Spain and Portugal in platinum - using the Fuji X-T1 and Leica M 240

Throughout my career I always tried to keep a mental line between what I shoot commercially and what I shot for my fine art portfolio. Even so this division has often been difficult to maintain. As an aid during the film era I used to used two different camera systems, an SLR, usually Nikon, for commercial, and a Leica rangefinder for my art, with the Hasselblad spanning both. As I explained in my previous post, today the Fuji X-T1 camera makes the mental separation between commercial and art a much simpler process. By keeping the Fuji always set to record both RAW and jpg at the same time, I have an immediate visual reference of what I was trying to accomplish in the jpg, but a complete, 16-bit image with full detail for processing later. When you shoot as much as I do, you need all the help you can get.  

The compositions I seek for my platinum portfolio are very specific and must fit a set aesthetic criteria I have set.  This results in far fewer selects, and over time, not  even all of these will make the final cut. 

Below is a selection of some images I am considering for the portfolio. 

Harsh light from the setting sun glistens off the Mediterranean Sea silhouetting the small triangular rock island that echoes the triangular shape on the distant mountain.

Passing clouds form a composition with the partial facade of a late 19th century building in Barcelona, Spain. A polarizing filter darkened the deep blue overhead sky.

This little shrine built entirely of local stones is in Mijas, Spain, a tiny town outside of Malaga.

The ancient Moorish castle in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Sintra sits on a hill overlooking the surrounding area all the way to the sea. This shot was framed using the Fuji 10-24mm zoom, which is the only lens I used the whole time I visited this site. That zoom, despite its slow f'4 aperture, is a perfect workhorse for travel and scenic photography.

My Fuji 10-24mm zoom was set to 12mm and positioned close to the foreground boulders to create a sweeping composition that leads to the Moorish castle on the hill top in the distance. 

Here I used the Fuji 10-24mm lens to look past the Moorish castle walls in the foreground to the Palace of Pena on the hilltop behind. The lens was placed just a few inches from the wall on the right.

The Moorish fortress is surrounded by lush forests. Fortunately, the day of my visit was overcast, exactly what I needed to eliminate the harsh light when shooting in the woods. 

Fountain in a square in Lisbon taken with the most used lens in my arsenal, the Fuji 18-55mm zoom.

Looking out into the Atlantic Ocean from Cadiz, Spain. This is probably similar to what Columbus saw when he first set sail in 1492 not far from this spot.

This is exactly the same scene as photo above it except here it was done as a time lapse of 50 seconds using -12 stop ND filters and f/16.  I also re-positioned the crop to center the cloud and horizon line.

The port city of Cadiz, Spain is know for the many lookout towers that sit on the tops of buildings enabling the shippers to look out to sea in anticipation of their returning vessels. This photo, taken with the X-T1 fit with the 18-55mm Fuji zoom at its widest focal length, shows the city and ocean from one of the lookout towers 

A surprise earthquake followed by a devastating sunami and fires almost totally destroyed the city of Lisbon on the holiday of All Saints Day in 1755. The Carmo Convent, its roof totally collapsed, now remains as a reminder of the even and as an archaeological site with weeds growing out of the crevices of the remaining stones. The convent roof collapsed during the quake and now remains open to the sky. On bright sunny days shadows form interesting patterns with the remaining arches. The photo above and those below were taken   

The sun is constantly changing position during the day forming new compositions of light and shadow with the interior walls.

I found this intriguing pattern of criss-crossing light and shadows in a museum at one of the sites I visited. While it doesn't fit with the travel theme, it does fit into the more inclusive visual compositional theme of the platinum portfolio.

This scene of steps and the one below in the Castelo Jorge on a hill above Lisbon were both taken with the Leica M 240 and Summilux 35mm lens. Both scenes were show in their color version in my previous blog post.  

Taken from the farthest land point in Europe, the color version of this photo was show in the prior blog post. 

A layer of fog covered the sea one morning at dawn. Here it is seen just lifting off the surface of the water before it dissipated into the atmosphere. This image and the one of the triangular rock out-crop in the first photo are two of my favorites from the trip. The top image shot was into a harsh setting sun with the Leica M and 135mm APO-Telyt, and this one taken into a softer rising sun with the Fuji 55-200mm zoom on the X-T1.

Portugal with the Fuji X-T1 and Leica M

My last week was spent in Portugal in and around Lisbon where I photographed primarily with the Fuji X-T1, a little with the Leica M, and always had the Sony RX 100 III tucked in a pocket.  The fast aperture and increased 24mm wide angle of the new Zeiss zoom on the RX 100 III came in handy every now and then when I was in dark quarters or when I needed a quick grab shot and had the wrong lens mounted on either the X-T1 or Leica M. 

