Walking With The Fujifilm 23mm f/1.4
I've been unwell over the past week (something that seems to be happening way too much at the moment, but, anyway...), so big walks have been out of the question, but I did manage to get out for a short evening walk along the local canal earlier in the week. I didn't really feel like carrying my usual camera contingent, but didn't want to leave the house unarmed, so decided to compromise on just the X-H2 and the Fuji 23mm f/1.4 lens, which is actually a surprisingly light and compact combination.
I'm not really a fan of the single fixed prime mantra and there really were times when a bit more reach would have been appreciated, but for the subject at hand, the 23mm worked a lot better than expected and perhaps challenged me a little.
All images taken hand held with the Fujifilm X-H2+23mm f/1.4. Edited from single raw files in Capture One Pro 23, with the exception of one image that also took a round trip through Topaz AI as it's quite a heavy crop and I think benefitted from a bit of a resolution boost. I didn't have the usual CPL to hand as I don't have suitable adapter rings for the 23mm and as I was trying to carry as little as possible, faffing with filters didn't really fit too well with that.
1. Bridge No. 79A
The spot where I typically join the Leeds to Liverpool canal (to head in the direction towards Leeds) is just before this bridge which carries the A674 over the canal on its way towards Wheelton from Chorley. I quite liked the way the light was catching the graffiti here. Composition is a bit awkward as everything is askew from this spot, so I decided to align to the girders along the underside of the bridge. Reviewing my edit, there are a surprising number of layer masks here (5) along with a switch to the Classic Chrome film sim.
2. The Far Bank
This falls into the "not quite what I was going for" department. It's actually a 4:5 vertical crop from the 3:2 frame, one of the instances where a bit more reach would have been appreciated. I think there's a nice picture at this location, but it really needs different light. This was quite contrasty with direct sunlight on the upper part of the trees and the lower part in shadow. I've tried to balance this and also reduced the contrast for a more painterly look. Really, I think this needs an early morning visit when the sun is still low behind this bank, but it's still quite a nice scene regardless.
3. Reflections
This is a reflection of an interesting tree I spotted on the far bank of the canal. I suspect it's dead as there's absolutely nothing growing on it compared to its neighbours. The image has been flipped to put the reflected tree the right way up. The plants at the top of the image are by my feet on the edge of the bank and the green clump at the bottom is a reflection of bushes along the far bank. Not massively tweaked beyond the flip and crop, but I did switch this into the Velvia sim.
4. The Path Ahead
Looking along the tow path. I quite liked the backlit foliage on the trees in the foreground. Cropped to 16:9, removing a chunk from the bottom of the image. It's also in Velvia.
5. Most Pointless Sign of The Week
Honestly, you'd need to really, really want get onto that land to want to tackle this formidable fence.
6. Bridge No. 80
The first traditional canal bridge encountered along this part of the walk. The attraction here was the tall tree on the left towering over the bridge. I did consider cropping this down to 3:4 or 4:5, but I quite like the bank side plants in the foreground.
7. Location, Location, Location
I'm always quite taken by these (quite modern) houses along the far bank. I can't decide if it would be a great spot to live or a bit of a nightmare. Either way it looks pretty cool. Edit wise, this hasn't really had a lot done to it, WB tweak, exposure and saturation lifted, with the shadows pulled up a touch in the central part of the image.
8. At The Foot of Johnson's Hillock
I felt a bit awkward taking this with the fisherman stood there doing his thing, I had been hoping to get the spot briefly to myself, but he clearly wasn't going anywhere, so I took the shot anyway. I actually thought he'd be completely lost in the shadows, but it's surprising just how much DR the X-H2 sensor captures, allowing the shadows to be lifted considerable, even on a shot like this. The highlights are slightly burnt out between the trees on the far bank, but that looks quite natural given that the sun has been carefully plonked behind that big tree in the centre of the frame. This one's been edited in Nostalgic Neg, a sim I don't really care for in many instances, it looks a bit like a faded film image that's going a little pink, although for images shot at this point in the evening, the pink hue and softness it introduces work quite nicely.
9. Fourth Lock Bridge No. 81
A 3:1 crop. In the original image, the nearside canal bank sweeps across the frame, exiting in the lower right. There was also too much sky and some additional stuff on the right hand edge of the image. I did deliberate over a left or right hand side crop, but felt if I'd cropped the left off, the towpath would lead off the side of the frame and no one wants that, do they? I've muted the colours a bit by switching to the Classic Chrome sim, but then boosted them again and added a pinkish hue. In reality, there was no such colouring as the before / after shot below shows, but it doesn't seem an unreasonably minor distortion of reality and I think it brings the image to life a bit.
10. Sunset By The Temple
This was taken from the side of the A674 looking back across the canal (the towpath I was on earlier is just below that row of trees running across the frame in the foreground). From this point of view, the setting sun is way off to the right, but was throwing some pleasant, if muted colours into the sky. This is another Nostalgic Neg job. The extra pinkish hue it introduces seemed to work well here and the subtle softening around light details adds to the relaxed vibe. I've actually added about 6 layers to this. Mostly where I've accentuated highlight elements (light falling on the right of the left hand tree, light catching the top of the grass in the foreground, lifting the field in the mid ground and tempering the highlights in the sky).
