12 Night time Street Shots of Bognor Regis (not as boring as it sounds). 😀

November 30, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Street, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

Not really my genre or forte but lots of fun especially the mirror men, illuminated wing walkers and Christmas lights. 🙂 Some festive night time shots taken in Bognor Regis this evening. All shots taken with my Olympus E-P5 camera and M.Zuiko 25mm f/1.8 lens at f/1.8, auto ISO and K&F Concept 1/4 strength black mist filter. I probably should have taken my 1/8 strength filter, I have a Kenko Black Mist #0.5 filter arriving later today which I’m keen to try out ASAP.

The E-P5 makes for a very nice inconspicuous, lightweight, small street camera, the sort of camera nobody gives a second glance to. 🙂

Kind regards

Leigh

A warm glow

November 29, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

I love having a fireplace with mantlepiece and flame effect fire especially at this time of year,so reminds me of when I was a kid, toasting crumpets on the fire with the toasting fork. Sounds like something Dickensian doesn’t it, I was brought up in a very small Victorian terraced house with coal fires. Strange how, with just the flame effect switched on it makes you feel warmer even though it’s not emitting any heat.

I remember the coalman had to bring the coal sacks in through the front door one at a time, down the narrow hallway, through the living room. down three steps to the tiny kitchen, out the back door, down the garden and deposit the coal in an old WW2 corrugated metal Anderson shelter at the end of the garden and then repeat the exercise. 🙂 A sobering reminder not to take one’s modern-day creature comforts for granted.

Kind regards

Leigh

It’s beginning to look a little bit more like Christmas.

November 28, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

Another try out for my 1/4 strength black mist diffusion filter. Can’t wait to try this effect on the full-sized tree when it’s up. Really like the bloom effect that these filters give around light sources as well as the overall image softening. I think that the green flaring is due to not having fitted a lens hood as this was just a quick test.

PS. This definitely isn’t caused by the lack of a hood, tried with and without a hood on 3 different similar focal length lenses and same green flaring. I have contacted K&F Concept for clarification. Possibly the coating on the series that I have isn’t as good as their top of the range series?.

Kind regards

Leigh

Ulanzi U-100 Claw ball head.

November 26, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment, Travel | 2 Comments

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently taken delivery of the Ulanzi U-100 ball head. It has the Claw quick release system with the newer type 2 camera release plate which has the addition of an ARCA Swiss compatible fitting on the camera plate for the best of both worlds. It comes with a tripod thread adaptor bush, handy small tool for attaching and detaching the plate, now residing on my keyring for when I haven’t got a coin handy. The plate has both Allen Key (not supplied but I have loads) and “coin” slot, as well as coming with a smaller Allen Key to adjust and lock the rotating cold shoe mount position. The head has both pan and ball head lock knobs and is very well made. I’ve attached it to my Manfrotto lightweight carbon fibre compact monopod. Some pics below the last two showing the ARCA Swiss addition to the type 2 camera plate and attached to my small solidly-built NEEWER M225+CK30 tripod and ball head with ARCA Swiss fitting which I’ve had for some years and I believe is now discontinued. I’ve also got one of their smaller H-28 ball heads on order which I intend to attach to one of my Pixi or Pixi EVO 2 Manfrotto table top tripods along with the Claw release system that I bought recently which will make everything fully interchangeable.

As an experiment I replaced the Neewer CK30 ball head with the Ulanzi U-100 ball head, as it’s more compact. lighter and has the Claw fitting and fitted it to the Neewer M225 tripod base and it makes for a really nice versatile, sturdy, little tripod with a maximum height with the legs and center column fully extended of approx. 18 1/2 inches or thereabouts. I think that this combination makes for an excellent small tripod which when collapsed is only approx. 8 1/2 inches long, less if you adjust the position of head to its portrait position and will even fit in the top compartment of my favourite Manfrotto camera bag!. The tripod is made of metal and plastic, the centre column unscrews in the middle making it reversible for low level shots and the legs can be adjusted to virtually lay flat for increased stability. Not that it’s anything other than cosmetic but the Ulanzi ball head’s red and black colours match very well with the Neewer tripod base and don’t look out of place.

