Why You Still Need A Pocket Camera

The SMARTPHONE - be it an iPhone, Android or otherwise - has replaced a variety of personal items and stand-alone gadgets.  Planners, note pads, maps, alarm clocks and most particularly - your affordable pocket point & shoot digital camera.

The picture quality of smartphones now rivals those of dedicated point & shoots and sharing them has never been easier and quicker.  Such things cannot be done with your point & shoot.  But hold on. That being said, however, there are still some very good reasons to have pocket point & shoot.

What's In The Bag?

In a typical photoshoot, these are the basic gear I carry with me.  Sometimes there's more but never less.  Not shown in this photo but definitely inside the backpack pockets are the following:

- Multi-card reader

- ND grad filters

- CPL

- power plug adaptors,

- colored gels

- USB cable

- small 5-in-1 reflector

I also have a larger bag of lighting kit (not shown in the photo) that contains:

- 2 big light stands

- 2 small light stands

- 2 Westcott soft boxes

- umbrella brackets

- tripod

- monopod

Not all of them are used everytime in a photoshoot but in an indoor environment shoot, many of them will be pulled out of the bag.

So that's me.  That's all of the stuff I carry around in a photoshoot.  I used to bring my laptop as well but thankfully I got that Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 now where I can copy Jpegs right after the shoot for instant viewing.

I'm working on reducing the amount of gear I bring to a shoot and hoping to one day shoot with only the X100S.  Until then, I'll be carrying this big backpack and everything inside it.

Cheers,
alexdpx

Cool Lights . . . I Mean, "Hot!"

"There is light you create that is a photographic reaction to light as it exists in the world, and there is light you create just because it's cool." - Gregory Heisler

The concept for this photoshoot was directly inspired by Gregory Heisler's photo of Alonzo Mourning.  I wanted to do lighting just for the sake of "cool lighting".  But my model here is a hottie so I'm calling this photo set "Hot Lights".  The resulting photos were, of course, nowhere near what Mr. Heisler has achieved but the key word here is "inspiration" - not "duplicate".  It was a very good case study so I set out to try what can be done with my modest lighting equipment.

Impressions: A Week with Fujifilm X-Pro1

Fujifilm X-Pro1 in tandem with the new X100S.  Photo courtesy of Isagani Penaranda.

The X-Pro 1 is Fujifilm's flagship X-Series camera.  Through Gulf Photo Plus and Fujifilm ME's loan program, photographers residing in UAE and a few, like myself, in nearby countries had the chance to try out Fuji's X-Series cameras.  I borrowed the X-Pro 1 together with 3 prime lenses - 18/2, 35/1.4 and 60/2.4 to find out if an all-Fuji system would suit me and eventually . . . huh . . . if it's possible to migrate from DSLR to Fuji mirrorless.  Why not Sony?  Or Olympus or Panasonic?  Well, to be honest, I think that those manufacturers are aiming at the point-and-shooters stepping up to a better camera other than a DSLR.  I was looking at Sony's NEX-6 and 7 but couldn't make myself to like its user interface.  Fujifilm's target market, on the other hand, are professionals and enthusiasts with real photographer skills.

Color Management 2: A Recipe of Speedlites, Gels and White Balance

Photo by Jun Dumipnas

In part 1 of Color Management, we talked about how to preserve ambient light and match it's white balance with our flash.  But what if you want to change it entirely?  Did I hear someone say, "fix it in Photoshop"???  STOP . . . get out of this classroom, you're dismissed!! 

Here, we do things IN CAMERA.  Photoshop is a last resort.  You'd probably ask, "Why would you even want to change ambient light?"  Well, you know, sometimes, the location you are given is just not perfect - or it is perfect but the light is just not inspiring.  

Bokeh Portraits Under Bright Sunlight

Strobing with lens wide open at f/2 in bright sunlit background.

In a previous topic, we talked about various ways on how we can beat the sun.  But balancing ambient (in this case, sunlight) exposure with flash is one thing.  What about BOKEH?  Did I hear someone say, "Fix it in PHOTOSHOP"????  Stop now . . . stop what you're doing and slap yourself!

CMYK Community Exhibition by Gulf Photo Plus

Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai, UAE has organized an exhibition of some of the members' photos starting from May 1 up to May 31, 2013 (that's starting next Wednesday).  Three of my photos, shown above, have been selected and included so if you are in Dubai around that time, make it a part of your itinerary and see the works of some of the world's finest photographers.

Sad to say that I cannot be there, but my pictures definitely will be.  Hope you can make it and if you do, please don't forget to take a snap next to my photos and share them.  Thanks.

Details of the exhibit can be found here.

Directions going to Gulf Photo Plus.

Cheers,

alexdpx

Fujifilm X100S - "It's not an 'S', in my world it means . . ."

My new FUJIFILM X100s.  It's a truly desirable camera although its beauty goes beyond it's gorgeous looks.

Oh . . . like the 'guy' who said that, the Fujifilm X100S is both speedy and stylish.  When mine was finally delivered to my office, our receptionist kind of saw the price of the item inside the package and she was curious to see what it was.  So I showed her and she said, "Yeah, nice camera."  But . . . with a puzzled facial expression that says otherwise.  She can't seem to understand why I would pay a thousand dollars plus for an "old camera".  Then I showed it to my Project Manager, and then to another Project Manager, and then to a few colleagues.  They all had the same reaction.  No one, not even the photography hobbyists were impressed.  If you have not heard of the buzz that Fujifilm has been making for the last couple of years, chances are you won't get it either.  That's not to say it's a bad thing.  It simply proves WHO this camera was made for - for photographers, not for the "guys-with-camera".

Color Management 1: "There Is No White Light."

This is a follow-up to the previous blog post titled "Restraining Power."  Although the photos featured here are from a separate photoshoot, the same lighting setup was used as before but this time, the photos are presented in color so there was a slight modification in camera white balance setup and the gel filters.  The Fujifilm X10 was sold that morning so these shots were all taken with a Canon EOS 7D.  We now have here a camera with bigger sensor and better dynamic range so, color it is!  

Restraining Power

A lot of enthusiasts and hobbyists avoid shooting with flash because it tends to ruin the beauty and atmosphere cast by ambient light.  In the previous entry, we talked about blasting our Speedlites to keep up with the power of the sun.  This time we'll talk about keeping up with ambient light by shooting with a powered down flash.