One of the strands in my style of photography in and around poodlewalks is to shift away from the literal and transparent. My name for this shift is abstraction--ie., finding ways to underscore the photograph as surface, as flat; even though there is an optical space within the photograph. This is often filed by photographic educators under 'ways of seeing' that depend on, and are shaped by habit and convention.
An example of the photograph as surface:
on Adobe's Lightroom 6 again
Another post on my experiences with the newly installed standalone Adobe's Lightroom 6 on my Retina 5K 27inch late 2015 iMac.
As we all know, Adobe has been marketing Lightroom as the all-in-one post-processing tool for hobbyists, enthusiasts and professionals, and up to now I have certainly found it to be an "all-in-one” workflow solution for post processing and cataloguing my photographic images. I have been happy with this, given that the current choices for post-processing and file management software are limited.
In the previous post I outlined my unease with Adobe’s latest move to discontinue the standalone version of Lightroom, and to move everyone to the cloud; thereby effectively locking us in for the future for Adobe to grow their profits. I was frustrated because dumping the perpetual license is something Adobe in the past said that it would not do. Adobe Lightroom is now purely subscription based and, unfortunately for me, it is only a matter of time until an OS upgrade from Apple breaks the standalone Lightroom 6 (LR6) completely.
However, my frustration with the standalone Lightroom 6 on the iMac has to do with other issues. It is not only its lack of development compared to the subscription version. It also arises from finding that LR6 has basic stability and performance issues that should not exist in the first place, given that this is professional software.
granite formation
The changeable weather conditions of late has provided a space for me to explore the coast in the early morning light and to I scoping for suitable subjects for some large format photography. In this instance it basically 5x4 colour using the old Linhof Technika IV or the Cambo 5x7 monorail.
I haven't really found much to work with, but this granite formation looking towards King Head and the wilderness lodge is one of the more promising possibilities that I have across.
I haven't been doing much large format photography along the coast for a while --only hand held medium format lately. Hence the specific scoping. Most of what I see in the morning ---eg., seaweed amongst granite rocks--is ephemeral, as it is usually gone by the next morning. It is either washed away by the sea or blow away by the wind.
Nor can I take the 5x4 or 5x7 out and hope that I come suitable seaweed to construct a still-life. It's only now and again that I find seaweed pods washed up on the shore.
It is best to use subjects like granite formation and just wait for an overcast early morning with little wind and soft morning light. The large format then highlights the tonality and colour in the granite.
two versions of foam + granite
More digital black and white photography from stumbling up some foam amongst the coastal granite, just after the wet weather had eased.
This picture is a straight conversion from the digital file, as I am currently unable to access Silver Efex Pro 2 software on my iMac, which is running the High Sierra Operating system. Unfortunately I have never found any software package that can produce black and white conversions that are as good as those created by Silver Efex Pro 2.
At least I am able to use the standalone Adobe Lightroom 6 that I recently purchased from B+H with my recent film order on the iMac. I reckon it is a case of waiting for a black and white conversion as there is good news around the corner: DxO has acquired the NiK collection and it's upgraded version will be released in mid-2018. I doubt that the software will be free.
DxO is a French company that performs extensive scientific testing on camera image sensors and lenses. The information and knowledge that DxO glean from their tests is used to produce a raw processing software packages called – DxO Optics Pro.
aerial photography
Yesterday was my first attempt at aerial photography. Chris Dearden flew me along the southern Fleurieu Peninsula coast from the Murray Mouth to Newland Heads then back to Goolwa in his recreational Sonex aircraft --- a Xenos motor glider. It's a great little fixed wing aircraft.
I had to make the photos of the coast through the perspex canopy at a 45 angle in order to avoid the aircraft's wing. I used my old Sony NEX-7 digital camera with a 35mm Leica M lens. I didn't even bother to use the Rolleiflex TLR medium format film camera that I had with me. it sat behind the seat untouched for the whole trip.
A photo of the mouth of the River Murray, which is where we headed first after leaving Goolwa airport.
Petrel Cove: am
This was made on an early morning poodlewalk as Kayla and I set out for an open air photoshoot, then a walk along the rocks along the coast. It was made in the warm weather just before before the cold, windy wet conditions set in.
People were out and about in the sub tropical weather: surfing, fishing, sun baking, playing. I had some photos of saltt ponds amongst the granite rocks lined up, then the weather changed and everyone disappeared.
Petrel Cove: open air studio
Another behind the camera photo of an early morning still life photoshoot near Petrel Cove:
This open studio set up had been previously scoped with my digital camera. I scoped a number of different locations to see which worked the best. I plan to do a 5x4 photoshoot with the baby Sinar F2 late this afternoon if the conditions remain overcast.
at Moorook
The November Mallee photocamp was based at Morgan, which is located in the corner where the Murray River turns to flow south. The mallee scrub is being cleared and replaced with irrigated agriculture.
Whilst there I spent an afternoon photographing along the southern bank of the River Murray at Moorook. This hamlet is between Kingston-on-the Murray and Loxton on the Sturt Highway, and so it is a part of the Riverland region in South Australia.
I had briefly photographed along this stretch in the 1980s (in black and white) and then around 2004 (in colour). I remembered photographing along this stretch of the river as I drove past it on my to Loxton to do some research in the Loxton public library. I did some scoping on my return to Morgan from Loxton.
on location: Petrel Cove
It took me three attempts over three days to photograph this rock pool at Petrel Cove:
My historical baby Linhof camera--an old Linhof Technika 70 --- had a mechanical problem on the first morning as the locking mechanism wouldn't lock the downturned folding camera bed so I could not focus; the second morning it was raining; the third morning things finally came together.
Adobe's Lightroom: changes
Adobe serves an enormous part of the image-editing market, whether photographers like it or not. They are an industry leader in graphic design, photo editing and photo management software---the standard in the industry for many people.
Lightroom, the photo processing software, has professional-grade editing and organizing tools, but still maintains its usability. The Creative Cloud of Lightroom version is part of Adobe’s annual subscription-based Photography Plan, which includes Photoshop CC, so you’re getting two photo-editing applications designed to work alongside each other.
Adobe's recent upgrade to Lightroom has seen the emergence of two Lightrooms--Lightroom Classic CC (an updated version of the desktop Lightroom that we know--its Lightroom 7) and Lightroom CC (an entirely redesigned app designed to work alongside Adobe’s equally new cloud-based storage system)--a cut down version (Lightroom Mobile?), that is a shift to a more mobile-first workflow which allows you to manage your photos wherever you are and whatever the device.
The current subscription model for Lightroom CC means that we rent Adobe’s apps rather than buying a licence--permanently renting the tools we use to create. The shift is from software to rental ware. I have been using the stand alone Lightroom 5 (desktop) up to now, but I recently purchased Lightroom 6 (desktop) as part of my film order from B+H. I realize that I am essentially getting a two-year-old version, feature wise, as compared to the subscription version. I appreciate that the differences between the subscription version Lightroom Classic and and the standalone version of Lightroom 6 are becoming significant, but I don't really need all the updates or the extraneous options.