by successfulbob | Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, panorama, photography education
When I last posted from my blog it was highlighting coverage from the Sedona International Film Festival. Kinda left you hanging didn’t I?? I left there and jumped onto a plane in order to take my wife on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera on board a Princess Cruise ship. I will share some more of those images and coverage upon my return.
Meanwhile here are a few images to help tell the story of a few ports we have already visited…
Here was the view off the rear of the ship as we left our first port of call San Diego, CA.
It was quite beautiful and the GX7 held up well in creating the panorama in camera.
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico lovers beach view from the ship.
The Lumix GX7 is my camera of choice for travel as well as my everyday camera. My entire kit with camera and 4 lenses weighs just a bit more than my DSLR and a single lens making it an awesome choice for travel. The files hold up when I try to push them upon my return. Yahoo!!
More tomorrow…
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography - art quote, photography education, photography gear, success education
I love this guy (or is it gal?) Anonymous. Seems to come up with all kinds of great ideas…
Here’s the thought starter for today’s post. “When you use a camera, not as a machine but as an extension of your heart, You become ONE with your subject.”
If I may make a recommendation based on today’s thought for you as a photographer – it’s to really learn your equipment. Today’s cameras are awesome machines with lots of possibilities and settings. Read your manual. Try all the different settings. Practice. When you are watching TV have your camera with you and practice finding the settings you need by feel. When you are on the bus or the plane practice setting the camera for different situations without looking at the camera. The better and faster you can set your camera for different situations the less you need to think about it the more in touch you’ll be with your chosen subject. Practice every time you get a spare moment and try to keep your camera with you all the time so when you see a new or interesting lighting situation you can capture it and see if your eye matches what you thought you were capturing with your camera.
And that my friend will make a huge difference in the images you bring home.
By the way did I mention that you should practice??
Your in Photography, Bob
PS – I’ve been finding that with the micro 4/3rds mirrrorless camera system it is much easier to have a camera with me all the time. My preferred model for everyday use is the Lumix GX7 accompanied by a very small ThinkTank Photo pouch of lenses.
by successfulbob | Lumix GH3, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education, photography gear
As you know I was hired to help cover the Sedona International Film Festival for the organizers.
One of the assignments was to grab some images from a live stage performance. There was some grief from a previous performance being disrupted by flash being used and disturbing the audience. I assured that wold never happen during my capture of a show. Using built in features of the Lumix cameras makes it possible to be extremely stealthy. I always work toward being low key in capturing images at events. I jumped up in the esteem of the President/Director of the Sedona Film Festival because of a couple features on the Lumix GH3 and Lumix GX7.
Here’s the inside scoop.
Feature one – Using the auto bracket on the cameras allows you to capture the large dynamic range of the scene by blending the various exposures together. You have the choice of three, five or seven image brackets in 1/3, 2/3 or full stops at the twist of a button or a quick visit to the menus depending on which camera you are using.
Bright white rooms with lighted accents and dark table dressing can be difficult to get detail in all areas. The multiple exposures makes sure you can find the information and put it to use. This is the party room at the Sedona Rouge Hotel. Scene of the SIFF party on night two.
Feature two – Silent Mode. Being able to turn the camera to perfectly silent mode has been a feature I’ve always wanted to have and now it’s available. I was standing right beside the guy who hired me capturing the scene. When we moved out to the lobby he asked when I was going to get the photos. I told him I already had and showed him some on the back of the camera… He said, “You are amazing! I didn’t hear a thing…”
This was photographed in the Mary D Fisher Theater in pretty much a dark setting with high contrasting stage lights. Recovered using multiple exposures. Shot in Silent Mode available on the Lumix GH3 camera to not disturb the audience.
I keep finding more and more reasons to choose the Lumix Micro 4/3rds system and loving it!
by successfulbob | Lumix GH3, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography education, photography gear
WOW!
The Sedona International Film Festival is on. I am helping to cover the events as one of the Festival Photographers and this is quite an event.
