driven it means you can get the most bang for your buck on day one. 

If you have any questions drop us an e-mail, we can’t wait to start working with you!! 

How do you keep yourself motivated?

What motivates you in this throwaway 50 hour work week world?

Spinalonga, one way in, no way out. 

Where do we go from here and how do we get there? This thought and my lack of creative motivation lately have been plaguing me for a while and I think I have an answer.

This has been a strange one for me and a bit of a revelation, I have decided that I actually like to write and I think it may become my new motivator, whether its sharing new ideas or old learnings I am aiming to write something at least twice a month. If anyone reads it great, if someone learns from it, even better and that’s what’s going to motivate me.

Most of the writing here will be photography related, whether its gear talk, shooting styles, workflow or any other aspect. There may also be some life observations, travel talk, rants and requests.

I’m not promising any earth shattering content and I’ll probably get more out of this than the reader but hey, as they say, whatever helps you get by.

Stay with me and enjoy, hopefully!

And off we go.......... 

Fuji - No filters required

Spinalonga Island, Elounda, Crete.

So, I've been considering a couple of things. First, do I go all out on Fuji or do I still think I need to keep my Nikon kit?

Second thought for the day,  is how do I feel about 'cheating' with Instagram Filters and Lightroom magic or just getting things right in the camera. This adds a bit of weight to the Fuji camp and their ease of use especially with the great electronic viewfinder, What You See Is What You Get.

Third, writing a blog post on an iPad...... that's simple, its going ok so far. 

I went to Crete recently for a little sunshine and have a break from the rush of normal life. As a photographer I had that usual dilemma..... take a camera with me and get stuck behind it and not actually relax on holiday or take no camera and spend the days wishing I had taken it. This led me back to the Nikon vs Fuji decision process. 

Round 1 - Size and accessibility 

This was an easy win for Fuji.

Packing list:

1. XT-1

2.  Plastic fantastic kit lens, XC 16-50 F3.5 - 5.6 OIS worth noting that this lens actually has pretty decent, if a little noisy, optical image stabilisation.

3. Four batteries 

This all fitted really neatly and easily into my carry on baggage with room to spare.  If I had taken my Nikon gear I would have needed a separate bag for the gear alone.  A 'small' win for Fuji !

Round 2 - Image quality  

For use on holiday I cant really fault the Fuji kit, I picked this camera up second hand as a bit of trial by fire to check out what it can do and I haven't been in any way let down. The JPG quality is fantastic and I am a total sucker for the Classic Chrome film emulation, it looks great in a sunny bright environment.  Don't get me wrong, I can get a lot more out a RAW file shot on the now aging, used and abused D800, but I feel I can get a pretty decent shot using the Fuji.

Round two to Fuji for general day to day photography.

Round 3 - Form factor and usability  

This is my only real issue with the XT-1, the buttons, those tiny tiny buttons, they can be a daily source of frustration. I am so used to the larger buttons with more space around them on my Nikon and I cant seem to get the same flow with the Fuji kit, I suppose that is a trade off for the compact size.  Some people have worked round this by applying Sugru but to be honest if you have to do that then it just makes me think that form took precedence over function at the design stage.

So this round goes to Nikon.

Round 4 - Viewfinder...... 

I hate to say this out loud, but I love the electronic viewfinder!!

There, I said it, don't hate me for it. Why do I love it? 'No filters required' about sums it up, I love the live preview in the view finder of what the shot is going to look like when you change the holy trinity in camera ISO / APERTURE / SHUTTER, rather than pixel chimping on the rear screen. The opening image for this post was shot hand held on the XT-1, fully manual and tweaked in the viewfinder to get the look I wanted. I managed to get the shot with the help of the image stabilisation in the kit lens, pretty cool I think for a basic setup !!  Another small win for Fuji and something I never thought I would use is the remote control software for iPhone, its not the most Apple like App out there but it works and has been pretty useful for transferring images from camera to phone to then post on the dreaded Instagram, one thing to note is that you can only share the JPG file to the phone app, but they are of such good quality they are perfectly useable for social media.

Round four to Fuji!!

And the winner is....

So, best out of four and no need for a decider round, it looks like Fuji wins! But, they do and they don't. Battery life can be a real issue, nowhere near as good as the Nikon kit. Do I have full faith in how the XT-1 performs, yes, up to a point. I love manual off camera flash and the D800 totally outshines, pun intended, the XT-1 in this area. RAW files to get details out of the shadows? That goes to the D800 again but you'd expect that from a full frame sensor. 