All the best,

Leigh

Small filter pouch to fit up to 58mm sized filters.

November 26, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

I’ve been looking for something like this for a while as I don’t use filters larger than 58mm very often. I found this small filter pouch on ebay going for £6.60 UK inc. postage from China (of course) 🙂 . This is much more convenient for me as it’s considerably smaller, manufacturer’s spec: Size: 90 x 80 mm / 3.5 x 3.1 inch (L*W) and less bulky than my other ones which are somewhat larger and designed to hold larger filter sizes and it can usefully hold up to four filters. The colour is closer to the first picture below, I didn’t colour match, it’s orange and not yellow which is nice as, with the possible exception of a sandy beach, it’s easy to spot if one should drop it and it’s extremely light which is always good for me. The only thing that one has to be careful of is to make sure to open it the right way up so as to avoid one’s filters falling out!.

Kind regards

Leigh

This’ll be interesting

November 25, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

I don’t do a lot of night time photography which is a shame because it has always interested me. Frustrated by the lack of public transport here which stops ridiculously early and not having transport of my own. I’m going into Bognor this weekend for the Christmas lights switch on and other events for a bit of fun and getting a taxi home so I’ve been setting up one of my cameras’ MYSET settings and choosing one of my fastest lenses to fit, probably my 17mm f/1.8 or maybe my 25mm f/1.8 lens. I’ve been doing a few outdoor night time test shots and I think that I’ve got things dialled in pretty much as I want. I’m also looking forward to trying out my black mist diffusion filters again and I think that this will be a very interesting try out for them with all the illuminations. I don’t habitually shoot at high ISO but I’ve turned on Auto ISO and have been quite impressed with the noise levels in my test shots right up to 3200 ISO and even, at a pinch, 6400 ISO they still look usable with suitable noise reduction in post processing. Lastly I don’t usually need or use the autofocus assist light or the camera’s burst mode (except for HDR shots) but they could prove useful and increase the hit rate. I’ve turned off electronic shutter which I usually use when shooting 3 or 5 frame HDR to reduce shutter wear and I’ve set single autofocus with manual focus setting (SAF/MF) alongside focus peaking which should help in quickly nailing focus if the AF has any issues without having to have to manually switch to manual focus mode. Olympus’ great in body image stabilisation is such a brilliant feature, when taking my test shots I’ve taken several at 1/3 and 1/2 second and they’ve been tack sharp. All being well I’ll post some shots here.

Kind regards

Leigh

Hats off to Manfrotto!

November 21, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment | Leave a comment

Hi,

One of the zips went on my Manfrotto Compact 1 Advanced Shoulder Bag for CSC camera bag which I purchased earlier this year which is most unusual as I have several of their bags and have never had any problem with them. I returned the bag for inspection and they sent me a no-quibble warranty replacement by overnight post. Unfortunately the model I had, which I reviewed, is now discontinued but the later model Advanced Shoulder Bag III Medium is virtually identical in size and pretty much the same in terms of features. It lacks the older bag’s small back compartment but I do like the detachable padded shoulder strap’s swivelling style fixtures as the fixed stitched type strap attachments really do cause the strap to get tediously twisted up all the time. I also much prefer the more discrete black Monfrotto branding and the two more heavily padded internal dividers. I like that the two internal pockets have a slit opening rather than a flap with velcro fixing as the velcro always looses its strength after a while. In common with one of my other Manfrotto bags it also has a fitting for attaching a small lightweight tripod eg. a Gorillapod but, as a matter of personal preference, I choose to put my Manfrotto Pixi EVO 2 tripod plus Ulanzi Claw quick release in the top compartment where it fits nicely and still leaves enough room for a few small items. As I’m not attaching a tripod I chose to use the front compartment to store a small lens brush, some lens wipes and a microfibre lens cloth for quick access. I like to give credit where’s it’s due, quality gear, quality service!. This type and size of bag is perfect for my requirements, it’s compact, lightweight, well-padded, fits nicely under an aircraft seat or on a train tray table etc., is made of rain resistant material and it comes with a rain cover for use when the weather gets really inclement..

