October 2020 – PauloBizarroPHOTOBLOG

Some black and white photos

Black and white photography is as old as photography itself. With the advent of digital photography, it is increasingly easy to produce black and white images using various types of software. In my opinion what makes a good black and white photograph still has to do with light and subject. Sometimes colour can be a distraction, so by eliminating it, we can focus the attention on textural details, shapes, moods, and feelings.

On one of my recent trails in the Rota Vicentina of southwest Portugal, I made a series of photos of the rural landscape. You can read about it here:

On the trail with the Fujifilm X100V

The weather was very nice, with plenty of sunshine and white clouds. Some of the cork oak trees are very old in this region, and they make for interesting shapes against the sky and surrounding landscape. Some of the houses were also interesting, with the typical strong blue and white colours of the Alentejo province. In several photos, I used a polarizer to enhance the richness of the colours even more.

Even though I was quite happy with the colour photos I made on that trip, I thought that some of them might also work in black and white. So, when working on the Raw files, I tried several types of conversions. There are many ways to convert from colour to black and white, but I wanted to keep things simple. In this case, I used the Fujifilm presets inside Lightroom, deciding on either the Acros or Monochrome presets, with a touch of red filter to darken the sky and enhance contrast.

Following are some photographs that I converted and am happy with. Next time you are out photographing, keep an eye for interesting subjects that might be suitable for good black and white images.

Primary school, Monte da Estrada village.

Dawn in Almograve with the Fujifilm X100V

You can tell from my recent posts that I have been using this camera a lot. From occasional and general type of shooting to trekking, this camera is a powerful photographic tool. Today, I want to share another experience, this time using the camera for landscape photography in the southwest coast of Alentejo, Portugal. More precisely, during dawn in Almograve beach.

My wife thinks I am crazy, but I like to wake up before dawn to catch the best light on the landscape. Or, in this instance, the seascape. This time, I simply grabbed my tripod and X100V and went off to the nearby beach of Almograve. Arriving in the dark, I set up the camera and tripod and started experimenting with long exposures. I often use a Lee Big Stopper ND filter, but this time I wanted to try the in-camera 4 stop ND filter and see what type of images I would get. The previous version of the camera had a 3 stop ND filter; 1 stop more ends up making a significant difference for this application of long exposure photography.

Below are some examples of the long exposures I was able to shoot, some of them up to 4 minutes long.

As you can see, the soft light of pre-dawn was wonderful, with changing pink and purple hues in the sky. The longer exposures also imparted the sea with an ethereal quality.

In closing, I can say that the images look great, and the new 4 stop in-camera ND filter opens up a lot of possibilities for long exposure photography.

On the trail with the Fujifilm X100V

As promised, what follows is a brief write-up of my experience using this camera on one of the Rota Vicentina trails. This is a network of many walking trails that exists in southwest Portugal, with a total of around 750km. The one I am writing about today is one I have previously done in December 2019 (details in the link below).

https://blog.paulobizarro.com/?m=201912

My wife and I enjoyed this trek so much last year, that this year we decided to do it again. With the Covid-19 pandemic still ongoing, we take any opportunity we can to go out and enjoy Nature in this region. So this year, in the beginning of October, we went again for this hike, which provides some great views from the top of the hills, plus some wonderful contact with local farmlands and old ways of rural life.

The weather was wonderful, with plenty of sunshine and puffy white clouds. This time, I only took the little Fuji X100V, tucked away in a small shoulder bag, with a spare battery and polarizer filter. Last year I went with more gear (2 cameras and 2 lenses), so this time around I wanted to see what different types of photos I would come back with. With a 23mm lens on APSC format, the X100V is an excellent camera for occasional shooting, be it landscapes, reportage, or documenting.

This trek is notorious for the very old cork oak trees that can be found along the way. I had some fun time playing around with various compositions and using the polarizer to enhance colours, sky, and clouds. I also tried a few black and white versions from the Raw files.

