Hey X100 lovers, I am still updating from Chiang Mai and here are some of my latest shots and experiences with the X100.
Before I do that, more bad news.....the X100 has gone from being fully pimped up to totally stripped down !!!!! I have now lost all of the accessories that I bought except the leather case (and I guess if loose that the camera is gone !!) Gone are the thumbs up, soft release red shutter button and the lens hood. These add-ons are simply not up to the stress of travel photography and I am shocked at how easily they were gone :( Lesson is; by all means buy them to make the camera look good for city cruising but don't put it to work..... I will replace the lens hood because I need that to protect the lens (I don't like filters) so the hood is essential and it also does a great job with flare.
Here is a fond memory of how it looked fully tarted up.
Enough of this, lets get back to Chiang Mai and the X100 shooting experience. Here is a shot I like a lot from the huge night market in the centre of the town. This guy pops through a window in his wooden stall where he sells silver jewelry and I managed to time the shot perfectly as he picked up a ring to show a customer. I spoke about this in a previous blog around waiting for the moment and not shooting indiscriminately. This is an important aspect of X100 shooting due to its relatively slow operation, however, in a strange way it also helps to improve your composition, framing and timing. I have heard this said about shooting film and imagine the experience to be similar. The discrete appearance and silent operation of the X100 all add to this of course.
For shooting at the market I found ISO auto with 1600 limit and min 1/60 to be perfect and I didn't loose a single shot to blur. The editing for this one was the dark drama toning in Snapseed which regular readers will know I have been using to edit on the fly when traveling and in my opinion it brings out the jewelry and wood grain in a very dramatic way.
No trip to Thailand or Chiang Mai would be complete without shooting the temples and monks. I found on this trip that the monks were a little camera shy and I put that down to the sheer volume of tourists that were there for the Loi Krathong festival. Still, with the unobtrusive X100 and its silent use, its possible to quietly blend in and not disturb people while you shoot. I keep raving about this aspect of the X100 but don't underestimate the value of not being noticed and I can speak from experience here. I know that the clatter of my D3 shutter would have made this monk look up and be uncomfortable.
On a different aspect of travel photography, I normally love shooting black & white but haven't been doing so much with the X100. I intend to correct that and will shoot a lot more with this in mind for a future blog on the subject. In the meantime here is one that I really like, this was shot with a cheapo polarizer which helped with the contrast. I can highy recommend the use of a polarizer on the X100, it's 49 mm thread is easy and cheap to source and light to carry. The effect on contrast is always welcome and, with the bright light from the golden and white buildings, helped to tame the reflections a bit. Normally the contrast of a monks orange robes would make a photo like this but I prefer the B&W. Here is a color version from the same scene taken shortly after - what do you guys think?
Both work for me but for different reasons :) This was a horrendous exposure but I preferred to preserve the monk detail this time around at the expense of some of the building detail.
Here is another instance where the polarizer made a huge difference and brought out the texture in these silver medallions which, incidentally, were hand made in the temple compound by the guy below.
You can see in the background the intricate frame that he made for the photo of Thailand's highly revered King and Queen.
Here is another example of the silver work shaped into leaves and hung like a tree, gorgeous stuff and perfectly metered by the X100.
Back to the monks again and a quick comment about the 35mm lens equivalent on the X100. This focal length is perfect for travel subject and context shooting, and its always a good idea to take the context shot first in case the subject moves. This is the same monk at the window from the 3rd photo in this post and I shot this as my initial subject and environment shot to make sure I had it in the bag.
Here's another nice context example, I particularly like to shoot against the light and the clock and calendar in the corner were for me and important part of the story and rather nicely fill the frame.
Finally, I mentioned in part 1 about the great coffee from the Republic Coffee orange (had to be this color for Chiang Mai !!!) van, we became firm friends with the owner due to our frequent visits during the trip and here is a closing shot of it in action.
Cheers until next time,
Steel
No comments:
Post a Comment