3 predictions for 2016

A gaze into the crystal ball for 2016

A Hollywood influence on Landscape photography aesthetics?

In January a film will be released in the UK that might influence how some photographers photograph the landscape. The film is Alejandro Iñárritu's, The Revenant. I was first aware of The Revenant from reports of delays and cost overruns of filming, due to it being filmed entirely in natural light, which is capricious by nature at best. I saw a trailer for the film at the cinema in November and it was refreshingly visually distinct from the CGI/artificial lighting evident in the other film trailers, or at least I thought so, but that may be just my confirmation bias.



Hopefully the cinematic 'look' of natural lighting with the grand landscapes, will be picked up on by other cinematographers and in due course filter down to the more creative members of the landscape photography community, where some digital artists may have an epiphany and be inspired to investigate the virtues of natural light and colour. Digital artist that frequent 500px, may believe composited and manipulated lighting in post processing may qualify as 'fine art', but it falls short by some margin as a landscape photograph.

A controversy free WPP awards?

The photography competition I hold in highest regard for its commitment to image integrity and photographic values, is the World Press Photo awards and the November announcement of new rules and guidance to entrants, should eliminate any doubt as to the veracity of the award images.

Handheld landscape photography

Small apertures, low ISO speeds and resulting long exposure times, necessitated a tripod in times past. Digital technology has moved the goalposts and digital camera sensors with high dynamic range performance, high iso capability, camera/lens stabilisation tech and improved optical lens designs, makes hand holding in low light levels eminently achievable. So, in theory, the ballast, bulk and awkwardness of the tripod can finally be dispensed with. It will come as no surprise to witness a bandwagon effect of manufacturers ambassadors, artisans and celebrity landscape photographers affiliated with certain manufacturers/retailers/workshops/commercial websites, start extolling the paradigm shift/awesomeness/amazingness/wowza/life changing virtues of handheld landscape photography and the monkey see, monkey do not-so-confident photographers start banging the drum for handholding too. It would be refreshing though, to also read of the potential pitfalls of hand holding and consequences of leaving the tripod out of the kit, as that would demonstrate some integrity.

Geology as inspiration for landscape photography - the other side of the terrane boundary

In a previous post I described an image made of an intrusive granite sheet cutting through Lewisian Gneiss on the north side of Loch Laxford, on one side of the Laxford shear zone a candidate terrane boundary that happened in Deep Time. This post is about a trip a few days later to make a landscape image of the terrane boundary from on the other side.

View along the strike of gneiss foliation. The pink rock is a foliated granitic intrusion into the steeply dipping gneiss.

There are a number of known terrane boundaries in the UK, many are covered by younger rocks, submerged under water or overlain by superficial deposits, whilst others require a walk. The NW Highlands of Scotland provides an opportunity to drive across one and on the way view the rocks. Below is a Google street view of a road cutting south of Scourie that shows the character of the Lewisian gneiss complex in the northern part of the central district .or the Assynt terrane. At a first glance it looks like sedimentary rock dipping gently across the road.



Zooming in on the outcrops and the nature of the rock becomes more apparent, thanks to the attention of geology hammers aka hammer rash, with fresh (hammered) surfaces reveal alternating bands of dark and pale minerals or gneiss foliation.



Heading north from Scourie, towards Loch Laxford the nature of the gneiss changes, the dips get steeper, the strike of the gneiss has changed direction and the gneiss has been subject to intense strain. The Laxford Shear Zone has been entered.


Now a google street view from the north side of Loch Laxford  and view south. The rock has been drilled and blasted providing fresh exposures of the Lewisian Gneiss Complex and in the layby is an interpretation panel, the layby is one of the stops on the Rock route in the NW Highlands Geopark. The rock in this view has an apparent structural dip to the west of south.



A closer look at the exposure. There are 3 rocks colours - Black, Pink and Grey. The Grey rock is gneiss, the dark rocks are intrusive dykes that have cut across the gneiss foliation and the pink rock is intrusive granite, that has cut across the gneiss and dyke and tectonic forces have deformed everything in view.



It is reasonable to suggest that the outcrop of the Lewisian gneiss complex, does appear different from the Google Street view south of Scourie. Journeying on towards Laxford Bridge shows how the rocks change in dip and are subject to more intense tectonic forces, until south of Loch Laxford in the road cuttings alongside Loch na Claise Fearna the postulated terrane boundary is crossed. The road cuttings between Riconnich and Scourie represent a journey through over a Billion years of continental crust evolution from the Archean to the Proterozoic.

There are a couple of papers available online that provide an overview of past and recent developments concerning the Lewisian Gneiss Complex and the geology of the Laxford Shear Zone.

2010 The Laxford Shear Zone: an end-Archaean terrane boundary? *K. M. Goodenough, R. G. Park, M. Krabbendam, J. S. Myers, J. Wheeler, S. C. Loughlin, Q. G. Crowley, C. R. L. Friend, A. Beach, P. D. Kinny & R. H. Graham,  In: LAW, R. D., BUTLER, R. W. H., HOLDSWORTH, R. E., KRABBENDAM, M. & STRACHAN, R. A. (eds) Continental Tectonics and Mountain Building: The Legacy of Peach and Horne. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 335, 103–120 

2013 New U-Pb age constraints for the Laxford Shear Zone, NW Scotland: Evidence for tectono-magmatic processes associated with the formation of a Paleoproterozoic supercontinent
K.M. Goodenough, Q.G. Crowley, M. Krabbendam, S.F. Parryd

Fair sized garnets in mafic gneiss (metagabbro) with felsic rims 

The area I had in mind was one I had visited briefly in October 2011, before it was cut short by really poor weather, proper drookit. Although I had managed to locate an outcrop of metagabbro with some impressively large garnets. This has lingered fairly high on my list of places to revisit as the views from a couple of elevated areas held some photographic potential. Despite its modest height on an ordnance survey map, glacial ice has exploited weaknesses in the geological grain and it is definitely terrain for putting on the Big Boots.

