Astbury's Adventures in Photography

I can't remember when I made the move from shooting in camera jpg to shooting raw but it would probably be around ten years ago. At a similar time I started with Adobe Lightroom , the two going nicely hand in hand. Lightroom has scored for its overall combination of library and development modules, allowing convenient raw processing. Over the years I've gone for each major Lightroom release, the easy option of just buying an update license at around £50 every 18 months or so, and staying with the desktop version. Lightroom 6.13 splash screen However for some time it's been clear that Adobe's preference has been for monthly subscriptions and for cloud based options. Now with release 6.13 it's been the final update for the standalone version and it's missing some of the functionality of the 'Classic' version. The subscription model would work out more expensive and so it prompts me to review my options. Lightroom certainly has its shortcomings ;...

After spending a week in Ardnamurchan here is a condensed selection of my 'best' photographs taken. I'll start with my personal favourite, an image of Loch Shiel with the M.V. Sileas in the distance, I've used negative space to emphasise the cloud pattern as a reflection in the calm water, taken at the southern end of this popular loch (Glenfinnan and the 'Harry Potter' viaduct are located at the north end). Loch Shiel I never seem to be as satisfied with colour images but I did like this one which is shot slightly contre-jour to reveal the cold winter branches along with the warm colours of the old ferns in the foreground. Winter, Ariundle National Nature Reserve Having very carefully framed this image I found the resulting composition graphic but possibly a little too busy with this photograph of Loch Shiel, which proved my most popular on social media Loch Shiel with M.V. Sileas For EXIF data on these photographs and for other photographs...

Almost time to load the film and get started so I need to understand my options and have a practical approach to setting the exposures on the Nikon FE. Invariable The first thing I have to remember is that I can't change ISO . The old films I plan to use are ISO 200 so that will be my ISO value in all cases (let's ignore any options to pull and push the subsequent processing for the moment). Max Spielmann MX 200 colour print film The second thing I can't change is white balance . The film packaging doesn't appear to show any white balance recommendation so I'll assume they are daylight balanced (e.g. maybe 6000k). The traditional way of handling this would be to use warm up or cool down filters but for the more casual photographer they probably wouldn't bother. Like many (mostly) digital photographers I don't have a set of colour correction filters so won't worry. Ambient manual The simplest option is to set the camera manually. Aperture...