Covering this event has been much easier now that I am sporting lighter gear. The Micro 4/3rds format is awesome. I know with my full DLSR kit I would come home from a day of coverage with sore arms, hands and shoulders with a bit of lower back pain thrown in… The Lumix DLSM’s GH3 and GX7 that were hanging from my shoulders yesterday left nary a dent.
Sill frame form movie ‘The Girl On the Train’ by Larry Brand with audience at Mary D. Fisher Theatre.
Larry Brand and audience following a screening of ‘The Girl On The Train’ at Sedona International Film Festival.
Aron Camisano fields questions from audience after his short film ‘Chocolates’ was screened
at the Sedona Performing Arts Center.
Jeremy Levin answers questions following the showing of his new film ‘Girl on a Bicycle’ at the Sedona Film Festival.
Patrick Schweiss, President/Executive Director, presents Jeremy Levin the Excellence in Screenwriting Award on behalf of the Sedona International Film Fest after the screening of ‘Girl on a Bicycle’.
President/Executive Director Patrick Schweiss addresses a packed house at the Sedona International Film Festival at the Sedona Performing Arts Center on opening day…
More coverage to come in following posts. I’ll be covering this event through Friday morning.
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | architectural photography, black & white, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education, photography gear
For some reason I found myself enamored with this railroad draw-bridge in Tampa, Florida. It’s just outside the museum I was hanging in and I liked the graphic lines and shapes that ran through the scene. I thought i’d run the camera through some of it’s pre-sets to explore different ‘looks’. Never used to be a preset guy but I’m liking the fact I can have a pretty well processed image straight out of the camera. Here’s a few…
Four different preset images from the Panasonic Lumix GX7 camera pretty much straight out of the camera.
Totally different feel with all of them. Having fun seeing what the camera can do.
Please be aware of a couple things. You must have the camera set to save jpegs. Shooting in RAW only will allow you to see the processing on the camera but when you download the RAW images and open them on the computer you will see the processed file for about 2 seconds and it will disappear leaving you with the RAW information only.
Now a wonderful thing is available here. You can get the best of both worlds by shooting RAW + jpeg. Then you have a finished processed jpeg and still have access to the RAW file if you want to process the image in a different way. My friend Kevin Ames of Ames Photographic in Atlanta says, “Friends don’t let friends shoot jpeg!” He is a big advocate of shooting in RAW because if you shoot jpeg only you are allowing the camera processor to throw away a lot of information from the file. If you shoot in RAW it has the most information and will allow your file to be even better in the future as more and better software is designed for processing images. I agree. But, I like the idea of working with and tweaking some of the setting the camera has available for immediate use hence I now do both.
by successfulbob | Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography
When I was in Florida teaching my classes for Lumix I ran across this gentleman and asked if I might make his image. He agreed. I used the Lumix GX7 because that’s the camera I have with me almost all the time when I’m out and about.
This turned into a little test because I wanted to see how the photo would look from the back-lit position I was in. What is the mood of the image with some small changes? I liked it but thought I wanted to see what the same subject would look like from a slightly different angle. The point is you can change the feeling of a portrait just by changing the persons position to the light, add a little direction for expression or hand position or any number of other simple changes by thinking about the final image. Here is a before and after…
Original capture of gentleman with cigar in the tropics.
Different angle. Different expression. Different lighting. Better? Not necessarily, but different for sure.
Please when making images in public ask for permission to create the photo. Even more important make sure you have permission to show the image online in a public place. Case in point I asked if it was OK to share theses images and lesson with you and he said it was OK but leave off his name.
On another note, make sure if you tell someone you are going to send them images from your shoot that you do so. When in Paris I told a couple artists at Monte Marte that I would send them an image. I received replies upon sending their images that 1000’s of people promised to send them photos but I was the first one to actually do so… Keep a good reputation for yourself and photographers who follow in your footsteps.
Let me know which portrait you prefer by leaving a comment on this post.
Yours in photography, Bob
