I hope you all learn a thing or two on how to edit a photo using the develop module in Lightroom. If you have any questions please leave a comment.

Quickly constructing my tripod I felt like a soldier assembling a weapon. Clouds swarmed above me blackening the sky. By now the ocean was tumbling and churning – the storm was rolling in.  The reflection usually seen on the surface of the water was nowhere to be seen instead violent ripples formed by the wind accelerated across the water.

Taking in the scene for a few minutes I noticed a pattern was developing from the break as it left the shore. The streaming water quickly invaded the shoreline filling every gap, stopping briefly then retreating back into the ocean. I was inspired to capture the ocean rhythm playing around me.

Attaching the fish eye lens to the camera I changed the camera’s settings with solid clicks as my numbing fingers fought the bitter cold.  Looking through the viewfinder I was presented with an almost ethereal scene. Light bounced about on the surface of the detailed rocks while water came from all directions filling the frame with a juxtaposing smooth finish.

Developing this image in Photoshop I am convinced there should be more photographs like this – dark and gloomy. Not every landscape scene should have golden light. Right?

I hope you enjoy this photograph.

Until Next time – Happy Shooting.

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A Photoshop Portrait of course. Check out the latest CameraED video I put together – Week 4 – Photoshop Portrait.

This video was created for F Stop Lounge – the best place for a photographer to get some inspiration!

This is a quick portrait photo I took of Sean Standen - aka “Stakky” in Northbridge, Western Australia. Check out the meta data below the image. Hand held at what???? Crazy!

(Just so you know the lighting was poor and outside it was freezing – I was shaking when I took this image so it may be a little bit burry)

I will be doing a review on this camera in the future so stay tuned to see the photo quality stack up against the Canon 1D MK IV and the amazing Fujifilm X-Pro 1.

Olympus OM-D EM-5  - 75mm - ISO 500 – f1.8 – 1/20 sec (handheld).

RAW Conversion – Adobe Lightroom 4 – Edited – Adobe Photoshop CS5

I crawled to the computer to put this video together for CameraED – “Week 3 – Sunset Photography”

I hope you learn a few tips.

And here are some of the photographs from the day

July 2012 – Albany Ocean Adventures.tiff

Just click on the image to download it.

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CAUTION: This video may put you to sleep ;)

The final photos photographed with the Fujifilm X Pro 1 can be seen below.

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 200 – 35mm – f1.6 – 1/3800 sec

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 200 – 35mm – f8 – 1/550 sec

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 200 – 35mm – f8 – 1/1100 sec

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 200 – 35mm – f16 – 1/640 sec

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 200 – 35mm – f8 – 1/400 sec

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 200 – 35mm – f9 – 1/450 sec

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 200 – 35mm – f16 – 1/350 sec

I quickly got to work and compiled three images that were going to tell a story. The photos were taken using the Fujifilm X Pro 1 and Canon 1D MK IV.

Image 1 – The old fire place to ignite the photo

Image 2 – Some ghostly clouds to add some atmosphere

and lastly a photo of my old Canon 400mm f/5.6L USM lens

The next step was to combine the photos in Photoshop to meet the competition brief

The final result:

I’ve been lucky enough to be given a Fuji X-Pro1 by Leigh Diprose for the last few days to give it a road test and see what I can do with it. I was heading away for the weekend already, so I took the X-Pro1 on a bit of a road trip around the south of Western Australia. My very initial impressions of the Fuji X-Pro1 is that it has an exceptional build quality, the camera is quite nice to hold even with my large hands, many of the smaller cameras seem to get lost in my hands. The controls are all fairly intuitive and very accessible, with in minutes of picking it up I was able to use most of the functions I would normally use on my dSLR.

First stop was about 3 hours drive out of Perth, I’m a sucker for clear night skies, we are lucky enough to have very little light pollution here in the west. I decided to give the Fuji a go at some star photography, normally I’d photograph this with my dSLR as it has quite good high-ISO performance.

