A quick capture from a short after work walk.
Sony Nex 5N with Sigma 30/2.8 lens. Cropped in Gimp.
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Today marked a once in 16 year Solar Eclipse for New Zealand. I had taken my Nex and filters along to work, aiming to capture some form of it at about 10.20am. As my schedule would have it I had back to back meetings from 10am to midday, emerging out from the meeting room well too late and to be told by some others that it was great… oh well, I have plenty of time to book the next one into my diary!
Taking a stroll after work I came upon the Shore Archery Club. The weather was starting to pack in, with clouds spitting their collections of water, so I took a few shots before making my way back to the car. Shooting both at zoom stepped back, and wide angle up close, I wanted to make the targets visible, but not to sharp. I settled on the wide angle version in the end.
In post processing using Gimp I adjusted the contrast and then applied the national geographic filter. After that I removed some of the sharpening layers the filter applies, and finally added my name onto the targets – just to be a bit different than my usual sig style.
I’m Still(!) trying to finish off the roll of B&W film in my Rollei 35. Its funny how even now, after predominantly shooting digital for an age, I don’t waste shots on film so much. Being a totally manual camera, including guessing the focus distance, one has a lot more time to think and decide if the shot is not quite right. I’m sure if it had been in my Ricoh GR1 I would be developing it by now. Still, that’s part of the film appeal to me.
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What started out as a clear sunny day, turned into a heavily wet day by works end today. I had planned to have a stroll around some of the light industry areas, but was not prepared for the thick downpours the sky offered.
Driving home I wanted to capture the weather a little. Using my Ricoh and its wide angle lens, the rain out of the open window didn’t appear so obvious. Rather, I switched to macro and focused on the raindrops on the windscreen, blurring out the background, but leaving enough detail to make a road visible.
In post processing using Gimp I cropped out some of the sky, sharpened, added a light vignette and pushed the colour saturation up a tad.
Maybe there will be more sun tomorrow!
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We really had a day of changeable weather today in Auckland. One moment I was in warm sun, the next heavy rain.
Looking out of my office window, out into the mix of suburbia and small industry, I shot today’s image on my Ricoh GRD IV.
In post processing I resized, selected the clouds, pushed the contrast and reduced the brightness. I then converted the whole image to B&W, and touched the contrast a little further. Finally I cropped the aspect a little, removing a larger roof section in the foreground.
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Its funny how some images, to the individual, appeal. One from my archives – Roadworks Fiji Time, was shot on my Ricoh GRD IV whilst in Fiji the other month. I cant really hit the nail on the head what appeals to me about the image, but I like it. I do recall being quite impressed with the focus and detail of the rubble pile, coming from the Ricoh – perhaps visually assisted by the filter settings I had it on… perhaps it just reminds me of the day or the moment at the time.
Nothing other than resizing in post processing.
This weekend has flown by. What I have noticed is the Christmas decorations and stores now opening up – is it that time already!?!
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