AONB Day 5,6 & 7

As I said previously I wanted to put completed elements from the commission and this time I wanted to put up the Tre Ceiri set.  This subject was done over three separate visits that explored the ancient site from a number of vantage points and times of day. I still have a number of locations and extra time-lapse sequences to complete it.

Here is the nearly finished time-lapse on you tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGn4hzilonU

The first image tries to connect Tre Ceiri into the wider inland context of the Landscape from Pen Llyn. The view is from the Eifl as the sun begins to cast its shadow:

The next objective was to capture the dawn view from the defensive wall of Tre Ceiri by connecting the site with the other iron age forts of Garnboduan and Garnfadryn further along the peninsula. It is thought that these forts were defensive positions as opposed to continual occupancy :

The view towards Pwllheli to the South West:

Pre dawn light towards Criccieth and the South East:

Later on during the morning I wanted to capture the clouds as they raced over the top of the Eifl and swept across the fort.  This time I wanted to show the remains of the round houses within the boundaries of the fort:

I still need to go back to do a more direct view of the Fort from the Eifl and a time-lapse of the dusk. There will be more to follow.

AONB Day 4 & 5

It has been a few days since I posted on this project but it has been mad going up and down mountains ok hills twice a day for dusk and dawn shots.  I will try to keep the posts as coherent wholes as I have finished three separate although local areas, i.e. Nant Gwrtheyn, Tre Ceiri and Trefor Quarry.  In this post I will be updating you on Trefor quarry with the completed images and time lapse video sequence. I will give a basic overview of the process so you know how that is basically done.  The time-lapse is new to me so I have spent a number of days researching the approaches and the various applications in their creation.  I will also share some of the things I have learnt with regard to planning and location selection.

In terms of compositional approach I wanted to connect the quarry with the town of Trefor as well as it position in the wider landscape.  This I thought was important as the quarry provided the majority of work for the villagers and both where connected in a symbiotic relationship. Even though the quarry is no longer a major employer it does see some minor piece work activity there today.

In choosing the best time of day to take the images it had to be dusk as the subjects are on the North side of the peninsula and ideally suited to catch the last rays of the sun. After trekking for a mile from the car park I was fortunate that there was abundant cloud to make the image more appealing and in the case of the second visit more dramatic as mists blew overhead to create a vortex effect as it travelled into the distance.  This vortex was created by the peak of the quarry as it deflected the low cloud overhead.

Single still using my Tokina 11-16mm mounted on the Nikon D700. I tried to make use of the flowers to help with the foreground. The road connects the quarry with the town of Trefor and helps to lead the viewer through the picture.

On the second visit I set up the tripod to do a time-lapse sequence as the technique is ideally suited to show the movement of the cloud and the play of light across the scene at an accelerated pace running in this case at 20x normal speed as the shooting interval was 3 seconds, i.e. 20 frames a minute. The final sequence shows that there was a vertex movement in the clouds as it moved into the distance over the distant hills. It was only noticeable in the time-lapse and at the very end of the video:

This was made up from 800 stills taken in manual mode.  Constant care must be taken to monitor the histogram to make sure the exposure is good as the light diminishes. If the image is too dark I use the thumb dial on the camera to increase the shutter time. Three clicks of the dial give one whole stop of exposure or in other words a doubling of the shutter time. I use a intervalometer to control the number of shots and the time between them, i.e. interval.  You have to make sure that there is sufficient time for both the time to take the picture and for the buffer to write to the card before the next picture is taken. I tend to add 2 seconds the the shutter time.  The images where processed with LRtimelapse 3.1 (LRT) and Lightroom 5 (LR5).  I also use Adobe After Effects (AE) to create the panning motion from the high resolution original video from LRT. AE is also useful as it has a motion stabilisation feature which can be a must if the wind is very strong as it was here.

In terms of representing the scene with a single still I had 400 to choose from out of the time-lapse sequence. I guess as there are so many you can select on the basis of the best light for depth:

While the camera was busy with the time lapse sequence I took the opportunity to use the available light to shoot other details in the near vicinity:

Details of the dusk light on features around Trefor:

Including the town itself.

As well as the chance encounters with light breaks:

The road to Caernarfon makes an interesting lead line to the light break in the distance:

I wanted to take this panoramic view to help define the context of the quarry in terms of its wider landscape:

A deep gouge in the rock face helps to frame Trefor and the hills in land:

Finally I wanted to get a few details shots of one of the ruined buildings that still stands within the quarry. It is clearly marked as being built in 1930.

