Street view

A day in the life

A couple of randomly selected street photography samples this time. All were shot with the X-E1 during our brief trip to Granada.

For this kind of pictures, I most always gravitate to a classic black-and-white rendering. With that comes that special ambiance, and reminiscences of great masters from the past. The images here have gone first through Lightroom (for a minimal exposure and crop adjustment) and then moved on to Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2, to apply my favorite custom ‘magic sauce’ preset.

Yes, we can!

Let me tell ya, …

Olives & Co

The four images above were shot with the 18-55mm zoom, a very pleasing and convenient tool for casual walk-around photography. All but one were at focal lengths between 18 and 23mm. I could easily have made these with either the 18mm or the long-awaited 23mm prime. I am so curious how that latter lens will perform: 35mm (equivalent) is my most favored focal length for street shooting.

Late at night, there's no better pick than the XF 35mm… Wide open and at ISO 1600, it perfectly captured the mood of a freezing evening walk in the old Albaicín quarter.

Frozen time

Gear notes: Fujifilm X-E1, Fujinon XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 & XF 35mm f/1.4

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Interior shots with the XF 14mm

Hotel entrance (ISO 200, f/8, 1/80s)

During our recent family mini-trip to Granada, we stayed at the picturesque Hotel Palacio De Santa Inés, in the Unesco World Heritage Albaicín district. Its 35 rooms are located in two small 16th century Mudejar buildings, restructured and renovated in 1995 and 2001 respectively. The hotel fascinates by its courtyard beauty because of its fountain, columns, balustrades and in particular, of Renaissance frescos painted by two of Rafael’s disciples.

What better setting can you imagine to learn more about how well the Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8 lens handles interior and architectural shots?

Hotel lobby (ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/25s)

Lobby courtyard (ISO 400, f/4.5, 1/40s)

With no side windows at ground level but a lot of bright daylight coming in through the courtyard’s skylight, these images challenge the dynamic range of the X-Pro1 and X-E1 X-Trans sensors. Fortunately, these raw (RAF) files provide a lot of room for optimization in post using Adobe’s Lightroom 4.4RC, and combining detailed highlights as well as low-noise shadow areas is not to hard at all. Just pull’em sliders…

Second courtyard (ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/5s)

Second courtyard (ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/9s)

Working in small, cramped spaces with a 21mm-equivalent wide angle will often require tilting the camera, resulting in the well-known converging vertical lines. These may become an interesting compositional element, as in the following two shots (that again challenge the dynamic range). Alternatively, state-of-the-art post-processing tools like Lightroom incorporate perspective correction features, which were moderately applied in most of the other pictures.

Skylight in lobby courtyard (ISO 400, f/6.4, 1/75s)

Skylight of second courtyard (ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/40s)

I will point out once again that on this family leisure trip I did not bring any tripods, bubble levels etc. as you would normally use for this kind of images. All shots were made hand-held, in a minimum of time, occasionally resting the camera against whatever column or railing was appropriately available. Using a tripod would have allowed smaller apertures (and more DOF) as well as lower sensitivities (and thus lower noise and better dynamic range). But hey, these are X-cameras, so higher ISO settings are no problem, and the 14mm lens gives a large depth-of-field at almost any F-stop!

Upstairs (ISO 400, f/9, 1/30s)

Stairway (ISO 800, f/4.5, 1/30s)

The least I can say is that the XF 14mm prime has not disappointed at all! Just as with the exterior pictures shown in my earlier posts, this little gem keeps amazing me. It has rapidly become a favorite of mine, and will find itself in my bag on many, many occasions. I am really looking forward to give it a run at some ‘real’ architectural work, working from a tripod and taking all the time required for optimal image quality.

Breakfast room (ISO 800, f/3.2, 1/25s)

In the next posts-to-come, we will have a look at that other excellent travel companion, the Fujinon XF 18-55mm zoom. Stay tuned!

Gear notes: Fujifilm X-Pro1 & X-E1, Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8

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More XF 14mm shots from Granada

Continuing our visit to Granada, let’s find out this time what the XF 14mm captured outside the Alhambra.

