Madeira in Mono

Lightmancer

Legend
Location
Sunny Frimley
Name
Bill Palmer
I recently spent a week on the beautiful Portuguese island of Madeira and in particular the main city, Funchal. These are some monochrome impressions of my trip, taken with X-Pro2 and X100T with a couple of guest appearances by my trusty GR. The macro shots, and a few of the others were taken with the Carl Zeiss Touit 50mm Macro - a surprisingly flexible and usable travel lens.

Let's start with a bit of "car porn" - A beautiful Austin 12 and a 1960s Opel:
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 X100T Austin and Opel 2 mono
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

A real REO Speedwagon:
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 XPro2 Car Show 3 mono
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

and a temperature gauge:
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 XPro2 Car Show 6 mono
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

A beetles reunion:
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 XPro2 Car Show 28 mono
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

Then off to the market for some fresh fish:
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 Xpro2 Touit 50mm Mercado 7 mono
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

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Madeira Funchal May 2016 Xpro2 Touit 50mm Mercado 28 mono
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

Some slightly creepy Chinoiserie in the botanical gardens:
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 Xpro2 Touit 50mm Monte Botanical Gardens 5 mono
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

...and one of the most beautiful "weeping angels" I have ever encountered:
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 Xpro2 Touit 50mm Monte Botanical Gardens 27 mono
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

Door art in the Zona Velha (old town):
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 X100T Zona Velha 10 mono
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

Random teddies:
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 Xpro2 Touit 50mm Funchal City 6 mono
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

Workmen (this is with the XM-FL "toy" lens:
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 XPro2 toy 8 mono
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

Some lacemaking:
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 XPro2 toy 10 mono
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

and a "corner shop":
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 XPro2 toy 9 mono
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

Finally, and courtesy of my GR, this is my hotel, designed, as was Brasilia, by Oscar Niemeyer:
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 GR Casino Park Exterior 9
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

...and the adjoining casino, also designed by him, which just made me think of a Bond villain's lair. Pass me the chips, Vesper...
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 GR Casino Park Exterior 11
par Lightmancer, on ipernity
 
Thank you so much!

Well, for the most part I shot colour. I have a workflow for mono that involves initially processing the colour file in PSE - a tweak to levels and highlights/shadows is typically all I do. I then save the colour version before boosting the saturation right up and opening the file in Topaz. There I select the most appropriate "filter" and tone before returning to PSE. The final touch is auto-contrast, et voila... Here's the colour file of the cars for comparison:
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Madeira Funchal May 2016 X100T Austin and Opel 2
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

This is a file from the X100T and is originally Classic Chrome. One of the things I love about the Fuji X-Trans files is their malleability. If all else fails I still have the raw to fall back on, which I would process in camera, but the jpgs are SO good I rarely need to.
 
Thank you both.

No, Phoenix, the GR shots are SOOC jpgs, shot using HiBW mode; I've never been able to replicate that look in post and it's one of the things that makes the GR such a compelling little camera even today.
 
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