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Exploring Waterfalls with the Fujifilm X100

We recently returned from a week in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and I've spent the last few days editing my images from the trip. During our time in the parks, I had the opportunity to photograph three waterfalls: Topoka Falls, Grizzly Falls, and Roaring River Falls. While reviewing my images of these waterfalls, I was once again reminded of just how versatile the X100 is as a travel camera. Before leaving, I picked up a step up ring so I could use my ND filters with the X100. This, combined with the built-in 3 stop ND filter gave me the ability to extend my exposures even when shooting in bright midday sun. 

The following images, which were all edited in Lightroom 4 and Silver Efex Pro 2, are some examples of the long exposure capabilities of the X100. Even though I am enjoying my new X-Pro1 (and had it with me the entire week), the fact that I can travel light with the X100 and a small tripod may make me think twice the next time I pack my gear for a trip.

Roaring River Falls - 25 seconds at f/16

Grizzly Falls - 12 seconds at f/8

Topoka Falls - 1/2 second at f/16

Fresh Eyes

We’re off to the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks for vacation Wednesday and I’m very much looking forward to the new photographic opportunities that await me during our trip. It’s great how a change of environment can often renew my enthusiasm for image making. Just the simple act of visiting a new place can bring back that child-like excitement I experienced when I first saw the world through a lens. The problem, however, is that opportunities for exploration and travel come but a few times a year.

The real key then, is to find a way to sustain that creative enthusiasm even when I don’t have a chance to get away. I must find a way to see the things I see everyday through fresh eyes; to maintain my love of photography even when I feel like there’s nothing interesting to photograph. For me, the secret is to continuously re-visit old places; places that I may have photographed dozens of times. While these visits may sometimes turn out fruitless, the mere act of getting outside with my camera is usually enough to keep me moving forward in my search for creative vision.

Out of Focus

This post has been a long time coming now. Ever since I decided some months back that I wanted more from my gear than what the X100 was providing, I started researching my next camera purchase. As any one that knows me can tell you, I'm big on research. Big on reading up on anything I want to buy. Once I start, I can become obsessive with my need to know just about everything there is to know about whatever I'm researching. Maybe it's the engineering part of my brain. Whatever the reason, I have a tendency to get lost in the details. Long story short, my X100 now sits along side an X-Pro1 and a 35mm prime. One heck of a collection, but what gets me is that I'm still researching. Still unsure if I made the right decision to stick with Fuji. Still wondering if I should have gone back to a DSLR or given micro four thirds another try.

It didn't really hit me how lost in the weeds I was until I read this post on Patrick LaRoque's blog. Now granted, I have never obsessed about the sharpness of any lens I have ever owned, but I have and am obsessing far too much about the gear in my bag. I have completely lost focus of what I want to do with my photography and the fact that it's the photographs that matter. I know very well that no one really cares about what I'm shooting with. No one cares if a photograph was made using a full frame camera or an iPhone, with a super sharp 35mm lens or a cheap plastic 50. What they care about is the photographs I share and the fact that they make me want to go create more photographs. 

It's funny how many times I have been down this road in the past five years. As much as I enjoy the craft of photography, I'm also fascinated by the tools that I use to make the photographs. I really do love the technology behing it all. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm still very much a geeky engineer at heart. I know that I'll continue to obsess because it's just in my nature, but hopefully these words will serve as a small reminder of what it is that I should be obsessing about. 

Rework with Silver Efex Pro

Since I didn't an opportunity to shoot this week, I spent some time reworking one of my photographs posted a couple weeks back of the Newport Pier using Silver Efex Pro 2. The original image I posted was converted and edited using Lightroom 4. Since I shot the original image in raw, I started by converting it to black and white using the Red Hi-Contrast Filter preset in Lightroom. From there, I made the normal tonal adjustments using the Basic panel and finished by applying a Graduated Filter to the top, left, and bottom of the image. I did this instead of applying a vignette because I wanted to darken the edges slightly without completely losing the blacks in the pier. 

Newport Pier original

To compare the results from Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro, I created a Virtual Copy of my original image and reset all the adjustments I made except for cropping. I then opened the image in Silver Efex Pro from Lightroom and applied the Full Contrast and Structure preset. Of all the available presets, this one seems to be my favorite so far. As you can see in the screenshot, the image quickly took on a very different look from what I created in Lightroom.

After applying the preset, I did some fine tuning using the Brightness, Contrast, and Structure sliders available in the right pane and used the Burn Edges adjustment to slightly darken the edges.

Newport Pier in Silver Efex Pro 2

Here's the final image from Silver Efex Pro. Comparing the two outputs, they're obviously very different. But that has more to do with the edits I applied and less to do with the tools I used. I've been using Lightroom for years so I have a good idea of what I can and can't do. Since I've only been using Silver Efex Pro for a couple weeks, it'll take some time to get my workflow down. Seeing and comparing the results from both tools, I can imagine lots of possibilities when using the two together and look forward to many, many more images created using this combination.

Newport Pier rework

Revisiting Silver Efex Pro

I downloaded a trial for Silver Efex Pro a few years ago and was blown away by the black and white conversions I was able to create. Up to that point, I was using Lightroom to do the conversions and was satisfied with the workflow and results. After seeing what I could do with Silver Efex Pro, I never looked at my black and white conversions done in Lightroom quite the same way. The only problem was this was back in 2010 when the plugin for Lightroom cost $199. As good as it was, I just couldn't justify spending that much on a single plugin.

With the recent announcement that Nik Software (now a part of Google) had dropped the price of their entire collection to $149, I decided to give the latest version of Silver Efex Pro a try. Using Silver Efex Pro 2 as a Lightroom plugin is still quick and painless and the results it helps to create are still stunning. The presets provide a great starting point for the conversion and the localized adjustments make it possible to really fine tune an image. I'm only 5 days into my 15 day trial, but I've pretty much already decided that this time around, Silver Efex Pro is here to stay. Here are some of the conversions I did of my recent long exposure photographs made of various piers around Southern California.