Camera Rain Cover Modification

November 21, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

I did a recent post on my camera rain cover which started me thinking. I added a suitably threaded (62mm) Cokin adapter ring to the front of the B+W clear glass filter which in turn screws onto the front of my lens hood. The Think Tank “red whip”, tightened behind the lens hood, stops the cover slipping back towards the camera body and the Cokin ring absolutely prevents any likelihood of it slipping off of the front of the smooth metal lens hood, works like a charm 🙂 🙂 . As they used to say in the A-Team, “I love it when a plan comes together” 🙂 . The front filter, although not a must have, not only serves to significantly increase protection against rain, especially driving rain getting in it’s a lot easier and quicker to wipe dry when rain drops get on it compared with the front of the lens recessed as it is with the hood fitted. If for any reason I decide not to fit the filter I can still screw the Cokin ring directly onto the lens hood to serve its purpose.

Kind regards

Leigh

I joined Bluesky Social

November 20, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

I promptly closed my Twitter account as soon as Elon Musk took over and rebranded it to X, what the Guardian Newspaper recently called a “toxic media platform”, reinstated all the hatemongers, racist and far-right extremist misinformation spreaders who had previously had their accounts removed whilst sacking staff and removing most of the moderation. Yesterday I joined Bluesky Social my username @leighkempphotoart.bsky.social . I don’t intend to use it much as I didn’t Twitter as I’m not a big fan of social media but hopefully it’ll be better moderated and not so heavily biased, maybe I’ll see you there.

Kind regards

Leigh

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain :)

November 19, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment and tagged Photography, rain | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

Probably the best fifteen pounds worth I ever spent on camera accessories, my camera rain cover. Used it again the other day when it was raining heavily and everything stayed bone dry. Very simple design, just a waterproof fabric funnel-shaped cover with an elasticated end at one end and a drawstring at the other. I added one of my Think Tank “Red Whips” to give it extra cinch at the lens end and prevent it slipping off of the hood. Because it’s pretty big, suited for a longer lens and my cameras are on the small side, there’s plenty of room to get one’s hand in and operate the controls and it’s also completely covers the camera when its hanging around one’s neck, I just pull it back a little and I can put my eye to the viewfinder. I also carry a clear protection filter which screws into the end of the lens hood which is quick and easy to clean and prevents rain getting in that way. Seen here with my M.Zuiko 25mm f/1.8 lens or what you can see of it. 🙂 The thing that I’m most interested in protecting are my prime lenses which don’t have any weather-sealing, not that I completely trust weather-sealing in heavy rain. I prefer the peace of mind of a rain cover any day.

A tip: two things I do when caught out in the rain or if I know that I’m going to be shooting in the rain is, if it is at all possible, find a dry place to fit a fully charged replacement battery and a new memory card as you can almost guarantee that one, the other, or both will run out of capacity whilst out in the rain just when one doesn’t want it to. You really don’t want to be changing either or both in the rain or have to break off shooting and find somewhere dry to do this. Unlike some rain covers I’ve used which have to be completely removed to gain access to the camera’s battery and memory card compartments, this one just rolls back and can stay on the camera throughout. Sometimes the simplest of solutions are the best and it’s so quick and easy to fit and remove and takes up next to no room in my camera bag.

Shown without the front filter fitted .

