Tag: Ricoh

No Family Portrait Today

Family Photo

Catching up with friends today in Devonport for Fish and Chips, it was decided the time was right for a family portrait…well, for all but the youngest member Emily. As soon as everyone lined up and cameras were at the ready, Emily heard the call of the sea-saw and rushed off.

I captured today’s shot just before she fell out of frame. Shot on the Ricoh GRD IV, in bleach bi-pass mode, I loved the lighting effect and the almost street photography like quality of the image.

In post processing using Gimp, I kept the focus on Emily and added some blur to different stages of the background. Other than the blur, its as is from the camera.

One more day left for 2012. Prior to a celebration/welcoming of 2013 with friends, I plan to be out for some of the day on the bicycle. I’m not sure where we will be going as yet, but likely I will find something to shoot!

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Upon the Tree

Christmas

A big long day – Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone!

Today’s image is of one of the tree-top Angels from the family home tree. Still the same old tree I had when young!

In keeping it short for the day, image was shot on the Ricoh GRD IV and edited in Photoshop CS5. Its been quite some time since I used Photoshop – I have been using Gimp as my main PC editor for some time now…the Photoshop layout and menu was all backwards (If you use Photoshop, just swap the editor names around and it will make more sense to you). I am by no means criticizing it – at the end of the day its the better of the two…just not my usual or chosen editor.

The bad weather is starting to arrive, albeit not as bad as forecast. We will see what tomorrow brings!

Hope your Christmas has gone well!

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Wet Path Home

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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Changeable Weather

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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Surface of the Earth

Been a pretty flat out day and I have run out of time to write much.

Snapped this on my GRD IV on the way home today. In post processing I added several selective blur layers in Gimp and cropped to play with the sizing perspective a little.

More tomorrow!

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A Horse in a Forest

I got the opportunity to develop one of my films from Fiji today. It was by accident that I had loaded a roll of Ilford Pan400 into the camera, planning to shoot colour for the whole holiday, but it made its way into my case somehow, and since Ricoh GR1’s pre-load the film before shooting, it was easier to just go with it than swap it out for colour (my colour films have been sent off for developing).

Anyway, today’s image was shot in a rainforest area several hours south from Nadi in Fiji. We were taking a trip to an inland waterfall after visiting one of the local villages seeking permission to enter. Some tourists ride up rather than walk, and I came across such a group on my return to the village. Unfortunately this horse was not in the best of moods today and had caused some issues on the trip up (I would too if I had to carry people through a muddy forest in the hot midday heat). Using my GR1 I got as close as I felt secure (it looks further away with a 28mm lens) and captured the horse and his guide calming him.

In post production using Gimp, I adjusted the levels a little, but otherwise left it as scanned. Considering the brightness, even undercover of the canopy, I was happy with the result the 400asa film gave me.

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Searching for Shade

Fresh back from Fiji, I’ve had just enough time to look over my digital images. For those reading who may have missed my final decision, I ended up making it a ’28mm Holiday’, taking along my GR1 and GRD IV Ricoh cameras. I shot off two colour and one black and white films on the GR1, and a fair number of digital images also. Weather being fantastic, the light was also pretty harsh come mid-morning.

Today’s image, ‘Searching for Shade’ is one of my favourites from my initial inspection of images. Taking a stroll around the Denarau Port area, Nadi Fiji, where we were based, the temperature was around 30 degrees Celsius with no cloud cover. I managed to find a larger tree with good foliage and sat down to try and cool down a little. Transitioning from Auckland’s ~12degrees the week before, it took me a few days to adapt to the heat!

Just down, back in the sun from where I sat, I captured this image on my GRD IV. Using the bleach bi-pass mode. I particularly like how the bleach bi-pass in the Ricoh worked with the harsh bright light I had during the day. Sitting back at home its 11 degrees again…don’t think I’m quite over the holiday yet – I’d welcome that tree in the shade right about now!

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A Sunday Stroll

The weather looked like it would pack in my late afternoon today, so we got out the house for a beach stroll before it did (and it did just after we got home). I headed out with my GRD IV and R10 Ricoh’s – mostly with the intention to shoot film, but also to capture something for today’s posting.

It appeared many other had the same intention, and with the tide low we walked along some of the coastline, between beaches. Today’s image, from the GRD IV, was taken in its colour bleach mode. In Gimp I cropped in the black header/footer, re-boosted colour a little and resized .

When I got home I remembered I was going to try out my new Nex lens, but it will have to wait for another day now.

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Laze by the Lake

Some weeks go faster then others. This week didn’t particularly feel that way, so come Friday works end I was ready to unwind for the week.  Taking a trip to Lake Pupuke in Takapuna I inadvertently took a wrong turn and came across a walking track I had not seen before. The heavy rain at various times over the last month had soaked the ground and my flat bottomed business shoes struggled to keep me upright on some of the more sloped sections, but it was a great track all the same. A nice finish to the working week.

Shot on the GRD IV, I spent some post time in Gimp softening and diffusing the original to get today’s image.

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Smiths Bush

As spring slowly approaches the days are starting to lengthen out again. This still does not leave much light when I finish work, but left enough today for me to take a brisk walk around Smiths Bush in Northcote on Auckland’s North Shore.

It must have been about 5 years, possibly more, since I last went through the bush. It has turned into a wonderful local walkway there one could spend three quarters of an hour on a loop trail. The tall trees with mixed canopy, along with rotten fallen trunks really gives one the sense they are out in the bush/jungle.

Armed with my GRD and light fading fast, I captured a number of forest shots. In post processing in Gimp I played around with a few contrast and special layers, with the result being today image. When I get some more time I will definitely visit Smiths Bush again!

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