Hi ,

Where to begin…?

I just got back from my 3 week Scotland trip, and honestly, I wish I were still over there pedaling around The Highlands, sipping whisky, waking up in my tent in some beautiful wilderness setting and enjoying the ages old history that’s ever present in that part of the world.

This was my first visit to Scotland, and aside from a 5-day London layover back in 1994, this was my first real visit to the UK. I loved it. I can’t wait to go back. The unusually warm, sunny weather didn’t hurt, but even on the few days when it was more “normal” Scotland weather, I couldn’t get enough the terrain, the people and the endless photography opportunities that play around every bend.





Arriving in Edinburgh on the afternoon of May 2, we spent the next 18 days straight riding our bikes and exploring a number of different ares of the country, including the Shetland Islands, the west coast, the Central Highlands and finally a few days in Edinburgh, where I co-led a photo hike up Arthur’s Seat with my friend Lauren from SmugMug.

This was my first international photo walk, and we had a great time. The weather cooperated for the 9 people who showed up, including two of my subscribers, one of whom lives in Edinburgh and the other who happened to be there at the beginning of his own Highlands walking vacation. It was so cool that we could coordinate!





It’s always really fun to meet readers in different parts of the world- I’ve had the chance to connect with some of you guys at events around the US during the past few years, and I even met two of my followers in Romania. I met up with a handful of friends in Scotland, and to me, this is the best aspect of social media- it doesn’t just have to be about showing your own work to a faceless list online, if you take the time to connect and form relationships, the social-ness of social media can prove to be immensely rewarding. 

Anyway, you can check out some of the photos from our Edinburgh photo hike on Lauren’s website here.

Upcoming Events

I’ve got two events coming up in June- Austin and Seattle. In fact, that was the real reason I had to hurry up and come back from Scotland. :D

Precision Camera Photo/Video Expo – June 2-3, Austin, TX



I’m excited to heading down to Austin for the Precision Camera Expo! I’ll be doing my talk, Adventure Photography with the Fujifilm Cameras, on both Friday (1:00PM) and Saturday (2:00PM).

I’ll also be hanging out at the Fujifilm booth, and I’ll even have a GFX for you to check out, so come by and say hi!


Glazer’s PHOTOFEST – June 10-11, 2017 – Seattle, WA




I’m one of the featured speakers at Glazer’s PHOTOFEST in Seattle this spring. I’ll be doing two presentations, one on Saturday, and one on Sunday, and hanging at the Fujifilm booth on and off through the weekend.

The expo will also feature a number of free classes, photowalks and gear demos, and it’s a great chance to connect with lots of other photographers. If you’re in Seattle that weekend, be sure to drop by the event. 


2017 FUJIFILM X PHOTOGRAPHER SUMMIT - September 6-10, Portland, OR




And we have our second Fujifilm X Photographer Summits in the Pacific Northwest this fall. Study and learn “on location” from a group of official FUJIFILM X-Photographers in these intensive, three and a half day workshops, set in the varied landscapes of the Great Smoky Mountains and the Pacific Northwest. For the fall event, it will be Jack Graham, Bill Fortney, Dan Westergren and myself.
 

X Series Camera Tips

Fujifilm released another firmware update this week for the X-T2, X-Pro2, X-T20 and X-T1. 

The X-T2 update fixes a MF bug and adds 7 new features, including a new AF-ALL setting that allows you to select your AF Mode and AF Selection Point size via the rear command dial. It also turns the Rear Command Dial into a Fn button.

Previously, pressing the dial in Playback mode allows you to zoom to full size and check for sharpness. I still keep mine set that way, but if you choose you can set it to any of the other Fn controls.

It also adds additional EVF Brightness options and allows you to set different settings for the “Shutter AF” and “Shutter AE” Control. 

I know this is a little confusing, but here’s how it works: In Button/Dial Settings in the Wrench Menu, you’ll find Shutter AF and Shutter AE, which allow you to choose whether the cameras focuses (Shutter AF) or locks the exposure (Shutter AE) when you press the shutter button halfway down. 

The Default setting is on for both, but with the update, you can set a different parameter for AF-S and AF-C. If you like to do back-button focus, you could turn the Shutter AF OFF, or maybe you’d only turn it off for AF-C, say if you like to use back-button focus to track moving subjects. 

With Shutter AE, I turned my AF-C setting to OFF. If I’m tracking a subject through a scene and it crosses through different lighting conditions, I’d want to the camera to automatically adjust for the new light. However, there are scenes where you might want to keep the exposure constant, so you’d set it to ON. You can always put these in your MY MENU for quick access.