Kind regard

Leigh

As I sit here looking at my modern digital cameras I’m reminded of my first camera and, in particular, the first photograph that I ever took. Nowadays we take cameras and camera technology pretty much for granted but when I was a child I can’t remember many photographs. The only time our camera saw the light of day, and it had to be the light of day, as there wasn’t a flash, was on a few family occasions, the usual thing, school sports days, birthdays, etc.. My interest in photography didn’t start until my grandfather “loaned” me his camera to take with me on a week-long school trip, sleeping under canvas, in Snowdonia, North Wales. It was a somewhat battered old twin-lens reflex camera in which one looked downwards in to the viewfinder when taking a photograph.

I remember being very excited at being entrusted with the family camera, film wasn’t cheap and I had very little to no idea how to use it. The experience must have made some kind of impression on me as, after all these years, I still remember taking my first photograph. The coach stopped en-route at Blenheim Palace, the ancestral home of Sir Winston Churchill and it became the subject of my first photograph. Although, sadly, like my other photographs from the trip, it has long since disappeared, however, I really don’t need the photograph to remind me as the experience is indelibly etched on my mind. I wonder if this is perhaps where my interest in landscape photography stems from but that’s probably too much of an assumption. As far as I remember I was the only kid on the trip to have a camera, that’s how different things were, nowadays, just about everyone has a camera of some sort built in to their mobile phones. It also taught me to be disciplined to the point of being frugal when taking photographs as the trip was for one week and I only had a 12 exposure black and white film in the camera.

Some years later I really got the photography bug and bought my first camera, an Olympus OM-1 35 mm film camera and I went on to own their OM-2 and OM-4ti cameras and a range of lenses. Film was still pretty expensive considering I earned about £20 a week in my first job so I got in to developing and printing my own black and white and, later, colour films to help keep the costs down and make things more affordable. Not only did this experience teach me an awful lot about image-making start to finish, many of the techniques and skills that I learned in my makeshift darkroom, a small room adorned with genuine World War 2 blackout curtains fitted to keep out the light, another hand-me-down from my grandfather, these skills would re-surface and be invaluable some years later when I started working on processing my digital images.

I put myself through University as a mature student and I badly needed the money so I had to very reluctantly part with all my photographic equipment, but needs must. After I graduated I bought my first digital camera, a small fixed lens Kodak compact camera, reduced in a sale. It had, by today’s standards, a laughably small maximum image resolution of 640×480 pixels or, to put it another way, a stunning 0.4 Megapixels!. For all of this and further equipped with screw on wide angle and telephoto lens attachments, it proved to be a fabulous little camera which I took all over the place with me. Put simply, digital photography was a revelation, to me, no requirement for film, no real running costs and a lot of image capacity on a small memory card which I found absolutely liberating.

A few years before that I had discovered some free graphics editing software on the cover disk of a computer magazine and that started off my real passion for working with graphics and, ultimately, photo processing. So I then had all the tools I required to develop, pun intended and further, my interest in digital photography. Processing is where the magic starts for me, I am totally absorbed in and fascinated by the range of options that digital processing affords me. It encourages me, if, that is, I ever need encouragement, to constantly experiment with new styles, new techniques and is such an important part of my enjoyment and interest in photography.

I went on to own several DSLRs but, as I got older I began to find that they were simply too heavy and bulky. I switched over back in 2013 to Micro Four Thirds cameras and lenses. My choice of MFT system was heavily influenced by my experiences with my Olympus film cameras, maybe it was, in truth, part based on nostalgia that I decided on their OM-D system. As a landscape/travel photographer I have to carry my gear around all day and the weight and bulk saving is highly significant. I’ve been very impressed with the image quality of my Micro Four Thirds equipment, it has traveled with me extensively, never let me down and I have never had cause to question my decision to go over to that format.

So my 50-plus year photographic adventure has led me from twin-lens reflex and single-lens reflex film cameras to digital cameras, from stumbling around in a dimly-lit darkroom to working with my images on my computer. I’ve heard it said on occasions, including a comment I read some while back by a very famous photographer, that cameras being so much an every-day item now and available in mobile phones etc. devalues photography. I feel quite the opposite, I firmly believe that it empowers everyone with affordable technology to take photographs and enjoy photography and that, in my opinion, is fantastic. Although I’ve very much enjoyed my personal photographic journey I do confess to feeling a slight tinge of regret that the technology wasn’t available when I started out but one can’t put the clock back and I intend to keep on embracing all these great technological advancements, experimenting and enjoying my work.

