I finally got out to do some proper shooting today, and I had a lot of fun with the X-Pro 2. I decided to focus on trying about the film modes, and even though I was shooting Raw + Jpeg, my goal was to focus on the Jpeg, and in particular the Film Simulation modes. What I was especially keen to try is the new Acros simulation. I have read a lot about it since the X-Pro 2 first came out, so I was expecting good things. I was certainly not disappointed.

After years of using my trusty little Fuji X-E1, I’ve finally decided to upgrade, and I’m now the proud owner of an X-Pro 2. In the past I have owned an X-Pro 1 but I sold it as I wasn’t happy with the camera at the time. It’s interesting to return to the larger form factor, and it’s also interesting to see how far Fuji has progressed, even since my X-E1. I want do a full review, but I also wanted to document my journey of discovery with the X-Pro 2, so I’ve decided to combine the two into a sort of rolling review, in the form of a diary.

In my recent guide for processing X-Trans images in Iridient Developer, I talked about different workflows for working with the software in conjunction with Lightroom. Specifically I discussed the alternative approaches of either finishing your images in Iridient Developer or partially processing them and finishing them in Lightroom. On a recent shoot I had the opportunity to use the latter of these two workflows and I thought I'd share the results.

When I finished writing and published my recent Iridient Developer X-Trans guide, I wanted to try and see what a print copy would look like, so I uploaded it to Blurb and ordered some copies. I got the copies in the post today, and I’m really happy with the results. The print quality is pretty good for print on demand, and the binding and cover is great. Because they came out so well, I’m making them available for sale via Blurb, so if you would prefer a print copy to the e-book then you can get that now too.

I'm starting a new section here on the blog dedicated to photoblogging. I've been writing and blogging about photography for many years now, and before that I used to blog about Apple and technology in general. My workflow and style of blogging has changed many times over the years, as has the software and web services that I use. In this article, I'm going to discuss some of the current  tools that I make use of when photoblogging.

While I do most of my posting on this blog, and it’s pretty much the main port of call for visitors, the blog is actually not my main photography site. I actually have a main site, which acts as my portfolio an has details about my photography, my writing and so on, as well as contact information ad the like. It’s my online business card so to speak. It also has a companion blog, which I often refer to as the “Photos Only” blog.

I'm always trying to improve my digital download store and provide the best possible experience for my customers (within my limited skills!) To that end I've made a few changes to the store and added a few new features. 

I recently wrote a guest post on the Fuji X Passion website. Fuji X Passion is a blog and soon to be an actual printed magazine for Fuji X shooters. They asked me to talk about my recent Iridient Developer X-Trans book, and so I wrote a little piece about the book, with some more details about why I wrote it, and the thought process behind it. You can see the post here.

One of the things that I really don't like about Lightroom is the interface for captioning and titling your images. I don't like the metadata ui in general, but in particular, in my opinion, the captioning interface is a pain to use. The entry fields are small, and the text is small, and the section is stuck down in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. It's difficult to read and it's cramped. While there is a "Large caption" option, it still suffers from some of the same problems. I've always wished there was a better way to enter captions and titles. Well, it turns out there is. Sort of.

Living in the city you might expect that there wouldn't be much nature around, but nothing could be further from the truth. Nature is everywhere. Form the wild flowers growing on the side of the streets, to the beautiful trees to the canal banks and the parks. The summer growth creeps up on you, with just a few leaves, and then suddenly, in an explosion of nature, summer arrives with a great fanfare of green and yellow and red and all the colours of nature.

I promised that I would release a few more excerpts from my Iridient Developer book, and I’m a little late getting around to it, so apologies. In the book I go through each of the tabs in the settings window, and explain how the various controls work, especially in relation to working with X-Trans images. The following excerpt is from the section where I discuss the detail tab, and in it I talk about how to use and understand the Iridient Reveal sharpening method.

It's been a while since I've done one of these Street Photo diary posts. The last one was in March and it's now may. I haven't been doing as much street photography as I would like lately. For one, I was focussing on some writing, and getting my Iridient Developer book out. Secondly, because of all the lovely nature blooming around the city and the surrounding areas, I've been doing a lot more nature photography. I finally took my camera back to the streets recently though, and set about capturing the life around me.

It never ceases to amaze me the difference a good lens can make to your image quality. I know this sounds like an obvious thing, but until you've used some high end glass, you don't really know just how much of a difference it can make. There's a lot of misinformation out there on the internet (shocker) when it comes to what makes a good lens, or even the importance of good quality optics to begin with. One well known and somewhat infamous blogger, has even stated that the lens actually makes no difference in terms of image quality. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Over the past week I've reached two very important milestones, both here on the blog and in my photography journey. First of all, my new e-book on processing X-Trans files in Iridient Developer has become the fastest selling book that I've released to date! Secondly, my humble little blog has passed the million viewer mark!

I'm always trying out new blogging and social platforms to see if they're worth using, especially for photographers. Lately, the one that is getting the most attention seems to be Medium, and so I thought I would try it out too. I wanted to try it both for myself, and for an experiment to see how it would work as a photo blogging platform. so I could write about it for my fellow photographers.