Frosty Afternoon

DSCF2505FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/8, 1/60 sec, ISO250)

This is part two of our day trip into the mountains, our trip into winter. Before we went back home we passed a lake nearby. This lake is known for it’s clear and cold waters. It’s hardly 18 degrees Celsius during summer. Now it’s waters starting to freeze. But the ice is still too thin to walk on it.

DSCF2408FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/16, 1/30 sec, ISO320)
DSCF2436FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/4, 1/140 sec, ISO200)

There was hoarfrost all over the place but the best part was the yellow late afternoon light that created a beautiful contrasting background to the blue snow. Ok. In the first shot I think I went a little overboard with my post processing but I really liked the contrast.

I also wanted to use that cold/warm contrast for my portraits even though it meant that I had to compromise on the skin tones. You can’t blame Fuji for that. I wanted the snow to appear blue against the yellow tones in the back and because of that of course our faces have a blueish tone too. But blue is a “cool” thing in a winter shot. It enhances the cold.

I’m always amazed how shallow the depth of field is when shooting with the 1.4/35mm wide open. At the end it is just a 35mm lens on an APS-C sensor but it still manages to blur the background very nicely. And I have to admit that my wife took the better picture. Good thing she gave up photography. 😉

DSCF2459FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/1200 sec, ISO200)
DSCF2467FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/1250 sec, ISO200)
DSCF2477FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/2.8, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
DSCF2476FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (35mm, f/1.4, 1/3000 sec, ISO200)

The 1.4/35mm lens wasn’t a love at first sight thing for me. I usually don’t like the 50mm field of view ( in full frame ). I much more prefer either a shorter or longer focal length but to shoot this Fuji lens is always an inspiration. And it has this beautiful metal lens shade instead of the ugly plastic one that came with the 14mm.

For me it’s more like portrait lens and I wonder if I will use it less often when I finally get the 1.2/56mm. I don’t know. At the moment this is the only lens beside the 14mm that I use on my XP1. When I saw the roadmap I wanted the 1.4/23, the 1.2/56 and the 10-24. Now I most likely will end up with either: 14, 35, 56 or 14, 23, 56 but I think I can’t give up the 35. It has grown on me.

DSCF2473FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/220 sec, ISO200)