Milky Way – Fuji X-Pro1

This image was photographed at ISO1600, f2.8 and a 30 second exposure. The camera was in single shot mode and this is a RAW image with minimal processing. Within the first 3 images I was incredibly impressed by the high ISO performance, there isn’t a huge amount of noise in this image and the clarity in the RAW image is exceptional. The straight jpeg was very similar to this RAW file that I’ve just added some sharpening to.

Dawn – Fuji X-Pro1

ISO1600, f2.0, 1/4000. This is a straight jpeg out of the camera with no adjustments, I’ve just resized it and added my signature. The noise levels are very acceptable, I’d have no issues printing this image fairly large. I’m very impressed with the dynamic range of the sensor too.

One of the more interesting modes I found for shooting was the automatic panoramic mode, you set the camera at your start point, press the shutter and sweep the camera from left to right, it then takes a series of images and stitches them together.

Fuji X-Pro1 – Panoramic mode

This is a slightly adjusted panoramic image, photographed with the Fuji X-Pro1 in panoramic mode. f4.0, ISO400, 1/220 the final full sized image is 5120 x 1440 px, so definitely a printable size.

Salt Lake – Fuji X-Pro1

This was photographed at: f8, 1/1500 and ISO800. I’ve done some processing in Adobe Camera RAW, the files are very flexible and retain a lot of detail.

I had a small window of opportunity to capture the magnificent wonder. My time was short and my lips were becoming parched from the windy conditions. I felt the threat of rain steadily approaching as the blackening gang of clouds rolled over toward me.

The camera strap felt secure around me neck as the cold wind tried to flatten me. My heels buried into the forgiving sand as I lined up for the shot. With a short steadying breath and cold metal pressed to cheek, I clicked the shutter button forging my first photo.  The light and dark tones seemed to jump from the rear screen as I deciphered the small details of the dune. Upon noticing the detail it struck me the entire dune simply did not fit onto the small screen on the back of the camera – the dune was simply too big. Thinking about my options I decided to return the camera to a vertical shooting position and attempt a multi row panoramic.

My excitement to capture the perfect formation was child like. From left to right, overlapping RAW photos fired off one after another to replicate the scene in front of me. Full of energy and a spring in my step I proceeded to the car after the files saved quickly to the memory card. My thoughts of marrying the photos together and applying an artistic touch were unfathomable. I simply couldn’t wait to get home and put the photographs together.

I have included the original RAW photos below and additionally captured my screen as I turned the merged photos into a fine art photograph.

The above photos were stitched together using PTGui Pro

then edited using Adobe Photoshop CS5.

 The end result

June 2012 – Port Gregory 011.tiff

(on the right hand side of the blog)

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Enjoy.

Join me for the first official cameraED YouTube video as I travel out to Port Gregory located in Western Australia to photograph a landscape scene.

cameraED will be growing every day into a site that will be available for every budding photographer out there, professional or beginner.  So sit back and enjoy the weekly videos all about photography!

Below is the final image I managed to capture before the battery died again!

Canon EOS 1D MK IV – ISO 50 – 40mm – f5.6 – 0.5 sec

I had frequented this road before. The long open road that produced a distant hopeful shimmer. We’ve  all been there only to find the road continues on into an endless journey, and my journey had taken me to the beautiful Coral Coast in Western Australia. Bustling along my eyes rested upon a majestic pink lake nestled alongside the road. The wheels were spinning in full rotational motion as some of the scene passed, a quick stomp applied by my feet applied a relieved halting pressure to the brakes –  I simply had to capture the developing scene before me.

The sound of the car door was behind me as I flurried into position. Jostling tripod and camera into some sort of balancing act I clicked the X Pro 1 into a starting position, the camera proceeded to perform with some sort of magic. The focus arrived as the composition fell perfectly into place  - this was going to be one for the pool room.

