NEW VERSION: Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska
I’m going back through my old photos for a website update. This one is already on my website, but I thought I would see what the current software (and my current Lightroom chops) could do with some of the files. This is the first one I’ve tried this go-around, and I think I’ve made significant improvement.
I made a Snapshot in case I messed something up, then hit Reset. Using the Adobe Landscape profile, I went though my usual routine with contrast, etc. I added a gradient to the sky, using a Luminance Mask to apply the settings only to the lightest parts. Overall contrast and saturation is much better, which is hard to see in the web versions.
It will be interesting to see what I can do with other files. This may take a while…. 😉
Canon 20D w/17-40 f4
PREVIOUS VERSION: Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska
Really Right Stuff L-Bracket installed on the X-T4. Very clean lines and well-integrated with the design of the camera
I’ve been fans of Really Right Stuff (RRS) products since I purchased an L-bracket and clamp for my Mamiya 7 camera back in (approximately) 2002. Paying my ‘RRS Tax’ has been an important part of each camera purchase since then. The rare exception was with the brackets for my Fujifilm X-T1 and X-E2. I bought very well-made brackets from a company in England which is (sadly) no longer in business. I still have the bracket I purchased for the Mamiya, as it is a “universal” model and has fit every camera I have owned since. Handy for those few weeks while I’ve waited for the “real” bracket to be available!
Really Right Stuff L-Bracket installed on the X-T4. Very clean lines and well-integrated with the design of the cameraReally Right Stuff L-Bracket installed on the X-T4. Very clean lines and well-integrated with the design of the camera
The biggest issue with Really Right Stuff products is that they are Really Really Expensive. But like owning Craftsman tools or All-Clad cookware, you can’t go wrong buying the good stuff. I currently own a RRS tripod with ballhead, and until recently had two ballheads. I’ll never need to buy another tripod. Unless I change my mind and decide I need a smaller one. 😉
Front angle view showing captive Allen Wrench – no more fumbling for the wrench!Front angle view showing captive Allen Wrench – no more fumbling for the wrench!
When I placed the order for my X-T4, I also ordered an L-bracket from another manufacturer. That bracket was supposed to cost about $65 less than the RRS version, and because it was also a quality brand, I figured I would save some money. Because it is a brand-new camera, neither company had released their L-brackets at the time I got my camera.
Really Right Stuff L-Bracket installed on the X-T4. Works well with the swing-out screen with very little restriction in viewing options
I kept checking the Kirk and RRS websites for information on their delivery times. Kirk’s website said that they didn’t expect to ship until late July. As of the time of this post, the bracket is showing up on their website for ordering but is out of stock. The photos on the Kirk website show a product that isn’t (in my opinion) as well designed and integrated with the camera as the RRS version. Plus it is $25 more than I originally expected, making it nearly as much as the RRS while not being nearly as nice.
One day I checked the websites and the RRS version was in stock and shipping. I ordered one immediately and cancelled the order for the other one. Of course it came 3 days after we left for our trip to Ohio, but it was waiting for me when I returned.
Sliding plate that allows for use of a USB cable, remote release, headphones or HDMI cable with the camera in the vertical position
The photos will show better than my words will, but the RRS product is exceptionally well designed. The relatively recent addition of the magnets for mounting the Allen wrench is genius, and the sliding plate to accommodate accessories in a vertical configuration is a nice touch, much better than some kind of add-on adapter.
I haven’t had a chance to actually use the bracket in real life, but hope to be able to put it through its paces soon. Of course as long as it works there won’t be a lot more to say!
Really Right Stuff L-Bracket before installation on the cameraReally Right Stuff L-Bracket before installation on the cameraReally Right Stuff L-Bracket before installation on the cameraReally Right Stuff L-Bracket before installation on the cameraReally Right Stuff L-Bracket before installation on the camera
It may be a dicey time to try and get out to other parts of the country, but Kathy & I are fixin’ to get back on the road again. We’ll be headed to Ohio and beyond for a few days. So I’m going to end the post-a-day I’ve been doing and concentrate on taking photos and spending time with family and friends. You may see an occasional postcard from time to time.