The well know Arbutus trees are starting to bear fruits which, when ripe, are delicious. They are important for the local economy, as a source for the famous spirited medronho aguardente.

About half way along the trek, the road climbs towards the top of a hill, where the tiny chapel of Nossa Senhora das Neves can be found. This is a wonderful place to have some rest and enjoy the 360 degrees scenic views.

Panorama view from atop the mountain. Near Our Lady of Snow chapel.

It is also a very good spot to have a picnic lunch. After this, the rest of the trail winds up and down the hills, before descending to the valley. I ended up using the polarizer a lot and liked the results.

I was quite happy with the images I made, and again confirmed that the X100V is a powerful little companion for such occasions. I will keep using it a lot on the trail.

Sunset walk with the Fujifilm X100V

I recently wrote about the latest iteration of the X100 series of cameras in the article below.

Fujifilm X100V – initial photos

I have been using the camera whenever the opportunity arises, in short walks, or even on long trails. One of these recent short walks in the beach near my house, Carcavelos. Since June I have been working under a mixed regime, one week in the office, one week at home. Thanks SARS-COV-2… anyway, one of these afternoons, after work, I went for a sunset stroll on the beach. The little Fuji X100V is a perfect companion for such occasions, so I took it along.

The weather forecast included some rain showers and clouds, courtesy of storm Alex, so things were looking promising in terms of potential photographic interest. Looking through the window, there were indeed some clouds, but also occasional sunshine. Upon arriving at the beach, the weather was great, with golden light that with time turned to the typical post-sunset blue hour. I simply walked along the surf, making some photos here and there.

There were several surf schools operating at the time, and they always signal their position with flags. One of the attractions of the X100V is the fast f/2.0 lens, so I tried a close shot of one flag with the lens wide open, so the background would melt away. It’s nice to have these options in a small camera. This camera is small but quite responsive, so this type of unplanned photography on the go is easy to do. The fact that the X100V looks like some old film camera also helps in being unobstrusive when among people.

I stayed in the beach until after sunset, as the sky started to show magnificent colours. I did not have a tripod with me, so I had to raise the ISO more than I am used to, but even so, the quality of the RAW files was quite good. At the end of the day, it was an enjoyable and relaxing walk, and I was able to make some interesting photos with this nice Fujifilm camera.

Next time I will write about my experience with it when hiking on a trail along the Vicentina route in southwest Portugal.

A morning walk with the Fujinon XF 90mm f/2 lens

When considering the subject of “landscape lenses”, normally the consensus converges towards lenses with a wide angle of view, that is, below the typical 50mm standard lens. Of course, such lenses are very useful for providing “depth” (foreground to background relationship) and including the grand vistas often associated with landscape photography.

But many interesting landscape photos can be made with normal and telephoto lenses. The latter can provide a very different photo, by isolating or drawing the attention of the viewer to a particular detail in the scene. This article provides some examples that I made during a short early morning walk in Carcavelos beach, near my house. It is a location I visit many times, which poses the challenge of trying to obtain different photos from the ones I took before.

I used the Fujinon XF 90mm f/2 lens, which is labeled as a portrait lens. On this occasion, I wanted to see what type of photos I could make on the beach, looking around for interesting subjects. There is a large fort on the eastern end of the beach, and normally there are many surfers that arrive very early. So I simply mounted the lens on the camera, grabbed the tripod, and went out.

The first shots I took were simply playing around with the shape of the lens’ aperture: rounded wide open, polygonal stopped down.

As expected, there were already many surfers in the water, plus some others doing their warm up. I made a few shots of them, using long exposures to capture the ambiance.

The next photos show the fort in the distance, and the pontoon up close. The tighter angle of view from the lens provides a different result from using a wider angle lens.

I had a great time simply walking along the beach, enjoying the pre-dawn light, the changing colours, and the breaking waves.

As for the lens itself, it is no surprise that it delivers excellent results, and it is another high quality tool in my landscape kit. Delivers sharpness, great colour, and contrast.