[{"content":"Modern Fujifilm cameras are popular for their built-in film simulations, however only a handful of editors are capable of replicating them.\nI have created a set of LUTs (look up tables) based on the film simulations from Fujifilm\u0026rsquo;s own \u0026ldquo;RAW FILE CONVERTER\u0026rdquo; software which produce very close results to the in-camera processing.\nFujifilm XTrans III # Includes all simulations available to the X100F: Provia, Velvia, Astia, Classic Chrome, Pro Neg Hi, Pro Neg Std, Acros, Acros + Ye, Acros + R, Acros + G, Mono, Mono + Ye, Mono + R, Mono + G and Sepia. Note that the Acros sims have ISO dependent grain applied by the camera which will be absent here.\nHaldCLUT (sRGB) HaldCLUT (ProPhoto) 3DL Luminar G\u0026rsquo;MIC / Gimp Fujifilm XTrans II # Includes all colour simulations available to the X-E2: Provia, Velvia, Astia, Classic Chrome, Pro Neg Hi and Pro Neg Std.\nHaldCLUT (sRGB) 3DL Usage # The simulations are designed to be applied to a neutral RAW file, this means no auto-levels or custom tone curves / contrast should be applied, although you can still use the exposure slider to correct initial brightness. Any processing to the image should ideally happen AFTER you\u0026rsquo;ve applied the simulation or you may get unintended results.\nRawTherapee # Install the HaldCLUT package, go to the install location and add the profiles to a sub-folder, then restart RT.\nRemember to disable auto-levels and reset your exposure sliders before applying!\nAffinity Photo 1 \u0026amp; 2 # There are two ways to apply a simulation. Both use the LUT Adjustment Layer:\nSelect \u0026ldquo;Infer Lut\u0026rdquo;, pick the identity PNG file and in the second dialog the desired simulation. You can then save the adjustment as a profile for quick access in the future. As it’s a layer you can also blend/mask as desired. Select \u0026ldquo;Load LUT\u0026rdquo; and pick the desired 3DL simulation file. Note that this will only give accurate results in the sRGB colour space. Affinity LUT adjustments are affected by your working colour space. The sRGB profile will give undesired results if used in a different colour space. If you work in a different space you can create your own by opening the identity image and each profile in Affinity then exporting as a PNG with the correct ICC profile selected in Export Settings.\nRemember to disable the tone-curve in RAW assistant!\nLuminar # Preset - open Luminar and select \u0026ldquo;Show Presets Folder\u0026rdquo; from the File menu. From here you can either:\nUnzip the presets directly into this folder; they will appear under the \u0026ldquo;Custom\u0026rdquo; preset category. Go up a level from the User directory then unzip the preset folder into the Extra directory, they will then appear in their own category. 3DL - add the LUT filter and select your 3DL.\nLuminar applies a tone-curve to the image by default that can\u0026rsquo;t be disabled at time of writing. This leads to the image having too much contrast when the LUT is applied. Thankfully the LUT filter has its own contrast/saturation sliders; I\u0026rsquo;ve found setting contrast to -45 and saturation to 20 compensates for this and gives very similar results to other applications.\nNote for XTrans III camera users; Luminar has a slight colour shift on RAW files compared to other converters. You can negate this by applying a HSL hue shift of +20 to reds and blues. Make sure this filter is applied before the LUT filter (i.e. higher up in the filter list).\nExamples # Images on the left have the LUT applied to the neutral RAW file opened in RawTherapee with no other changes (apart from exposure), images on the right are JPGs produced directly from the camera.\nFujifilm Sim #1 - Provia Fujifilm Sim #1 - Velvia Fujifilm Sim #1 - Classic Chrome Fujifilm Sim #1 - Acros + R Fujifilm Sim #2 - Astia Fujifilm Sim #2 - Pro Neg Std Fujifilm Sim #3 - Velvia Fujifilm Sim #3 - Classic Chrome Fujifilm Sim #3 - Acros + G ","date":"6 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/fuji-film-simulation-profiles/","section":"A Photographic Journal","summary":"","title":"Fuji Film Simulation Profiles","type":"page"},{"content":"Photos and musings.\n","date":"6 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/","section":"A Photographic Journal","summary":"","title":"A Photographic Journal","type":"page"},{"content":"","date":"3 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"3 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/challenge/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Challenge","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"3 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/fujifilm/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Fujifilm","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"3 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/photo/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Photo","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"3 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/photography/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Photography","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"3 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Posts","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"3 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/project/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Project","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"3 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/project33/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Project33","type":"tags"},{"content":"As an amateur with no particular niche and not much time I struggle to keep a \u0026ldquo;raison d\u0026rsquo;être\u0026rdquo; for my photography.\nI tried to set myself a series of challenges last year which ultimately failed due to a combination of too many rules and too much self-pressure to make each image better than the last. But I still feel I need a challenge to work towards and give me a sense of direction.\nWelcome to #project33. Essentially it\u0026rsquo;s a 365 challenge to document a year in my life and to get me thinking about photography in different ways, but most importantly without the pressure of having to take a photo each and every day.\nThe aim is to create 365 images over the next year. Each day an image will be posted to Instagram (follow @stuart.sowerby), and each month I\u0026rsquo;ll put a selection of my favourites here.\nReal Life and motivation allowing, the image will be taken each day. In reality there will be a mix of daily captures and others taken recently, either with the challenge in mind or as part of another series.\nAs with any challenge like this, expect the quality to vary; although I always try my best to create a compelling shot this won\u0026rsquo;t always happen, but I hope over the year to see a refinement in my composition, find interest in the seemingly uninteresting, and maybe even see my own style finally emerge.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s a few from my first month, all images taken with the Fujifilm X100F and, with the exception of the Milky Way, all processed using the in-camera converter and Snapseed:\n","date":"3 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/project33-1/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"project33 [#1]","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"3 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"3 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/x100f/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"X100f","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"16 August 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/all/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"All","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"16 August 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/chichester/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Chichester","type":"tags"},{"content":"Kingley Vale has been on our list of places to visit for years, but despite it being less than 20 minutes away we only got around to going recently.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s an ancient forest and hill that provides some great views of the surrounding area, and is a great day out with the kids if they\u0026rsquo;re good walkers; the woods start about a mile from the car park and the trail to the hill can be narrow and winding. Once you get through it though there are some lovely spots for picnicking and otherwise enjoying the setting. We\u0026rsquo;ll be planning a return trip in the autumn to see what colours it brings.