robvisual - photography

After using this camera for about four weeks I almost get used to the new format. What are the differences compared to a full frame or aps-c camera? The main difference for me is a physical due to the change in sensor size. You have to stop down to higher aperture values to get everything in focus. This leads to higher ISO values to get a decent shutter speed. So if you're coming from the aps-c world, you need to update your shooting routine. Despite this change it opens up a whole new world in working with a shallower depth of field when it comes to portraits etc. This means taking environmental portraits with the 63mm lens at a distance (full body portrait) that has that pop out factor. The quality of the resulting images blew me away. And just to mention it again. The quality of the glass is outstanding. Too less photo fanatics out there are talking about the GF lenses. For your money you get tack sharp lenses (even sharp wide open) that are all weather sealed. Fuji is produ...

There are many great photographers out there with an awesome portfolio. They have their unique style and methods to archive this distinctive look and feel of their images. There are also a lot of books and interviews where you can read what is on their minds. That can be inspiring and fruitful, but you should take it as an opinion of someone who is in the lucky position that his kind of work is appreciated by others. This doesn't mean that this person is something like a guru or a saint and important for your artistic career. Yesterday I stumbled upon a quote that says: "when you photograph people in color - you photograph their clothes" "when you photograph people in b&w - you photograph their soul" (Ted Grant) Maybe you think that this quote from Mr. Grant is a rule or a law and you think good street photography should be like he mentioned in the quote above. But this is just Mr. Grants opinion and it works for him in his world view. You don't h...

The older you get the faster time goes by. This is why we need some memorabilia to remember certain things and situations. I love to look at my older photos like a visual diary that guides my through the past. Here are my favorite photos of 2015: 1 - This kind of hard contrast photos always have my attention. You can change the whole scene just with a different exposure-setting. My wife said it looks kind of scary. But in reality it was not. 2 - Lines and holes. We love to peek through a peep- or keyhole. Lines are guiding our eyes creating leading structures in photographs. This one contains a pyramid, diagonals and horizontals. It took some time to wait for the woman entering the scene. But it was worth the time. 3 - I stumbled into this (messed up but interesting) bookshop by accident. I´ve walked this street a hundred times before. But this day I saw this little shop for the first time. The owner appeared after I entered the shop and we had a little chat about Sen...

From time to time you should do a self portrait like Else Bing, Vivian Maier and other well known photographers did before. It is good to put yourself from into the context of the time and space you are operating in. BTW: have you noticed the great analog film look of the X-Pro1 in the photo above? It was taken with the great 27mm pancake.

He is an expert in roasting the brewing the perfect cup of coffee. And my X100s is an expert in doing a great job at ISO 3200 ;-) Sergey the barista - X100s (f/2, 1/50, 23mm, ISO 3200)

Last weekend my wife and I did a little trip to Lübeck (the old hanseatic city of marzipan). We discovered a new shop that was offering tailor made clothes and a new (organic treated)  haircut in one shop. We had a good time there and I ask the two owners if I can take a portrait of them. I had my X100s with me and I used the incoming light from the window to illuminate my subjects. The great thing about a small rangefinder style camera is that you can look (with one eye) at your subjects without a big cam in the way. There is more intimacy between the photographer and the other persons. So we had a lot of fun and I took a little series of shots and picked this one. I love the warm light from the lamp at the right and the depth of the background. The fabric on the table and the measurement-band tell us who of the both women runs the tailor part of the shop. I do my portraits always spontaneous without to much buzz and hectic. Most of the times people know how to look good and i...

A good question. I was a shy guy more twenty years ago. I was always in fear of rejection etc. But then I made some new friends and we loved to loose some rubber on the streets with our skateboards. That made me more self confident. I did skate-videos at home and later I became a DJ and a VJ. That helped me a lot in overcome my fear to get in contact with other people. You have to go out and do something you love. Always imagine how great a portrait could look like and how much fun it could be to post process the images. That gives you power! "best friends" - (fuji x100s) Here are my tips when you want to take a portrait of a stranger: know the law - in many countries it is forbidden to take portraits without a contract (if your want to use them in commercial way) etc...so do some research. When you know your rights you are even more confident. have a reason - don´t say: "can I take a photo of you?". There is no reason. Say: "Hey! I love your style a...

A hot topic for all Fuji-Fanatics out there ( look here  / fujirumors). I would buy one (if I had so much money). But in most cases you don´t need to. Because there is a great way to get the same look (and even more) without the need of a new device. You can use the Brenizer method to archive the medium format look. That means that you use your lens with wide open aperture to create a shallow depth of field. And then your took some surrounding images and stitch them together to get a wider field of view. Brenizer goes Schwerin castle-park! (x-t1 with the 60mm at 2.4 / 4 images stiched in Lightroom 6) I love this technique. It creates this unique look. When you crop the photo to 1:1-format the illusion is perfect. And the resulting photo has a lot of detail because the pixelcount will raise after the images are glued together. That is perfect for large format prints. I will test that in future. This is one of the many benefits (more me) to shot digital. You can do things l...