One item of decayed machinery caught my eye resting on the window sill. I have no idea what it is.

A study of the interior taken with a HDR technique so that all the details and exterior landscape can be see to help place the building.

The last image is sculptural in its approach as a fragment of rusty metal protrudes a piece of concrete that almost looks like pale flesh.

AONB Commission

AONB Commission Day 2 & 3

A few nights ago I decided to take a few images exploring the area around Nant Gwyrtheyn.  This is now the national Welsh Language centre and was until 60 years ago a close knit quarrying community. The first exploratory shoot was aimed at getting a handle on the area and I focused on getting a dusk light sequence over the language centre from above.  I wanted to use what was available as a lead line and found an old fence which helped with the composition.  This is the post processed sequence that shows the transition from day to dusk.  The shadows dance across the scene as the light diminishes.

http://youtu.be/jYqntRPZnEU

The selected still attempts to use a well lit foreground to bring the subject to life:

While the camera was taking the continuous time lapse sequence I wanted to use the light of the golden hour to capture the nearby farm and its relationship within the landscape and quarries. The farm itself became a subject in its own right:

A closer view of the farm itself:

The abandoned hearth is now home to the sheep that roam the empty rooms:

Even though human occupation ended many years ago some are compelled to leave their marks of exploration:

Exploring the farm grounds yielded abandoned machinery that once would have echoed around the valley in which it was situated.

 The rich colour of the rust and texture is born of decay and disuse:

 Very little remains of the quarry west of Nant Gwrtheyn. All that can be found are the empty shells of once busy workshops and abandoned machinery:

The quarry was ideally placed next to the sea so that its stone produce could be loaded directly onto ships:

Little remains of the loading pier. All that can be found are two posts and a number of boulders which may have formed a part of the structure:

The sea remains as a constant while the quarry decays.  There too granite boulders lie in the waters which are being sculpted by the ebb and flow of the tide. I can only presume that these boulders are the detritus of the quarry men and discarded or used for a purpose that has been lost in the sands of time:

These images where taken during two visits but most importantly they where taken during the golden hour which brings the element of light to what may have been lifeless images.  Even though I am concentrating on ways to create a hopefully pleasing and well composed image I am always looking for locations for future visits.  I did see a number of individual bushes or trees along the ridge line which would be ideal for framing the old quarry for a series of landscapes. While taking the last image I noticed a sea lion's head bobbing up and down watching me as I positioned the tripod. That was a special moment to realise that nature was attempting to take back what was once and industrialised part of our coast. 

AONB Commission

One of the main aims of the commission is to capture the landscapes and remains of Tre Ceiri an Iron Hill Fort and the Quarry industry at Nant Gwrtheyn and Trefor.  These are in the same vicinity and I started to work on the landscape element.  I don't actually want to capture basic record shots but instead want to aim at something a little more creative.  I guess I might be a little limited in creative options but that can be expressed through the use of light.  Having said that I am not necessarily a landscape photographer but I am learning a few tricks as I am going along.

I decided to go up to the Eifl to have a look at the view over Tre Ceiri two nights ago.  I arrived at the top with good light at about 5pm and tried to find a suitable spot to set up the tripod. This was a challenge as my tripod was in direct line with the sun and caused a shadow within the field of view.  In the end I chose to set up in the shadow of a rocky outcrop which obscured the tripod.  The final composition was not ideal but a good exercise in setting up the shot.  I tried to get both Tre Ceiri in and the view over the Eifl mountains and the coast.  I waited for the golden hour and that special subtle light and soft textures in the cloud. Sadly I never got that instead the sun hid behind some cloud.  I did capture the basic scene as well as some panoramas and a time lapse sequence over the Eifl mountains.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_60aRuVRuFs

I think the best location to capture Tre Ceiri is from the top of the Eifl as the fort appears to slope down to the South West. There is another hill nearby which offers a straight on view of the slope and will do that too over the next few weeks.  I obviously need to do the fort itself looking down from the top slope to the South West and may do that at dawn.

In terms of time the trek up the Eifl took about 5 hours in total and needless to say my legs are pretty damn stiff today.  I would like to do this again but with a more targeted view over Tre Ceiri from a different vantage point and this time I will take a torch so that I don't have to leave before the sun sets.