\n","date":"16 August 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/kingley-vale/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Kingley Vale","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"16 August 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/landscape/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Landscape","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"16 August 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/west-sussex/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"West-Sussex","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"25 July 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/emsworth/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Emsworth","type":"tags"},{"content":"I took advantage of the good weather a few weeks ago and went for a walk along the Emsworth shoreline to test out my new Fujifilm X100F. The light was excellent and the camera a joy to use. I shot in Provia and most of these are OOC (out of camera) with just a few small tweaks. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t a fan of Provia on my X-E2 but either my tastes have changed or Fujifilm have tweaked their film simulations and so far it\u0026rsquo;s proving to be very pleasing for a lot of uses.\n","date":"25 July 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/emsworth-shore/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Emsworth: Along The Shore","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"25 July 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/hampshire/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Hampshire","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"25 July 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/harbour/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Harbour","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"25 July 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/provia/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Provia","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"25 July 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/sea/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Sea","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"25 July 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/sunset/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Sunset","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"5 April 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/black-and-white/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Black-and-White","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"5 April 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/monochrome/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Monochrome","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"5 April 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/silver-efex/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Silver-Efex","type":"tags"},{"content":"Stonehenge, a small circle of old stones in the middle of a field, must be one of the most photographed places in the world. It does look diminutive from the road but when you finally get up close you can really appreciate the impressive scale and ancient legacy of the site.\nThis was a family day out first and foremost, but even though every nook and cranny has been explored by far more skilled photographers I hoped to come away with my own take.\nThere is a common opinion among picture-takers online that the view is ruined by all the tourists and it was indeed busy when we got there. I quickly realised however that the people, admiring the stones and absorbing the atmosphere, are actually an integral part of the experience so this is where I tried to focus my captures.\nSome are best viewed on a large screen.\n","date":"5 April 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/stonehenge/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Stonehenge","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"5 April 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/stonehenge/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Stonehenge","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"5 April 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/x-e2/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"X-E2","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"5 April 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/xc-16-50mm/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Xc-16-50mm","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"5 April 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/xc-50-230mm/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Xc-50-230mm","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"5 April 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/xf-35mm/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Xf-35mm","type":"tags"},{"content":"At the weekend I managed to get out with my camera for the first time this year, even if it was just for a quick walk around a nearby nature reserve. As is typical for a British winter, the weather was grey and drizzly and the land brown and dull, but I still came away with a few snaps to share.\nI thought it would be a good chance to experiment with monochrome processing via Silver Efex, but got I some interesting results when blending the mono images with their original colour versions - a cool, contrasty, desaturated vintage look. Here they are:\nHere are the full mono images before blending - which do you prefer?\n","date":"15 February 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/mono-colour-blends/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Mono-Colour Blends","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"15 February 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/monochrome/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Monochrome","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"15 February 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/nik-collection/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Nik-Collection","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"15 February 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/westbourne/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Westbourne","type":"tags"},{"content":"It\u0026rsquo;s been a while since my last post; 7 months in fact. A combination of photographic burnout, life, a failing train company and a big work project meant I have taken some time away from taking pictures. The site is not dead though, I plan to attack 2017 with new energy although there will not be any big challenges like last time. I do hope to find inspiration in a project or two though.\nTo see in the new year I\u0026rsquo;ve recently given the whole site an overhaul - please take a look around.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s a selection of my favourite shots from the last year (in no particular order). I hope you enjoy!\n","date":"19 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/2016-review/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"2016 In Review","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"19 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/best-of/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Best-Of","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"19 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/cornwall/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Cornwall","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"19 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/horsham/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Horsham","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"19 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/review/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Review","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"19 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/xf-18mm/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Xf-18mm","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"21 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/assignment/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Assignment","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"21 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/assignment/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Assignment","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"21 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/beach/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Beach","type":"tags"},{"content":"My May assignment entry is thanks to my son who graciously woke me up at 5am one Sunday morning, so I decided to go down to Emsworth beach as the sun was rising.\nEmsworth has a great stretch of shingle beach tucked away to the east of the main quay, leading to Nore Barn Woods and then on to Warblington and Langstone. At this time of the morning the beach was wonderfully tranquil, the water unusually still even as the tide was receding. There was still some dramatic skies to be found as the sun arose however.\nThese were taken with the Fujifilm XC 16-50mm and XF 35mm lenses, the latter producing some amazing pop at wide apertures as golden hour started. All were shot with the Pro-Neg High film simulation with some small tweaking with the Nik Collection.