The Rebel

Taken with EOS 5D and SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4 @ f1.4

(Click the image to enlarge)

Tokyo, Shinjuku. Two good friends are making their way home after a hard day’s work and few well deserved drinks.Taken with Canon EOS 5D and Leica APO Macro Elmarit-R 100/2.8 @ f2.8

I believe my shooting is completely inadequate at this point. Not least due to my laziness and lack of motivation (a blatant excuse). Therefore, I decided to start taking more photos in between my upcoming projects. It will also serve as a good test for the manual lenses I have acquired recently.

To add a little to the challenge, I will attempt to take only one shot which will be published in this blog at the end of each day. Obviously, on occasion I will not be able to make it in time, so I will add the photo retrospectively.

The subjects will inadvertently vary since I am unable to predict where I will end up, but I would expect a lot of abstracts/city candids. Each photo will be accompanied by a little story/explanation of some sort.

And so, without further ado here is the first photo:

Chofu, Tokyo. Lack of space and drive to separate oneself and one’s profit creates this kind of narrow alley ways between blocks of flats squeezed tightly together. Another day has ended – stressed and tired commuters are returning home to edge between alley ways into their own private little space to the culmination of the day – dinner carefully prepared by the other half (for the lucky ones), beer and daily portion of TV joy.

I kept this colour intentionally – for me it reproduces this little colder feeling of borderline depression transforming into submission to the routine.

Taken using Canon EOS 5D + Leica APO Macro Elmarit-R 100/2.8 @ f2.8

Recently, I have been trying to create sets of brushes which might be interesting in photo post processing and design in general.

Here is a small set of med-res fractal brushes rendered using “Chaotic Flow” algorithm. Originally intended to have 70, the set contains 69 unique brushes due to a removed duplicate.

Download from 3BYK server or Sendspace mirror

Feel free to share these and use as creatively as possible. Obviously, I would appreciate any credit, but I am not going to hold you to that.

PS Please, refrain from linking to the file directly and link to this page instead. It will be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards

And of course, you want a fairly affordable and as durable solution as possible. This may include making your own, or buying over the internet rather than walking in your local friendly overpriced high street shop (most definitely in UK or Sweden).

If you like to get your hands dirty and generally interested in how things click, you should most certainly check out DIY Photography site, where professionals and amateurs alike share fun and sometimes even rather bizarre ideas. Yet the results are not ceasing to surprise.

If you on the other hand simply want to buy something cheap from eBay I would advise you to stay put. Surely by now you witnessed the abundance of Chinese made items. Studio equipment is not exclusion – multitude of sellers fight for your attention offering minimum price and free delivery. But are the goods they are offering up to scratch?

I frequently order Chinese manufactured adaptors for Olympus, Nikon and Contax lenses which do “exactly what it says on the tin” – in other words they are just as they are advertised, and I am not going to complain. Perhaps the biggest lie in the advertisement of those is the phrase “Quality Japanese steel” which essentially means Chinese buying scrap metal from Japan (you can clearly see mountains of rusting scrap around Nagoya, Aichi prefecture awaiting Chinese boats), smelting it with some other rubbish and serving it to us. So now you know.

There is other type of merchandise which involves more or less fragile or awkward construction – for instance a soft box, generally comprised of the soft box itself (strengthened fabric with reflective inner coating, diffuser(s), speed ring, perhaps a flash adaptor and various bits and bobs to “help” you put it together. I was foolish enough to order one of those from Gadget Infinity – a Hong Kong based retailer of photography and lighting equipment.

Cactus Wireless Flash Trigger Set V4

Don’t get me wrong – certain items manufactured or sold by Gadget infinity are actually decent products. Take for instance Cactus Wireless Flash Receiver/Transmitter. It’s a wonderful device allowing you to control many portable flashes or strobes without tripping over and strangling yourself and/or your model with release cables at a fraction of a cost of Pocket Wizards. Yes, Pocket wizards are industry standard and they offer so much more, but there is always a matter of delicate balance between contents of your wallet and what you are actually trying to achieve.  Surely, launching an artificial moon into orbit just so you can light up a client’s alpine chalet that little extra never crosses your mind, really?