The X-Pro2 update also adds the Fn button capability to the Rear Command Dial and offers two additional EVF Brightness settings. The X-T20 update also fixes a bug. 

You should definitely download and install the update if you have the X-T2 or X-PRO2, especially if you didn’t update when they released the v.2.00 update back in March. This was a big one which added 24 new features to the X-T2 and 17 to the X-PRO2. Installing the latest version will automatically add those features to your camera. 
 

New X-LR Lightroom Plugin Automatically Applies Your Film Simulation to Fuji RAW Files

Thankfully, John Beardsworth has solved this problem with his new X-LR plugin. When you install the plugin in Lightroom, you can now select one or multiple photos and have it automatically re-apply your original film sim to the file. John’s plugin looks at the metadata to see what the original sim was. It seems like Lightroom could easily do this as well, but for some reason, they don’t. All RAW files are switched back to the default Adobe color profile.

It has a few other features as well, like transferring star ratings from the camera and applying a keyword for your embedded film sim, which lets you sort and find all of your Veliva or ACROS image, etc...

John’s X-LR plugin only costs a few bucks and it’s well worth the price! He does good work- I’m using the X-LR plugin, and I’ve used his Open Directly Plugin for getting Fuji RAW files in and out of Iridient Developer and Capture One. By his own words, he’s gotten a whole lot better at coding since he wrote Open Directly.
 

Creative Photography Tip

Photography is a lot like life. It’s full of brief moments of excitement and awe inspiring success that are surrounded by periods of failure and demoralizing disappointment.

But why is this? What is it that causes you to be so elated about your subject matter, and yet, at times, so uninspired by the final image, even though you might have worked hard to capture the shot? Oh, and before we go on, I need to be clear. When I say you, I really mean us. All of us. Don’t want to leave anyone out of this discussion.

Welcome to human nature, where we tend to judge things not by how they actually transpired, but by how we wanted them to transpire. Since creative photography is so closely tuned to our inner nature, it’s only natural to think that the same thing can happen to our image making.

To read more about how our own emotional ideas about the subject matter don’t always jive with our competency as photographers, read my post Photography and Disappointment. 
 

Gear Corner

Fujifilm



I’ve been super excited about the new XF50mm f/2 lens. In fact, I think the introduction of the entire super compact f/2 WR series with the 23mm, 35mm, 50mm is one of the best things that Fuji has done with the X Series.  They’re all tiny, super lightweight and tack freaking sharp. I feel they perfectly compliment everything the X Series is about. You really can’t go wrong with any of them. 

I’ve been using the 50mm f/2 lens for a couple months now, and it’s one of the lenses I took to Scotland with me. (My Scotland kit included the X-T2, with the 14mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2, 50mm f/2 and 90mm f/2.) It’s quickly become one of my favorite X Series lenses and I’m really psyched by how well it performs. 




Although it’s not a very long telephoto, it does have some reach, which helps you isolate subjects against the background. Combined with it’s very close focusing capabilities, the 50 allows for some wonderful bokeh effects with super sharp subject matter against soft, blurred backgrounds. And it’s so small, you almost don’t even know it’s there. I rarely used my 56mm f/1.2 lens, but I use the 50 all the time now, simply because it’s half the size and half the weight. And it’s weather sealed and half the price of the 56. What’s not to love?




B&H has the silver ones in stock right now (I have a silver 50 and I can attest, it looks pretty darn sexy! And it’s easy to spot in your bag if you also have the 35 or 23mm as well. They’re still backordered on the black ones, but Amazon has both colors shipping right now. So does Amazon UK. 

Also, GFX bodies and GF63mm and GF120mm f/4 Macro lenses are in stock right now, so if you’re pinning for that huge sensor Fuji camera, it’s here. 

Fujifilm has also bundled their X-PRO2 with the 23mm f/2 lens, which I think is a great move. I’ve been telling Fuji that they should do the same with the X-T2 and the 35mm f/2- we’ll see if they come out with that kit in the near future.

Datacolor SpyderElite Calibrator

I’ve been using the Datacolor Spyder Color Calibrators for years and I’ve been really happy with them. They do a great job, they’re easy to use and they’re a pretty good price. Their latest version, the Spyder5ELITE is a full featured calibrator that offers unlimited calibration settings for desktop displays, laptops and projectors, with full screen before and after comparisons, 5 ambient light settings and it has a Studio Match system that allows you to get consistent color across multiple monitors, even they’re different models or brands.