I had been waiting for this sort of scene since the sun experience deja vu from the day before. The atmosphere was filled with silence as I quietly navigated the quick mode on the back of the cold metal camera body. Fingers easily falling upon the self timer mode I rested knowing the picture would be perfect. One click of the shutter button had confirmed my belief. My journey was complete.

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 400 – 35mm – f8 – 1/1900 sec

Pen went to paper as my visual ideas for a great shot consumed me. I felt a bit like Gollum from Lord of the Rings, I was simply pursing one of my dreams to capture the ‘precious’ shot.  The days drew nearer toward the 6 hour Skoda drive that would see me at my destination. My thought train was rumbling and steaming as I debated what photographic gear I would take. The usual suspects were there the tent, clothes, sleeping bag and the like but the burning question on my mind was which camera and lens combination should I use?

Pondering the question over a beer some sense came to mind – I thought “I’m travelling all that way I should just take it all.” So I did:

Fujifilm X Pro 1, Fujinon 18mm f2; Fujinon 35mm f1.4, Canon 1D MK IV, Canon 17-40mm, Canon 85mm f1.2, Sigma 120-300mm f2.8, Canon MP-E65 f2.8, Canon MT-24EX Flash, 3x Lee Filters and a stack of memory cards all stuffed into my Lowepro Nature Trekker Case…oh and don’t forget the Manfrotto 190XBPRO tripod!

The night had arrived when I found myself standing in front of the seemly quite and eerie destination. The scene before me was pitch black with an encompassing blanket of stars reflecting on the gigantic lakes’ every ripple. Delirious from the trip I managed to take one photo on the X Pro 1 before I set an alarm to wake my fading Red Bull and coffee filled mind up from its unnatural state.

The developed photograph intrigued me as it revealed a dull glow from a salt refinery on the distant horizon. The aura produced by the man-made structure seemed to interact with the greater constellations. There was something else to the photograph – it was a bit of a surprise – at first I thought I had captured some sort of military plane or an object you would see in documentaries over the famous Area 51 – I took a second photograph to confirm my belief…but alas the UFO was classic lens flare. Just quietly before I took the second photograph  I couldn’t contain my excitement – I thought I had made contact!

Morning arrived with rain filled clouds and disappointment written all over my face. I wasn’t going to get the sunrise I had been dreaming of – the clouds were simply way to cumulus for any light to penetrate. Picking myself up I reached for the Fujifilm X Pro 1 to test its high ISO abilities. During my oscar winning sad-sack performance the heavens had a break and decided to have a sneak peek of a light show as the sun played hide and seek with the clouds. During the intensely short game I managed to pick off a few which made me bounce right back into being Leigh Diprose – the happy traveller.

The rest of the trip I experienced downpours, sand blasting winds and extreme chills (youtube videos to come). I opted to leave the X Pro 1 in the car due to the intensely bad weather. The only advance I saw in using the Canon in the horrible weather was it’s weather proofing – other than that the X Pro 1′s image quality was on par with the Canons. All of these images were photographed in RAW on the Fujifilm X Pro 1 with adjustments made in Lightroom 4.

ISO 800 – 35mm – f1.4 – 1/100 sec

ISO 200 – 35mm – f16 – 0.5 sec

ISO 200 – 35mm – f5.6 – 1/180 sec

ISO 200 – 35mm – f16 – 1/10 sec

ISO 200 – f35mm – f16 – 1/110 sec

ISO 200 – 35mm – f8 – 1/750 sec

ISO 200 – 35mm – f8 – 1/55 sec

Until next time.

Happy Shooting.

I was quite impressed with the sharpness of the cameras sensor within both photos. The light trail left by the bus in the square photograph created depth and interest within the long exposure. I found that it really broke up the plain brick wall into something interesting.

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 200 – 18mm – f10 – 30 sec

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 200 – 18mm – f2 – 1/4 sec

You see at first I was sceptical when I first saw this camera. I thought to myself can such a small sensor produce sharp images; and the look of the camera…was this even a camera?…was Nikon serious? A day out with the camera was going to change my mind.