In summary the first time was a first test set up and I need to do another trip to the Eifl as well looking from the North East and from the fort itself. I guess this will take about 15 hours just in terms of time getting there and lets just hope the weather and sun is kind.

Results from the South Devon Photographic Exhibition

I guess I better let you know that I am going for my FIAP and BPE distinctions.  What these give are letters after your name which reflect the fact that you are a regular contributor to photographic salons, that is competitions; and if your work is accepted reflects a level of photographic competence. This ultimately gives you credibility as a photographer and allow access to locations for projects that you may wish to pursue.

Both FIAP and BPE work in a similar way in that each accepted image earns you a single point.  These count towards hierarchical levels that will over time culminate in the highest accreditations if you are successful.  The first level of FIAP is know as Artist (AFIAP) which required 40 acceptances from 15 different photographs, 15 different competitions salons, 8 different countries and a minimum of 4 being prints. This last point means that they can't all have been digitally projected images. You can rise to attain a Master (MFIAP) but this takes a number of years with increasingly more demanding requirements (http://www.pagb-photography-uk.co.uk/fiap/criteria-for-fiap-awards.pdf)

Similarly the BPE accreditation trail requires a number of acceptances to attain what is called crown awards.  This begins with the Crown 1 for 25 acceptances, Crown 2 for 50, 3 for 100, 4 for 200 and the top Crown 5 for 300 (http://www.b-p-e.org.uk/index.php/awards).

At the time if writing I have 45 BPE and 126 FIAP points. As yet I have not applied for any distinctions but will do so later this year.

Anyway I wanted to get to the point of the post after this little bit of background. I had the results from the South Devon Salon and had 4 accepted out of 8 images submitted. But what I found interesting is that the two that have gained a FIAP silver and bronze medal as well as three other awards scored 7 with 6 being the lowest and didn't even get accepted. I guess the point is not to expect great things in each salon as taste is different from one judge to the next.  But to actually write down the names of the judges who panned the images so that you don't submit them into another salon if they are judging.  Likewise to write down the judges who loved your work so that they may again award high marks.  That is of course no guarantee as the standard of the images may be higher.

Anyway I hope this will help some entering salons in future or an interest in FIAP and BPE.  Some of you may also be wondering why I did not mention the RPS (Royal Photographic Society) and PSA (Photographic Society of America) distinctions, well it is simply too late in the day and I will leave it for another time.

AONB Commission

I was lucky enough to get a commission for Gwynedd County Councils new Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) web page.  This basically involves shooting some local areas of interest and fishermen at work. While this may sound simple I have to find the best and most interesting vantage points for the landscape elements and go on a few fishing trips by August 20th which happens to be my birthday.  

I have just spent 3 hours scouting the locations tonight to find interesting vantage points as well as to get a better handle on the locations themselves.  As I have quoted 20 hours to do this work I am concerned that I have used 3 with nothing to show for it yet. But not to worry this is good time invested and has been coupled with using google maps to determine the lie of the land and find the best time of day to do the shoot with the principle subject being well lit. I want to work with the light and not against it.  I of course want to show some good images but it seems the weather may be working against me as the skies are going to be overcast. This may not be a big problem as I may be lucky with some sun breaks making an interesting image. I would however prefer light on the subject as I admire the work of Joe Cornish who uses light in the most exquisite ways.  

I will be going to look for a location to shoot Garnfadryn in the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales in the morning. I have had a good scout on the internet to utilise local knowledge and the best place to take the shot appears to be Rhiw which is to the South West. This of course means that I need to shoot in late afternoon and if I am lucky some low cloud or mist would add that lovely atmosphere. This does not mean that I could not shoot it early am but being backlit I would definitely want the mist to enhance the silhouette of the hill.

Nikon V1 Update

It has been a while since I updated my blog but I wanted you to know that Nikon has done a great service to the V1 user base by providing an AF-C firmware update. You may wonder why this is so important but as I use my Nikon f/2.8 lenses with the FT-1 adapter this is a big deal.  Previously you could only use it with AF-S which as you may imagine is next to useless when tracking wildlife.  We are almost there though now if only Nikon could update the firmware one more time from single point centre focus to user defined and/or nearest object this would be a winning combination for me. I will post some images sometime.