Degrading blanket peat

A landscape photograph isn't going to convey zircon ages or metamorphic facies, but tectonothermal events leave an imprint on rock and intrusive rocks that show field relationships, so there's some hope. Especially when the area has been aerially scoured by glacial ice.

View along the strike of gneiss foliation. The pink rock is a foliated granitic intrusion cutting across steeply dipping gneiss.

A view of Loch Laxford and geology of the Laxford shear zone

Despite the less than promising weather forecast, the weather delivered what the NW Highlands is renowned for in late autumn, bands of rain/sleet/hail, with broken cloud following on behind, a hooley blowing with gusts of some intensity and some photogenic fleeting December light around too. I was fortunate.

NW Highlands atmospheric lighting

The wisdom of Internet photography forums and the Leica SL release - a follow up

The digital photography marketplace is by most observers reckoning a mature one, all the current manufacturers of digital camera have products available that deliver sufficient image quality for a very high percentage of photographers requirements. Camera choice ultimately comes down to personal preference and the availability of native/adapted lens options. Personally, I have no issue with photographers preferring a particular brand or brands and not other brands, it makes for a diverse marketplace and should in theory keep everyone happy. What I do find tedious are individuals who boorishly bang the drum for the brand they love use, at every given opportunity. The causation of this behaviour may be unrequited fanboy devotion, religious fervour or more worryingly the suspicion of paid shills. The small consolation for the neutral observer is the inevitable schadenfreude when the fanboys brand is demonstrated to have some deficiencies and faced with the prospect of having to eat crow their reaction is to throw the toys out of the pram. A prime case of schadenfreude was when the photographer, Ming Thein, reviewed a much hyped camera and reported on some positive and not quite so positive features of his experience. He also made the following observations :

This is not a review in the genre the internet has come to expect – a series of gushing observations after a company-sponsored junked, replete with mediocre SOOC snapshots. Instead, it’s both a series of observations from a working pro after two weeks of use, and a rational analysis of whether it merits a place in the bag or not – and more importantly, why

Having said all of that, there are quite a few reasons one buys an A7RII (trumpeting its virtues on the internet for money or worshipping it as your messiah until the Mark III do not count).

Bad news spreads quickly on the internet and to say the toys were thrown out of the pram as a reaction to his review, would be an understatement. A guest article written by a psychologist titled the pathology of 'fanboyism' was subsequently published, where lizard brain behaviour apparently was to some degree responsible and also marketing departments :

The manufacturers are also equally culpable. What is extremely concerning is the illusion of independence combined with extreme enthusiasm: this stimulates herd mentality in the no-so-confident, itself probably the desired outcome so long as it results in an immediate purchase.

What the psychologist didn't elaborate fully upon are the commercial photography sites and forums, that create grooming havens to exploit  insulated, safe environment for the not-so-confident photographers and those sites are characterised by the following generic traits :

• Extreme enthusiasm for a brand or product.
• No shortage of affiliate purchasing links to facilitate impulsive purchases.
• On product announcement thread/news items there will be PREORDER affiliate links in a prominent position, to ensure the not-so-confidents can preorder without having to wait for months/years for production to finally meet the anticipated tsunami of demand and revel with everyone else in the community in photography nirvana with their new product. 
• Threads on sales/price reductions with affiliate purchasing links. 
• Threads/Posts on good purchasing experience from affiliate retailers.
• Threads/Posts on poor purchasing experiences from non affiliate retailers.
• Light touch moderation on posts disparaging and vilifying other brands, websites, reviewers.
• Not so good news and inconvenient facts about the communities own brand are downplayed, ignored, given a positive spin or moderated out. 
• Frequent self congratulatory comments on how the website/forum/community is the greatest, fairest, knowledgeable, friendliest photography community on the planet.

A happy and contented community of not-so-confident photographers appears to equate to a welcome stream of affiliate linked sales commissions for the website owner and judging from some speculation, websites are also being rewarded for favourable gear endorsements, welcome PR, marketing and sales.

The psychologists comments on 'fanboyism' also seem to be backed up from the comments posted to some of Roger Cicala blog posts on the findings of equipment teardowns, measurements of lens resolution tests made at infinity and lens variance. A lensrentals blog post with a large number of comments usually indicates that the findings of an examination or testing of photography gear conflicts with the expectations created by marketing departments and by those 'trumpeting its virtues on the internet for money or worshipping it'. Coincidentally, some brands appear more culpable than others in creating expectations that exceed the actual capabilities, which is fine until Ming Thein or Roger Cicala point out the not quite so good stuff and fanboys get all emotional.

I don't profess to follow many discussions on new or even existing photography equipment from manufacturers as 99% of photography gear is simply not on my radar, the Leica SL 601 is for some of its reported features. For insight on the camera on photography fora there was much speculation but little of substance, though perhaps to be expected in view of Ming Thein and Roger Cicala's posts, there was a surprising number of positive posts about other brands, the very same brands who attract more than their fair share of not-so-confident and lizard brained photographers and shills who feel passionate about their chosen camera and lens brands.

It may be worth visiting the definitions of a shill  from wiki ;

In online discussion media, satisfied consumers or "innocent" parties may express specific opinions in order to further the interests of an organization in which they have an interest, such as a commercial vendor or special interest group.

In marketing, shills are often employed to assume the air of satisfied customers and give testimonials to the merits of a given product.

Bearing in mind the psychologists prognosis of Lizard brain behaviour in not-so-confident photographers and wiki's definition of a shill, what follows is only a very small random sampling of the posts cut and pasted from photography forum threads discussing the Leica SL601.