\nEmsworth Beach Sunrise Picnic Bench Sunrise Boats Boat masts at sunrise Boats On Wheels Old Wood Receding Tide Nor Barn Wood Chains Yet Another Bench Tree Silhouettes ","date":"21 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/emsworth-may-beach/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Emsworth in May: Dawn on the Beach","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"21 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/quay/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Quay","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"21 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/sunrise/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Sunrise","type":"tags"},{"content":"The final day of our Cornwall trip saw us visit the most southerly point of mainland Great Britain; Lizard Point.\nOnce again we had beautiful blue skies accompanied by strong winds, which added some extra excitement to the narrow paths along the steep cliffs - especially with a buggy in tow.\nLizard Point Lizard Point The trail wraps around Lizard Point and goes down to a small beach next to an abandoned lifeboat station.\nLizard Point Lizard Cove Beach It was a great spot to try out some more long exposures with my 10 stop ND filter (also see top image).\nOld Lifeboat Station FUJIFILM X-E2 XC 35mm f9.0 1/250s Lizard Cove Lizard Lifeboat Station View On top of the Point and above the lifeboat station is the Polpeor Cafe, which has stunning views of coast line around and served a very good Cornish Cream Tea.\nThe Old Lifeboat Station at Lizard Polpeor Cafe Next to Lizard Point is a huge two tower lighthouse, unfortunately my daughter was still just a few centimeters too small to go up to the top - maybe next time.\nLizard Lighthouse Unfortunately that was the end of our time in Cornwall, we had a great time and with so much more to see will be returning as soon as we can\u0026hellip;\n","date":"7 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/lizard-cornwall-holiday-2016/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"A Cornish Adventure Part 4: The Lizard","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"7 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/challenge/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Challenge","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"7 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/classic-chrome/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Classic-Chrome","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"7 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/lizard/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Lizard","type":"tags"},{"content":"On the most easterly tip of Falmouth sits Pendennis Castle, a fort built by King Henry VIII which saw use right up until WWII.\nThis proved to be a much better day out for the kids than originally expected; the big collection of big guns providing plenty of entertainment. We even got to see one of the 25lb Howitzers fired at midday.\nPendennis Castle Pendennis Castle Ready, aim, fire! Firing the 25lb Howizter Mini cannon Gun Battery Down the Cannon Sights Rockstars The castle\u0026rsquo;s sights also made a good subject for my Samyang fisheye which provided a unique perspective.\nWWII Bunker Howitzer Pendennis Castle Inside the castle ","date":"6 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/pendennis-castle-cornwall-holiday-2016/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"A Cornish Adventure Part 3: Pendennis Castle","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"6 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/falmouth/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Falmouth","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"6 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/pendennis/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Pendennis","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"6 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/samyang-8mm/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Samyang-8mm","type":"tags"},{"content":"Next up in my Cornwall series, the lovely little seaside town we stayed in; Portreath. North of St Ives and near Redruth, Portreath proved to be the perfect spot to stay with most of Cornwall within a 30 minute drive.\nThe town is mostly built around it\u0026rsquo;s sandy beach which is particularly popular with surfers. Steep hills surround both sides offering excellent views of the sea and town below.\nTown of Portreath A small harbour hugs the northern edge of the town, with a steep winding road leading up to one of Portreath\u0026rsquo;s most distinctive landmarks; the Pepperpot.\nPortreath Harbour and Pepperpot Houses by the beach The other landmark of the town is the nearby Gull Rock, an outcrop just off the beach. It was a great subject to test out some long exposures, however the strong winds and rapidly encroaching tide didn\u0026rsquo;t help.\nSea long exposure Sea long exposure The mixture of sand and shingle beach proved to be popular with the kids, I\u0026rsquo;m sure in the warmer summer months it would be an excellent destination.\nPlaying on the beach The Pepperpot is a \u0026ldquo;daymark\u0026rdquo; (a sailing navigation aid), and whilst getting closer to it wasn\u0026rsquo;t difficult it did involve a bit of hairy parking on an extremely steep incline. You are rewarded with some beautiful views of both the Atlantic and the town once you get there though.\nSunset at the Pepperpot View of portreath from above I can\u0026rsquo;t recommend Portreath enough for a quiet base for a Cornish holiday, we stayed in the Gwel an Mor resort which was also fantastic.\nPepperpot Fisheye ","date":"1 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/portreath-cornwall-holiday-2016/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"A Cornish Adventure Part 2: Portreath","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"1 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/portreath/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Portreath","type":"tags"},{"content":"The blog has been quiet for a little while; a big family holiday to Cornwall followed by a busy work schedule has meant my photography has suffered. April was a month off from my challenges and I\u0026rsquo;ve decided to make May into a four part series based on the holiday. The first destination on our trip was the idyllic town of St Ives.\nTo satisfy the criteria of my challenges almost all of the images in the next four posts were taken with both the Fujifilm XC 16-50mm lens and a CPL (circular polarizing filter).\nSt Ive\u0026rsquo;s St Ives is a stunning harbour town on the west coast of Cornwall. It was a bright sunny spring day when we visited and you could be forgiven for thinking you were in the Mediterranean with the mix of clear blue ocean, sandy beaches and distinctive architecture.\nSt Ive\u0026rsquo;s Beach It was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday, particularly with such a large beach, the only major activity being from the sailing club readying their variety of boats. Tractors are my son\u0026rsquo;s favourite thing in life, so you can imagine his joy at seeing one on the sand!\nTractor on St Ive\u0026rsquo;s Beach St Ive\u0026rsquo;s Boats St Ive\u0026rsquo;s Beach Despite the deep blue sky there was still plenty of chill to the wind and water, reminding us how far away the Med really is.\nLighthouse on St Ive\u0026rsquo;s Beach St Ive\u0026rsquo;s Beach The strong northerly wind was enough to cancel the boat trips to nearby Seal Island, much to the kid\u0026rsquo;s disappointment. They were soon distracted by all of the sand however.\nSt Ive\u0026rsquo;s Beach St Ive\u0026rsquo;s Beach Lunch was our first taste of the local Cornish speciality Homity Pie, and we finished the day off with some real Cornish Ice Cream whilst enjoying the views of the Harbour.\nSt Ive\u0026rsquo;s Beach All of these images used the Classic Chrome film simulation, either from the X-E2 directly or the excellent RawTherapee profile found here, with some small tweaks using Nik Veveza.\nSt Ive\u0026rsquo;s Beach St Ives set the bar high for the rest of the holiday. Fortunately as we discovered, Cornwall has lots more to offer.\n","date":"30 May 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/st-ives-cornwall-holiday-2016/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"A Cornish Adventure Part 1: St Ives","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"30 May 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/holiday/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Holiday","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"30 May 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/st-ives/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"St-Ive's","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"10 May 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/bluebells/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Bluebells","type":"tags"},{"content":"My April assignment took me to Hollybank Woods on the northern edge of Emsworth where one small clearing was filled with a display of delicate little native Bluebells.