The Kit

Now, back to the soft box. The originally ordered package contained the soft box itself, double diffusers, 4 sprung steel rods, plastic speed ring and metal flash adaptor. When I saw the speed ring, alarm went off in my head almost straight away. And for a good reason – 2^nd time I put the soft box together the speed ring broke. The tension in the rods forming a skeleton of the soft box simply tore the fragile plastic to bits. On top of that, the Velcro tape used for locking the last pin during the assembly got half-torn, again due to the tension.

After a certain amount of negotiations with the seller I arranged a replacement and left it at that – after all it all seemed very clearly explained in the mails and the assistant confirmed the details. Even better – the shop offered me a new speed ring made of metal. “Great!” I thought. Boy, I was so wrong.

The flimsy f***er in action

Imagine my surprise followed by frustration when I unpacked the package and discovered the original soft box? Same loose piece of Velcro. On top of that, the new speed ring proved to be completely incompatible with the pins used to assemble the construction and the soft box sliding off the speed ring. A disaster waiting to happen.

Almost all manufacturing nowadays is done in China. The major difference being Western companies employing rigorous (debatable, yet compared to native Chinese it is indisputable fact) quality controls. Some people still claim that China will become world leader in manufacturing and they refer to post-WWII Japan’s technological advent.

Wrong. Just like Japan, China did, does and will copy a lot of products and concepts, but the key difference still remains: while Japanese industries re-worked, improved and strengthened the design learning from mistakes, Chinese counterparts keep churning out same cheap, useless junk since 1950s.

So, important lesson learned indeed. If you buy cheap – you pay twice. And when it comes to studio equipment I will stick to non-Chinese manufactured items. And I urge you to do the same. Perhaps not as overpriced as high street shops, but stick to well known manufacturers such as in case of soft boxes – Elinchrom and Westcott.

Happy Shooting

This is going to be the shortest review, so I might as well get it over and done with.

LightCraft’s LightZone (version 3.8 tested) is advertised under the slogan: Photo editing for professional photographers who like things made simple. Version 3.9 is available now, but I seriously doubt that it will magically differ from the version tested.

Professional looking box with poo inside!

And it simply doesn’t work on my machine. What will earn it a big sweaty and hairy pair of bollocks as a verdict is the fact that it requires a processor with SSE2 support and the only way to find it is to go through “Help” section on LightCraft’s web page. It simply isn’t mentioned anywhere else.

While the SSE2 support requirement is not entirely unreasonable, it isn’t essential for running any other RAW processing software including, believe it or not DxO Optics Pro! Furthermore, it is appalling that the setup does not halt if CPU doesn’t conform to the requirement, as you can clearly see in the series of the screenshots as follows:

Ok, files are extracting...

Maybe tell user now that the system doesn't match the requirements?

Ok, how about now then?

Maybe now then?

Not even now?

Whaa..? So my system is ok? Let's run the software then!

BANG!

Also, none of the digital medium format cameras including CaptureOne’s P65 or P40, Pentax D645 or (no, I didn’t even expect that one, but still) Leica S2 are supported. And LightCrafts still dare to claim “Photo editing for professional photographers..”

So, LightZone you say? No thank you!!!

If you work with digital photography, you undoubtedly came across OnOne software’s various plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop. So did I and unfortunately for me I decided to try some of the “goodness”. After all, I do like to simplify certain tasks. And I genuinely trust Mr David Huss of the Photoshop User Magazine (sarcasm)….

And Mr. Gavin Seim continues down the same path. Quote: “Sometimes you just want to add a sloppy border, acid burn, or other creative edge. PhotoFrame is the best I’ve found. There are loads of options available and the new interface makes it easy to mix match and decide what works.”

Don’t get me wrong – PhotoFrame is actually quite useful for those who haven’t learned to create own actions or install abundance of free pre-made ones. And there are plenty of freebies on the net. One particular springs to mind – Action Central. Until now I personally used 3-4 actions I created in 10 minutes or so. And that is without any particular advanced knowledge of Photoshop.