I jumped in the car with the small white camera in my hand and the spare lens nestled in my pocket. The sun was out and the streets were busy. I decided to head to the local markets – the famous Fremantle Markets.

I noticed a crowd had gathered near the entrance to the markets and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to photograph some candid portraits. In the past I hadn’t had much success with street photograph due to my big Canon DSLR – most of the time I was discouraged by local authorities – this didn’t even present as a problem with the Nikon V1.  I was encouraged to join in the fun as the crowd encouraged the local entertainer to perform insane stunts. I found myself in awe of the talented busker. He had the myself and the crowd engrossed in the performance. I anticipated a perfect moment was about to present itself so I switched the camera to video mode and set the quality to Full HD. The busker didn’t disappoint, he proceeded to perform for the crowd thrusting whips in the air filling the busy street with deaf defining cracks as the two whips danced about above his head. The Queensland Crossover was in full swing and I wasn’t missing a beat thanks to the amazing video feature on the V1. This experience had summed up my day. The camera was amazing especially the video. Later on that day I played back the video on the high res screen and chucked to myself as I relived the moment.

I put together a small video showcasing some of the standout features I experience when using the camera. All the sample images are shown below most of which were photographed at ISO 1600 due to the low light in the undercover markets.

If I could pass on one piece of advice when thinking about buying a new camera it would be – you wouldn’t judge a book by its cover…so in turn you should never judge a camera by its cover until you delve into the features and experience the image quality for yourself.

Until next time.

Happy Shooting.

ISO 1600 – 10mm – f3.5 – 1/60 sec

ISO 400 – 10mm – f3.5 – 1/60 sec

ISO 1600 – 30mm – f5.6 – 1/50 sec

ISO 1600 – 10mm – f2.8 – 1/125 sec

ISO 1600 –  10mm – f3.5 – 1/200 sec

ISO 1600 – 10mm – f10 – 1/1600 sec

ISO 1600 – 10mm – f4 – 1/320 sec

ISO 1600 – 10mm – f2.8 – 1/20 sec

ISO 1600 – 10mm – f2.8 – 1/80 sec

ISO 400 – 10mm – f7.1 – 1/800 sec

ISO 400 – 10mm – f6.3 – 1/640 sec – Split Toning

Usually I would be carrying around my Canon 1D MKIV with a wide angle or even a prime to shoot a bustling city however the ease and portability of the X Pro 1 allowed for a more enjoyable travelling experience. Compared to my Canon I was amazed at the image quality – especially with the higher ISO settings.

Simply put I’m glad that there is a professional camera out there that fits my travelling needs. All the below images were photographed shooting RAW and edited in Adobe Lightroom 4.

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 2500 – 35mm – f1.4 – 1/170sec – Split Toning in Adobe Lightroom 4.

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 800 – 35mm – f4.5 – 1/150 sec – Split Toning in Adobe Lightroom 4.

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 800 – 35mm – f1.4 – 1/100 sec – Edited using Adobe Lightroom 4.

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 200 – 35mm – f1.4 – 1/350 sec – Edited in Adobe Lightroom 4.

Fujifilm X Pro 1 – ISO 800 – 35mm – f1.4 – 1/80 sec – Edited using Adobe Lightroom 4.

I’m looking forward to Melbourne next month so be sure to keep your eyes on the blog for some great ideas and inspiration in the photography, business and social media world. Some of blog posts that I will be talking about will be from amazing people in the photography, business and social media world. Some of  these people include:

A.J.Riebli filmmaker from Pixar Animation Studios will be discussing just how to tell a memorable digital story; David Warwick from bwired will shine some light on how to effectively unleash the power of social media; Paul Atkins (Atkins Technicolor) will discuss the business behind the fast growing pace of the social media business world and from Elcom Technology, Anthony Milner will discuss how to manage your web content successfully.