Cameras:

Olympus: OM-D E-M5 Mk II (titanium) & HLD-8G grip, OM-D E-M1 Mk I (black) & HDL-7 grip, OM-D EM-5 Mk I (silver) & HDL-6 grip, PEN EPL-5, PEN EP-5 (silver) +VF-4, PEN E-PL8 (Silver) +VF4, Tough TG-5 (red), PEN-F (silver), Canon Powershot G10, Nikon Coolpix A100

Lenses:

Olympus: M.Zuiko: 12 mm f/2, 17 mm f/1.8, 25 mm f/1.8, 45 mm f/1.8, 30 mm f/3.5 macro, 9 mm f/8 body cap fisheye, 15 mm f/8 body cap, 9-18 mm, 12-50 mm, 12-40 mm f/2.8 PRO, 14-150 mm II, 40-150 mm II, 12-45mm f/4 PRO, MCON-P02.

Sigma: ART 60 mm f/2.8.

Samyang: Manual focus 7.5 mm f/3.5 fisheye.

TT Artisan: Manual focus 17mm f/1.4, 23mm f/1.4, 35mm f/1.4.

Panasonic Lumix: 14 mm f/2.5, 20 mm f/1.7, 12-32 mm x2 (black and silver), 12-60 mm, 14-42 mm II, 35-100 mm, 45-150mm.

PEN E-P5, 9-18mm,12-32mm, 40-150mm II. A lightweight kit with virtually continuous coverage from 18mm wide angle to 300mm telephoto.

OM-D E-M1 I, 14-150mm II, 12-40mm PRO. . Heavier than my other kits but with complete weather-sealing. Coverage from 24mm wide angle to 300mm telephoto with some overlap for backup.

OM-D E-M5 II, 17mm, 35mm, 12-60mm. A balance of two fun manual focus lenses with a weather-sealed body and zoom lens.

PEN E-PL5, 9mm, 15mm, 25mm, 60mm, 12-50mm. Another lightweight fun kit with a zoom option.

TG-5, OM-D E-M5 mk1, 7.5mm, 12mm, 17mm, 45mm, 30mm macro. M-CON.

PEN-F, 14mm, 20mm, 12-32mm, 35-100mm. Probably my favourite lightweight day-to-day kit. Two fast primes and two zoom with almost continuous coverage from 24mm wide angle through to 200mm telephoto.

Software:

Corel: Paintshop Pro Elite 2020 & Video Studio 2019.

Skylum Software: Aurora HDR 2019, Luminar 4, Luminar AI and Luminar Neo.

DXO Labs: PhotoLab 5 Elite, Viewpoint 3, NIK Collection 6, Film Pack 5 and PureRAW.

Anthropics Technologies: Landscape Pro Studio 3 and Portrait Pro.

EyeQ: Perfectly Clear

Topaz Labs: Studio 2, Sharpen AI, A.I Gigapixel, AI Clear, AI Adjust, DeNoise AI and Various legacy plugins.

Adobe: Lightroom.

GreenScreenWizard Studio Pro.

Serif: Affinity Photo

Microsoft: Image Composite Editor (Free).

Darktable (Free).

Olympus: Olympus Capture, Olympus Workspace and Olympus Webcam (Free to Olympus owners).

Sony: Movie Studio Platinum.

Lighting Gear:

Godox TT350o flash, Godox X1T radio flash trigger, Godox Lux Junior flash, LED ring flash, GVM RGB LED light, Olympus MAL-1 Macro Arm Light. Two Godox LED36 lights, Godox Litemons LED6R light. Three Bowen studio flash heads, barndoors, honeycombes, umbrellas and flash meter.