Month: February 2018

Introducing Stocksy Photographer Robert Lang

by Fujifilm Australia February 28, 2018 Comments0

Since the start of February, we are featuring eight Stocksy photographers who use Fujifilm X Series cameras to capture their images for commercial use. Discover what they like about their kit and how they utilise the equipment to obtain the best results.

 

Our fourth interview is with South Australian based photographer, Robert Lang.

 

Can you tell us about yourself and what you most love about photography?

 

I’m from Port Lincoln, South Australia. I was originally a qualified carpenter building residential homes before changing my career to professional photography. It sort of just fell in my lap really, I never truly chased it. Starting on small jobs for friends and local businesses would somehow always create enough demand for that next job to roll in. Once I started freelancing, I was hooked completely. I work a lot on my own now; I love the flexibility of working to my own schedule and the more time it has given me at home with my family. For me, taking pictures borderlines addiction. You never know what that next shot will be like, so it’s become this constant pursuit of the unknown.

 

You currently use the Fujifilm X100T, how do you find the image quality stacks up against other brands?

 

I was immediately impressed how a much smaller camera in my hands could still give me such a high-quality image. I quite often find the SOOC (straight out of camera) jpegs are so on point that I would question myself if it was even worth post processing the image at all.

 

For the ones I did wish to play around with, I found the RAW files if ever needed could be pushed as hard as I would use my regular DSLR workhorse. Adding in the high ISO noise performance on the X100T alone, now meant on my everyday excursions I was successfully grabbing useable handheld shots from low light scenes you just would never expect from a camera that size.

 

How did you get your start as a stock photographer and do you find it to be rewarding?

 

I got my foot in the door after a friend of mine, noticed the style I was already shooting. He suggested I try and join a few different stock agencies that he was already in. At the time I didn’t have much photography gear, so I used the passive income to re-invest in new equipment, slowly replacing the second-hand gear I started on and setting myself up with everything I needed to move into a profession. Stock photography has given me an uncomplicated form of access to clients I would normally never have the opportunity to sell to and has given me a wonderful new group of extremely talented like-minded friends all around the world.

 

 

 

What do you most like about the Fujifilm X100T and has it changed you as a photographer?

 

It was the first time I ever held any camera that truly compelled me to go and take a picture, purely because of how it felt and looked in my hands, I didn’t just want to go photographing with it, I needed to. It was smaller, more lightweight than my normal chunky DSLR, something I would often leave at home. Now I finally had something that I could take with me everywhere, so straight up I was taking more pictures than I used to and without the somewhat intimidation of a larger camera.

 

A feature I frequently love using is customising the setting of the Fn (Function) button to the inbuilt neutral density filter. I also get a real kick out of using the OVF (Optical View Finder) and leaving my shot reviews until I get back to the computer later. Combined with the slick retro look and feel of the camera itself, it gave shooting that addictive old school feel. My all-time favourite focal length is already 35mm, so with its 23mmF2 lens (35mm full frame equivalent) it even has me covered there too. Overall, there is this seductive and confident freedom the X100T gives me from shooting on a smaller camera, yet still in no way, ever compromise on the quality. You feel unobtrusive in simple moments, which makes for some beautiful candid photographs.

 

 

When you shoot, do you use any particular settings like aperture priority, set on the X100T?

 

I’m a fan of the cameras Classic Chrome jpegs for sure. For actual shooting style, it’s got to be full manual control all the way for me, and I particularly love the focus peak highlight in manual focus with the AE & AF (Auto Exposure & Auto Focus) set to switch mode.

 

 

Do you have any tips when it comes to photographing children and animals?

 

Probably nothing that hasn’t been said before. Getting down to their eye level certainly, does help. I think it comes down more to the moment you choose to hit the shutter button instead. I do like my high-speed burst mode in the drive button settings to increase my chance of getting the right frame in the moment something is happening. I would then go back and delete the ones that I didn’t need. I have looked them over post shoot and found some pure gold this way. Just make sure you have an SD card with a fast write speed if you want to keep up with this camera though.

 

 

What has been your favourite image captured using the Fujifilm X100T? Can you tell us the story behind the photo?

 

It would have to be the one of my Border Collie called Reggie who was asleep on the shearing shed floor. I just got my hands on the WCL-X100 wide angle conversion lens and went for a walk at home to fire off some new shots. It was the first photograph I took with it, so yeah just a test shot that I fell in love with.

 

 

What advice can you give for someone who wishes to make their start as a photographer and why did you choose Stocksy to represent your work?