“Throw this one back “(as soon as I get a photo). Baby hammerhead shark
One thing I did do, for anyone who is interested, is post a gallery of photos from our recent trip to the beach: 2020-06 Hilton Head
Monte commented on my last post about having been inside having dinner when a nice sunset was happening. As it turned out, Friday’s sunset here was also pretty nice, but I missed it for the same reason. I’ve often told non-photographers that many of the best landscape photos are taken when people are either eating or sleeping. Of course, Kathy’s version of that saying is that a sunset is best observed through a glass. Albeit not a glass in the form of a camera lens. 😉
I had my camera all ready to go on Saturday night but it turned out to be a colorless mass of gray clouds. But I left everything out in the office to I would be ready last night. When the first hint of pink started in the sky I went inside, grabbed my gear and headed to the patio. But in the course of that 1-2 minute window the pink faded as fast as it started. I did manage to salvage a bit of the last remaining hints of color as it faded. First photo and last photo were about 12 minutes apart.
Sunset From The Patio
Transmission towers aren’t as nice a subject as palm trees, but they aren’t drift fences, either. 🙂
The photo in my previous post was processed using the “Vintage 01” profile in Lightroom. My default setting is usually an Import Preset I’ve developed using the “Camera Velvia” profile, with some of my own secret sauce. The Velvia version with that subject came out way too saturated, so I started messing around with a few other treatments. I created new Virtual Copies, changed to a new profile then made a few additional tweaks based on what I thought each version needed.
Original with Velvia Profile
No verdicts or preferences at this point, but it was interesting to see what the different options can do.
Kathy’s birthday is coming up soon, so of course I did the sensible thing and bought her a camera. I think she’s going to let me use it. 😉 Actually, I did buy a new camera, but it’s for me. For her birthday I think we’ll plan to go somewhere fun for me to use it.
When I migrated from Canon cameras to Fuji cameras in 2015, I bought the X-T1, followed by a “backup” X-E2. When it was all said and done, I had a pretty enviable collection of lenses, both zooms and primes. The whole kit weighed a fraction of what my literal suitcase of Canon gear weighed, the Fuji cameras and lenses are excellent and I paid for most of the Fuji stuff for what I sold the Canon stuff for. Wins all around!
Now, 5 years later the camera technology has improved, to the point where when Fuji announced the X-T4 I knew it was time for an upgrade. The X-T1 & X-E2 are still excellent cameras. In fact, my youngest son is going to embark on his own photography journey with the bodies and two of my lenses. So they will go to a good home, and by keeping them “in the family” maybe I can borrow them back at some point! 😉 Not really, but I wrote that for his benefit….
I had looked seriously at the X-T3 when it came out, and it is an excellent camera. I actually rented one to try out about a year ago. The timing wasn’t right, I felt like I still needed a second body and it was going to require different batteries, memory cards, etc., and at the time I didn’t feel like it was the right thing to do. But after all the travel we’ve been doing the last year or so, the more I realized that I was just carrying too much stuff. I’ve always said – jokingly – that the more lenses I carried with me the more likely it was that I had the wrong one on the camera. So the idea of having to choose from 2 camera bodies and 8 lenses – or heaven forbid carry all of it with me! – seemed like things were getting out of hand.
Backing up a bit – several years ago we went from a 2003 Acura to a 2016 Honda. While we thought the Acura was a pretty sophisticated car, the 13 year difference with the Honda was astounding. The years do (usually) mean an improvement in technology, engineering and performance. Same thing holds true for cameras , even though in this case we’re talking about a difference of only 5 years! At the time I am typing this I haven’t even turned the camera on, but reading through the manual (YES, I did!) I am amazed at the improvement in just the custom settings alone. I can’t wait to see what the photos look like.