FredMiranda http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1393428/0

You have to be wary of generalizing about 'what the market wants' as it is not an single entity - every product manager knows it is all done by niches, from cars and fridges to phones...and cameras. One very clear and strong market sentiment is *small, light and functional*. Why carry lead in your saddlebags? Leica might rewrite the Meatloaf song to 'one out of three ain't bad', but not many would agree. Even at say, $4000, this lemon would not move in substantial numbers. Its lenses are laughably huge, and the kit zoom on it takes the weight to 2000 grams (4.4 pounds). Here is an alternative view on the matter from a senior Sony exec : "Size. It’s all about size – it’s smaller and lighter. That’s the main reason of choosing our products. If you don’t mind the feel of a camera that’s bigger and heavier please carry on. If you want to take a lighter and smaller camera, the Sony Alpha 7-series might be preferred. As long as the quality is the same, smaller and lighter is better I think. That is our policy." Some lenses are trending towards heavy and large - right now you can buy any just released heavyweight Milvus lens from B&H, but their sales managers are trying to work with the six month delays for the hugely back-ordered 335 gram Batis 25 and the 475 gram Batis 85. The same occurred with Loxia lenses to a lesser extent - despite no AF. Obviously neither Zeiss nor Leica have yet fully seen the light, and it is hard to turn an ocean liner around on a dime.

What to do....one Leica SL or getting two Sony A7R II cameras..... Interesting that Leica needed to copy the mistake from Sony to make big lenses for mirrorless cameras. Looks like a collector item to me for some very few, very likely not a big seller.

I'll play with it this week, but color me initially disappointed. Huge camera, giant lenses and a price tag that is simply absurd. For the price of the body only you can get an A7R II with Batis 25, Sony/Zeiss 55/1.8 and Batis 85/1.8. Who will honestly buy this?

Regarding adopting R glass to this body, I fail to see what advantage it will have over adapting the same lenses to a Sony. They will still need an adapter and there would appear to be no advantage sensor compatibility wise (unlike with M wides). On the other hand, using R glass on recent Sony bodies allows the use of IBIS, which nets a significant advantage to the Sony quite apart from arguably superior sensor options in resolution and high ISO performance. What am I missing?

I think what everyone wanted was basically a Kolari-modded A7ii --- a camera that would allow usage of all the M lenses with an adapter, while we waited for native AF glass. All they had to do was add a decent grip and maybe 4K to the highly-touted Q, take the 28mm lens off and make it a T-mount, price it at around $3,500-$4,000, and call it a day. It would have been perfect with IBIS, great ergonomics, and a small size --- a true threat to the A7 series. But no, they had to screw it all up by making a behemoth that costs $7,450. What a poor poor business decision.

To be correct, Sony has fixed the lossy RAW compression issue on the A7RII, the 2.0 firmware with the fix came out Monday.

I am still not to happy about the price or the fact that the camera is only 24 MP instead of 36. I do not think that the files will equal those from my A7r.

DPReview http://www.dpreview.com/articles/7448206943/a-lot-to-leica-hands-on-with-the-leica-sl-typ-601 

It's a bloated, overpriced, underfeatured trophy camera for insecure photographers more interested in their image than the image. You can almost justify the camera price but $5k for a 24-90 zoom??? Does anyone in their right mind think they'll see any difference between this and a typical high end zoom from the competition for 1/3 - 1/4 the price??? The Sony a7rII beats this in every way.

How un-Leica like. An experiment I feel is doomed to failure, I just can't see where the market is for this camera. The M has a huge appeal despite the high price because of the small rangefinder experience in a reasonably small package, this new system is bonkers.

So, $11,000 for a pimped out Sony with variable aperture lens.... right. I guess Seal is looking to update his camera. It's a bit of a paradox isn't it, that if you're smart enough to make enough disposable income (cause this isn't a pro's working camera) to afford this, that you'd be foolish to spend money on this. It has serious features. But applied in a non-serious way. It's a boutique camera with a laundry list of pro specs. For the weight and price you're better off with a Pentax 645z.

It weighs over 4 pounds with the lens -- too big!!!

Even die hard Leicaphiles will be hard pressed to say anything nice about this camera... Its specs are nothing to write home about, it is BIG and it is positively ugly, not to mention that it carries the usual absurd Leica price tag... What is there to like? What does it do over and above the competition to warrant a premium? What a pity that such a historic mark is fast becoming obsolete...

I just love watching the few die hard Leica fans mindlessly trying to defend this abomination of a camera...

Don’t reply to these guys. 90% of the comments here are from career trolls who have been trained like dogs to hate Leica.

This is most probably the biggest missunseratanding in the hostory of photography. This camera is ugly, bulky, outdated and expensive. I just cannot inagine that there is foing to be a single customer to want to get it.

Seriously, is this a joke? $10,000 for a mirrorless camera that's bigger and heavier than a medium format camera and is one of the ugliest beasts to be made in years? I know everyone bands on about the cost of Leicas and I have no problem with charging a premium for their cameras given the build quality, images, heritage, lenses, kudos etc. And their cameras are generally small and practical. But this is pathetic. Why would n't you get a D810 or a 5DS? You'd probably get better image quality, have a ton of change and you wouldn't have a hernia. Or get a Pentax MF? Or basically anything else. A fool and their money are easily parted as they say.

GetDPI http://www.getdpi.com/forum/leica/56286-leica-sl-601-oct-20th.html

Not a plug or anything like that but a fact. The new A7rII is a completely different and far better cam than the A7,A7r,A7II so if you had those previously I would not compare it to the new SL at all, not even close to what the new cam is and its new features and such. Seriously for your own comparison completely ignore those older models they truly do not represent Sony at this point. I know some gave up with those models and frankly I completely understand the reasons, it bugged me too. Not now though as the new body is a completely different beast and it works it's fixed its better and it actually performs as expected. I just noticed a lot of folks are comparing older models and that's just not a comparison to making a good buying decision. Carry on Popcorn is still cooking. Now my only other bitch in life has always been Leicas slowness to bring lenses to market. Now with there move to there bigger facility I hope that has changed for the better. I do hope so. 