My choice at the moment is to use both!! Everyday carry is the Fuji, any payed work I cant help but revert to the D800 but I do put the Fuji in my bag and sneak in a couple shots with that as well. 

Bottom line, the best camera is the one you have with you, so lets not even start to talk about the iPhone 7 Plus.........  

Here are some sample shots from what was a great trip to The Blue Palace, Elounda on the island of Crete in Greece. This was a beautiful resort, resting sympathetically on the hillside and looking over the bay towards Spinalonga island.

All shots are JPGs from the XT 1 and taken hand held with the standard kit lens.

Blue Palace Hotel, Elounda, Crete.

Taverna Plaka, Elounda, Crete. 

Chapel Wall, Spinalonga, Elounda, Crete.  

Looking from Spinalonga to Plaka with The Blue Palace on the hillside. 

Evening at The Blue Palace looking out over the sea view pools of the bungalow accommodation. 

Fresh Wallpapers for 2017

Here are three new wallpapers for 2017, taken on a short road trip to Achiltibuie at the star of the year. 

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NORTH Wallpapers

Heres a couple of free wallpapers from the NORTH theme, perfect for iPad and laptop use.

Where the wild things are wallpaper

Heres a little wallpaper download for you all to enjoy, a little bit of wilderness in an otherwise cottonwool world.

Be where the wild things are...

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A little smartphone wallpaper

Favourite shot from today makes a great phone wallpaper. You're welcome!  

Download and enjoy.  

Funkadelic Tunes for the masses - Kleeer

Help wanted........

So having had a long week, no plans for a Friday evening I found myself with some down time which led to messing about with off camera hard light flash and a stetson! 

That led to an idea, which is great as I have been all out of creativity lately. I'd like to shoot a series of portraits based around the black stetson, different faces under the same iconic wide brim hat, I haven't decide yet if they'll be shot in studio or on location relevant to the subject.. Thats where I need you guys to come on board, would you like a portrait in studio or somewhere relevant to you or what you do?

If you'd like to take part please get in touch by leaving a comment below or via the contact page, you'll get a free digital copy of your portrait and a discount code for a printed and framed image should you wish one.

In keeping with the cowboy theme heres a little number from The Lumineers release, have a great weekend.

The humble sync chord.

So how many have forgotten about this little cable in your camera bag? I had, up until yesterday it was a long forgotten accessory that at one time seemed to be of use.

Well, turns out it is useful once again, mixing and matching camera systems and flash systems, with or without TTL can sometimes seem to be a difficult path to walk, even more so if you are a slave to TTL. I like to get the flash off the camera and just use them both in full manual, partly due to cost, TTL things are expensive, secondly for the purpose of continuity as sometimes TTL can give you different lighting results in what you think is an unchanged scene as it is constantly re measuring and the third and I think most important reason to go manual is to learn how flash and ambient work together, giving you the two independent exposures you need in your image.

Heres a link to David Hobby, The Strobist about two exposures in one image and controlling daylight.

Anyway, back to the sync chord, its a tried and tested way to hook up your camera and your flash to get that better looking off camera light. Sometimes I can't be bothered with PocketWizards and cables and batteries to get a quick shot done working close quarters or I don't have them with me. I've found recently that the SB800 plays really nicely with Fuji using a standard sync chord and setting the flash in 'A' mode. 'Automatic Mode' is a setup whereby the flash uses an onboard sensor to cut off the light / power at the correct level relevant to subject distance, ISO and aperture, its a real quick and easy way to get great results using your existing kit across platforms.

You may have to do a little Google search to make sure that you have the correct chord for your camera and flash combination but you'll find its one of the best accessories under £10 to have in your bag. You may even find it helps you get a little more reliable sync speed and sometimes better than the manual advise, for example Fuji state 1/180 and I get reliable results with the SB 800 up to 1/250.

Most importantly, get out there and practice!

Autumn desktops for iPad, iPhone and Laptop

Had a walk round a botanical garden today and captured these therapeutic autumn scenes for use on your daily gadgets. Enjoy.

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Urban decay

Recently came across another sadly neglected seaside resort in Scotland, no names, no drill pack. The colours in this made me think of a far better maintained Californian board walk.