The Personal Journal of James Vornov
I continue to work through the large number of images I captured in Italy last month. After a break, I’m rating and scanning again. It’s interesting how much I like the quick takes on images that I did while there because I had fresh ideas of what I wanted to say about what I had just seen. Now it’s more of a dialogue with the image and construction of experience.
This was processed in Aperture with some NIK plugins.
Here’s one of the few images I captured using my widest lens in Italy. It’s impressive and a lesson to me about creating large scale abstracted images.
The Nikon 12-24mm f/4 is very sharp, here stopped down to f/9 under cloud cover. Even at the edges, the image at full resolution is impressively detailed.
I decided to go to Italy pretty light this time. I put the Nikon D300 with the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 zoom in my small, unpadded LowePro Terraclime along with the Nikon 12-24mm f/4 and a flash, my SB800. These are the two lenses that I use most frequently by far. This kit is lacking on the long end, but my only lenses longer than the Tamron are the 105mm micro and an older 70-300mm Nikon zoom which never gets used.
As was typical, the Tamron stayed on the camera most of the time. I switched to the wider 12-24 a few times, but if I went out for a walk, it was just the Tamron that went along. I would have been fine on the trip with the one lens alone. It’s fast (f/2.8), sharp (far superior to the Nikon 24-70mm VR), and compact compared to the Nikon equivalent. The build quality is not the same. The lens ring that holds the shade is a bit loose and rattles now, but it doesn’t affect any optics.When I looked at this image, I thought that it was with the 12-24mm since I put it on to get the wide view of this famous church in Assisi. It’s actually the Tamron at 17mm. I’m now interested in filtering the Aperture library to see whether the 12-24mm actually contributed at all. If not, the 12-24mm stays home next time.
There were times when the 50mm reach of the Tamron wasn’t enough. I would have liked to have a VR long lens to get me to 150mm or so. Certainly something to consider for the next trip and future lens buys. The ability to push ISO up to 1600 without severe comprise in image quality with the D300 is great. In combination with an f/2.8 lens it allows light light shooting and preservation of a handholding shutter speed. I wouldn’t consider bringing a tripod an a trip like this.
The flash never was used. It’s mostly because I was walking and shooting, walking and shooting. If I had a few days just to photograph and not sightsee, I might have used it. I’ll continue to bring it along on these kinds of trips.
My wife had the Nikon P5000 compact. It was her sketch camera and I used it a few times when I didn’t have the SLR and she had the compact in her purse. So it would be inaccurate to say I didn’t bring a compact backup. It captured a few nice images as did the iPhone camera, my ultimate backup for really casual shooting (restaurant dishes, etc). Some compact backup is always necessary. Nice to have someone to carry it and share the trip.
I looked at this image from Umbria this morning and wondered why I was working on it. I’ve been photographing the suburban environment I live in with a developing visual vocabulary. In Umbria, the suburban environment is very different and the resulting images reflect it.
It’s process. Spend time in a new environment and gain new visual impressions. For me it’s the essence of travel- getting out of one’s usual routines and ways of seeing. Then on returning, the daily reality doesn’t look the same.
Umbria is truly a beautiful place with extraordinary visual sights nearly everywhere. I’m not a travel photographer or a chronicler of Italian landscape. But I’m happy to share what I saw and hope that it helps to inform my more usual work.
These were stains on a wall I walked by every morning in Spello. They were constantly changing based on the light. Spello, like Assisi, is built of pink colored stone. All of the stucco and mortar are also tinted to complement the colors. It makes for one of the warmest environments you can image.
I had some anxiety about my image safety during my vacation. Just before I left, the hard drive on my Macbook Pro was scrambled and I rebuilt it from a Time Machine backup the evening before leaving. I then couldn’t find the external hard drive / card reader that I bought a few years ago.
I just downloaded images from cards onto the laptop during the trip, reviewing and then erasing the cards. A single copy of all of those images until yesterday when they were copied over to external drives, consolidated into the big Aperture library, and put into vaults.
It’s been a great 10 days in Italy. No real internet access for the entire trip. Tonight we’re in a hotel at the airport, prepared for an early flight out and back to the US.
Umbria light was much better for photography than that of Liguria two years ago. About 1500 captures, with a few winners already. This was quickly processed just in Aperture using the Nik filters.
I felt like rerendering an older photo to compare my newer way of seeing to that of a year or so ago. I happened to get 4 views today of a year old image I took with the DP1 in Geneva last year. I found the RAW and took it through the current workflow. The result is above. Below is the original finished image, back when I was working mostly through Photoshop rather than Capture NX.
I remain absolutely floored by the Nik Tonal Contrast filter. It actually takes much of the flatness of digital away, creating what looks to me like more film like local contrast.
I’ve been shooting pretty exclusively with the Nikon D300 and Tamron f2.8 midrange zoom combination. The DP1 sits on the shelf, waiting. As long as carrying the Nikon is no problem, I have no real reason to go to the less flexible DP1. I guess its waiting for a travel opportunity.
I’ve thought a bit about whether or not I would jump to the DP2 once it arrives. The DP1’s two great limitations are shot to shot speed and the f/4 lens. The DP2 promises to improve both with new electronics and a faster, slightly less wide lens.
Carl Rytterfalk has the first hands on field review of a preproduction model.
Initial DP2 review with full size shots.. | Carl Rytterfalk Fotografi: ” Faster operation! Now very useful in studio as shot to shot is much improved! “
His take is very encouraging. Great lens as expected. And that beautiful foveon tonality and color rendering.
Pile of Sticks, originally uploaded by jjvornov.
Thanks to Moose Peterson for finally revealing what his latest Nik secret filter is. It’s tonal contrast. Here’s his video on the technique. As he notes, it’s really very much like an HDR filter because it’s a local contrast booster. You’ll see in his video how easy it is to get carried away with this thing. However there’s something that he alludes to that I think is really valuable. He demonstrates how one can crank it up and apply multiple times. Well the overall effect is not believable at all. But it’s easy enough to selectively paint in some of this extra effect to create what Vincent Versace called a belivable improbability.
He’s been told the technique is cheating. I’m with Moose on this. I’m lazy to the core. I’m looking for the fastest way to convey what I see in these mundane suburban views.
One of the other features in this image is fill flash. I liked the accentuation of the shadow depth and plan to explore the effect a bit more.