Here I wanted a particular edge effect and simply used a custom brush. Free of charge, of course.

Furthermore, if you use Photoshop simply to resize the images this plug-in is absolutely for you. I feel that the “Professional Edition” in the title is quite misleading. There is absolutely nothing professional about it. If you look at one of the tad more obscure products on the market – Graphicxtras Frames Collection (unfortunately no longer available), the latter actually did offer so much more. What was especially appealing about Graphicxtras collections is that instead of a plug-in, you were using basic Photoshop (alternatively PainShopPro) tools in order to achieve the look you want. Something that gave one knowledge of and something which one undoubtedly benefited from. Alternatively, there are tons of free shapes, actions, and scripts online which can be used to frame your images.

Let us first take a look at system requirements. OnOne’s PhotoFrame 4.5 requires following:

Pentium 4 or equivalent

• 2GB RAM
• 3GB of hard drive space
• OpenGL 2.0 capable video card with 256MB VRAM running at 1024×768 or higher

Additional requirements – Internet connection for auto-updates, activation, and video tutorials and Adobe Flash Player 10. Integration with Adobe Lightroom requires full version of Photoshop (CS2, CS3 or CS4). OnOne claims compatibility with recently released CS5, but I personally wouldn’t take it for granted. Last but not least, software is available in English only.

I am not sure if you do, but I find it a bit too juicy for my liking.

Well, what are requirements for Graphicxtras Frame Collection then? Roughly 290Mb of HD space and that’s all.

There is a certain trade-off for everything. Perhaps PhotoFrame 4.5 is taking a lot of workload off my plate? Let’s try then…

So there it goes. My Photoshop CS2 is effectively dead after the installation of the OnOne PhotoFrame Pro 4.5. Removing it does not resolve the issue, and I fear I will have to re-install all my CS2 applications.

Additionally, the uninstaller leaves behind a lot of orphaned files and entries in the registry. Very poor.

Most unfortunate in this case is perhaps the fact that I didn’t bother to create a restore point (Windows user, yes), thinking that I am quite likely to be safe. I was solely mistaken. Not least due to the fact that I actually thought PhotoframePro 4.5 could ACTUALLY offer anything of use.…

Perhaps just a final tip to resolve the R6025 – PureVirtual Function call Runtime Error:

Should you get the error message, browse to your Adobe Photoshop plugin directory (default and usual one is C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop CSx\Plug-Ins) and remove the onOne Library.acel.8bx and onOne Library.dll files. Accidentally, these files are orphanned during the uninstall process so if you believe you can resolve the issue by uninstalling PhotoFrame 4.5, you are in for a surprise.

With the help of the files mentioned above, OnOne attempts to create a dedicated menu in Photoshop – quite an ego trip one would think. And unnecessary one at that. Once you remove these files, the plugin will be accessible from the “Automation” menu within Photoshop instead.

Though, I personally skip it…

I have been long searching for decent RAW processing software. Don’t get me wrong – there is a plethora of different programs offering various bells and whistles. They all look wonderful, but how do they contribute to my workflow?

Most of us have got our own unique way of processing, categorising and re-working our photos and the software we choose should complement our needs as opposed to forcing us to adopt other’s. And so my requirements are more than likely to differ from yours, obviously.

So, what am I looking for in the RAW processing software? Below is a list of criteria important to me personally. The list is not presented in any particular order – all items are equally important.