 

Always value your own work, if you don’t then neither will your clients and never waste an opportunity that knocks on your door either. My best advice though I was given starting out still rings true for me today “always shoot for fun and the rest will sort itself out”. I just love Stocksy, and I’m really proud to be a part of their team.

 

In my opinion, the photographers are quite simply world class; it’s high-quality premium content at every turn. This quality over quantity approach to their collection also means the submissions are stringent, so if I ever get a photo accepted I wear it like a badge. Money talks too, as Stocksy has the highest royalty rates in the industry, and as a Co-Op, it really bucks the trend that has seen artist’s rates declining over time by sharing the bottom line back to its own photographers.

 

 

Filed under Interviews X-Photographer

Primes vs Zooms: A Different Perspective

by Fujifilm EMEA February 26, 2018 Comments9

By Mark Gilligan

“Is it worth me buying any prime lenses for landscapes? I have read that a zoom will do all I need?”

That’s a question that pops up from time to time but before I give my answer we need to look at what they are and what they can offer. Without going into the technical detail too much (you can check out the tech specs on the web), I will keep it simple. Read More

Filed under Be Inspired Landscape / Cityscape / Seascape Photography X-Photographer

Never Miss The Moment: A first look at the FUJIFILM X-H1

by Fujifilm EMEA February 23, 2018 Comments2

By Chris Weston

Wildlife photography throws up many challenges. For starters, weather and environmental conditions are rarely ideal. Dusty African savannahs, humid jungles, persistent precipitation in rainforests, sub-zero temperatures in the Arctic and Antarctic – they all demand the very best of the equipment I use, in terms of both performance and reliability. In reality, it’s about confidence – I need to know that when the going gets tough the camera I’m using will perform consistently and uninterrupted. Having worked with X-T series cameras in camera-hostile environments around the world, I already have surety in the Fujifilm system.

I have recently spent time working with the FUJIFILM X-H1, including a trip to the stunning Camargue region in the South France to photograph the wild horses there. It’s obvious the designers and engineers have taken weather resistance to even higher levels with this new camera, with more robust seals to prevent electronics’ two main enemies, dust and water, leaving you high and dry. Read More

Filed under Photography Wildlife X-Photographer

How to Make Any Object Interesting Using Depth of Field

by Fujifilm Australia February 22, 2018 Comments3

From great lighting to flashes, filters and other accessories, there are a myriad of ways to improve your photos. For anyone with a X Series camera, however, one of the most powerful ways to enhance your subject is to manipulate the depth of field.

 

What is Depth of Field?

 

Simply put, the depth of field is the amount of the picture the photographer keeps in focus. While laypeople may assume the entirety of a shot should be in focus, experienced photographers know that letting the background blur can actually draw more attention to the subject.

Image by Clèment Breuille via Instagram

 

How to Control Depth of Field

 

Like shutter speed and exposure, depth of field can be controlled by manipulating settings on your camera – specifically the aperture setting. The aperture is an opening in your camera’s lens, which opens and closes similarly to the dilation of the pupils in our eyes. As the aperture gets smaller, the depth of field grows, meaning more of your image comes into focus.

 

In addition to your aperture setting, your distance from the subject and the focal length of your lens will impact your depth of field. Since the depth of field is focused around the subject, the closer the subject is to your camera, the shallower that depth will be. Likewise, the longer your lens’s focal length (the more you zoom in), the shallower your depth of field, given any aperture setting and distance.

 

Overall, these three attributes – aperture setting, distance and focal length – are all crucial for achieving the exact depth of field you desire. Changing the aperture setting is the most common route, but don’t be afraid to back up, move in, and zoom in and out!

Image by @chandrasentosa via Instagram

 

Changing Settings

 

When it comes to changing the aperture setting, it’s important to understand that the aperture width and specification are inversely related. Wider settings are represented by smaller numbers, and vice versa.

 

The settings themselves are typically presented in F-numbers, often-called F-ratios or F-stops, which are a measure of lens speed. For instance, a lens with a 100mm focal length set to an F-stop of 10 has an aperture diameter of 10mm. Setting that same lens to F20 would give it an aperture diameter of 5mm, while setting it to F5 would result in an aperture diameter of 20mm.

 

Overall, the smaller the F-number, the wider the aperture – and the shallower your depth of field will be. If you really want to zero in on your subject, leaving the background blurry and obscured, you’ll need a small setting. If you want most or all of the picture to be in focus, you’ll need a high setting.