Darren Vowles from ReachLocal Australia will discuss today’s digital online space; the Director of Consumer for Microsoft - David McLean, will present the topic of digital lifestyle and finally Christ Maher from IT Bandwagon is going to show me how to super charge my social media.

To top it all off I will be hearing from Steve Parish and Darran Leal about everything photography!

Stay tuned and subscribe to my blog through any of my social media channels.

Until next time

Happy Shooting.

Over the next 24 hours I will hit 5000 followers on Google Plus in 4 months. Thanks for all the support everyone.

Let me start by saying this really isn’t a review on the Olympus E-P3….just a whole lot of messing around trying to be creative.

I didn’t want to list the features in point form so I put a little video together for you all to have a look at. Sorry for the delay but I have been extremely busy…does anyone want a PA job????

The Olympus also features 10 Art Filters: Diorama, Pop Art, Soft Focus, Pale & Light Color, Light Tone, Grainy Film, Pin Hole, Cross Process, Gentle Sepia and Dramatic Tone.

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Some of the images that made it into my short video were taken at the Boat Shed Markets in Albany, Western Australia:

     45mm, ISO 200, 1/80 sec, f1.8

     45mm, ISO 200, 1/125 sec, f2.0

    45mm, ISO 200, 1/160 sec, f2.2

     45mm, ISO 200, 1/160 sec, f2.5

     45mm, ISO 200, 1/800 sec, f5.0

     45mm, ISO 200, 1/800 sec, f5.0

     45mm, ISO 200, 1/800 sec, f5.0

For a full review on the camera I can recommend checking out the link here

A big thank you goes to Olympus Australia for suppling me with an Olympus EP3.

Until next time – Happy Shooting.

Leigh

CameraED photography tutorials is a creative branch of Leigh Diprose Photography.

The header “CameraED” will be found on my new site which will combine the following sites: Leigh Diprose Photography, Leigh Diprose Photography Blog, BridesPerth and CameraED. Also I will be planning to have a dedicated area on the site for my Fine Art Photography which will be available to download for FREE!

I am planning to use CameraED to create some style and reviews in the photographic world. I have a stack of plans and goals to achieve this year and I look forward to sharing my ideas and thoughts with you all. The total project will be a slow start due to some major changes in my life however once the new site is live later on this year there will be an opportunity to contribute photographs, stories and reviews from approved contributors. The contributors to the new site will be from the following social media platforms; Google+, WordPress and Facebook (as a start – more to follow).

If you would be interested in being involved with this project please drop me an email at leighdiprosephotography@yahoo.com.au with the Subject Title “CameraED Contribute”

As a sort of soft launch for CameraED I have put together a clip on the new Olympus OM-D.

I will have my review on the Olympus E-P3 up later in the week. I simply ran out of time.

Enjoy.

COULD this change me forever? The colour red be no longer? Will I be seeing yellow from now on?

All I can say is just wait….Canon WILL be bringing something bigger and better shortly!

Here is what Lord Miles Parker (and yes he is an actual Lord) had to say about the last hangout I hosted yesterday:

I attended one of my favourite hangouts in recent week last night courtesy of +Leigh Diprose. The topic of discussion was Sharing good practice when it comes to photography. As the hangout went on we watched the sun come up through his window, and welcomed in New Years Eve.

+Leigh Diprose is a Great Photographer, recently arrived on G+ and he is based in Australia, he has a wealth of excellent images to share with the community and last night was his first hangout, unsure of the response he took the plunge and it paid off.

We had +Vitaliy Darovskikh sharing images of his back yard… which included an ice-rink and some deer. +Justin Hill was also there sharing images of close up insects and a particularly tricky macro of a tigers face. +Randy Ksar was busy sharing images of scenic Canada, and +mark helm was sharing amazing macro images of bugs

+Leigh Diprose has said he will be doing more hangouts on a regular basis, so circle him and hangout with this amazing photographer.

Jump online and join the conversation at 11.30pm!

http://www.spreecast.com/events/cameraed-001