\nBluebells in Emsworth It was still early for the Bluebells, and the flowers were so delicate that they could barely be made out against the thick grasses they were growing in.\nBluebells in Emsworth Another week or two may have seen a more dominating display but we spent the end of the month away on our first family holiday in years.\nBluebells in Emsworth The rest of the wood itself whilst still in hibernation is a lovely place to explore, although extremely bog-like at this time of year, wellies are a requirement!\nBluebells in Emsworth Once again these images were taken in the Classic Chrome film simulation, with just a little tweaking with Nik Viveza to emphasize the blue of the flowers.\nBluebells in Emsworth I\u0026rsquo;ll be heading back to Emsworth\u0026rsquo;s beautiful coast line for next month\u0026rsquo;s assignment, stay tuned!\nBluebells in Emsworth ","date":"10 May 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/bluebells-hollybank-emsworth-april/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Emsworth in April: Hollybank Bluebells","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"10 May 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/hollybank-wood/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Hollybank-Wood","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"12 April 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/bosham/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Bosham","type":"tags"},{"content":"Another brief post for this week, April is proving to be a busy month. We took a blustery walk along the coast at Bosham at the weekend. Since my March assignment entry I\u0026rsquo;ve been enjoying black and white again so here are two colour and three B\u0026amp;W.\nKids standing on bench Bosham Marina Through a hole in the wall Looking out on Bosham Harbour ","date":"12 April 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/bosham-stroll/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Sunday stroll in Bosham","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"10 April 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/longexposure/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Longexposure","type":"tags"},{"content":"The first of my April posts is short and sweet. No specific challenge this month but I took a quick trip to Emsworth Beach to try out some long exposure daytime photography with my new ND filter, and used the results to experiment with the now free Nik Collection processing plugins.\nThe filter is a Hoya ND1000 which reduces the light reaching the lens by 10 stops. Among other things this turns moving water and clouds silky smooth. I\u0026rsquo;m not too disappointed with these initial images but aside from the top image I did not make the most of the effect. I will need a lot more practice!\nView of Emsworth Beach I also tried out the Viveza 2 plugin from the Nik Collection which was recently made free by Google. The control point system is a great idea and allows quick selective adjustments without having to worry about layers, I can see this and the other plugins (particularly Silver Efex) getting a lot of use in the future.\nEmsworth Beach ","date":"10 April 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/long-exposures-beach/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Quick Post: Long Exposures \u0026 Nik Collection","type":"posts"},{"content":"For my March assignment I decided to return to Emsworth Train Station (see my earlier challenge post), this time in daylight.\nEmsworth Station Entrance The station is small but also on a mainline to London so can be surprisingly busy during the week, in fact it was a major reason behind us moving to Emsworth in the first place. I managed to catch it at one of the quieter times at the weekend.\nEmsworth Station Steps The station is well suited to B\u0026amp;W, full of interesting textures and subdued colours.\nEmsworth Station Platform I used Silver Efex Pro from the (now free) Nik Collection for the B\u0026amp;W conversion, and I\u0026rsquo;m really impressed with the power and simplicity it offers. I will be using it a lot in the future.\nEmsworth Station Platforms I also took this opportunity to dust off my Samyang 8mm Fisheye, which has not seen much use since the autumn.\nEmsworth Station Steps Used carefully, fisheye distortion can offer a different and interesting perspective on more mundane scenes.\nEmsworth Station Tunnel April will be a particularly busy month but weather permitting I should hopefully have some great images coming for the next post, so stay tuned!\nEmsworth Platform 2 Other entries in the Emsworth Assignment:\n\\[pt\\_view id=\"5584a615bf\"\\]","date":"4 April 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/emsworth-in-march/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Emsworth in March: Station Black \u0026 White","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"4 April 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/train/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Train","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"4 April 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/trainstation/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Trainstation","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"27 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/alresford/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Alresford","type":"tags"},{"content":"The final week of my March Challenge sees us on another great day out with the kids, this time to see Thomas The Tank Engine at the Watercress Line, also accompanied by Grandparents.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 35.0 mm f1.4 1/10500s Alresford Station We started at Alresford Train Station where Iron \u0026lsquo;Arry was giving cabin rides until Henry arrived to take us along the line to Alton before returning to nearby Ropley where Thomas awaited.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 18.0 mm f8.0 1/170s Friend of Henry FUJIFILM X-E2 18.0 mm f2.0 1/2000s On board Friend of Henry at Alresford Station FUJIFILM X-E2 18.0 mm f2.0 1/320s Checking Tickets FUJIFILM X-E2 18.0 mm f2.0 1/125s Riding on Friend of Henry FUJIFILM X-E2 18.0 mm f8.0 1/420s Riding the Line #1 FUJIFILM X-E2 18.0 mm f5.6 1/160s Riding the Line #2 FUJIFILM X-E2 18.0 mm f8.0 1/125s Giant Baby Gazes At Grandads The main attraction does not disappoint; Thomas looks every bit as grand as you could expect and steams up and down the sidings at Ropley Station with a coach load of children every few minutes. For anyone wondering, my daughter informed me the coach is Clarabel.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 18.0 mm f8.0 1/450s Thomas And Friends Ropley Station is also home to the famous King\u0026rsquo;s Cross Bridge that was an iconic part of the Harry Potter films.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 35.0 mm f8.0 1/480s Harry Potter\u0026rsquo;s Bridge FUJIFILM X-E2 18.0 mm f4.0 1/450s Ropley Station FUJIFILM X-E2 18.0 mm f5.6 1/200s Thomas\u0026rsquo; Wheels A great day out in all with plenty to do. Be prepared for a long wait at the burger van though!\nFUJIFILM X-E2 18.0 mm f5.6 1/350s Friends of Thomas All images here were Classic Chrome, Pro-Neg Std or Pro-Neg High film simulations. The bright sunny day and high dynamic-range proved more problematic for getting it right in the camera, especially as the in-camera converter can only under-expose by one stop leading to blown out and cyan skies. The results were still acceptable though, and this month has taught me the in-camera converter is more than good enough for most of my work, it\u0026rsquo;s only worth further processing on those select special images.\nApril will be the first month with no challenge as per the rules, although I shall still be posting each week.\nTo recap, here are the previous posts of the March Challenge: Week 1: Hayling Billy Week 2: Stickman \u0026amp; Gruffalo Week 3: Alice Holt Forest\nMore snaps from the day:\n","date":"27 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/day-out-with-thomas/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Day Out With Thomas","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"27 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/ropley/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Ropley","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"27 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/thomas-the-tank-engine/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Thomas-the-Tank-Engine","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"27 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/watercress-line/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Watercress-Line","type":"tags"},{"content":"We paid a visit to Alice Holt Forest in Surrey last weekend to take the kids around The Stick Man Trail (see here). It proved to be an interesting test of my March challenge of only using in-camera processing.