Month: August 2012

LX5, Street Photography, Lumix, Panasonic, D-Lux 5, Leica, Cohiba, cigars

State of Address

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This post is more of an update, kind of like a rough draft of what I’m thinking these days. I can honestly say that I feel quite good where I am photographically speaking. I’ve learned a lot and the journey continues. These days I’m very interested in compositions, how light reflect on objects (including people), muted tones, and also playing with strobes. In short, I’m having a blast and I look forward to what the future holds. Long live digital photography and creativity. Cohiba Cigars ― LX5

100 Ways to improve your photography by Ming Thein

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Normally, I won’t even bother linking to a ridiculous list post some togs crank. In my opinion, they are simply trying to get hits and their posts are filled with a bunch of nonsense items. Folks, this blog post by Ming Thein is truly an exception to the norm. 10×10: 100 ways to improve your photography is a post that needs to read and re-read at least 10 times in order to grasp all the great insights shared by this professional photography. In short, it talks about getting the most of out your compacts, dslr, rangefinders, and mirrorless cameras. If you read anything this week, then this post is a must folks. Have a great week!

LX5 Macros at the Market

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Tomatoes ― LX5 Readers of this blog will know that I just recently acquired yet another compact to fill a void I had encountered with my GRD3. After some thought, I decided that the Lumix LX5 would be the right tool for what I needed. Fast forward a few days and I’m putting the LX5 through its paces and doing what I do with the GRD3 and then some.

Week 33 | 2012

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Players Luck ― LX5 These are one of the first few shots from the LX5 (or Leica D-Lux 5). I primarily got this camera to compensate for the GRD3’s lack of zoom. I love the GRD3 and I’ve had plenty of experience with compacts especially the world famous LX3 which in a way revolutionize high end compacts but when you need a little zoom action, you just need, its as simple as that. No need to over analyze whether its more or less and the “oh my, you’re not shooting with a fixed focal length,” nah I really don’t care for all that stuff. The LX5 is its next iteration and a great one it is. These insights are of course my own and I do know the LX7 is now out but I usually don’t buy the latest and supposedly greatest right away, I’m more interest in the way the camera handles for my everyday shooting and with 200 frames or so, I can say the LX5 handles just fine.

Experimenting with VSCO Films

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Putting gear aside and concentrating in other aspects of the photographic process, I’m currently experimenting with VSCO Films even more so than ever before. VSCO Films is a set of presets which emulates various films and it comes with an additional set called the VSCO Toolkit which tweaks various aspects of the exposure. My current favorite is Fuji 800Z for color processing. These 4 shots are all based on tweaks on this particular preset.   All images taken with the Canon 450D & Canon 50mm 1.8 MK1

Canon 50mm 1.8 MK1

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Abstract ― Into the Light Having once owned the Canon 50mm 1.8 II(MK2) a few months I still remember how its build quality left a lot to be desired. Grant it, its a cheap lens at an average price of $115 or so but what’s undeniable is its sharpness. So after researching a bit, I soon discovered there was a Canon 50mm 1.8 MK1 version which dates back 20 years or so. I got to looking around and for a little less than $200 I found a wonderful copy from a photographer who had a few copies. Immediately you notice quite a few differences from the MK2 version which doesn’t have any following: metal mount distance scale nice manual focus ring Autofocus speed versus the MK2 version is about the same, if there are any differences I didn’t notice any, its quite fast as it is and I’m satisfied. Where the MK1 version truly shines and I think its value well worth it, is in the way the lens handles. Manual focus is no longer …

Faithfully

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Canon 450D & 40mm Pancake     I’ve been asked to shoot (alongside my brother) a wedding this coming December and I thought it was proper for me to practice the kind of documentary type of wedding photography I envision and I like photographing. Here’s a sample of a recent shoot I had in Key Biscayne, Florida. For post processing I ended up going with VSCO Films and Pixelmater (my Adobe Photoshop replacement). Stay tuned tomorrow for my next weekly installment. Have a great weekend folks and thanks for stopping by.