The Last Days of Autumn, in Fujicolour
We've been blessed with some spectacular colour this Autumn here in Ireland. Apparently, according to the news, the weather conditions were just right that the colour of the trees here rivalled that of those in New England. Certainly where I live the colours have been amazing. I've been keeping a good photographic document of the progress of my favourite season as it affected one of my favourite parks in the city, and I'm working on making this into a book. However, as the final days of fall give way to winter, the foliage has one last gasp of spectacular colour, and I did my best to capture its grandeur.
The following photos were all captured with my little Fuji XE-1 and the 18-55mm lens. I've been pretty skeptical of this lens in the past, but as I've recently discovered, processing your images in Iridient Developer (or Capture one or Photo Ninja apparently) can have a pretty big effect, I decided to give the lens another chance. I was not disappointed, and I'm completely re-evaluating my opinion of it. Technicalities aside, the Fuji's ability to capture colour and the vibrance, made it a perfect choice to chronicle the beauty of the Autumn leaves . I've tweaked these a bit in both Iridient Developer and then further in Lightroom, but I haven't altered the spirit of the images.
The golden brown colours really are spectacular, and it really makes St. Stephen's Green, the park where I took these, look impressive. It's quite a gem in the heart of the city, and I think many Dubliners take it for granted. It's always changing and evolving though, and I never get tired of how it can surprise you.
It's not just the grand landscapes that show off the colour either. It's in the details too...
It was such a beautiful, albeit cold day. Even the animals were getting in on the action...
And of course the humans were enjoying the Autumn sunshine too...
I'm actually a lot more impressed with the 18-55mm lens now after this experiment. I think it's a fine lens once you process the images correctly, and it's hard to argue with the results. It gives you some nice lens flare and star flare when stopped down too. While it's not as sharp as the Fuji prime lenses, it's still pretty damn good.
You can see the full set of images (and order prints from this set) on my still experimental smug mug page.
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