\nIt was a bright and hazy day and the strong sun filtering through the dense collection of trees required me to be particularly attentive to exposure. Surprisingly it was the white balance where the camera struggled, turning the warm dreamlike colours cold, flat and uninteresting.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 50.0 mm f5.6 1/60s Holly FUJIFILM X-E2 23.2 mm f5.0 1/26s Evergreen This is where the in-camera converter shone as it took just minutes to make the necessary changes to all of the images once I was home. Changing white balance to \u0026ldquo;fine\u0026rdquo; improved things however I went with \u0026ldquo;shade\u0026rdquo; to further emphasize the warmth and browns of the forest.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 35.0 mm f1.4 1/1000s YAB FUJIFILM X-E2 16.0 mm f5.0 1/350s Forest Path I tried various colour film simulations but ultimately returned to Classic Chrome; for me it has the best mix of colour, tonality and contrast. I am also beginning to appreciate Pro-Neg Std more and in certain lighting it proved to be kinder on faces than CC - you can see some examples in my previous Stick Man post.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 26.9 mm f5.0 1/60s FUJIFILM X-E2 35.0 mm f8.0 1/125s Through the Forest FUJIFILM XF X-E2 35.0mm f8.0 1/500s Light Through The Trees Once again we only saw a small part of the forest, with so much more to explore we shall no doubt return.\n","date":"21 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/alice-holt-forest-classic-chrome/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Alice Holt in Classic Chrome","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"21 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/alice-holt/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Alice-Holt","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"21 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/forest/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Forest","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"21 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/surrey/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Surrey","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"15 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/bokeh/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Bokeh","type":"tags"},{"content":"The kids are huge fans of the books of Julia Donaldson, particularly The Gruffalo and Stick Man, so they were very excited when we took them to the Stick Man Trail at Alice Holt Forest in Surrey this past weekend.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 35.0 mm f1.4 1/480s Peek-a-boo The trail itself is just one of the shorter walks through the forest with signs for the kids to look out for on the way. There is a treat at the end however where larger than life carvings of the eponymous characters await.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 50.0 mm f8.0 1/125s Stickman Trail #1 FUJIFILM X-E2 50.0 mm f5.6 1/60s Bark Rubbing #2 FUJIFILM X-E2 29.5 mm f4.7 1/75s Look, Another Bench! It is perhaps a little long for the intended audience; my nearly-four year old is an excellent walker but was struggling towards the end. There is a shortcut that can be taken halfway and it seems most people take this route as there was no one to be seen once we passed it. It is mostly fine for buggies too although you\u0026rsquo;ll have to navigate some very muddy puddles on the way.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 50.0 mm f5.6 1/60s Tree Climber #2 FUJIFILM X-E2 35.0 mm f2.0 1/1600s Gruffalo Hugs FUJIFILM X-E2 35.0 mm f2.0 1/1600s Stick Family I can highly recommend it for an afternoon\u0026rsquo;s adventure. The search for the sign posts kept the little ones interested and the forest itself is quite beautiful. The Stick Man Trail ends in the spring, so waste no time if you want to see it!\nFUJIFILM X-E2 35.0 mm f2.8 1/300s Adventures in the Forest More images of the forest itself will follow soon\u0026hellip;\n","date":"15 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/stickman-trail/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Finding Stick Man \u0026 Gruffalo","type":"posts"},{"content":"Last week I made a quick trip to the northern tip of Hayling Island to scout out the Hayling Billy Trail, a walk that follows in the footsteps of the long gone steam train that once carried passengers between the island and mainland.\nThe challenge for March is to use only the in-camera converter for processing my images. Cropping is allowed but nothing else. There are several reasons for this:\nTo focus on \u0026ldquo;getting it right\u0026rdquo; at the point of capture instead of depending on editing to fix exposure and mistakes. To prepare for my upcoming holiday for which I want to keep post processing on hundreds of images to a minimum. To reduce the time spent between taking the pictures and presenting them to the world. This challenge should hopefully be quite easy; Fujifilm cameras are renowned for the quality of the jpeg engine and many times I\u0026rsquo;ve found I just can\u0026rsquo;t match the output from the camera, especially with film simulations like Classic Chrome.\nThese were all taken on a very gloomy day using B\u0026amp;W+Y. I\u0026rsquo;ll be returning later in the year to make a proper series but here are a few shots of the remains of the bridge crossing Langstone Harbour. Enjoy!\nRemains of the Hayling Billy bridge Remains of the Hayling Billy bridge Signal post for the old Hayling Billy Bench on Hayling island ","date":"9 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/hayling-billy-bridge/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Hayling Billy","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"9 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/hayling-island/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Hayling-Island","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"9 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/langstone/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Langstone","type":"tags"},{"content":"February has been a month of greyness and gloom both in weather and mood and in some ways my images reflect that.\nLacking in inspiration this series was from a walkabout from the eastern approach to Emsworth into it\u0026rsquo;s centre. As picturesque as Emsworth is it can be hard to capture in some ways, the traffic and trappings of modern life obscuring the traditional architecture and communal heart.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 35.0 mm f8.0 1/125s Bridge into Emsworth Nature Reserve FUJIFILM X-E2 35.0 mm f5.6 1/300s View across Emsworth\u0026rsquo;s Slipper Mill Pond FUJIFILM X-E2 35.0 mm f8.0 1/110s Pathway through the Slipper Mill Pond in Emsworth FUJIFILM X-E2 143.9 mm f6.0 1/220s Slipper Mill Pond Sign This month has taught me how important planning for this assignment is; wandering around and hoping for something to present itself is not going to get me through the next 10 months. After sitting down with a pen and paper however I now have enough subjects to comfortably take me to the end of the year.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 35.0 mm f8.0 1/210s The Flour Mill in Emsworth FUJIFILM X-E2 35.0 mm f8.0 1/2200s Looming clouds in Emsworth FUJIFILM X-E2 35.0 mm f8.0 1/210s Sign Post in the centre of Emsworth FUJIFILM X-E2 18.0 mm f2.0 1/1500s Emsworth Town Square FUJIFILM X-E2 18.0 mm f5.6 1/160s Windows in the Emsworth Square bus-stop Now the country is waking up from this most mediocre of winters I look forward to my photography waking up too!\n","date":"7 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/emsworth-february/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Emsworth in February: Walk About Town","type":"posts"},{"content":"The final week of my month in 35mm is based around the Week 8 Photo Challenge of foreground and background blur, which fits the large aperture lens well.\nWhilst I might not have been the most inspired in this month of cold and gloom I\u0026rsquo;ve enjoyed shooting with the XF 35mm, it continues to be my favourite lens.\nDaffodil peaking out from fence The focal length has proven in general to be very versatile, particularly for outdoor use; not too long, not too short.\nRailing at Emsworth Train Station The lens itself is also lovely to use; small, solid and a tactile aperture ring that adds to the experience of shooting immensely. It balances perfectly on the X-E2.\nPedestrian Bridge into Emsworth Nature Reserve All of these images were taken on a walkabout of Emsworth for the February assignment which shall be finished soon.\nRailing post at the Slipper Mill Pond March will see the first processing challenge of the year. A month of no post-processing on PC. I will be limited to the in-camera RAW converter and Snapseed on my tablet. Aside from the obvious challenge of trying to \u0026ldquo;get it right\u0026rdquo; in the camera it will also serve as practice with the various film simulations the camera provides and editing on a mobile device, both of which will be important on our first family holiday in 5 years in April!