Adriel Henderson

I hope these winds bring me back to the original intentions of this blog... Get out. Adventure. Capture the beautiful moments. Tune photography skills. Inspire others.

As they say, careful what you wish for! Right? I signed off my previous post wishing for another low key wedding to sharpen my skills. Just a few months later, here I am wrapping up my second wedding shoot. So, how did this one go? Certainly not low key, but wow, what an experience!

While the world of FujiFilm is a buzz about the 56mm f/1.2, I decided to pick up a used copy of it's older cousin, Fuji's silky 60mm f/2.4.

Recently a friend asked if I would photograph their casual at-home wedding, with complete understanding that this was my first go at such an event. I said yes, and dove in over my head! 

I needed to step back to taking photos that I loved, for myself. To slow down and enjoy the learning experience. That meant a smaller and less "professional" setup that I could more easily tote anywhere. That decision has turned out to be pure gold. 

This weekend I lucked out with a rare Oregon sunset and am absolutely amazed by the perspective the Zeiss 12mm brings to clouds and landscapes! I wish this lens was in my permanent collection, I would be pulling it out for nearly every scenic and weather related shot I came across. 

I was quite excited about renting the Fuji 60mm f/2.4 prime. Being a prime promises excellent image quality, with a little longer focal length than my 18-55mm zoom, and a few stops of extra aperture - this should be an excellent portrait lens. So, let's have a look...

Just as many photogs have acclaimed, I find the out-of-camera JPGs from the Fuji X-E1 are amazing. But... even with the Fuji X system, there are still those times when the RAW comes in handy. Especially when I really need to push, ahem, salvage, things. 

Curious about how the Fuji X series camera actually stores in the RAW (RAF) file, and how Fuji's DR mode affects the RAW file, I decided to dig into the RAW file a bit to see what I could discover.

If it doesn't make sense to "Expose to the Right" with the Fuji X-Trans sensor, what about exposing to the left and "Push" processing? 

I almost hate to write this post, as Exposure To The Right (ETTR) is a near religious topic on the inter webs and I don't want to wade into the fan-boy vs. haters mudfest. But I do want to know how ETTR plays out with the unique Fuji X-Trans sensor in the FujiFilm XE-1, and all other Fuji X Series cameras that share this sensor such as the X-Pro 1 and the X-100s. 

Can the XE-1 handle the full range of Ansel Adams' Zone System? I'll put the camera to the test with a few exposure test sequences and some quick portraits.