Spent the weekend just gone in Sydney with my wife Melissa. We headed up to see the Top Gear Live show at Acer Arena, which was tremendous fun of course. Since it was just an overnight stay we decided to travel light, which even meant no cameras *cry* so we made do with our iPhones and the great new camera app called Hipstamatic, which does its best to simulate various old lenses and films, along with flash gels.
Taken in the Sydney Domestic Airport Train Station
One of the cool things is that the effect is applied when you take the photo (you select a film, lens and flash gel type before you shoot) and therefore the photo is what it is, the effects are not an afterthought or tweaked to look “right”, you have to actually think about what look you want before you take the picture, and know what combination of lens, film and flash to put on the camera to get the look.
Just like in the olden days. 
It is (almost) all the fun and unpredictability of shooting with a Holga, without the high cost of medium format film. Yeah yeah I know its not the same, but for messing about its fun. I just wish I had an iPhone 3GS, as my iPhone 3G does not have the ability to focus. Never mind, new one in a few months…
Bird cages suspended over a side street, commenting on endangered bird species in Australia
As Chase Jarvis says, “the best camera is the one you have on you” so I may just blog a few more iPhone photos in the future, since it is after all always in my pocket, a place my 5D MkII just wont fit…
If you see me on a shoot these days, you will notice I have a little black piece of plastic hanging from a lanyard around my neck. This recent release on the market place is one which I would now never be without, the X-Rite Colour Checker Passport, which opens up to reveal a series of colour charts and white balance tools.
These charts are used by the devices software (Mac or PC) to create a colour profile specific to your very own camera. If you use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw for Photoshop when converting your Raw files, you have the choice of using either the standard Adobe Standard colour profile, or a generic profile they have created for your make and model of camera. But every camera is different, and the colour profiles they give you are not exactly accurate.
The Colour Checker Passport is quick to use, you can create a generic profile to use in any shot, or create a specific profile for a specific shoot, optimised for the given lighting conditions.
Simply take a photo containing the colour chart, then load it into the software (or use the export plugin for Lightroom) and the software will look at the photo, automatically locate the chart, and crunch the numbers to create a colour profile ensuring the colour values of each chip on the chart are correct. Then you apply that colour profile to the rest of the photos from that shoot. Too easy!
Here is the chart, with the Adobe Standard profile applied.
Now lets have a look at the profile for the Canon 5D MkII as supplied by Adobe. This is the “Camera Standard” profile.
And here we go with the custom profile.
As you can see, there are a few differences in the colours. The actual chart it uses for the profile is in the bottom half of the card. The top gives a grey scale, the basic colours that you can adjust in ACR or Lightroom and the middle two rows are for sampling for white balance, giving neutral white balancing, as well as options to warm or cool the image.
So how does it work in the real world?
Check out these pics, the first of each pair is with Adobe Camera Standard profile, and the second is with the custom colour profile created specifically for the job. I am sure you will agree the work in making the colour profile is well worth it.
The difference is subtle, but still makes a big difference. Of course, the photos will look best if you are viewing them on a properly calibrated monitor. Colours look more natural and consistent, and provide a better base from which to do more creative stuff with the photos like film effects and the like when required.
All client shoots with Nigel Honey Photos are now properly colour profiled with the X-Rite Colour Checker Passport at no extra charge.
In this modern age of digital photography, lens filters are often regarded as redundant, because many of the special effects can be replicated in post processing with software like photoshop. Traditionally we would use an ND Gradient filter to darken a sky, and allow us proper exposure of the ground. Now it is a piece of cake to blend two exposures, one for the sky, one for the ground, into one photo. The biggest drawback for the ND Grad filter is that unless you are shooting over flat ground, or the ocean, you will darken your hills, trees, buildings, or whatever. With photoshop this is easily avoided. ND Grads are still a far better option if you want to do long exposures though.
Filters that provide a tint, well thats easy too.
Digital cameras are not sensitive to UV light so a UV filter does nothing, but they do provide cheap protection for your lens’s front element. Better to damage a cheap filter than your lens.
But one filter that really can not be replicated is the Polarizer filter. If your camera is an auto focus one, you will need a Circular Polarizer or else the AF will not work. Most commonly they are a screw on filter. The filter screws onto the lens and then can spin, so you can adjust the angle of the polarization against the sunlight. If the filter is 90 degrees off it will have no polarization effect (though it will still knock about 1.5 stops of light out, which can also be handy). When you turn the filter around you will see the magic happen.
When using the filter, you just turn it until it looks good. Note it will really work best in bright sunlight or with a direct light source, it has less effect on a cloudy day.