Nikon 1 V1 Field Report

I have been using the V1 for a number of weeks now and I am on the whole very pleased with it. As I have said it is definitely a good light camera because  it has issues focusing in low light and its usable maximum ISO is 400 even though it can be increased to 6400.  My reasons for buying it was its incredible  2.7x crop factor making my excellent Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 an equivalent to 540mm f/2.8 super telephoto.  The results with this combination to date have been mixed.  While it can produce great images there is a softness issue at f/2.8 which I have reported to Nikon and I am waiting for an adequate response about this.  There are no problems at all at f/4.0 with the images coming in with very good detail.  I personally am very happy to use it at f/4 and it must be said that Nikon's 600mm is an f/4.0 lens.

Here are a series of images that I took today along my local beach  These images were all shot at 200mm or an equivalent of 540mm @ f/4.0. The images can withstand up to 60% cropping and still retain sufficient detail to present well at 1400x1050 pixels.

I did however find it impossible to track moving birds as the V1 does not allow continuous focus tracking with the FT1 which obviously limits its use in dynamic action shots.

Nikon 1 V1 a Bargain?

fig 1. Nikon 1 V1

I have been looking for a lighter alternative to my DSLR for day trips and candid street photography. I normally use my D700 with the fantastic 24-70mm f/2.8 lens but they have a combined weight of a whopping 4kg, ouch!  Whatever lightweight camera I get I also want the ability to use my family of Nikon lenses which as any photographer knows is a considerable investment.  Now in my deliberations I have had to consider what is more important optical or pixel quality?  In the end I think it boils down to optical quality more than absolute pixel quality.  So this is where the Nikon 1 comes in at an amazing 1.4kg with its 10-30mm 3.5-5.6 lens and it ability with an adaptor to use my lenses and is probably about a 1/4 of the size of my DLSR which means it will fit perfectly in my pocket or man bag. I have been closely watching the evolution of the Nikon 1 family and eventually decided on getting the new V2 which is the second generation model.  But that was before Nikon dropped the price of the V1 to an amazing £250. This then caused me to evaluate the two models and consider the all important price performance ratio.

fig 2. Nikon 1 V2

Before we get into that though the Nikon 1 has had a bit of a grilling over the sensor used in the Camera.  The Nikon 1 is a micro four thirds system but unlike its competitors it uses a physically smaller sensor called CX. This has the advantage of smaller lenses because the glass has to cover the reduced area of the sensor itself.  While that sounds very useful there is a trade off in its ability to capture light. In a nutshell the smaller the sensor is the smaller the cells that are used to capture the light photons from the scene being record.  This means the camera will have a reduced light sensitivity and as a consequence a lower ISO capability over its larger counterparts.

So there is a question mark over the theoretical performance of the sensors of the Nikon 1 V1 and V2.  Thankfully if you value the ability to quantify this you need go no further than DXO Mark website.

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Camera-Sensor-Database/Nikon/1-V1
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Camera-Sensor-Database/Nikon/1-V2

According to the results the sensor is inferior to its competitors such as the Olympus OM-D-EM-5 and Panasonic G5.  I think the most important measure is the minimum usable ISO setting which is 403 for the V2, 346 for the V1 and a whopping 889 for the Olympus.  On the face of it I thought how can I justify that performance for £800. Well that was true until the V1 as I said earlier was reduced to £250.  So I wondered how my D700 and D2x compared to the V1 and there was no surprise with the D700 ISO coming in at an impressive 2303 (I regularly take it to 2000 on shoots) but it was the D2x that surprised me at 476. The D2x was an excellent camera and I still use it for natural history and sports photography but not in low light situations.  This camera is now 6 years old and cost £2500 back then and has a similar ISO performance to the V1 today which is 10% of that cost. So what this means is that the V1 can function well and render good images at ISO 400 or below.  That makes it potentially a good camera for sports, natural history and street photography as long as it is in good light.