It looks about like a rebadged Sony A7R2 without 42MP, IBIS, and tilt screen.

This appears to be a Sony A7 body with a Leica T mount and the Q internals for a mere $6,900 Euros. The lenses do not appear to have a manual aperture ring and do appear to be huge. I agree with others that this is one camera Leica is not likely to have to worry about demand exceeding production. Even if they had done the Q body with the T mount and a couple of primes they would have had a better market prospect. Frankly, I don't care what the reviewers say about it I would not pay over $10K for this camera with a lens. Thank goodness Leica didn't price the Q as badly. Bottom line this is not a Q killer (I know they would not want to kill the Q) nor is it a Sony A7RII killer.

Presumably you are referring to me as well, but I have been a Leica shooter long before I was a Sony shooter, and I haven't completely converted. I used to shoot with a M8/M8.2/M9/M240 and recently switched to the A7 series, but I still have my M lenses and a Leica Q. This product pisses me off because it wasn't a ILC version of the Leica Q like it was hyped to be. That is what I wanted. Nothing more nothing less

Not that this is getting ugly it's not but just remember to keep it friendly . Thanks

If nothing more than an improved EVF, then Leica has just put sales $ into Sony's hands, handsdown. One would expect much more than that for around $7k versus the improved A7R2 for around $3k. Anyway you hack it that is double the price for what-better EVF, lower MP sensor, better menu perhaps, maybe better ergonomics, greater ISO-unknown as yet, faster AF-unknown as yet, high priced zoom lenses and an Otus sized 50/1.4. In today's world with Zeiss bringing out superb FE lenses, Leica's quality edge had been diminished if not forgotten by many. I do hope reviewers have something phenomenal up their sleeves because this could be embarrassing. I know many tout the S-007, but after a years wait that is also too little too late and with that being the flagship model every other Leica has to have a sensor way lower than the S's lame 37.5 MP, ergo 24MP. I like most agreed with the MP mantra until I got the 645Z.

I just don't get the value proposition for a professional. My niece got married on Saturday. The professional was toting a bog standard Nikon pro body and had a smaller spare (probably a D610 or similar). Her main lens was obviously a 24-70 type zoom (a Sigma from the look of it) and she had what looked like the monster Nikon WA zoom for group shots. Unless my maths is wrong the total of her kit including strobe is probably equal to, or even less than the SL+24-90. What Wedding Pro except those doing the top end weddings is going to be able to afford two SLs (for safety) and two lenses? Then there is the disaster recovery issue. If her camera had failed on the day then she had a cheaper similar body for backup but with an equally good sensor. If her camera had failed before the wedding she could hire a body for the day/weekend which will be compatible with her bog-standard lens collection. So, I can only assume the SL is aimed at wannabe professionals and not real professionals. Actually, thinking about it I'd modify that and say it probably does have a place for videographers with deep pockets. But it is competing with the Panasonic GH-4 'whatever' which professionals I have talked to use as the 4K standard, some use the Sony A7S which has the iso sensitivity advantage and just got a whole lot better in the M2 version, so again why buy a £10K system - what on earth would be the ROI? There is nothing I can see in this system which would compete with or replace the value proposition of my Sony kit at the best mirrorless ILC on the market. There is the Leica build and ergonomics but the premium is ridiculously high. The strangest contradiction in product management terms is that the Leica Q which is by comparison a third of the price but has the same sensor would probably make a good second camera for a wedding pro for reportage and grab shots. I have an order in for one (no deposit, so no pressure) but I'm now seriously thinking of getting the Sony RX1R mk2 instead. Sony is basically thrashing Leica and I seem to meet some of my Leica forum chums here at GetDPI who can no longer justify the benefits of a Leica system over the value proposition of Sony - especially as each iteration of their body/sensor works better and better with legacy Leica glass. Anyway, if a pro out there can explain the value proposition I am genuinely interested and not just trolling. Just my two cents!

I can see where Sony's rapid upgrade path causes a great deal of frustration. However, I went from the A7 to the A7r2 and feel very little overlap in their functionality. I also cannot see where this giant camera that lacks IBIS, low light capabilities, PDAF, canon lens compatibility, a significant native AF lens availability, Eye Tracking AF, a tilting screen, high resolution, any semblance of affordability and more can be flatly called a better all-around solution. For me, it would represent a giant leap backwards from either my A7r2 or my Samsung NX1. But, for the well-heeled Leica specific crowd, especially those that don't mind a large camera body, it looks like an interesting choice. I would particularly like to see a Sony body with a high frame rate and a deeper buffer and more responsiveness in every day usage. Hopefully, these strengths of the Leica are praised so widely that Sony begins to feel the heat. Otherwise, I hope that Canon or Nikon makes a mirrorless with those features. Or, I would love to see Samsung wake from its long slumber and invest in the NX1 system with more great lenses. Or release their own insanely spec'd FF body. Or maybe the rumored November Sony camera body already incorporates those features.

Luminous Landscape
http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=104826.0
http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=104801.0

More toys for old rich people who still think about Cartier-Bresson. I think they should make a platinum model that gives you massages. Sony A7 is a very durable exceptionally well made device and probably about the price of Leica lens cap. My Nikon D800 is made very well too, and with a small ergonomic body. With either of these cameras, at a really fair and sellable price, you can put excellent glass on them and you have an excellent camera for just about any purpose. By the time they wear out we will be shooting 200 mp cameras, or at the very least 100 mp. and all of this stuff Leica is selling now will look like an iPhone 3c.

Ming Thein has a review up. Not nearly as negative as you guys. Fast and responsive with some quirks. Ok battery life. Good EVF.

I'd like to compare viewfinders, multi-shot file quality, shutter vibration, responsiveness and a few other features before drawing any conclusions. My a7II's viewfinder, while much preferable to the D800 (IMHO), leaves a lot to be desired and the loss of bit depth when using multi-shot mode and lossy compression compromise the RAW file quality. The a7II's EFC feature makes the camera more responsive and quieter but with adapted lenses it's useless at shutter speeds faster than 1/1000 sec and switching EVC on or off requires menu diving. There's a lot of room for improvement in the a7-series.

