Category: Photography

Equipment, examples, history – all matters photographic

CUPE 3902 meeting and Fellows’ Gaudy

Yesterday afternoon, CUPE 3902 met to decide whether to send the latest offer from the university to the full union for ratification. The deal includes the same reworked funding and tuition numbers from the union’s last proposal, but without the structural changes to the funding package that many saw as the realistic best-case outcome for the strike.

I had to leave the meeting an hour before the end to get to the Massey College Fellows’ Gaudy, the last high table of the year. We learned later in the evening that those present at the meeting had voted narrowly in favour of sending the deal to a ratification vote.

The vote is happening today and tomorrow, and could conceivably result in us going back to work Monday. If so, I will be in even more trouble than before. My cold has become substantially worse, and a return to work will mean a sudden avalanche of grading – all six days before the brief update is meant to be finished.

Cameras since 2010

It has been a while since I have updated my chronology of cameras at: All my cameras.

These days I use two overwhelmingly: my old 5D Mk II (with my excellent four-lens system), which is doing well despite several repairs, and my Fuji X100s. There are distinctive examples of both types of photography in my many Massey albums from this year.

The 5D is definitely a lot more capable in many ways. While it’s possible to use my radio triggers and flashes with the X100s, they generally make a better setup with the dSLR for more action- and flash-oriented photography.

Examples:

Softer, always-wide-angle style of the X100s:

Robbie Burns Night

Generally sharper, much more often in colour, much more often with flash work from the 5D:

Halloween at Massey 2014

Post-processing

I also shoot directly into B&W JPEG often on the 5D because the custom functions feature makes it so convenient. I usually have one of my Pocket Wizard Plus X transceivers in the hotshoe, which I can easily switch on and off to control the flashes (sometimes, a flash misfire works out pleasantly). Then, I can shoot in manual mode with my flashes on and a suitable ISO setting, and easily switch to my JPG custom mode to get the other set of shots.

Canon’s RAW processing software for Mac OS X (Digital Photo Professional) is worlds better than Fuji’s rather appalling Silkypix offering, which I shun in favour of processing the Fuji RAW files in LightRoom. LightRoom definitely has a distinctive interpretation of how Fuji’s RAW file should be processed which obviously differs from the JPEG-processing algorithm in the camera. I think both look fine, though they may each favour somewhat different kinds of photography.

With B&W JPEGs, I often try processing them into duotone in PhotoShop to give them a different look. For example:

High (and low) Table

Duotone doesn’t work out very well with photos that start out very dark.

For example: both of these shots work well with duotone, and both of these work better as unaltered B&W.

Both are fantastic cameras to work with. With just one extra battery for each, I can work for decently long periods, including in very cold temperatures. I have found both super-reliable and a pleasure to work with.

I am saving up for a 5D Mk III so I will have the dual-dSLRs (for quick lens-switching and backup) which I need to shoot weddings commercially.

Global Divestment Day of Action

Today Toronto350.org was at the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) to call attention to the need to shift investment away from fossil fuels. We can’t build a prosperous future with fuels that wreck the climate, and the billions we are putting into fossil fuel development now will prove wasted in the long term.

My photos from the event are on Flickr.