Sprite's Photo Thread

Hi guys I know its a bit late in coming but I wanted to share some images I've taken over the years. Mainly because I feel its time to share but I also need to utilise my Flickr account more seeing as I'm paying for it. So here goes.










































































So far this is it. As I go through my back catalogue of photos and edit them and push them to Flickr then I will share here.

Another...



And two more...





I've come to reason that I need some better kit.

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Better late than never, Sprite!

Rather unusual style, almost gothic - or dare I say Dali?, (without crutches and watermelons, though. ) As for more equipment - I would suggest develop a strong style of your own - and then go after equipment that will enhance and bring out what you want to express.
Cheers,
Harry.

 

Too many to say which, but there are some nice abstracts around those.

Keep them coming.

 

Cheers guys.

The 400D I've got is not a nice ccd. Very bad in low light, seeing as I love to use extension tubes to get a narrow centre of focus I have to have that mirror flipped up for a long time, shutter speed then leads me to have very blurry shots.

Speedier lenses and a better low light ccd will let me get much sharper shots than at the moment. Ideally I would love a 5D or newer body, and some fast lenses.

 

Some nice shots.

I have a 400D. Even let repair the shutter a few months ago. I agree anything higher than iso 400 is abominal, but it's still a great camera.

Shallow focus : Have a look at Lensbaby. Bought one a week ago for 80 bucks. Very nice feel to it. Or a Holga lens for the Eos cost 25 bucks.

Also for 100 bucks you get the nifty 50mm. Go get it. It's 1.8f so boost your low light quite a bit

But I get your point on the low light. I bought a 600D and it teebags the 400D in lowlight.

For the 400D there is sadly no MagicLatern but there is something similar. Go google it (400dcustom or something).

If you upgrade get a 2011-12 camera, even if not FF. I want the 5Diii but bought the 600D body to wait a bit to see it come down in price (already 500€ cheaper than on release)

 

In The Bag
My Review Of 654Pro for iPhone

All images have been taken from this post because they were taking too long to load.

Welcome to my little overview of what I think is the best iPhone camera app out (unless someone can point out something better). I was first notified of the app when TUAW mentioned it. I was wowed by the mention if saving in .tiff as a dRAW and it having the best quality output of any app to date.

Once I paid for (yes it's a paid app) and downloaded it I was greeted by a interesting looking interface. There are some things I like about it and some I don't and I suppose as long as the UI doesn't interfere with the experience it doesn't matter.

Well unfortunately for this app the UI can bug the hell out of me, the buttons on the left don't seem to respond all of the time and I find myself having to press them three of four times to get the desired effect. Also the scroll wheels on the right again seem to go back to their original place when manipulated and this results in multiple tries.

Some things I love though is the live histogram and also the rest of the information it provides including the ISO. It's very helpful when setting up shots. Another nifty thing is the use of the gyroscope to provide a spirit level in the middle of the viewfinder, this comes in handy.

If all of the functions scare users the company that make it provide a built in PDF instruction booklet that lets you see what functions are there and what they are for and its very handy.

I wont go too deep in to all the abilities this app has but some handy ones are AE and AF lock along with some basic film types in the for of in app processing and also some aspect based cropping, if like me you want to experience these but done want to sacrifice your shot, you can also save a .tiff file along side the edited .JPEG to your camera roll.

Below I have added some shots taken on a tripod using the timer function to provide you with an idea of what is there. Also links to 100% unedited shots and last I've added a shot from Apples own camera app to show the difference. Click the images for Original size.

All Shots below are now JPEG compressed on the highest setting in 645 Pro

All Shots below are now tests of the filters apart from two one was FC5 and seeing as all the shots above are suing this filter I didn't see the point. Also missing is C42, for some reason it wasn't done, but its just cooler in temperature version of E6K.

Now is the native iPhone App image, everything was the same and no editing on my behalf.

Below Is a side by side comparison of the three main shooting options. An uncompressed TIFF, Compressed JPEG or Apples Native App. As you can see (viewing the full size image) the Apple offering and 645's TIFF are pretty ugly compared to the compressed JPEG. This app offers two types of compression for JPEG images; Medium and High. High is the best and this is what is shown here. Also viewing them in Flickr doesn't do the images justice, as even viewing the original file is somewhat compressed.

I'd like to here your comments if you have used the App. Most internet chatter is positive.

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Well I bought the FujiFilm X-E1 today. Got the kit with the 18-55mm Fujinon Lens.