Cathedral (ISO 400, f/8, 1/170s)

Plaza Nueva (ISO 800, f/8, 1/2000s)

With its wide angle of view, the XF 14mm is ideal for the traditional ‘postcard shots’. You cannot escape from converging vertical lines as soon as you tilt the camera upwards of downwards: so you options are either to keep them as an element of composition, or correct for them in post-processing. If you make your framing generously, you can properly account for the cropping required after strong compensation.

‘Wired’ (ISO 200, f/7.1, 1/40s)

Souvenir shops in the Albaicín (ISO 200, f/6.4, 1/25s)

The wide angle view of the XF 14mm also comes handy in the narrow streets of old Granada, such as throughout the Albaicín Moorish quarter. The 21mm (35mm equivalent) perspective for me is a little too wide for people-oriented street photography, but is works great to capture a broader view of a cramped environment.

Iglesia del Salvador (ISO 400, f/4, 1/35s)

Carrera del Darro at nightfall (ISO 1600, f/4, 1/15s)

Coupled to either the X-Pro1 or the X-E1, this lens performs equally well in low light situation, indoors and outdoors. There are no obvious issues like flare when light sources enter the image. Fairly long exposure times are quite feasible with a little technique (and, to make sure luck goes your way, an extra take or two just in case …).

Next time, we’ll try the XF 14mm at some interior shots.

Gear notes: Fujifilm X-Pro1 & X-E1, Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8

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Granada captured by Fuji’s XF 14mm f/2.8

At the Mirador de San Nicolas, looking out on Alhambra and Sierra Nevada
(ISO 200, f/8, 1/450s)

A couple of weeks ago, we took a short but much needed break from the Belgian winter and from all other things-as-usual. We set course on Granada, a city of UNESCO World Heritage fame that we hadn’t visited before. This was to be a relaxing family trip, so I was told to go tourist-style and leave behind any heavy stuff or tripods.

My travel kit was easy to assemble: first the X-Pro1 with the just arrived all-new 14mm f/2.8 wide angle, then the X-E1 with the 18-55mm zoom, and finally the 35mm f/1.4 just in case. Everything fitted comfortably in my Think Tank Retrospective 7, with room to spare. Sometimes things fall nicely in place…

Alhambra – The Palace of Charles V
(ISO 800, f/8, 1/60s)

Alhambra – The Courtyard of the Lions in early morning light
(ISO 400, f/11, 1/170s)

We found ourselves in a sunny but bitterly cold Granada, with above-zero temperatures between mid-morning and late afternoon only. The wind had a nasty chilling bite. This time of the year the light is very harsh: perfect conditions to challenge the sensor’s dynamic range. The quality of the out-of-camera JPEGs keeps surprising me, it is simply amazing how much shadow and highlight detail is captured and available to be further exploited in post-processing. I did often shoot at a minimum ISO 400 or 800 to maximize the potential dynamic range enhancement.

The Courtyard of the Myrtles, one of Alhambra’s signature shots
(ISO400, f/11, 1/180s)

Tesselations and arabesques 
(ISO400, f/11, 1/180s)

The harsh lighting conditions and the huge contrast between indoor and outdoor scenes however call for shooting RAW followed by careful post processing: that remains the best approach to reveal all highlight detail while maintaining low noise shadow information. Adobe’s Lightroom 4.4 release candidate finally brings us X-Trans demosaicing support at the level of the sensor’s image quality; this software was used for all sample images in this post.

Around the Courtyard of the Lions 
(ISO400, f/5.6, 1/40s)

Around the Courtyard of the Lions
(ISO400, f/5.6, 1/50s)

The Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8 proved to be all that is reported by many reviewers and early adopters. The lens is sharp right from its maximum aperture, shows excellent micro-contrast and is virtually distortion-free. Color rendition is superb. Autofocus is more than adequately fast (behaving like a true tourist on this trip, I almost never selected manual focus). Shooting handheld only, I was able to use fairly long exposure times with a very high keeper rate. In one word: the 14mm prime is a pleasure to work with!

