Over a month of bloody rain, but last night it stopped and this morning I got up at 5 and was at the seashore before 6. The above photo looks very un-coastal, you are thinking. I only brought the F6 with me this morning and used up a roll of Ektachrome 100 and a bit of Kodak Gold 200. It’ll be a few weeks before I use up the rest of the film in the fridge and send it off, so no watery subjects in the blog post today.
But,
This afternoon I was trying not to fall asleep (I don’t usually get up before the sun and my body wanted revenge) so I decided to try a bit of still life. I had a stool I wanted to use as a background because it’s neutral and then something colourful to put on top of it for contrast. On the fridge was this magnet a former student brought me back from Venice when she was there a few years ago. First I used the F6 to photograph it and then I brought out the D810. It’s no work of art, but it was a good way to spend half an hour and come back to life.
The photo above is the NEF file as interpreted by Lightroom with auto white balance and a bit of sharpening and clarity. I’m not completely happy with how it looks. Below is the JPG straight from the camera:
I think the camera does a much better job, don’t you? I’m not great at processing photos on computer . . . . and don’t especially want to be.
Bottom one looks better to me because of the brighter contrast of the background.
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Yes, much better.
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The colour is more natural in the bottom one because it hasn’t been lightened too much. I would honestly say, forget all these fancy-pants programs – learn to use something simple like Irfanview – it’s a really remarkable little free program – not complicated, but is a breeze to use.
Still Lifes (Lives?) aren’t easy – I can recommend looking at some of the ones Edward Steichen produced of his house and garden when he became housebound, and for real obsession, any of John Blakemore’s Tulip studies – you initially think they’re weird and awful, but there’s something about them that works on you for a few years ‘;0)
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Thanks for the thoughts. I tried IrfanView but it didn’t suit me. I keep thinking I should cancel my Lightroom subscription, but it’s so convenient . . . . These days I am trying to be more careful about exposure and white balance before pressing the shutter button. It saves a lot of hassle later.
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