Portrait Photography

Canon S95 and Panasonic LX3

01.04.11

This post starts with the confession that I have sold my lovely Panasonic LX3, written about in an earlier post. The LX3 is compact, has a decent sensor for a compact camera, slightly larger than average, and a sensible 10 megapixel file to achieve decent noise performance. Additionally the Leica badged lens, is well regarded and has a great focal range for quality in the very wide to slightly telephoto range. Why then did I sell the LX3? The answer is that I barely used it. As I write this, I am looking at one of my favourite landscapes, it is on my wall, and I love it. It was taken with the LX3 in my first month of using it. The trouble is that I have only learned now that it wasn’t the camera for me.

The problem may seem odd, but when I lived with it for a while I realised it was simply too big to carry around casually. The excellent lens doesn’t retract into the body, so you couldn’t slip it into a pocket. In effect for me it was a smaller lighter version of carrying my DSLR, and I thought I was buying it as compact. It had a nice compact leather case, and I occasionally slung that over my shoulder, but that wasn’t much more convenient for me than my DSLR with a single 17-85 lens in a basic bag, so I tended to carry a DSLR instead. Great as the LX3 is, it still has a small sensor, and so as a portrait photographer, it doesn’t give the magical Depth of Field control that my large sensor DSLR does, hence another reason why the reduction in size wasn’t enough to tempt me; if I was a landscape photographer then it would be more worthwhile. (The amazing landscape photographer, Charlie Waite sang it’s praises as a compact walkaround tool in a recent edition of Amateur Photographer.)

So the result of this thinking is that I have bought a new compact camera. The Canon S95 is genuinely compact, and even fits in a jeans pocket. It has a 28 to 105 (I think) equivalent lens, the same larger but still small sensor, RAW files like the LX3, the sensible 10 megapixel files and a bucketload of fun toys like HDR and arty filter programmes that I’ll probably never use. This is simply about first impressions, but they are very good. This camera travels with me; I’m not going to be too precious about protective cases. Fine for storage, or for putting in a bag, but if I’m out for a meal or a stroll around town, then this will slip in a pocket and be a useful tool. I’ll say more about it once I’ve had more time with it.

This is a casual snap outside Glasgow’s Central Station using streetlights only. (ISO1600 f2 1/10th sec)

I also have the Sony Nex 5, and I hope it will take a place in my collection of cameras, and I’ll say more about that shortly, but at least, I now think I could be happy with my S95 for casual carrying, and my DSLR for the most of my photography.

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Campbeltown Winter Night

12.23.10

I have recently been spending more time in Campbeltown. It is an interesting town, with a hill flanking it on one side, and a striking sea-loch on the other, despite these advantages, it is not a pretty town in my view; that’s not to say anything negative about it, it simply feels like a real place that has evolved through industry and sea commerce. I have only begun to look at it through my camera and it’s an interesting and enjoyable experience. Both these shots were taken handheld with the incredible 7D at night in an attempt to capture the atmosphere of the place.

This is the little marina area in the bay in serious winter conditions, (in the coldest December on record).

This is the main street with it’s Christmas decorations from the sweet shop window. Amazingly that same day, well below zero, I saw a small child eating an ice cream cone; clearly even the children are tough in Campbeltown. The clock on the right is a real central feature of the town.

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Harry

12.13.10

No one really expects to fall in love, but hey when it comes, it comes and you had better be ready to muster all your dignity and accept the inevitable. Anyway, such it was with Harry, the finest minihound in Argyll. My dear friends Jay and Fi, (who appeared in my last post), are step-mum and step-dad to this parsnips-terrier. My girlfriend and I were invited to stay recently, and the whole wonderful visit was enhanced by regular licks and standing leaps-into-your-lap by this handsome chap. Ladles and Jellyspoons, I give you Harry….

This was November, and the water was freezing; dogs have no sense, especially when cute…

I’m becoming lazy and lax, I can’t decide which of these shows the scale of the minihound best, or for that matter the scale of Jay’s lap..

Just in case you think my confession of affection for this chien par excellence is exaggerated, here is a shot someone took of me inflicting my guitar playing and nearly-but-no-banana singing on the household after breakfast. I was genuinely trying to sing when Harry climbed on to my shoulder to clean my left ear for me in a remarkably successful attempt to stop the noise.

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Fi

11.28.10

This is my friend Fi. She has an amazing daughter, to-die-for-dog, and a pretty cool husband. Just for a change, while we were out walking I thought it would be nice to concentrate on photographing Fi. There was a little glade with a steep hillside, and some mysterious low, soft light hitting it from what was left of a low winter sun. Our friend James, helped with my remote flash by handholding it through a diffusing umbrella.

I like the depth that the receding hillside gives along with the downward angle.

Poor Fi didn’t really want a close picture, but I think she looks amazing in this one.

But I have saved my favourite one till last. Fi has a stunning profile and a strong, beautiful face, and I think this picture shows this perfectly. I jokingly called this one her “posh newscaster picture”; actually now that I have looked at it for a while, I think that was just about right as a comment. BBC or channel 5 though?

Just for a change, as a few of us were out walking, there was a picture of me taking the pictures, with James kindly helping. If you search the blog, you’ll find two portraits of James that I have previously done.

Final Picture by a friend.

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Hebridean Air

11.23.10

Today my work took me to the beautiful island of Tiree. I flew Hebridean Air from Oban Airport, with local legend Julie Angel as pilot. In short, it was a great experience, and although my seat only had a window with the engine directly opposite, it was still worth pointing my new Sony carry-around at the astonishing west coast scenery. This was on the return in the late afternoon; Julie positively delights in making this journey pleasant when the weather allows. Aviation or scenery enthusiasts should not miss this. Here are a few snaps just to give you a flavour.

http://www.hebrideanair.co.uk

I love that these little islanders have their wheels permanently down.

Not a great picture, although it does show the kind of crinkly-bit-fest that is the west coast of Argyll. Slartibartfast would have loved it.

And then Julie flew us at skimming height, (in commercial flight terms anyway) over the Ben More range on Mull. Wow!

We had the fading sun chasing us behind. This is one looking backward.

Looking out to the south coast of Mull from the mountains.

A little further on, another Ben More outlier.

Even the landing is spectacular; this is the magnificent Connel Bridge.

Safely down!

And I was at work! Eat your heart out city slickers:-)

The midrange contrast, (clarity) was pushed in these to overcome the very-non-optical window glass and its various challenges. A useful adjuster in “Lightroom”!

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