Alhambra – Hall of the Ambassadors 
(ISO1600, f/5.6, 1/8s)

Alhambra – Ceiling of the Hall of the Abencerrajes
(ISO800, f/4, 1/45s)

The very wide field of view of course means that perspective distortion always lies just around the corner. Lightroom’s lens correction tools make it easy to compensate when desired, and the image files allowed so without visible loss of quality and detail.

Looking out at the Palacio del Partal
(ISO400, f/5, 1/450s)

The famous fountain in the Patio de Lindaraja
(ISO800, f/6.4, 1/60s)

Let there be no doubt: the 14mm prime is a beautiful lens that is likely to come along on many more trips. And that’s just one of its many potential applications!

Vista from the side gallery of the Generalife
(ISO400, f/11, 1/480s)

Generalife – View on the Patio de la Sultana
(ISO200, f/8, 1/850s)

More images from Granada and its wealth of monuments and sights to follow.

Gear notes: Fujifilm X-Pro1, Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8

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100X100 – episode 8

More from the recent family trip to Cologne. The city’s historical buildings and the grim weather conditions begged for selecting black&white shots, including some rather pushed post-processing courtesy of Silver Efex Pro.

No surprise: the X100 does very well in these varying light conditions, and there’s absolutely no need to be reluctant to push ISO settings all the way to 1600.

Gear notes: Fujifilm X100

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100X100 – episode 7

The X100 came along on a short city trip to Cologne, Germany. No Photokina action this time, but a visit with the family to the many exquisite museums (and some of the shopping areas…) that city offers.

We had poorly timed our passage: weather conditions included gray, wet and windy. Also, the Altstadt was gearing up for the festivities surrounding Cologne Pride 2011, with the CSD Parade taking place on Sunday (after we left): many of the cozy squares and picturesque house fronts were hidden by beer tents, sausage stands and the likes (most still ‘under construction’).

Still, the X100 was keen to capture these fugitive scenes from Köln’s daily street life.

Gear notes: Fujifilm X100

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Dream on!

Working at my desk on a chilly and windy day, I cannot help but dream about more exotic places to be… And then these images below come to my mind (and to my blog). They were shot a few years ago at the Club Med on the island of Bintan, Indonesia, just a 45 minute ferry ride away from Singapore.

Before you get any wrong ideas about my lifestyle: this was a business trip (sales meeting), it was in January, the weather was extremely windy and very cold (at least for the region), and it mostly rained like hell. None of us even made it into the water.

Gear notes: D70, 18-70DX

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Images never to forget

I happened to be in the USA on 9/11. Not in New York City but 700 miles to the west in Chicago, working a printing trade show.

I saw the memorable events evolving live on TV at a downtown hotel, having my breakfast in a buzzing atrium lobby. First hearing reports of a ‘small airplane incident’, next witnessing the brutal shake-up as the second plane hit, finally seeing the story expand into Washington and Pennsylvania. The rest as we know is history.

  
The events on 9/11 – and everything that came afterwards as
a result – have affected our thinking and our way of life up to this very day (agree, frequent business travelers?). They brought some of the worst nightmares for many people, but also bits of the best mankind has to offer: people joining forces to help and mend wounds. Emotions and images that will stay with us forever.

Having worked and lived earlier in the US for five years, I believed to have developed some understanding of the American society. During the few days following 9/11, grounded where we were as all commercial air traffic was cancelled, I discovered a lot more.

I was amazed to see how quickly and naturally a whole country came together as one. How the shocking discovery that even the US could be hit right into the heart slowly made its impact (“you Europeans are already used to live under a threat of terrorism, aren't you?”). How fierce business competitors quietly organized joint bus transportation to get their staff back to their families.

As this morning I browse through the USA Today newspapers I brought back with me (and kept ever since), I wonder if the people of our tiny country, where public debates today focus on trivial differences and (un)likely separations, would also be uniting spontaneously under similar circumstances.

Then again, I hope that I will never have to really find out…

Gear notes: irrelevant

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