Firstly the filter will reduce haze, increase contrast and the saturation of colours. Greens of trees will be enhanced, and it will really bring up and darken the blue of the sky, which can often appear pale and washed out. Compare these two photos…
This shot has EXACTLY the same shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length, white balance and colour profile setting, but the polarizer was turned around to effect…
But wait, theres more. As well as enhancing colour, the Circular Polarizer will also help get rid of or reduce reflections from non metallic objects. It will get rid of glare and reflections from water, windows, and its even good at getting rid of reflections in the paintwork of cars, though since they have complex shapes you may need to blend multiple exposures with different polarizer settings to get a great effect.
Check out these quick demo shots I took some time ago in Liverpool St, Hobart. Excuse the ordinary pictures, they are just snaps to be used for example…
Firstly without polarization..
And with…
Now THAT is something you simply can not do in Photoshop.
I also use the Circular Polarizer Filter a lot when shooting motorsport, as it allows me to slow down my shutter speed a bit to get a better motion blur in the background when panning, and you can also tweak the polarization to remove the glare from the car windows, so you can see inside the car, and of course the driver.
Circular Polarizers are expensive. Very expensive. My 82mm filter for my ultra wide angle lens nearly required the sale of some internal organs, but they are a very worthwhile investment, and really are an essential part of anyones gear bag if into landscape, architectural, or automotive photography.
Targa Wrest Point has been run again south of Hobart in Southern Tasmania. The event was won again by Tasmanian Jason White in his Lamborghini Gallardo.
I managed to get myself to the Dover stage on the Saturday to get some photos, prints of which are now for sale to competitiors. If you would like to purchase a photo, please get in touch with me.
I hope to have a gallery of all the photos up soon, in the mean time, here is a shot of Bill Rattrays Subaru Impreza WRX STI.
Juliana and Fitri spent a short time in Hobart late 2009, before heading back overseas. They are from Malaysia, and are set to marry in March, but it is so hot there then they decided to take some wedding photos whilst here enjoying the cooler climate here in Hobart.
We visited the railway line and then over to the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, which is a beautiful spot.
Juliana and Fitri were great fun and looked fantastic, I wish them all the best for their real wedding day very soon!
Has been too long since a blog update. But don’t worry I am still about keeping busy and lurking in the shadows…
Working on some exciting things too and hope to have an update on that real soon!
Time for Portrait of the Week. Been a busy week, and a busy weekend, spent working on our back yard. This weeks POTW is a shot my little boy Lucas, who was being very helpful with the gardening.
I love my plastic “toy” cameras, I am slowly building a collection of them, the latest being a Lomography Diana F+ Edelweiss Edition.
Cremorne Beach, just out of Hobart
I love the soft dreamy, surreal look of the images from the crummy plastic lens on cameras like this and my Holga 120CFN. The randomness of focus, composition and exposure -these cameras have no light meter and only basic exposure settings, though the Diana is somewhat more sophisticated than the Holga – the vignetting and the light leaks all add to the fun.
My little photography assistant, Lucas, at the West Hobart Train Park
I can run regular 35mm though the cameras but they are designed to use medium format film. If you use 35mm film,, you miss out on the wonderful vignetting and softness around the corners of the lens.
Bathurst St, Hobart
However the cost of this film and its associated developing and scanning mean using these cameras with this film can be a fairly expensive. Each shot can work out to cost about $4 or $5, and you have to think twice about taking a shot, where as ideally you wouldn’t think about shooting with such a camera. Still, these cameras are great fun and a nice bit of relief from the seriousness of modern DSLR photography.
Hobart weddings are fantastic, we are lucky to have many great locations in our beautiful city. Too many in fact, to cover in that short time between your wedding ceremony and reception.
At Nigel Honey Photos we have a number of extra options to get you photographed in more locations. Think about doing an engagement shoot before your wedding, or why not be adventurous and Trash the Dress? We also have a number of high-def video packages available to truly capture your love for each other.
It gets better. Right now, if you book your Hobart wedding photography with Nigel Honey Photos, you will not only get stunning photos of your wedding to treasure, but you will get a family portrait shoot every year – for life - for free.
This means fresh photos every year, perfect for anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, or when your family grows in number…
Of course, some conditions apply.
Take advantage of this special offer and get in touch with Nigel Honey Photos today. I look forward to hearing from you.
What better thing to do at midnight on a Saturday night than to jump in the car with some friends and take photos?
We got to the summit of Mt Wellington, admired the view and then concluded it was far too cold for our 30 something bones, so we were soon back in the car looking for a warmer location. We ended up at the eastern shore end of the Tasman Bridge.
Long hand held exposures, lots of lights and zoom lenses are good fun.
Finally, a shot looking down the Derwent River towards the Hobart CBD and Wrest Point Casino.