On these trips I take two types of photos: I shoot in color of stock and switch to black and white for my art portfolio. One of the reasons I like shooting with the Fuji so much is that I can shoot both black & white and color at the same time by keeping it in RAW and jpg at the same time. The X-T1 also show me the exact crop I am using in the viewfinder -- very handy because I usually shoot a square format for my art portfolio and mostly 3:2 for the stock. The Leica did not show these crops in the finder so I had to rely on guesses for my crops and also had to remember what portfolio I was shooting for while editing later. Right after I finished this trip, Leica came out with a firmware update that at least provides guide lines for the various crops on the finder, but still does not transfer these crops to the final image.

For this blog post I am showing only the color images, mostly done for stock. In the next blog post I will put up the monochrome images done for my platinum portfolio. 

This photo was taken looking westward from Cabo Da Boca, the farthest western land point in Europe. As I looked out to the open Atlantic towards the Americas, I could only imagine what the early explorers must have thought looking out over the same scene but without the knowledge of the land that lay beyond. I tried to recreate something of the mysteriousness they must have felt by augmenting the haze almost to the point of whiteness on the horizon. 

The farthest point of land that extends to the west of Europe, Cabo Da Boca, is pictured in the background with the Atlantic Ocean and coastline of Portugal in the foreground. Taken with the Fuji 18-55mm zoom and a polarizing filter to deepen the sky and sea.

The Belém Tower in Lisbon juts out into the Rio Tejo. I was lucky enough to have the old sailing ship pass by it early in the morning and grabbed the shot with the Fuji 55-200mm zoom on the X-T1.

Portugal is known for its beautiful ceramic tile work, and that on the sides of the Santa Lucia Church in Lisbon is especially famous and its traditional blue color contrasted nicely with the purple flowers on vines covering the sides of the church. Taken with the 18-55mm lens on the Fuji X-T1 on a rare, cloudy day.

These trams are a typical means of transport in Lisbon. This one is coming down from the Santa Luzia church shown in the photo above this one.  The tram is rounding a bend with Lisbon's Sé (Cathedral) immediately behind it. Shot with the 18-55mm zoom at 20mm extension.

Castelo Jorge sits on a hill top of  the Alfama district overlooking Lisbon. In the evening, just as the sun was going down, the sky filled with swallows circling above it. This photo was taken from the city below with the 55-200mm zoom at full extension on the X-T1. 

I photographed from the top of the castle looking down on the city of Lisbon using the Leica M (240) -- fit here with one of my favorite travel lenses, the 21mm f/2.8 Elmarit. 

Another vista from inside the castle. This one and the image below both taken with the 35mm Summilux on the Leica M.  I also did a monochrome versions of these two scenes for my platinum portfolio, which I will be showing in the next blog post.

The new Sony RX100 III with its new wider zoom and fast apertures came in handy for shooting dimly lit interiors, such as this in the Jerónimos Monastery.

A section of the Monumento dos Descobrimentos dedicated to the famous navigators who sailed from Portugal on voyages of discovery. The map below is part of a large inlay on the ground below the statue.

The unusual art deco building is the Lisbon Rossio train station photographed at 18mm with the Fuji 18-55mm zoom. 

Outside of Lisbon, on the way to Sintra is the Queluz National Palace with French-style gardens. 

Manicured trees in the garden of Queluz. 

The Palace of Pena photographed from below using the 18-55mm zoom and polarizing filter with the X-T1 

Some handy improvements to the Leica M (240) with firmware update 2.0.1.5

Leica's recent firmware update 2.0.1.5 for the Leica M (240) contains improvements that add some convenient features to augment the shooting experience. Below are some of the features I find particularly helpful.

The "Exposure Simulation" feature is quite handy if you are shooting manually and want to see how the image will look under specific settings. Sometime, for instance, you might want to intentionally under-expose a photo to emphasize the highlights and down-play the shadows. You now have two choices under "Exposure simulation".  The "Permanent:" setting shows you the actual results of your chosen exposure, while the "Release button half-pressed" allows you to preview with a brighter image to aid focusing but then see what the actual exposure simulation when the shutter button is pressed half way.

Cropping guidelines for 3:4 / 6:7 / 1:1 / and 16:9 aspect ratios can now be displayed in live view. I tend to use 1:1 quite a bit particularly for my art images, and also the 16:9 format for more of a panoramic look. So for me this feature is quite handy. This feature is one of the reasons I like the Fuji X-series cameras so much.

Unfortunately, the crop lines are only displayed on the Leica so the crop is not actually transmitted to the final image as it is on the Fuji. On the Fuji X-T1 or X-E2, for instance, you can shoot in RAW + JPEG and your jpg images will receive the crop while your RAW files will display the crop but also remain changeable later in post-processing. I find this to be an incredibly convenient feature for the type of shooting I do. Nonetheless, I should be thankful for small favors and at least adding the crop lines to the Leica live view image is a vast improvement over no crop lines at all.