Image by @matt_ellis via Instagram

Choosing Your Aperture

 

Which depth of field is right for your next shoot? The answer will depend on your subject and goal. Portraits typically feature shallow depths of field, focusing primarily on subjects’ faces. The same is often true for weddings, parties and other events, where you’re trying to separate the subject from a bustling background.

 

On the other hand, you’ll need a deep depth of field to see details in both the background and foreground. Landscape shots are a perfect example.

 

Also important to note: depth of field is not evenly distributed in front of and behind your subject. Even with all the adjustments you can make to the aperture setting, distance and focal length, your field is usually about one third in front and two thirds behind your focal point. The field becomes more equal as your focal length increases, but as we discussed before, it also becomes shallower.

Image by @chels_e_buns via Instagram

 

The Right Tool for the Job

 

Photographers often refer to bokeh, the blurred, out-of-focus background quality that makes pictures incredibly lifelike and vivid. If you want your shots to have bokeh, you’ll need a lens capable of the widest aperture settings.

 

Fujinon’s XF series lenses are perfect for the job. Featuring aperture settings as low as F1.2, these lenses allow for beautiful close-ups that will stun your viewers. With a wide aperture range, they’re also versatile enough to be used for wide range of projects.

If you want to learn more about the range of Fujifilm products, check out our 2017 Buying Guide.

Filed under Be Inspired Photography

Introducing Stocksy Photographer Gary Radler

by Fujifilm Australia February 21, 2018 Comments1

Since the start of February, we are featuring eight Stocksy photographers who use Fujifilm X Series cameras to capture their images for commercial use. Discover what they like about their kit and how they utilise the equipment to obtain the best results.

 

Our third interview is with Victorian based photographer, Gary Radler.

 

Can you tell us about yourself and what you most love about photography?

 

I am a husband, father, grandfather and lover of photography. I work both as a clinical psychologist and photographer.

 

My work as a photographer grew from my work as a psychologist with people with a developmental disability. In this role I often provided talks, professional development workshops and other presentations. I supported these with slide presentations, but when searching for images to include from the available stock libraries I was disappointed to find that these mostly showed people with disabilities in stereotyped and patronising ways. Instead I wanted images of people with disabilities as citizens of our communities doing things that were valued and ordinary. I wanted photos showing them as contributing, active and engaged people in everyday and valued roles. Given the dearth of such images, I decided to make my own! Then, all of a sudden I fell in love with photography. I was well and truly hooked. Nothing was safe from my lens.

 

Then, by pure serendipity, I started specialising in photographing Aboriginal Australians. In 2008 on my way back to my car after a meeting, I bumped into a man who I now count as a friend, Dootrule, a Wurundjeri Elder, and asked if I could take his photo (I always had my X100 with me). (Here’s a link to a video I made of Dootrule and his partner, Tracey: http://www.garyradler.com/Video/Dootrule/). He said yes and from there I struck up many more relationships with Aboriginal Australians over the ensuing years, who became my models. I soon learned that the stock photos of Aboriginal Australians were also clichéd and failed to portray them as citizens of contemporary Australia and so I took it upon myself to fill this gap!

 

I came up with a mission statement: “My aim in my stock photography is to create compelling, high quality images of people who are members of groups that have demonstrated resilience and survival in the face of marginalisation and discrimination. My goal is to portray the models in ways that advance their dignity and opportunity.  My mission is to make photographs that can be used politically, commercially and educationally to promote equality and to enhance the social standing of the people and groups that they portray.”

 

You describe yourself as a photographer of “members of groups that have demonstrated resilience and survival.” Can you share two pictures you have captured using the Fujifilm X-T2 that best portray this and tell us the story behind the images?

 

 

Matt deserves a medal. Matt works for a Disability Support Organisation and for a week in every month he transports, mentors and has a great time with people with a disability who work at various farms in North East Victoria.

 

Matt is a quiet, gentle, respectful, hard-working dedicated young man. He is skilled at promoting the engagement of all of the participants he supports in his quiet, unobtrusive, and natural way, and it is a pleasure to witness.

 

Jarod is one of the men that Matt supports. He is man whose appetite for work is unsurpassed. This photo shows Matt and Jarod relaxing in the Ovens River after a hot day’s work at a blueberry and garlic farm in Myrtleford. To me this work exemplifies how people with a disability can be truly afforded respect and dignity in their lives by giving them opportunities and support to live the ordinary lives other citizens, like me, take for granted.