\nSeagulls lined up at Emsworth Mill Pond Here are the other posts from this month’s challenge: Week 1: Puppet Portraits Week 2: Langstone Harbour Week 3: Morning Flare \u0026amp; Classic Chrome\n","date":"29 February 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/bokeh-challenge/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Challenged to Blur","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"29 February 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/photochallenge.org/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Photochallenge.org","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"22 February 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/frost/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Frost","type":"tags"},{"content":"I found myself back in Horsham Park this week as the dramatic low winter sun began warming up the frozen landscape.\nThe XF 35mm lens I\u0026rsquo;m using for the February challenge lacks the more advanced coatings of it\u0026rsquo;s newer brothers so is prone to flaring, which was difficult to control in the morning light. The top image was particularly badly affected but was rescued with a little selective desaturation. Flare isn\u0026rsquo;t always a bad thing though and can be used to great effect in the right situations.\nRam sculpture covered in frost All images in this post were shot in Classic Chrome (CC) with +2 colour, and are almost straight out of camera aside from a little cropping (and the aforementioned fix). CC has become my favourite of the Fuji film simulations and is the only in-camera colour mode that I use these days. After having spent years cranking up the saturation on my images I\u0026rsquo;ve really come to appreciate a more restrained use of colour since switching to Fujifilm.\nTwo trees in silhouette I think CC works particularly well here because it really emphasises the wintery feel and intense sunlight from that morning, even if it had a tendency to push the sky even more cyan than it already was sometimes.\nWoman walking to work on frozen morning There is a pattern emerging in my shots over the past six weeks: the humble bench. Completely unintentional, however they\u0026rsquo;ve proven to be a convenient subject and prop.\nFrozen Bench warmed by Sun I can\u0026rsquo;t decide whether to make more of an effort to leave them out in the future or fully embrace it as a theme; a bench gallery perhaps?\nBench in a field Once again time was fleeting and the office beckoned, but this won\u0026rsquo;t be the last you\u0026rsquo;ll see of Horsham Park.\nMan walking to work on frosty morning ","date":"22 February 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/morning-flare-classic-chrome/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Morning Flare and Classic Chrome","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"22 February 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/park/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Park","type":"tags"},{"content":"One of the benefits of this blog is we are now getting out and seeing a lot more local sights; places around the corner that we didn\u0026rsquo;t even know existed. One such place is Langstone Harbour, just a few minutes away from Emsworth.\nLangstone connects Hayling Island by bridge to the mainland and features a coastal walk which takes you past Langstone Mill and over to nearby Warblington Castle. The walk is easier with the tide out which luckily for us it was.\nDanger Sign at Langstone Harbour Despite the brisk chilly wind there was still plenty of people taking in the view although apart from climbing over the occasional bench the kids weren\u0026rsquo;t too impressed.\nChildren looking out on Harbour Having said that the muddy puddles provided some amusement!\nPuddle splashing Tucked away behind the Mill you can find a pond filled with wildlife, even in the winter. My first missed opportunity due to the challenge; two Herons nesting at the far end - too far away for my 35mm to reach. It also proved too narrow to capture the coastal vistas to full effect.\nSwan in Water The Royal Oak pub greets you at the end of the path. No time to visit today but we intend to return\u0026hellip;\nLangstone Mill and Royal Oak Pub ","date":"15 February 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/langstone-harbour/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Langstone Harbour","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"7 February 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/kids-tv/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Kids-Tv","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"7 February 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/museum/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Museum","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"7 February 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/portrait/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Portrait","type":"tags"},{"content":"Where do you go when you and your better half get your first afternoon in months without the kids and the weather is foul? An exhibition on children\u0026rsquo;s TV of course!\nFebruary has started, as has my next challenge; a month of using my Fujifilm XF 35mm lens exclusively. For the first week we took a trip to see The Story Of Children\u0026rsquo;s Television at Portsmouth City Museum, a nostalgic trip filled with figures and puppets from our childhood.\nMajor Clanger model The selection of the images here are of the original models that were used in creating the TV shows, hopefully any international readers will recognise some of them.\nBrum Inside Brum There were also plenty of puppets from modern TV shows which we were also familiar with thanks to our two little ones!\nRaa Raa! The Noisy Lion model One of the great things about the XF 35mm is it\u0026rsquo;s wide aperture; f1.4 gives you a razor thin depth-of-field when close up and enables you to shoot in very low light. I have to admit I might have went a bit over the top at f1.4 on this occasion, there was more than enough light to close it down a bit but there was also a lot of background distraction to eliminate.\nBig Ears from Noddy If I\u0026rsquo;d brought one there was also enough light to use a polarising filter which could have helped with some of the reflections that got in the way. I\u0026rsquo;ll make sure to pack one for any future museum visits.\nrastmouse model The exhibition closes on the 28th of February and is highly recommended for anyone looking for a trip down memory lane.\nPob model Pingu model Mr Toad model from Wind in the Willows Laa Laa from Teletubbies Isabel from Furchester Hotel Dizzy model from Bob the Builder Andy Pandy model ","date":"7 February 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/puppet-portraits/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Puppet Portraits","type":"posts"},{"content":"This is the first entry in my year long assignment to capture Emsworth through the months.\nEmsworth Harbour The best place to start is with Emsworth\u0026rsquo;s most famous landmark; the Quay which leads out into the most easterly edge of the lovely Chichester Harbour.\nEmsworth Harbour Frozen Millpond and Sailing Club It was a crisp and frosty morning when I ventured out with my camera, the Quay empty apart from a few runners and many walkers of dogs.\nEmsworth Harbour Joggers The glorious warm sunrise proved to be quite a contrast to the cold white frost covering the paths and water.\nSunrise over Emsworth Quay Jetty The harbour has a history of fishing and boat building going back centuries however these days is mostly home to leisure boats and windsurfers.\nEmsworth Harbour Sunrise The Quay hugs it\u0026rsquo;s way around the Mill Pond, originally built to power a tidal Flour Mill in the 18th Century. When the tide is in you are surrounded on both sides by water and treated to great views of the Harbour.\nFrozen bench on Emsworth Quay with dog walker I rarely manage to get out early enough to see the sun rise so it was great to see the town in the fresh morning light and without the busy goings on of the people who live there.\nEmsworth Harbour Fisherman\u0026rsquo;s Hut My recently acquired Fujifilm XF 18mm lens continues to impress, it was ideal for indoor family snaps over Christmas and is proving to be just as great for outdoor captures too, especially when paired with my favourite lens; the XF 35mm.\nSunrise in Emsworth Harbour with tide out The goal of this assignment is to try and capture Emsworth in ways it has never been photographed before, so while I will be revisiting the Quay and Harbour future installments will also focus on the less well known parts of town. Tune in next month for more!\n","date":"2 February 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/emsworth-january/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Emsworth in January: Sunrise at the Quay","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"2 February 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/frozen/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Frozen","type":"tags"},{"content":"This is my final week of black and white, and whilst I don\u0026rsquo;t have any profound lessons to share it has been an interesting month. At times frustrating as colour can often define an image, but overall my fascination with mono has increased.