I’ll write about my initial impressions once I have had a chance to take it for a spin and see what it will do. But for now suffice it to say that the X-T4 is a pretty fine looking piece of equipment, I like the silver look instead of the all black of my X-T1, and I can’t wait to see how it performs in real life. Stay tuned for more thoughts and many more photos!
We awoke this morning to some dense fog, following the passing of the weather system that brought us all the rain over the last few days. I grabbed my camera for a walk and came back with a nice collection. No, I never get tired of shooting those power lines and towers. 🙂
TGIF and Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
Photos from an early walk on a foggy morningPhotos from an early walk on a foggy morningPhotos from an early walk on a foggy morningPhotos from an early walk on a foggy morningPhotos from an early walk on a foggy morningPhotos from an early walk on a foggy morningPhotos from an early walk on a foggy morning
Out and About: Abandoned Shopping Carts at the Bus Stop
One of the blogs that I follow is On My Om by Om Malik, a tech journalist, photographer and investor. While perhaps a bit extreme, he started self-quarantining even before it became widespread. A comment in a recent post echoes a sentiment I have also been having:
“…the 80-day quarantine has made me ask the two questions that I should have been asking all along: What do I value? And what is worth my time? Those two questions are intertwined.”
Kathy & I have already been asking a similar question when it comes to eating out or “splurging” on “treat foods” like Five Guys (how long has that been?!?): Is it worth it? As in cost (both caloric and financial) and weight gain.
There have been a lot of rabbit holes during this 2+ month sabbatical, and more and more I find myself questioning whether I am spending my time in the best way I can. I would add to the quote above a third question: “how will I feel about how I spent my time during this period 5, 10 or even 20 years from now?
Forty days and forty nights – seems we might have been able to sail around the world in that time (oh, that was 80, sorry)! The good news is that not spending money on travel means that we have more money to spend on future travel. The bad news is that the markets have eaten some of our travel money!
We’ve had a number of conversations lately about when and where we’ll be able to go when the time comes. We were supposed to be on a Southwest US road trip right now. We have 17 states plus Hawaii left, and have routes mapped out to catch all of them. The current hope is that we can head to a family birthday/wedding/July 4 blowout in Ohio then extend on into either the Northwest or the Northeast, saving the Southwest until fall or next spring.
Our big issue now is not so much fear of the Coronavirus itself, but what I am calling “Pandemic Panic.” It’s all the ‘stuff’ that people are going to feel like they have to do to either comply with health department requirements or the expectations of the Perpetually Paranoid. I’d prefer to not have to wear a mask into a grocery store in North Dakota (not that they are requiring it, this is hypothetical) or a museum in Oregon (again hypothetical) but if the choice comes down to going with compromises or staying home, I think we’ll figure out a way to go.
The October cruise we have booked? Another story completely. It depends on many factors: Are the ports in Canada going to open (they are currently closed until July, and the cruise season only goes through October)? Is the port of Boston going to allow cruise ships to take on and discharge passengers? What is the onboard experience going to be like? We need to send them our money by early July, and I just don’t think we’ll know enough by July to make that kind of commitment. So October might be the perfect time for another road trip and get our 49th state. We’ll see! 🙂
It’s been about 6 weeks since I had my hair cut, and while it was a good cut, it is getting kind of shaggy. Fortunately it seems like the latest style and I’m on the cutting edge for once!
I have resisted the trend toward beards and mustaches and have maintained my every-other-day(-ish) shaving, but it’s going to probably be another month or so until I can get the hair trimmed again. It will be interesting to see how people deal with their hair over the next few weeks. At least we don’t have to worry about hair color like a lot of our friends and neighbors! 😉
The photo is from several years back at Floyd’s Barber Shop in Mount Airy, NC. Mount Airy is known to many as Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show.