I have an original Dell U2410 monitor that I love, but I wish I had bought two of them when they were available. (Note Dell is reintroducing them soon!) I didn’t, and so I had to get the next model, the U2413. It’s a great monitor, but it definitely has a different look out of the box than my U2410.

This was a problem for me for quite a while, as I could never get them to match perfectly, but now with the Spyder5ELITE’s Studio Match Feature, problem solved. Exact color across both displays. 

If you don’t need the dual display match feature, the Spyder5PRO offers a full featured calibration system at a lower price. The Sypder5EXPRESS is the most basic system, and while it’s limited in features, it still offers an excellent calibration system so you can see accurate colors on your screen.

We’re photographers- color matters to us, especially given how much we love the Fuji colors. This is even more crucial if you print. Who’s had nightmare printing problems where the colors don’t look right? Hands? Anyone?

Memory Cards

My favorite memory card is the Sandisk 95MB/S. It offers the best performance for the money. I’ve used these in all of my X Series cameras with great results, and of course, they keep getting cheaper. The 32GB cards are only 23 bucks, while the 64GB cards are only $37, which is what the 32s cost last year. These are awesome cards for a variety of shooting, and they’ll do well even if you shoot action or lots of RAW files.

And the nice thing is that Amazon sells them without the stupid blister packs- they just ship them in cardboard. They call it "Frustration Free Packaging" and it's one of the best things they've ever come up with. 

However, if you’re a heavy RAW shooter or if you shoot tons of fast action in continuous high, or if you shoot video, especially 4K, then I’d highly recommend the SanDisk 280MB/S UHS II cards. These will give you the absolute best performance and fastest write speeds. The 32GB cards have come WAY down in price, they’re only $56 right now.

As always, anytime you use my links to purchase anything, even if it’s not camera gear, it helps me out. I’ve even put an Amazon button right at the top of my blog sidebar, which you can use to shop for anything if you want to give me a little bit of extra support, which I truly appreciate. :)

Other Deals and Rebates

Right now, B&H has a wide variety of rebates and special deals, including instant savings on Canon cameras and lenses, Olympus lenses, PocketWizards, Apple iPads and MacBook Pros. Here's the main rebate link where you can find all the deals.  



 

Around the Web

This week, a new iPhone app hit the app store called Cone, which allows you to use the iPhone camera to pick Pantone colors from the world around you. This ingenious little app lets you select any area of your frame and it will automatically sample the color and show you the exact Pantone color that matches that area. 

At first, I thought, “That’s neat! But does it have any real world use?” After mulling it over, I realized that it can actually be quite useful. Say you want to create a website, blog template, presentation or some kind of flyer or promotional materials and have them use a matching color scheme as your images. This app lets you easily choose the right colors.

And while we’re on the subject of Pantone, check out this fun post about a photographer who uses Pantone color swatches to match real life scenes in the world. I love how creative some people are!

That’s right, another Robert Rodriguez Jr. article. I love his writing and I try to share something of his in almost every single issue of my newsletter. This month it’s The Gold Rule of Confidence, where he explore the relationship between confidence and creativity. I think this is highly relevant with photography, which involves a number of different areas where confidence comes into play. 

Macphun is offering another bundle on Luminar. If you buy the program, you’ll get a free ebook on creativity as well as a huge number of develop presets and overlays for free. Luminar keeps getting better and it’s become my processing software of choice. Remember, as one of my readers, you can save $10 on the program with discount code DANBAILEY.

Viewbug always has some great photo contests with amazing entires. I got to judge one a couple years ago through my book publisher, and man, it was really hard to choose a winner! There are so many great photographers out there!! I found this post on the Viewbug blog called 37+ Photos That’ll Make You Go Outdoors that features the work of contest finalists. Check it out and be inspired. 

I’ll leave you with some more Scotland photos from my friend Colin Henderson, who lives in Edinburgh. I’ve known Colin online for a few years and we finally got to meet and have an awesome weekend adventure when I was over there. He’s traveled extensively around the Scottish Highlands shooting adventure and outdoor imagery and he does top notch work. Definitely check out his Galleries link!


That’s all for this issue! I hope you guys have had a fantastic May so far and I look forwards to seeing some of you in Austin and Seattle in the next couple weeks. 

Thanks for reading, thanks so much for your support and happy shooting!

-Dan