\nTo recap, here are the other posts for this month\u0026rsquo;s challenge: Week 1: Foggy Horsham Morning Week 2: Commute Week 3: Harbour Contrasts\nHorsham Street Globe For most of the week the UK was subjected to the last rainy remnants of Storm Juno that had earlier battered the US. However we had a single dry day so I spent a lunch hour wondering around Horsham town centre, a location that I will be revisiting throughout the year, mainly due to the proximity to my office!\nHorsham Street Part of the reason behind this blog was to be able to present a coherent series of photographs, and this week perhaps lacks some of this. I\u0026rsquo;ve never been comfortable taking pictures of strangers and I was the most self-conscious I\u0026rsquo;ve been in a long time. It took nearly half an hour before I finally clicked the shutter. This is something I hope these challenges will help me overcome.\nHorsham Street I\u0026rsquo;ve always found street photography interesting but never known how to approach it, like most answers in photography I think the key is to just get out there are shoot. So I will be practicing this a lot over the next year.\nHorsham Street Market Stall One final image I wanted to share is one of my favourites taken this month of my daughter. This is straight out of the camera, a testament to the excellent jpegs of Fujifilm cameras.\nBlack and White Natural Light Portait For February I will be confining myself to a single lens; the fantastic XF 35mm f1.4. Tune in next week for my first post in that series.\n","date":"30 January 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/horsham-streets-1/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Horsham Streets","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"30 January 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/people/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"People","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"30 January 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/street/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Street","type":"tags"},{"content":"Week 3, the week I finally cracked. I awoke early on Saturday to a crisp and clear winter\u0026rsquo;s morning and decided to take a walk around Emsworth Harbour. I was treated to a particularly beautiful sunrise, the sky a fiery orange and vibrant blue contrasting wonderfully with the cold white frost covering the Quay and Mill Pond. How could I represent this dramatic scene in black and white and ignore those glorious colours? I couldn\u0026rsquo;t\u0026hellip;\nThe aim of the monthly challenge is to better understand different aspects of photography by forcing myself to make the best of them and resist the temptation to \u0026ldquo;cheat\u0026rdquo;. I\u0026rsquo;ve realised however that it would be a disservice to myself to miss an opportunity to capture something simply because it didn\u0026rsquo;t fit well with the challenge. So I\u0026rsquo;m making a slight tweak to my challenge rules; I must still take a minimum of three images per week that meet the challenge, but the rest of the time I\u0026rsquo;m free to ignore it where I feel strongly enough that a shot is better because of it.\nSo on to my monochrome selection for this week. Whilst I did capture in colour I tried to create images that would still be effective in B\u0026amp;W. These are just a few of the shots I took that morning, you\u0026rsquo;ll be able to see more next week in my January Assignment entry. I will also present a colour series at the end of the month.\nEmsworth Harbour Sunrise Up until now my B\u0026amp;W images have been almost straight out of camera. Fujifilm\u0026rsquo;s built in film simulations and settings are superb and as my understanding of both my camera and composing/exposing improve I find myself having to do less and less post processing. That said I decided to try out some of the high contrast film sims available in RawTherapee via the \u0026ldquo;Hald CLUT\u0026rdquo; plug-in, and a new tone-mapping feature called Retinex.\nEmsworth South Street Black and White Retinex attempts to model how the eye reacts to different levels of light, taking into account colour as well as brightness. The biggest impact it had here was on the frosty paths and icy water. It brought up much more detail and pop than I could whilst still looking very natural.\nEmsworth Harbour Icy Millpond Overall I have still enjoyed shooting in mostly monochrome, and can\u0026rsquo;t quite believe how fast the month has gone so far. My goal for each challenge month is to include a variety of subjects, so next week I\u0026rsquo;m going to attempt something much more difficult for me; people!\nEmsworth Sunrise Silhouette ","date":"20 January 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/emsworth-harbour-blackandwhite/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Harbour Contrasts","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"20 January 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/rawtherapee/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Rawtherapee","type":"tags"},{"content":"Week 2 of my month in monochrome, and I\u0026rsquo;m not quite sure where it went. Lacking inspiration after last week I decided to begin shooting some of my daily commute. It takes a large part of my day and I feel it will be the hardest part of my year of challenges to capture.\nThis is especially true in January, where I leave and return home in the darkness. Emsworth Station is where I start my journey; a quaint if run-down little stop.\nEmsworth Station Tunnel I could write many words about the Southern Trains service that eventually gets me to my destination but not many of them would be nice, needless to say it\u0026rsquo;s a journey I tolerate rather than enjoy!\nEmsworth Approaching Train Horsham is a much larger and busy station being one of the major stations on the mainline out of London.\nHorsham Station Trains I\u0026rsquo;ve found B\u0026amp;W a little frustrating this week as although we\u0026rsquo;ve had plenty of grey days there have also been some amazing colours and light which was a shame to have missed. The temptation has been strong to set my camera back to Classic Chrome.\nStairs to the platform ","date":"16 January 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/commute/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Commute","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"12 January 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/bridge/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Bridge","type":"tags"},{"content":"A difficulty I often have when capturing a particular scene is selecting which image to use. I\u0026rsquo;ll come back with several shots that I am pleased with but as I can only pick one what do I do with the rest? I struggle to delete them - am I being too precious with my work?\nI realise this can be a good problem to have; better to have several to pick from than none at all. In the past I would have put them on somewhere like Flickr, but when I reviewed my photo-stream recently it was in danger of looking cluttered and not very concise because of these too-similar images.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 16mm f8.0 Under Langstone Bridge Take the images in this post for photochallenge.org. I\u0026rsquo;m happy with all of them but they are very similar in composition, partly because I was confined by the tide to one small part of the bridge. Maybe if the light had not been failing so quickly I could have relaxed and experimented more but I was focused on achieving a specific vision for the challenge. There is no reason to keep these \u0026ldquo;duplicates\u0026rdquo; but I just can\u0026rsquo;t bring myself to delete them. I\u0026rsquo;m certain there are photographers out there who every day throw away better images than I have ever taken, do I need to be more ruthless?\nFUJIFILM X-E2 XC 24.3mm f s Under Langstone Bridge In case you\u0026rsquo;re wondering this final image is the \u0026ldquo;chosen one\u0026rdquo; because of the mix of leading lines down the bridge and golden sunlight from the gap in the clouds. Would you have made the same decision? Would you have a place for the others in your own archives?\nFUJIFILM X-E2 8mm f8.0 Under Langstone Bridge ","date":"12 January 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/choosing-favourite-shots/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"One View Four Perspectives","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"12 January 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/opinion/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Opinion","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"6 January 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/fog/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Fog","type":"tags"},{"content":"My challenge for January is Monochrome. One month of seeing the world in Black and White. It is something I only started to appreciate in the past year and I\u0026rsquo;ve grown to love the emotion, detail and impact it can imbue an image.