Looking at the specs, the 24-90 is almost f4 at 50mm! That is ridiculous for a $5000 lens! You may as well shoot medium format for that size, spec and price. This is not a professional spec 35mm system lens, it's an oversized, over priced, slow as hell, amateur spec lens. Given the size of it, it means there will never be a constant 2.8 zoom lens for this system, ever. Who in their right mind would buy this at over $5000? In professional situations it's only really usable at f4 because if you set up your lighting and exposure for 2.8 and then zoom, you have to change your lights or be a stop under exposed. There are no other other lenses available at launch. Just this one, expensive, slow, enormous, limited zoom. This is going to flop hard.

No more personal attacks, please.

Leica S user: small user group to start with - leica S user who wants to add an SL to his kit: even smaller user group - Leica S user who also has an SL who ALSO needs a Sinar view camera where he must use the S lenses with full electronic communication (which doesn't exist and has not even been rumored, but for your sake let's pretend it does): positively tiny user group that makes the Phase One install base look like that of Canon's.

Exactly. Who is going to make these Leica chips? Who cares about the Leica name. You can put these old Leica lenses on the Sony and use manually. Who needs Leica. Photography as we knew it is over. This is ALL about consumer electronics now, and may the best chip win. Zeiss will make great lenses for all of them. They are a company that will survive. Hasselblad's days are numbered as well. People are sick and tired of paying three or four times more for a damn name. That's over.

Congratulations! Leica has made the perfect ecosystem for all 7 of you around the globe! Increase the rose tint of your glasses by another 15% and we can even see them offer multishot, which makes it perfect for ONE person in the world! P.s. Regarding the "Many pros are switching from MFDB to Leica" statement, I would like to see some numbers Instead of hot air. BC is the only top commercial and conceptual shooter for example that I can think of who is consistently working with an S system. Names like Drew Gardner, Miss Aniela, Joey L, Benjamin Von Wong, Frank Doorhof are all still happily using MFDB. It's fine if one is a fan of a niche system. No, really. But to bend all logic to suit your narrative about them, dude. Take a few breaths.

In a future blog post I'll comment on how the camera has been performing in the hands of actual photographers.

Google trends - Landscape photography

The annual doom and gloom forecasts and navel gazing articles are appearing online, predicting the death of stills photography and that the future of photography instead will be the cameraphone or stills grabbed from video, drones, gopro footage etc. So I wondered what Google Trends would show if I trended 'landscape photography' and assume that interest in a topic/subject would be be represented by google searches.

Globally there seems to be a consistent level of interest for landscape photography for a few years now

The United Kingdom also mirrors the global trend. I did wonder if the searches may have also included the words 'demise' or 'declining interest in'. So I searched on a couple of items of gear associated with landscape photography




The google trends for camera tripod, wide angle lens, landscape lens and photography backpack,all appear to correlate with the consistently level trend for landscape photography. What about other photography genres though? There are reported decline in some genres and rise in other genres and the google trends do appear to correlate with reports.











The reported decline in photography workshop attendances and rise in spats on facebook/twitter between competing photography workshop providers seems to be bornes out by a google trend too.

There does appear to be at least a superficial correlation between Google Trends and the reported rise and decline of interest in some photographic genres. The Google Trends for photography manufacturers and gear also appears to correlate with reported market trends and financial reports.

Landscape photography - conveying 3 dimensions in 2 dimensions

I was going to write a scathing post about a landscape photographer X Y who has written, not guidelines, nor suggestion or even a 'here's one approach', but a definitive article on landscape photograph compositions. After a google search it appears landscape photographer X Y is not the only one, who has written a definitive article(s) on composition and very generic they are too, candidates for a bullshit bingo card containing :

• Pithy quote(s) from Weston, White, Adams, Stieglitz et al
• The wistful comment on viewing an upside down image on ground glass or peering down at a Hasselblad viewfinder.
• The requirement to study the works of great artists.
• The number of books owned/read by Weston, White, Adams, Stieglitz et al
• Images illustrated with lines, curves, zig zags and arrows
• The article containing a combination of some or all of the following words - tension points, dynamic composition, perspective, convergence, asymmetric balance, leading lines, simplification, synergy, organic flow, parallelism,  extraneous, distillation ...
• Aspect ratio  
• Rule of 1/3's, Golden rule, Golden ratio 
• Link to book/workshop dates/donate button

The issue I have with definitive articles on composition is there is hardly ever a mention that the fundamental precept of a landscape image is to successfully convey 3 dimensions in 2 dimensions. I know that viewing images is subjective and some compositions may have 'subtle nuances' not appreciated at web display sizes, but there are some feted landscape photographers who have demonstrated to my eyes, a failure to translate 3 dimensional views into 2 dimensions. No amount of foreground interest, camera movements, leading lines or tension points can give depth to a two dimensional image.

The most northerly oak woodland in the UK - the Lobarion community

Oak woodland at |Loch a' Mhuilinn National Nature Reserve

As was mentioned in the preceding post on the Loch a' Mhuilinn National Nature Reserve  there are 'good examples of the macrolichen Lobarion community' and a Lobarion community is defined by the British Lichen Society as :

Lobaria species and species associated with them like Sticta, Degelia, Pannaria and Nephroma.

Lichenologists appear to dislike using common or folk names, a great pity, as for the layman Catolechia wahlenbergii is nowhere near as memorable as the Goblin Lights lichen. Nonetheless it is worth persevering with, as over the years some words eventually stick.

