More fun with the Fuji X100s
Well my two week rental of the Fujifilm X100s is over, but I enjoyed the camera so much that I decided to order one for myself. Here are a few more snaps with this camera that is quickly pulling me out of a rut.
Photographer Adam Queen watches the rain at the SB Fulfillment Center/Photo Studio for HauteLook.
Jackson checks out the Polar Bears at the San Diego zoo
Sunset outside the San Diego Zoo
Product Stylist Loretta preps handbags at the HauteLook SB Photo Studio
Hannah relaxes
I've been shooting mostly black and white, but I love the Fuji Velvia color film setting on this camera.
Hannah enjoys a mild evening in Canyon Crest
Alesia enjoys her burger from Bucket List Burgers in Canyon Crest
Hannah protests getting her picture taken.
High Speed Sync with the Fujifilm X100s
In order to get a taste of what the leaf shutter of the Fuji X100s can do, my friend and fellow HauteLook photographer Adam Queen did some modeling for me.
The set up: The Fujifilm X100s, 1 Lumopro LP180 (bare and hand held at arms length camera left) and triggered with Pocketwizard Plus III transceivers.
We were able to sync the LP180 to 1/1000th shutter speed, bringing some detail out in the clouds and making these mid day portraits very dramatic. The 1/1000th shutter speed in this case is limited by the Pocketwizards ability to send the signal. In other tests, I was able to use a hard wire sync cable to sync the flash all the way to the camera max of 1/4000th. This is easily one of the coolest features of the X100s (and other leaf/non focal plane mirrorless cameras).
These were shot in all of about 10 minutes with minimal gear, a testament to what a useful tool this can be for the professional photographer.
I'm in love with the Fuji X100s
I've been planning to write a post about how much I miss shooting an all manual film camera ever since I found some wonderful prints from several years ago that had a quality that I feel like I've lost somewhere. I was trying to think what is different now, shooting digitally, that I don't perceive the same quality in my photography. I think it's two things mainly, but that is a post for a different day.
Long story short, I decided to Jump on Fujifilm's nostalgia train and rent an X100s for two weeks. Here are my selects from day one, along with some of the things I love about this camera.
The Fuji X100s brings professional control in an intuitive and nostalgic design, that makes incredible snapshots of your daughter smiling very very easy.
The X100s is, for all intents and purposes, completely silent, and you can grab embarrassing candids of your friends at work.
The X100s has incredible imaging power and all the control a professional needs to make great portraits of their follow photographers while waiting on the barista at Starbucks (shout out to Adam Queen!)
The X100s is a rangefinder camera, and that means no mirror to slap up and vibrate the camera when taking a handheld selfie at 1/15th(!!!) of a second.
Again, the X100s is virtually silent and that means catching life's tender moments without disturbing your subject.
The Evolution of a Patent Leather Valentino Bag
Shooting a patent leather Valentino with gold hardware can be challenging between managing reflections and making the hardware look beautiful. This is how we did it.
Step one: set the bag down and snap. Gross right? terrible reflections from the key light and hardware.
Step two: Lean the bag toward the camera until the reflections become less of a problem.
Step three: Pinch and prod the bow/strap details to totally eliminate the last of the key light reflections.
Step four: Fill the hardware with white reflector and VOILA! A beautiful Valentino ready to be sold.
