DXO has just announced the latest release of its popular NIK software collection. The new version features a range of updates across all of its applications, with some interesting new workflow options and a speed increase across the collection. This post will just be a quick overview of what’s new from the press release. I'll get back to covering the improvements in a more detailed post later. I have had the option to try the beta versions and some new features are pretty cool - but more on that in a minute. What’s new U Point Local Adjustments now have Powerful New Adjustment Tools Nik Collec ..read more

DXO has just released a new update for its PhotoLab Raw editing software. Photo Lab 7.6 Includes new features, new included LUTS and for a limited time is available at a reduced cost. This months Optics Module release includes 1400 new camera and lens combinations and adds support for new cameras such as the Sony A9III and the Hasselblad CFV. DXO PhotoLab 7.6 New features include the ability to apply DCP curves at the start of the RAW editing workflow. According to the release notes the inclusion of DCP curves allows you to: “Achieve greater consistency in contrast and colour when switching b ..read more

In part one of this series, I talked about my visit to the Danish capital of Copenhagen last May. In this second part, we travelled on to the Swedish capital of Stockholm and were treated to an unusually warm early May weekend, which led to an amazing few days in the beautiful city. Read the Full Post on my Photo Journal ..read more

I was recently visiting a somewhat famous waterfall not too far from where I live and of course I took some photos while I was there. We went primarily to enjoy the fresh air and scenery, so it wasn’t a specific photo shoot, but even so I got some interesting images. One worked out particularly well, and I thought my process for editing it would make an interesting video, so here it is! When I was taking this, I shot it as a little vertical panorama. I did this because ti would give me a little wider angle from where I was standing (as I was in a precarious spot). The other advantage of doing ..read more

A good while ago now, I posted some photos of a dramatic seascape that I had taken of Dublin bay in the aftermath of a storm. A few people had asked me how I created the dramatic black and white look, and so I thought it would make a good video. I had used a combination of Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex for the processing and in the video I walk you through the process. I started by doing some basic edits in Lightroom. When I had edited this originally, I didn’t start out wit the idea of doing black and white initially, but because of the way the light was, it was practically a black and white ..read more

I’ve been a Fujifilm shooter for quite some time now. The original X100 still sits on a shelf in my office, and I’ve had a total of 5 different Fujifilm cameras over the years. While the original X100 wasn’t my first Fuji camera, it was probably the one I used for the longest. Since then, there have been numerous iterations of this camera, each better than the previous one. I never really bothered upgrading the X100 because my other Fuji cameras pretty much did the same thing, but with the additional option of changing lenses. Now with its latest iteration, is it time to finally upgrade? And w ..read more

I recently upgraded my iPhone to an iPhone 15 Pro Max. I had been struggling to get buy with an ageing iPhone 10XR for many years now, and it was starting to show its age. Apart from not having many of the latest features, the battery was dying and the speaker, microphone and earpiece had stopped working. It had served me well, but it was time to move on. As a photographer, one of the things I was most eager to try was the new cameras, and in particular, Apple Pro Raw. While ProRaw isn’t new in and of itself, it was my first time being able to use it. I was curious as to how well it would perf ..read more

I had this great plan to start the new year with a fresh blogging schedule, and a renewed energy. Of course that didn’t happen. It’s two weeks later and I’m only getting around to writing my “new year” post now. Like many a New Year’s resolutions, they crashed and burned on day two! But now that I have a moment, let me update you on a few things that have been happening, and some plans for the next little while. Work is work The reason it’s taken me so long to post over the last little while, is that I’ve been really busy with work. I had some graphics projects that had begun before Christmas ..read more

Capture One has announced that the company is discontinuing the free tier of its software, Capture One express. The software will no longer be available to download after January 31st, 2024. In a note on the company’s user forum, they announced that from January 31st, Capture One express will cease to exist. Not only will the software no longer be available to download, but the company will stop activating existing license keys. In another area of the forum, they state that: “All Capture One Express license keys will be disabled after January 30, 2024. To continue using Capture One, you'll ne ..read more

A little while ago I was going through some photos and I came across a cool shot I had taken in New York of a dog in front of a large window. Unfortunately it was ruined by the reflection of yours truly. Normally removing something like this would be quite time consuming, so I thought, why not try Generative Fill. Not only did it work, but it worked perfectly at removing the reflections and keeping the other detail. So I made a video to show you the process… In some ways, this is a perfect use case for generative fill. It works really well for removing reflections because the reflections are o ..read more