Green Satin Lichen (Lobaria virens) 

When the wind blows in woodland then for me close up photography is the fall back and time for a closer look at nature, which in the case of the Loch a' Mhuilinn woodland means photographing the resident lichens. Or at least the lichens growing on truly static objects, it is surprising to observe how much a tree trunk flexes in a hooley with the wind gusting and close focusing in live view with 10X magnification.

Plumb fruited felt lichen (Degelia plumbea)

Tree Lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria)

Desperate Dan lichen (Parmotrema crinitum)

Red-eyed shingle lichen (Pannaria rubiginosa)

The Loch a' Mhuilinn woodlands haven't disappointed, with enough lichens in fruit and in sheltered locations to provide interest on days when the weather for the big views of landscape and woodland photography wasn't inspiring or practical.

Links to websites that have proved useful for information and identifying lichens :

Lichens of Atlantic Woodlands - Guide 1: Lichens on ash, hazel, willow, rowan and old oak

Lichens of Atlantic Woodlands - Guide 2: Lichens on birch, alder and oak

Scottish and other British lichens

Irish Lichens

The most northerly oak woodland in the UK - the trees

OS map 1908 scale 6" to the mile 

Screen shot of Loch a' Mhuilinn woodland  taken from the National Library of Scotland http://maps.nls.uk/view/76409530   

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee on the description of the woodland as a Special Area of Conservation have this description :

This complex of woods represents old sessile oak woods at the extreme north of its range in Scotland. The site includes the extensive and diverse Ardvar Woodlands, which are mainly birch-dominated with oak throughout, and the woodland at Loch a’Mhuilinn, the other component of this complex, to the north, which has small areas dominated by oak. The area of woodland at Loch a’Mhuilinn lies on the north-west coast of Sutherland near sea level where the effects of exposure on the growth form of some of the oaks are particularly well-demonstrated. The oaks are of special interest because they are the most northern remnant of native oak woodland in the British Isles. Both sites are very important rich oceanic bryophyte sites with good examples of the macrolichen Lobarion community.

Loch a' Mhuilinn National Nature Reserve

In my limited experience, 6 visits intermittently over 8 years, the Loch a’ Mhuilinn woodland has proved a personally challenging photographic proposition due to its exposed location and seeming prevalent high wind. On the elevated areas in the woodland and/or on west and south westerly facing aspects of the site, tree growth indicates the prevailing wind direction and the stunting effects of wind, a coastal krummholz zone.

As soon as the slope aspect or topography provides some shelter from the wind, trees grow straighter and higher. The birch woodland in parts is particularly stunted in growth and you are bush wacking walking through the canopy at eye level.

With the exception of a couple of pollards, the majority of the older oak trees are derelict coppice and the coppice stools do suggest they are of some age. I've noted that the woodland also contains dominantly Downy Birch with scattered Hazel, Rowan, Willow and Holly trees. Deer fencing has been erected and aside from natural regeneration a management plan of replanting is currently underway to reinstate woodland.

I'm no fan of motion blur as an aesthetic for stills images of woodland and high winds are not the best for stopped down apertures and long exposures. Which means that every visit I have made to this wood, the wind has set the photography agenda.

Downy Birch

Loch a' Mhuilinn woodland is classed as Atlantic woodland or representative of the Celtic Rainforest, with unpolluted and moisture laden air, the Lichens provide the photography fall back and are covered in the next post.

Geology as inspiration for Landscape photography

I'd parked up on the A838 near Loch Laxford after an earlier excursion around Rhiconnich, with broken shower clouds and cold clear air, the weather held some potential for a winters sunset. I also had an image in mind. There is a distinct change in the nature of geology around Loch Laxford with intrusions of granite that disrupt the country rock, these granite intrusions have been used to constrain a tectonothermal event in Deep Time.

After a negotiating a brief but entertaining ascent, a search located what I had hoped for, a glacially scoured outcrop of granite/pegmatite and what appeared to be inclusions of gneiss. The outcrop had  sufficient prominence to catch the last light, with the hills of Arkle and Ben Stack as a backdrop. A case of waiting for the winter sun to drop into a cloud break and illuminate the scene with low angled modelling light. The sun did appear, the warm light enhanced the red granite and colours of the moorland grasses and a feeling of satisfaction that a plan held together, instead of unravelling.

Declining fortunes and interest

I was surprised to discover that Luminous Landscape had announced and transitioned to a subscription model in response to a falling revenue from advertising and merchandise. The site was once a primary landscape photography resource on the internet, but that was a long time ago when competition wasn't around and it is now a shadow of its former self, the number of inspiring articles and images, have declined steadily over time. IF adequate subscription revenues are raised and reinvested to commission quality landscape photography articles, LL might regain its mojo again, but the haste with which the move to a subscription model has been implemented suggests a different agenda.
My experiences with subscription websites has not been a positive one, a few year back I subscribed to three websites, all of which were subsequently unsubscribed from. Diglloyd, Reidreviews and Onlandscape magazine, each also gave access to an archive, which merely confirmed that inspiring and interesting articles were the exception, rather than the rule. In each case I reached the point of not even bothering to read articles well before the subscription expired. The problem for commercial photography websites is that the information is out there on photography forums, communities, vlogs and blogs. After the disappointment of subscription websites, I do make a point of donating to websites when their material provides genuine interest, it is telling that Luminous Landscape didn't employ a donate button, before transitioning to the subscription model.

NW Highlands - Deep Time

In a human lifetime the North Atlantic will have widened by about 2 metres, the ongoing collision of the Indian plate with the the Eurasian plate will have increased the height of Nanga Parbat by 60 - 80 cm and a similar rise in land surface will occur near Hudson Bay, as the Earth's crust is still rebounding from the melting of the North American Ice Sheet. With a few interesting exceptions, geological processes in terms of human perception are generally slow paced affairs and a fundamental concept in geology is geological time or Deep Time. The first scientific attempts at dating the earth, involved cooling rates, seawater salinity and sedimentation rates, that resulted in calculated ages ranging from 24 to 400 million years. Whereas there is some familiarity with figures of millions and billions expressed in monetary and financial terms, many people can picture a 100 pounds/euros/dollars be it coinage or notes, few people will ever become centenarians and experience 100 years of time. To most people a million years is not an intuitive length of time. Even when reduced to seconds, a million seconds equates to just under 12 days. The Earth's age as quoted in textbooks towards the end of the 19th C was 100 million years, which seems a great length of time, but some geologists and naturalists thought it too short.