1. First off, I need to be able to adjust all properties of the RAW file – sharpness, noise (both colour and luminance), brightness, contrast, exposure, vibrance and saturation. I should also be able to edit tone curves both master and for each channel individually.
2. Second, I need to be able to manage my photos including the storage of processing settings and cache. This means that I don’t want software to store “sidecar” files in the same directory as my photos given that I might be processing photos directly from the memory card (should I have the necessity) or optical media (which would effectively prevent the processing software from writing to the storage anyway). This prompts for the software which allows me to select storage for the processing files.  It is necessary to mention that Adobe’s sidecar invention will result in the hard disk fragmentation as they tiny in size. I also want to able to use a dedicated hard disk for processing cache, catalogue and or database as opposed to storing it all on local drive.
3. Third, is catalogue and database. IMHO it is a waste of time. I want an option to turn it off, since I have very little need of being bound for life to some proprietary database. If I want to catalogue my shots, I will do it myself thank you very much. And if software insists on using database, it might as well be using a proper database engine such as MySQL or MSSQL. I am sure many would appreciate being able to maintain a far more manageable database than software offers.
4. Fourth, functional tools allowing you to deal with distortion (barrel and moustache) and CA. There should not be need to process the images in 2-3 different apps.
5. Fifth, stability and speed. Few people enjoy software crashing every 5 minutes and/or crawling at a pace of a plastered snail (Adobe Photoshop springs to mind). Some may argue that upgrading the hardware and updating drivers resolves the issue. I agree to disagree. When software is released, is it written with future drivers in mind? I don’t think so. Furthermore, if I have used my camera since 2005 for instance, and size and structure of my RAW files hasn’t changed, and my processing software previously worked at a decent speed, how come now I now have to put up with bloatware? And I prefer increase of speed at a cost of beautiful 3D interface.
6. Last but not least, I appreciate the software which can remember last opened folder and perhaps also be configured to always open a default folder for file export. Not really much to ask for, I hope?

Most of the software will attempt to entice and lure you with catchy and impressive slogans such as “with the flexibility to adapt to the way you work” (ACDSee Pro Photo Manager 3), “…fundamentally changed the way digital photo editing is done—reducing complexity
and returning control to photographers” (LightZone), “designed to create the best image quality in the market and holds a series of easy-to-use tools created to match the professional photographer’s daily workflow.” (PhaseOne CaptureOne). This list can go on.

First thing to perhaps realise that these slogans are written by corporate sales departments – people creative in their own right but as long as decent sums of money are involved. In reality they have no interest in photography and yours in particular. Please forgive my cynicism, but after 9 years as a systems engineer I boast quite an experience of corporate machinery.

So, with all this in mind, in the coming series of posts I will review all the software I have been (un)fortunate to use

Just a day before relocating to Yokohama I received shocking news – my favourite ramen restaurant of all time – Kyodo Ramen is no more.

This wonderful, warm, charming little place will no longer serve you best ramen in Tokyo – period. Not even 5 minutes walk from the Kyodo station, it was well hidden in a small mews kind of alley at the furthest end. And most saddening part is that the owner’s daughter is a good friend of mine.

The couple running the Kyodo-ramen put a lot of effort into the little business working long hours. The taste was simply incredible. Master (as shop owner is usually referred to) travelled to remote village markets just to get quality local produce. There simply was no compromise.

I can’t help but feel sad when I remember each time visiting the shop when I was in Tokyo they refused to take my money however much I insisted. Surely, few thousand yen can’t bring Kyodo-ramen back, but it could have helped at least a little…

What remains now is a heap of old kitchen equipment, terminated lease and no pension for the couple who has fallen ill. Their daughters are carrying on the remainders of the loans.

So next time you feel like complaining about a lost auction, absence of olive in your martini or not being able to go to Thailand on a holiday…think again…

“life’s a bitch!”..yeah, right…

Wherever in Japan you decide to move, do not even dream about doing it during February-March aka the relocation high season. Your relocation company might suddenly decide to play Robin Hood and you will be facing whopping 200.000 yen fee….and it is fairly cheap at that. Even better, the people arriving at your doorstep are not movers, but simple drivers who even in their wildest dreams can’t imagine which way to take your expensive grand piano down the narrow winding stair case…

If you for no apparent reason are still bent on moving during this stressful period of time, choose a shipping company instead such as for instance Nitsu (if you or your partner are fairly proficient in Japanese).You will be able to squeeze your fragile belongings into a “container” (a supermarket delivery truck type of cage measuring about 180 x 160 x 75) and get away with the fee close to 20.000 (estimate based on Nagoya-Yokohama relocation).

Just so you know…