 

 

This next photo shows a woman, Lesley, who was rehearsing a contemporary dance performance. It was one of many I took of her and other people with a disability when I was commissioned by the State Government of Victoria as the photographer for their State Disability Plan 2017-2020 (you can download the plan here: https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/publications/state-disability-plan-2017-2020). Again, my approach was to spend time with each of the models as they went about living their lives. The unobtrusive X-T2 paired with the small and high class prime lenses were perfect for the job.

 

 

Having used multiple Fujifilm X Series cameras over the years, including the original X100 how do you see the system has developed? Has it been going in the right direction or could there be more improvements?

 

I remember just holding the X100 and enjoying the tactile experience. Weird, I know. As a piece of modern-retro design I thought it was exquisite, and a work of art in and of itself. Then it also made the making of art a simple, enjoyable experience. It was unobtrusive and suited my style of portrait photography perfectly. It’s fixed 23mm lens taught me to get to know what an image would look like at this focal length even before I put the viewfinder to my eye. That leaf shutter with the resulting 1/1000th second flash sync speed made shooting outdoor shallow-depth-of-field portraits a breeze.

 

Since then I have owned the X100S (which I lost – much to my annoyance), the X100T, the X20, the X70, the X-T1, the X-PRO2 and the X-T2. I have since given away the X20, and sold the X-T1 and X-PRO2.

 

The development of the X system has seen improvements I have appreciated, including the increase in resolution, the tilt screen (the absence of a tilt screen was my main reason for selling the X-PRO2), and the greater range of built in film styles.

 

 

When you are out on assignment photographing people, do you have any tips on how to best approach and engage with individuals?

 

Just talk. Have real conversations. Become so accustomed with the technical aspects of photography that you can forget the camera, relate to and interact naturally with the people in front of you, and just wait for the light to be just so and the moment to unfold. For me, the best photographs are all about the moment, the light, and composition. As I write this I am wondering if I’m coming across as someone who can do this. I can’t! But I am striving to.

 

 

If we were to look in your photography bag, what Fujifilm cameras would we find? Can you tell us the reason why you chose the Fujifilm X-T2?

 

It depends on what sort of photography I’m doing. This generally varies between my stock photography of people with a disability and Aboriginal Australians, landscape, street, family photography (I have a 3 year old grandson now and he is perhaps the most photographed child in the world!), commissioned assignments, weddings, and travel photography.

 

For my portraiture work you’ll generally find the Fujifilm X-T2, the XF23mmF2, XF16mmF1.4, and XF56mmF1.2. I use my old Nikon SB-900 flash (from my DSLR days), Cactus V6 HSS II flash transceivers, and a variety of portable light modifiers.

 

Buying the Fujifilm X-T2 was not a hard choice for me to make. It has what I need; which is not to say there is not more I would like in a future model.

 

 

Do you find living in the outskirts of Melbourne to be an advantage to your photography? Has it opened up any doors for you over city based photographers?

 

The main advantage is that the beautiful Yarra Valley is virtually out my front door. I have taken to cycling with an electric bike, which has been such fun as it means I ride now instead of drive as it flattens out the very hilly terrain, and I always take my camera with me. The rural and agricultural landscape around here is stunning, and I have found that cycling has meant I am seeing and appreciating it like I have never before.

 

 

Based on your experience, if you were to include a feature in a new Fujifilm camera what would it be and why?

 

In-body image stabilisation. I never use a tripod for my work and being able to shoot at slower shutter speeds hand-held would be cool.

 

 

What advice can you give for someone who wishes to make their start as a photographer and why did you choose Stocky to represent your work?

 

My advice would be if it grabs you in such a way that you can hardly think about anything else, then go for it! There is a lot of technical stuff to learn, and it’s only when this is under your belt (if it ever is!) that the real learning about image making starts. This amount of learning can only happen by putting in the hours. And this only happens when you love it. So if you love it drown yourself in the flood of learning resources available on the web (I learned heaps from Kelby Training), listen to the image making podcasts (the best being The Candid Frame, LensWork, and PPN-Inspiration Show, The Art of Photography), but make the act of actually taking photos your main learning method.

 

I chose Stocksy after being ripped off by iStock for a few years with the paltry commission they pay to their image creators! Stocksy was a breath of fresh air in so many ways, and not just because it pays its photographers a decent commission of 50%. It is a cooperative of its contributing artists, supported, represented and guided by it’s “head office” of talented, impassioned, cutting-edge and funky leaders. It encourages its photographers to be artists and doesn’t reject photos because of trivial “artefacts” (whatever the hell they are) because they were not shot at an ISO of 100!

Filed under Interviews X-Photographer