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Kate-the-Great

Kate-the-Great

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Feb 6, 2014
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Edit 31 July- I've decided to move this to W/NW as it's grown from the "Fuji X" scope I initially posted it as.

Kate-the-Great said:
I realized recently that many years of shooting architecture with a view camera has driven into me an absolute obsession for keeping vertical lines straight. Which is generally good, but lately I've been trying to get more creative with my composition in general and as a part of that I've been doing a casual study of highrise architectural details to break myself of the "obsessively leveling the camera" thing. The X-system is perfect for that as it begs to be used handheld. I don't think I've even mounted my X-E1 on a tripod once in the year I've owned it!
Click to expand...

X-E1; first 2 with Nikkor 20mm on knockoff SpeedBooster, third was Nikkor 50mm and the rest with a Canon Serenar 28mm


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While your motivation is never something that's fussed me, I do like the photos you've shown here. Whatever the cause, I'm glad you took them and thank you for showing them to us.

...Mike
 
Lovely

Lovely

I agree with Mike's sentiments. Thank you for sharing. And I especially like the rendering of the Serenar - were these processed much, or are they pretty close to what the lens draws?
 
Well, I have that serenar 28 and mine is waaay low contrast. My shots would not look that nice "out of camera". But, lenses vary and who knows?

I really like the "Parking" image. Just love the color and the composition is compelling. That one gives me a "feeling", and that's just what I want from a good photograph.
 
Thanks all! Yes, please do share similar photos! Would love to see what y'all have done similarly :)

All the images were processed somewhat heavily (adjustments only, no masks on these) in Lightroom 6; they did come out of the camera looking a bit dull so after applying a Film Simulation (B&W with Y filter or Astia for this set) I upped the contrast/saturation/clarity/sharpness quite a bit. The new "Dehaze" adjustment in the latest LR patch was useful for a couple of the shots with the 20mm (which has coating loss on the rear element and flares like crazy)

I think I'm fortunate to have a pretty good copy of the Serena 28- it's a bit banged up but the glass is pristine and the focus/aperture are smooth. Even wide-open it's fairly contrasty but with wild curvature-of-field that makes nice medium-distance portraits, and at 5.6-11 it's wonderfully sharp all the way across and haze-free. No distortion either, wonderful for architecture shots stopped-down!
 
Lovely shots Helen! :D Those views are something else. Digging the composition in the Central Park shot especially!

Oh, NYC. What a landscape, I would really like to spend more time there. The times I've visited have resulted in great photos without even having to go look for them! I've been struggling a bit lately to find sights in Denver that inspire me. Missing Houston and it's grittiness and bountiful skyscrapers (and accessible rooftops ;) )
 
Kate-the-Great said:
I realized recently that many years of shooting architecture with a view camera has driven into me an absolute obsession for keeping vertical lines straight. Which is generally good, but lately I've been trying to get more creative with my composition in general and as a part of that I've been doing a casual study of highrise architectural details to break myself of the "obsessively leveling the camera" thing.
Click to expand...

OK Kate, I have the same hangup. Verticals should be vertical! I even use perspective Control Nikkors for that. But I will share (but don't let this get out) that last Friday I took a photo with vertical convergence. So in the spirit of full disclosure, here it is:
 

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