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 35mm f1.4 1/256s Horsham Park in the Fog This is my first week producing regular content for this blog and to be honest I was worried it would be a non-starter; the grim weather combined with my ever busy daily life left me wondering how I would even find inspiration never-mind the time to actually go out and shoot. Thankfully this morning I pushed myself into a little detour on the way into the office and had a little stroll around Horsham Park in the fog.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 35mm f1.4 1/4096s Lighting the Fog B\u0026amp;W and the fog compliment each other well, emphasizing a serene yet haunting winter\u0026rsquo;s morning to great effect.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 35mm f1.4 1/128s Lonely Bench - Horsham Park After days of rain the park had become more of a bog making it difficult to fully explore but there was still plenty to see by sticking to the paths being navigated by dog-walkers and the occasional soul on their way to work.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 18mm f5.6 1/512s Horsham Park The park is also home to a very picturesque manor house appropriately named Park House. It\u0026rsquo;s crazy that in over four years of working in Horsham I have only walked through the park a couple of times however it will make an excellent subject to revisit through the year.\nFUJIFILM X-E2 18mm f5.6 1/256s Horsham Park House ","date":"6 January 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/foggy-horsham-morning/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Foggy Horsham Morning","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"15 December 2015","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/best-of/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Best-Of","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"15 December 2015","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/competition/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Competition","type":"tags"},{"content":"Quick update - I\u0026rsquo;m proud to announce that my image \u0026ldquo;Ready to sail to the Moon\u0026rdquo; won the November round of the Emsworth Life - ONE Day competition! The image will become the official picture for November on the Emsworth 2017 Calendar. This is the first competition I\u0026rsquo;ve entered so I\u0026rsquo;m very pleased to have won.\nYou can find further details on the Emsworth Life page here: Emsworth Life ONE Day Winners.\nAs you may have already read, this competition is the inspiration behind my 2016 Assignment, so hopefully I will be able to repeat this success over the next year; I\u0026rsquo;m looking forward to see what the coming months will bring!\n","date":"15 December 2015","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/emsworth-photo-competition-november/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Emsworth ONE Day Competition - November Winner!","type":"posts"},{"content":"My goal for 2016 is to complete a 12 month Challenge and Assignment. Details of the Challenge can be found in another post but right now I\u0026rsquo;m going to talk about the assignment.\nIt is inspired by the Emsworth Life - ONE day competition and will be a series documenting Emsworth through the months. The aim, to try and see the town I walk through every day from a new perspective and in ways it has never been seen through a camera before.\nEmsworth and the Mill Pond The rules of the Assignment are simple; each month I am to present a series of at least three images on this blog that I think best represent some aspect of that month in Emsworth.\nBoats in Emsworth Harbour Emsworth is a picturesque little coastal town in Hampshire just east of the city of Portsmouth. It\u0026rsquo;s defining feature is the beautiful Harbour, Mill Pond and long coastal walks.\nEmsworth Mill Pond at night Emsworth Harbour at dusk Windsurfing in Emsworth Despite it\u0026rsquo;s proximity to such a large city Emsworth can have some excellent dark skies great for astrophotography, and capturing the town at night is something I love doing and will also explore further for the Assignment.\nSt James\u0026rsquo; Church, Emsworth The Milkyway over Emsworth Harbour As you can see the Harbour and seafront offer many lovely views but I will aim to photograph the whole of the town itself. I\u0026rsquo;m really looking forward to discovering more about this town, please join me for the journey!\nEmsworth Train Station ","date":"13 December 2015","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/emsworth-photo-assignment/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"The Emsworth Assignment 2016","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"13 December 2015","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/technical/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Technical","type":"tags"},{"content":"The inspiration behind this blog is to document my personal Challenge and Assignment for 2016. The Challenge is to limit myself to a certain aspect of photography each month to better understand my equipment and the processes used to create an image.\nEach week I must present at least three images on the blog following a given monthly theme and write a few words about what I have learned, loved or hated about it.\nAn entire year of challenges could become a little tiring, so for three months I will not restrict anything, although I will still publish three images a week.\nHere are some of the themes of the challenge:\nMonochrome\nSkyways Rollercoaster in Southsea My camera will spend a month in Black and White, paying special heed to the interaction of light and shadow. I can reconvert RAW files if I need but all images will be presented in Monochrome.\nA Single Lens\nEmsworth Train Station For several of the months I shall have only one lens attached, in order to learn how to best use the focal lengths available and in the case of prime lens\u0026rsquo; how to see a scene from a different perspective if it does not immediately fit. As of writing my lens collection consists of a fisheye, 18mm, 35mm, 16-50mm, 50-230mm.\nPost-processing\nSwan reflected in the water As my experience grows I find myself doing less post-processing on many of my images, however I still spend too long sat in front of the computer fixing shots or generally experimenting. I want to see how much I can get right in the camera the first time, so several months will require me to reduce the amount of processing I do (e.g. only using in-camera or tablet) or not do any at all - setting my camera to JPG only.\nI have theme ideas for all 9 months of the challenge and right now the theme for January will be \u0026ldquo;Monochrome\u0026rdquo;, however if anyone reading this has any ideas I\u0026rsquo;d love to hear them, please comment below!\n","date":"13 December 2015","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/photo-challenge-2016/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"The Technical Challenge 2016","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"12 December 2015","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/2015/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"2015","type":"tags"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;ve owned various cameras over the years but only ever used them for holiday snaps and family pics, however 2015 was when my photographic adventure truly started helped in no small way by photochallenge.org, which I have entered every week since the start of the year. The other major inspiration was my camera, the Fujifilm X-E2, which not only produces fantastic images but makes the whole experience of taking a picture an absolute joy. It feels like an extension of myself and I don\u0026rsquo;t believe I could have experienced that with any other camera.\nHere are my favourite shots from the year to give you a taste of where I have come from and what I hope to build upon in this blog in 2016!\nIf you liked what you saw I hope you can join me in 2016 as I take my photography to new and exciting places!\n","date":"12 December 2015","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/archive/photo-review-2015/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"2015 In Review","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"12 December 2015","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/review/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Review","type":"tags"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/authors/","section":"Authors","summary":"","title":"Authors","type":"authors"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/series/","section":"Series","summary":"","title":"Series","type":"series"}]