View of the Billion year old Torridonian / Lewisian nonconformity on the NE spur of A' Mhaighdean

In 1891 the discovery in the NW Highlands of Olenellus fossils in the Fucoid beds of the Saltera Grits formation, finally determined their position in the stratigraphic column as lower Cambrian in age. The fossil discovery again changed the geological history of the rocks in the NW Highlands, as the underlying Torridonian sedimentary rocks were relegated from their presumed Cambrian age and down into the Precambrian. The angular unconformity between the newly assigned Cambrian rocks with the underlying Torridonian, showed compelling evidence that the Torridonian were some way down into the Precambrian too. The Cambrian sedimentary rocks were deposited on a planation surface that had eroded away the Torridonian rock and also an unknown thickness of the underlying rocks of the Lewisian complex. Which implies there had been a long period of erosion and before that a long period of time to deposit the thick pile of Torridonian sediments. The Torridonian sediments are deposited on rocks of the Lewisian Complex and on a palaeo land surface with over 600m of relief between hill summits, valleys, cliffs and a surface covered with weathering debris. This presented another long period of time. Then there were the rocks of the Lewisian Complex, whose very nature implied a long and rich geological history.

The Torridonian inselberg Suilven rising above the Lewisian.

Amongst the many achievements of the Geological Surveys work in the North West Highlands in the closing decades of the 19th C, a notable one was the elucidation that the rocks outcropping in the NW Highlands were a window into the depths of Deep Time and a point emphasised on more than one occasion in the Geology Memoir 'The Geological Structure of the North West Highlands of Scotland" published 1907.

Coincidentally in 1907 the chemist Bertram Boltwood in a pioneering example of geophysics used the then estimate of the radioactive decay rate of uranium into lead, to measure the ratio of lead and uranium from some rocks and determined ages of 400 million - 2,200 million years. It is reasonable to suggest the ages were the subject of some controversy with some prominent geologists and Boltwood's interest in geological dating then waned. The challenge of dating rocks through radioactive decay was taken up by Arthur Holmes, it is difficult to challenge the hard science of physics and the geological community then set about ordering the rocks into the timeline of Earth's history. Dating of rocks has become ever more sophisticated and innovative, currently the Torridonian rocks have been dated to between 1.2 and 0.95 billion years old. It is worth stating that a billion seconds equates to a few months short of 32 years, a billion years is a vast stretch of time.

The Lewisian complex comprises rocks with an age spread from 1.6 to 3.0 Billion years, confirming their place in the depths of Deep Time.

Picturesque vs photogenic views - Lower Wye Valley, Autumn 2015

In the 18th C the Wye Tour was a popular tourist attraction, essentially a boat trip downriver with stopping off points on the journey, to stretch the legs and take in the views. The picturesque status of the Lower Wye Valley scenery was sealed with the publication in 1782 of William Gilpin's "Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; Made in the Summer of the Year 1770". In more recent times the Lower Wye Valley has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and much of the native woodland designated a Special Area of Conservation. So, in theory, the Lower Wye valley should present no shortage of photography opportunities. In practice the Lower Wye Valley presents some challenges in photographing the scenery. The challenges to photography manifest themselves in the absence of the Lower Wye Valley as a destination on the landscape photography workshop circuit and neither do many landscape photographers portfolios or galleries feature images of the Lower Wye Valley. If they do, they tend to be from one of the signposted viewpoints that are regularly cleared of trees and foliage to provide unobstructed views.

Picturesque the Lower Wye Valley is without doubt, however its photogenic qualities are compromised by the very same trees and foliage that add so much to the scenery and sadly obstruct many views. Then there are; access restrictions; intensively cultivated fields; power lines; topography and conservation activities. Whilst the clear felling and restoration of planted ancient woodland sites (PAWS) and the return of coppicing, are positive conservation activities, their initial visual impact is not the best. It really does pay to scout the location shortly before photographing it, as it is surprising how quickly modern forestry operations are executed, the only time of stability is in the bird nesting season when cessation of forestry activities occurs.

From my own perspective, the novelty of making derivative images from the viewpoints soon wore off and venturing away from the viewpoints has been a long learning curve and more than once I've questioned if there's an inverse relationship between picturesque and photogenic scenery.

A primary aesthetic of the views overlooking the Wye valley is the perspective on the woodland. Ancient semi natural woodland with a diverse canopy and patchwork of colour. The colours are there in spring, but shades of green are no match for autumn, where the trees express their individuality through a colour palette that varies from vermilion, amber, russet and yellows.

Two dawn trips and one was rewarded with a magenta sky over a mist filled valley, long neglected hedegrows provided a lead in, to be honest I was hoping for a lot less mist in the valley and a different view.

The weather then deteriorated with days of fog and then the jet stream notable by its absence, returned with a vengeance, streaming low pressure systems over the UK for days on end, effectively ending autumnal interest until next year, when the challenge can again be resumed.

On average a hectare of woodland produces 5 tonnes of organic debris per annum.

I asked myself the simple question - What is the weight of leaf litter produced by deciduous woodland? An almost unhealthy amount of google searches later and I am still none the wiser, there is no simple answer it seems.

Coarse woody debris

In the course of my search I did come across numbers for the organic debris generated by broadleaf woodland. Again there's no specific number, it depends on the nature of the woodland, the age of trees and a multitude of other factors. Organic debris encompasses the shedding of overtopped branches, leaf fall, seed casings, wind thrown branches, fallen trees, snags etc. There are figures published for the organic debris produced annually for a hectare of woodland ranging from a high of 25 t/yr down to a low of 2 t/yr, several sources settle on a hectare of broadleaved woodland producing 5 t/yr as a reasonable average figure for the organic debris produced.

