Nik Software has finally released Version 2 of its popular Silver Efex Pro application for converting colour images into black and white work. Having used version one for some time, I’ve been eagerly awaiting this upgrade and will be putting it through its paces over the next few weeks. There are many new features in...
After I completed my earlier review of Capture On Pro 6 in a black and white conversion test with Silver Efex Pro, I had some feedback from several people who asked me to add Lightroom 3 into the mix to see how converting the same RAW file would work out by comparison with the other...
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This review is a follow on from my earlier ‘First Impressions’ article looking at Capture One Pro RAW processor’s new Black and White conversion capabilities in their latest, Version 6, release. In this fuller review, I’ve compared it directly with an equivalent workflow in Adobe Camera Raw 6 with Photoshop CS5 and the popular Silver...
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Relatively hot on the heels of version 5, Phase One have just released version 6 of Capture One RAW processor. My work is predominantly monochrome at present, so I was very interested to learn that the developers have improved the black and white conversion workflow of this new release. For the first time, the release...
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This is a revised and extended version of my Zeiss 85mm Sonnar lens review article which was originally published on Steve Huff’s excellent photography blog in December 2010. I’ve included more images and new technical content gained from further research on the lens and also added some full size image download options for those who...
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My initial review of the Zeiss 85mm Sonnar lens for the Leica M9 Rangefinder camera was published as a guest article by Steve Huff on his very popular photography blog at SteveHuffPhoto. His site specialises in equipment reviews and articles on a wide range of cameras, but is a particularly excellent resource for information on...
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First off let me say that I’m a WinMac LeicaNik guy. What does that mean? That means that, up to very recently, I used Nikon DSLRs and Windows computers running Photoshop exclusively. A few months ago I decided that I’d had enough of lugging two Nikon bodies, umpteen heavy lenses, a Windows 7 computer and...
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The Leica Fotographie International Galleries are now online with a recently updated application for both the iPad and the iPhone. The galleries have a very broad range of excellent photographic contributions by photographers from all over the world. It’s a great place to seek or renew your inspiration, whether you are a colour worker or...
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Ladies Morris teams are a common site in the villages around Oxfordshire. In fact, it is said in some corners that Morris dancing traditions might have been lost had it not been for may dances and tunes being preserved by enthusiastic women archivists work over the past hundred years or more. This is a shot...
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Here’s a Plum Jerkum dancer having a puff after running out of puff dancing at Wallingford Bunkfest in early September. Plum Jerkum hails from Warwickshire, their name being derived from a cider made from the local Drooper plum. Apparently it has the local reputation of ‘leaving the head crystal clear while paralysing the legs’! Here’s...
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For a recently converted Leica fan, there are a very few specialist on-line galleries where you’d want to have your work showcased, and Leica Fotographie International is perhaps the most prestigious. It’s the site I go to most often to be inspired by wonderfully creative images shot by Leica based photographers from all over the...
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Having missed the grand opening of Oxford’s new Ashmolean Museum some months ago, I wanted to see what the project architect, Rick Mather, and sixty million pounds of refurbishment had delivered. There’s no doubt that he has created a wonderfully light and airy space with a stunning, eighty foot high, glass roofed, central atrium that...
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Even in November, Devon’s fishermen are still hauling their boats into the sea to make a small catch to sell in the beach wet fish shop. This image was taken on the beach of a little fishing village called Beer in South Devon as a boatman was dragging a heavy steel hawser down to his...
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This case study takes a Nikon D300 image, shot at a classic car race meeting at Silverstone, through various post processing steps from the RAW NEF file through to a smart monochrome final image. Along the way we will use Photoshop CS5, Camera RAW, Noiseware Professional and Siver Efex Pro to produce the finished result....
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A pictorial, retrospective review of the excellent Nikon D300 camera body fitted with a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.0 VR telephoto lens and used in the context of a motor racing photoshoot at Snetterton race track in Norfolk. The review discusses why, even today, the thoroughbred three year old D300 is still a great camera for this kind of sports photography and offers some example shots as evidence of its capabilities.
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August Bank Holiday in England is sometimes a sunny affair, which helps enormously if you’ve spent the last year organising a musical extravaganza. For the past forty six years Towersey in Oxfordshire has held a folk music festival which has become a firm favourite with folk aficionados from all over the country. Always a successful...
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No doubt the result of falling water levels or an extreme spring tide lifting her beyond retrievable, and much subsequent neglect. Taken on the Isle of Skye using a Nikon D70 SLR fitted with a 12-24mm Nikon zoom lens, shot at f10.0 at 1/400th at ISO 200, exposure compensation -1/3rd stop, saved as JPEG; camera...
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Shot on a day with very poor weather – one of the few during an excellent short break in Key West, Florida earlier this year. It’s one of a sequence taken at the Dolphin Research Center on the island of Marathon. It took several attempts of course because timing was critical so as to catch...
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When you pick up a Leica M9 for the first time you’re struck by its unexpected solidity, build quality and sheer weight. When a substantial Leica lens is added to the camera the handling changes significantly and you’re very tempted to feel that the camera will roll forward out of your hands and slip to...
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This little six megapixel beauty was purchased by me in the US some years ago and used for all sorts of quick images – for straight out of the coat pocket and back again kind of shots. It never failed to impress me with its unfussy menu system and ‘grab it’ point-and-shoot utility. When it...
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