fighting with a tripod

I recently upped my tripod "game" by investing in a lovely Benro geared head.  It makes for so much easier micro adjustments in composition, but it comes with one problem - it won't work with the L-bracket I use on my camera.

Now, both the L-bracket and tripod head are "Arca-Swiss" compatible and should work together seamlessly.  The Benro Arca-Swiss plate works a treat and on the face of it is exactly the same as my L-bracket.

But for some reason my L-bracket fights me all the way until, whoosh, it just goes on easily.  Why then all the haranguing and battling with the bloody thing?  I've absolutely no idea.

Anyway, enough of that, this week's image (and its accompanying video) was shot in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons and as well as battling my tripod head I was also battling the light.  Perfect light on arrival turned into dreadful light as soon as I managed to get my camera mounted.

It's the story of my life!

So, I decided to pack my camera gear away and fly my drone.  Of course, as soon as everything was securely back in my camera bag and in the car's boot, and my drone was at its furthest point from me, the light on the mountain returned.  So, another battle began - this time against the fading light, flying my drone back to "base" and unpacking all my camera gear again.

It was a race I thankfully won, and here is the proof!

Fujifilm GFX50R, Fujinon GF23mm f4
1/5th of a second @f18, ISO 100
tripod (grrr), self-timed release

I've uploaded the image in all its full resolution glory for you to zoom into all the details if you like.  Also, if you like, you can watch the video on the making of this image by clicking the link below.  

Warning, it may be just the most boring video I've ever made (and that takes some doing!).