Black bulgar (bulgaria inquinans)

I also discovered the ecological importance of organic debris in providing a habitat for a surprisingly large number of invertebrates, bryophytes and fungi, in short the biodiversity of a wood is proportional to the quantity of organic debris, age of the wood and trees within it. Veteran trees with their associated deadwood play host to a number of rare species,

The Shaden Tuft oak

Within the Churchill Inclosure in the Forest of Dean, there stands a large pollarded oak, it has been named the Shaden Tuft oak and unusually for a woodland tree, has been assigned a fairly precise planting date of 1599 and has been used as an example for dating of veteran and ancient trees in a Forestry Commission report. In an historical context, at the time of the oaks planting, Queen Elizabeth I was the reigning monarch and William Shakespeare was putting quill to ink and writing some of the finest works in the English language. The tree has also withstood some remarkable weather - great storms, droughts and the cold of the 'little ice age'.

Shaden Tuft oak

If the pollarding of the Shaden Tuft oak wasn't the result of storm breakage, then it hints at the possible woodland management regime at the time and the pollarding has probably ensured its continued presence, overlooked by Royal Navy shipwrights and then successive generations of timber merchants. Whilst not being particularly notable for its age - it is entering the oak equivalence of middle age - and all being well, should witness the events of the 26th C unfold.

I have wandered past this tree, I guess on average a couple of times a year for well over a decade and its presence gives continuity to the woodland and a tangible link to the past. There's something about old trees that provides a wood with a certain je ne sais quoi and I am no doubt that the woodland would be a poorer place in the absence of the older trees.

A different view of the woods

This year has been a vintage year for bracken growth in the Forest of Dean, in some parts the bracken stands well over head height, so without a step ladder and access to a 10' high tripod, the height of the bracken has proved compositionally challenging. It is also a mast year for acorns from some oaks and the resident wild boar population have 'ploughed' the woodland floor foraging for acorns, posing another compositional problem.

Taking a pragmatic approach, it seems sensible to eliminate the woodland floor entirely and use the topography to concentrate on perspectives of the woodland canopy.  It is reasonable to suggest that a woodland canopy is a visually complex environment, the architecture of the tree crowns, leaf densities and colours are the elements to draw inspiration from.

The tree crowns reveals the intense competition for access to sunlight and ultimately survival of the tree. The contrast between pure oak stands and mixed oak/beech trees, illustrates why planting beech with oak is desirable for premium grade timber. The time honoured approach of planting beech and oak in the ratio of 2:1 by the Deans foresters, was ignored by the early 19th C foresters who replanted the Dean, who employed a new approach for raising an oak forest covering ~11,000 acres and millions of trees. It was one of the more significant mistakes made in that exercise.

Leica aspherics - Edit

Original post

Googling aspherics and I came across an interesting post on the LEICA Barnack Berek Blog by Heinz Richter reporting on Leica's manufacture of aspheric lenses

The interesting insights for me were :

• Optical glass types
• Tolerances
• Manufacturing processes of aspheric lenses
• The effects of polymer molecules on light diffusion
• Labour intensivity of assembly and manufacture
• The reason why aspheric lens manufacture remains in-house

Edit - I thought the article was worthy of a wider audience and posted a link to the article on the FredMiranda Alt Forum. The thread received a reply from Brandon Dube, that was comprehensive in its commentary on the article and manufacture of aspheric lenses and disappointingly the LEICA Barnack Berek Blog article contains a few inaccuracies. It is well worth reading Brandon's reply for the quality of information and insight given, the link is here.

A video from the FM post on lens manufacture

Internet forums and the Leica SL release

Lensrentals Roger Cicala pretty much covered gear forums with this parody of the Hammer Forum and the 300+ readers comments cover just about all the remaining aspects.  Roger Cicala then summed up perfectly the reaction of photography forums to a new product announcement with this graphic in a post on Roger's Law of New Product Introduction

Copyright Roger Cicala, Lensrentals, http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2013/01/rogers-law-of-new-product-introduction

It is fair to suggest that internet forums are the peanut galleries of the online world and some are more febrile than others. A new product release from Leica is akin to the proverbial red rag to a bull for photography forums, it seems to be an opportunity for some forum posters to vent their spleen and no doubt provide fruitful material for a group of psychologists to analyse.

Leica have announced the FF Mirrorless  SL Type 601 and a trawl through the usual suspects gives some insight into Leica's capacity to stir the emotions in the peanut galleries

GetDPI
http://www.getdpi.com/forum/leica/56286-leica-sl-601-oct-20th.html

Leica camera user forum
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/251840-leica-sl-typ-601-mirrorless-system-camera-without-compromise/

Luminous Landscape
http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=104826.0
http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=104801.0

FredMiranda
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1393428/0

DPReview
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/7448206943/a-lot-to-leica-hands-on-with-the-leica-sl-typ-601 

I'm a member of Fredmiranda.com and the one benefit of membership is you have an option to Hide posters, I exercise this option for posters who either, have strong opinions on photographic matters but demonstrate no evidence for actually taking photographs and/or display the unhealthy traits of religous fanboys. Which means threads such as the Leica SL reveal only a couple of posts on some pages and unsurprisingly it appears Sony A7 series owners are the most vocal.

My interest in the SL, is that I own legacy R lenses mounted via Leitax adapters on an approaching 8 yr old Canon 1Ds3. Canon discontinued the 1Ds series and every DSLR they've released since hasn't really compelled me to upgrade. Now the newly announced SL can mount R and M lenses via adapters, which also opens the way to some high quality M lenses. It will be interesting to see user reports on R and M lens performance on SL sensor. IF optical performance is uncompromised, I will certainly be very interested.