I have done one test image so far as I'm a little bit busy. Will try it more over the coming week.



The camera on its first day out. Taken with the trusty iPhone 5.

 

Well we took a day trip to Skipton in North Yorkshire today, the weather was nice and sunny but still cold-ish.

Shots below have been resized down and some have colour adjustment to fit my style and liking. All were taken with the new Fuji.



























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Time


B&W conversions from the colour RAF files using ACR. Adobe have got the conversion almost spot on.




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Have you downloaded the 7.4 RC update for ACR yet (there's a 4.4RC update for LR too)? Massive improvement in the de-mosaicing algorithm for XE-1/X-Pro 1 files, it's a little less contrasty and sharpened (which can be countered anyway) but it solves a lot of the problems with the RAF files I told you about.

 

I'm still on 7.3 I still need to get hold of 7.4

I dont use Lightroom as I'm not keen on the workflow. I have been toying with the idea of giving it another try though. Thanks for the heads up on ACR.

 

Roses

Some roses sitting on the bedroom window. I wanted to experiment with backlit objects and flex the new camera's muscles and also try my luck at manual focusing.

Below are my fruits and they aren't supposed to be great shots or designed to be artistic but more testing and working my camera.

Click For Lightbox










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Lemon The Bear



F4.5 ~ 1/500s ~ ISO 200 ~ 29mm

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Order and Chaos



Take with iPhone 5 and DBL CAM

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Taken with iPhone 5 & edited in Snapseed

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Some new images.

The first two are part of a project I set myself today. trying to replicate photographs taken in my home village of Horbury back around 1900. The rest can be found of Flickr or my blog.





Now some random shots from today also.











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Really liking that one on post #15.

 

I like the silhouette of the the plants against the sky

 

Thanks,

As much as cameraphones have small sensors and dont generally have the same IQ as a Full Fat camera they can supprise and give a unique image all of thier own. iPhone 5 is just very grainy.

Thanks, wasnt sure on how that shot would come out as it was a quick on handed snap while turning round to head off in a different direction.

 

Some shots taken yesterday at Trinity Leeds. It's a new shopping centre that has just opened up. Also some taken on my way in to town from work.













I have a few more on my Flickr but I liked these few the best.

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A few things came in the post today. My Billingham Hadley Small camera bag and my Gordy's Camera Strap. Both excellent quality.






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PK - FX adapter has arrived.



Two tests with the Lenses.


SMC Pentax - M 50mm 1.7 ISO 800 1-500 handheld


Auto Chinon 28mm 2.8 ISO 800 1-500 handheld

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How's manual focusing with the X-E1? Can you be quick and precise?

The Billingham looks really nice, too.

 

I'm still getting used it. With the Fujinon lens it's easy because you can press the AE-L/AF-L button and it will focus if your far away from being in focus. With the Pentax and Chinon lenses its difficult. I want to use the Chinon for street photography until I either get a Leica 35mm f2 Summicron or the Fuji 35mm F1.4 R lens. From what I've read if I find a sweet spot of focal length and aperture depending on lighting conditions and switch to Auto ISO with a cap of 3200 this will allow quick snaps with a majority in focus, or thats the theory.

Two more with the new lenses, the bottom is the Pentax fully stopped down, the top is the Chinon. They are soft but have a creamy lush look.





The Billingham is a superb bit of kit and I'm glad I chose it over another Lowepro.​

 

I see. I has to be said that Sony got it right with their "Focus Peaking" system, no doubt.

As for street photography, I guess the technique you describe should work, yes. Raw street photography.

Those two shots are very nice, well done.
(I think I've said it already, but that Pentax is wonderfull)

 

It seems Fuji has decided to take a leaf out of Sonys book and implement their own version of Peaking and it does look good. I'm not sure if it could be passed over to the X-E1 and X1 Pro in a firmware update or not.​

 

Good news. I did not know that.

 

Yeh its great news. The X100s and X20 have this feature now so only a matter of time to see if Fuji decide it is something they want the X-1Pro and X-E1 guys to have.

Two more taken with the 50mm Pentax lens.





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I was out the other day with my fiancée and she wants to learn photography. Seeing as I'm using my Fuji now the Canon was just lying around not doing much. This has become hers and she loves it. Anywhoo here are some snaps.






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Out today as the sun gave us a visit. Popped over to the park to visit the birds.









Entry to the Comp



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