A Horizon level has been added to live view and can be turned on or off on the from the menu. It can them be conveniently displayed by cycling through the options of the "Info" button.

Focus peaking colors now come in red, blue, and green -- a somewhat handy feature when you are working under circumstances with a predominant color and need a contrasting color to make the focus peaking easier to see.

For those of us who keep turning on the video recording by accidentally hitting its M activation button near the shutter release, the video recording button can now be turned off with the "Set Menu". Note also that a 25fps mode has been added to compensate for flicker with 50Hz voltage.

The auto-ISO feature now extends to Manual mode shooting and has added 1/4 and 1/2 x to 1x focal length as options making a far better feature for hand-held shooting than it had been. Now with a shorter lens like a 35mm you can work automatically at a faster 1/60 or 1/125 second instead of the slower 1/30th.

 Unfortunately for me, I did not have a good enough internet connection on my recent trip to allow me to download the file when it first became available. I would really have appreciated having some of these updated features. Ah well, suppose I'll have to plan another trip soon just to take advantage of them.

Firmware update 2.0.1.5 for the Leica M (240) can be downloaded here.

Ocean images on a mirrorless trip - part 2

I have been experimenting with three different camera outfits on this two week trip -- a Fuji X-T1, Leica M (240), and the new Sony RX100 III. If you medewinare the winning system by amount of usage, then the Fuji X-T1 is winning, followed by the RX100, which I always have tucked into a pocket for grab shots. The Leica M delivers really excellent images, but the constant lens switching and a 135mm cap on my telephoto option has caused me to forsake it for the convenience of the Fuji X-T1.

I will be doing a complete write-up on the pros and cons of each system for travel after I return. For now, here are a few water images taken of the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

Mediterranean sunset with the Fuji X-T1 and 14mm lens. 

Mediterranean sunset with seagull, Fuji 55-200mm zoom.

Morning fog off the coast of Malaga, Spain. Fuji 55-200mm lens.

Coast of Spain, Leica M (240) and APO-Telyt 135mm lens.

Sunset on the Atlantic Ocean, 18mm focal length with the Fuji 18-55mm zoom.

Seagulls on a misty sea, Fuji 55-200mm zoom.

Time lapse of 45 seconds of the Boca do Inferno coast area near Cascais, Portugal. A bright sunny day required minus 12 stop neutral density filters at f/16 and ISO 200 using the Fuji 18-55mm zoom,.

Dealing with noise in night photos without a tripod

Taking photographs at night is not usually a problem when you can use a tripod and simply extend the exposure time to lower the ISO. On this occasion I was on a moving ship where using a tripod was not an option. I had to try to balance a shutter speed sufficient to stop the action with an ISO that was not going to over-dramatize the noise level.

The first thing to do is to switch to a fast aperture lens.  Moving from an f/2.8 lens to an f/1.4 lens is the equivalent of dropping from ISO 6400 to ISO 1600 --  a very significant jump.

The second thing I do is do is put the camera in continuous shooting mode.  When you hit the shutter the first time the motion moves the camera and adds to the blur. With a burst of several shots at least you have a period when the camera will be steady enough not to cause undo blur. Of course a lens with vibration reduction is also quite helpful.

The photos below were all taken at night. The best circumstances gave me an ISO of 1600 on the Fuji X-T1,  while for the worst situation I had to use an ISO of 3200 on a Leica M. Night shots like these result in very large dark areas where noise builds up the most. Fortunately, these areas are in the clouds where there is little detail. This enables me to treat those large areas differently than sections of the photo where this is considerable detail.  All the images are processed as RAW and brought in as 16-bit to make things easier in post-processing.

I apply noise reduction in Adobe Camera Raw, bringing in each image twice. On one version I apply moderate noise reduction so as not to destroy the areas of detail. This works well because noise is not as apparent in areas with considerable detail  On the other version I apply much more noise reduction to deal with the large areas, such as clouds, where there is considerable darkness and not detail. Later in Photoshop I place one layer over the other and paint out the details where I want them, leaving the large areas noise-free.  

This photo and the one below of cargo vessels passing at night I kept detail in the ships and sea while reducing the noise considerably in the sky. The camera was a Fuji X-T1 with 14mm f/2.8 Fuji lens. This gave me an ISO of 1600 and shutter speed of 1/20th of a second in the top image and 1/12th second for the bottom one. I also had to open up the right side of the second photo, which resulted in even more noise.  Lightening a dark area later in post-processing has the effect of adding noise equivalent to increasing the ISO.

This photo was taken late at night while passing the Rock of Gibraltar. It was taken with a Leica M (240) and 35mm f/1.4 lens at ISO 3200 and shutter speed of 1/15th of a second. Leica lenses do not have vibration control making it necessary to steady the camera as much  as possible. The only place with detail was in the rock itself so I kept the noise reduction low for that area only.