La Bruyle

Let me introduce you to 'La Bruyle'.

It is a charming guest house located at Colonjac, close to Saint Michel de Bannières, in northern Lot. 

In 2013, I was there twice to produce photographs which would be used on the future web site.

Now after quite some text and photograph editing the web site is on line. http://www.labruyle.com/

Let me tell you that I am rather proud about how the photographs came out.

I was not there as a paying guest but the way I was treated and my needs were met lead me to believe that a stay at 'La Bruyle' can only be a treat.

 

 

Oldtimer

Had you been this morning on Place de la Concorde in Paris around 10:00 you would have come across quite a few oldtimers. I mean cars from the days when driving was a pleasure.

Twice a year these wonderful machines gather in Vincennes (east of Paris) then drive through the capital stopping to be admired at a few locations before heading back to their quarters.

To-day I arrived on time to see most of them and also to take a couple of shots. The main difficulty I found was the crowds surrounding the cars on display. Some people use telephoto lenses. They try to avoid the onlookers.

I took another route. My camera was hooked to my Distagon T 1.4/35mm lens from Carl Zeiss. Its minimum focus distance is of 0.30 m so I could get very close. I could also get a global view of the scene. I do not have a 50mm lens in my Canon EF kit but I find that a 35mm is quite versatile. This specific one is a manual focus only lens. But after a few weeks of usage I got the hang of it. My first SLR's did not have autofocus anyway. And I found it was more in the spirit of the cars I was snap-shooting.

 

Goodbye Christmas

As I was walking down some busy upscale shopping street in Paris, I can across this forlorn looking Christmas tree. This in my opinion was calling for a black & white image. The idea of the tree being barred from entering the passageway would have been probably far weaker in colour.

I processed the raw file in Lightroom 5.3. Just a little contrast here and there, some very light darkening at the base of the tree, some overall 'clarity' as they call it.

I like the result. But do you ? Please let me know ?

 

 

DoF

DoF ? What is that ?

Well some of you know I am sure. Most of you probably. But surely a few would be delighted to learn a little more about DoF.

It is an acronym for Depth of Field.

On a photograph like the one above, some parts are sharp, some are not in focus. The DoF is the distance between the nearest and the farthest object that appear sharp.

It is linked to several factors which it is best to know and to handle fluently. Otherwise you could end up getting a photograph not quite as you wanted it.

On a given camera, the DoF is in direct connection with the focal length of the lens and the aperture. Let us just say that the longer the focal length, the wider the aperture, the smaller the depth of field.

The photograph above with a much narrower aperture would have been more in focus. The same photograph shot with a wide angle would have been much more in focus. Here it was shot with a 135mm (telephoto lens) and at f/ 2.8 which is quite open.

Narrow DoF is used to emphasize a part of the image. On the contrary, deep DoF is prefered when all parts of the image have the same importance.

Here are two photographs with the same camera and same lens but very different apertures : f/ 22 and f/4

The result is very different.

 

 

New toy 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is now time to unveil the new toy. You could see leather case on a previous post.

Now here is a photograph of the camera itself.

I believe you will agree with me in saying it is a beautiful piece of chraftmanship.

A product from Agfa in Germany built around 1960, it was called Agfaflex in the USA and

Ambiflex in the rest of the world.

I got mine with four lenses. The one visible on the picture : 

- Color Solagon 50 mm f:2.0

and

- Color Ambion 35 mm f:3.4

- Color Telinear 90 mm f:3.4

- Color Telinear 135 mm f:4.0

I am in the process of shooting the first film. I shall keep you posted on the

result.