So far I have focused on ISO performance as the greatest area of concern but what I have not touched on yet is the outstanding potential of the camera for capturing natural history given the crop factor that is inherent in the small CX sensor.  What this basically means is that it will  magnify the image by a factor of 2.7 times.  So if I was able to mount my Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 on this camera I would have an effective telephoto range between 189-540mm at f/2.8.  The equivalent lens would be the Nikon 600mm f/4 which costs £7000.  If I could do that it would be great and thankfully you can with the FT-1 mount adaptor.  So with the V1 at £250, £170 for the FT-1 lens adaptor and of course the £1000 for the 70-200mm f/2.8 VR1 my outlay would be £1420 as opposed to the D800 and 600mm combo that would cost £9000. While you can't compare relative performance of the two systems as the latter is formidable what you do get is a budget capability for capturing decent images   This of course is dependent on accepting the performance limitations of the V1 both in terms of its ISO capability and the fact that the FT-1 adaptor only lets you have centre focus.  Continuous focus sadly does not work either. Follow this link for an in depth review of this configuration:

http://www.naturalart.ca/artist/fieldtests/fieldtest_NikonV1.html

fig 3. Nikon 1 FT-1 Lens Adaptor

So is the V1 worth buying over the V2? While I value the additional 4MP I would have hoped the quality of the sensor would have been very much better than the V1 but sadly this is not the case. There are other improvements over the V1 including a redesigned body with an effective bulky grip as well as a built in flash.  However after reading a few reviews it transpires that the V2 is a minor upgrade over the V1 and is not a revolutionary change.  In essence as I compare the two I am paying £500 for the extra pixels.  I don't think the price performance ratio justifies buying the V2. Right now you can buy the V1 for £250 which is a huge price drop from the £830 since its release 12 months ago, that is a drop of 70%. So in conclusion I have gone for the V1 but of course this will not last long as it will be sold out fairly quickly as it is still in my opinion a great little camera. While there are superior cameras out there like the Olympus OM-D-EM-5 and Panasonic G5 for £250 there is no argument from me.

Update 1 :

Here are some images taken with V1. I have divided the images into the lens types that were used to capture them. I have only done minor RAW processing, setting exposure levels, some contrast adjustments and a little noise reduction when needed. I have included some information with the images which includes focal length in full frame 35mm equivalent, aperture, crop factor (50% = 100% zoom) and ISO:

a) Kit Lens 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6

Thoughts: the kit lens is rather good. The contrast is good and while there is some distortion and chromatic aberration it can be managed easily in photoshop. I am rather impressed with the kit lens.

b) Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

I have some mixed feelings about this lens as I expected the very best optical quality.  It seems a little soft below f/4 which is disappointing as this lens is one of the best nikon has to offer. I have contacted Nikon UK and await some feedback from them. I will continue to use this lens and try to understand if it is me or the lens. Having said that the images are still exceptionally good at f/4 or higher and I would be happy to use it.

c) Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

This lens is not an AF-S so I have to do some manual focusing. I rely on the in focus spot in the view finder but as you might imagine I have to throw a lot of images away. Another drawback with this lens it the extreme magnification you actually get when you get up to 300mm that is 810mm in full frame terms.  So I need to do more testing with a monopod as the shutter speed needs to be faster than 1/2 of the focal length to minimise camera shake which could be a problem with its limited usable ISO range of 100-400.

In conclusion on this update the Nikon 1 is still a keeper and a relatively good performer in good light. The results with the 70-200mm f/2.8 are very good at f/4 and would make a worthy print indeed. But of course it is still early days.

Update 2:

The purpose of this update is just to clarify a point that I may not have elaborated in the main body of the article.  My main use for the camera as you know is for a portable every day compact with interchangeable lenses for street and natural history photography for use in fair to good light.  On that basis I think it is a great product.  It has all the build quality that you would expect from Nikon but the only point I would make is the lack of an inbuilt flash and limited ISO performance.  There is a hot shoe available for the dedicated Nikon 1 flashgun which is an additional cost of course. So if you are looking for a general all rounder with a mind to family portraits and using flash then this additional item and associated expense may not make this model ideal for you. At the time of writing the flash unit costs £120 on Amazon so be warned! The V2 has the flash built in and a slightly better ISO performance at 400 but still costs £710.

Update 3:

I got a response from Nikon technical as to why my Nikon 70-200mm @ f/2.8 was producing soft images on the V1 with the FT-1 lens adapter    Apparently it is due to the limitation of the single focus point that is available with the FT-1. While I considered this I find it an inadequate conclusion because I would expect to see a portion of the image to be in focus instead of the uniform softness that exists.  I have asked Nikon to look at this again and I will update you if I get a better explanation.