Five Photography Tips That Do Not Require Any Gear

Today’s post is in the form of an Audio Boo sound cast. I offer five tips that I hope can help your photography. The best thing about these tips is they do not require any kind special gear. I hope you find these tops helpful and you have a great day. Sincerely, Thomas Shue

How To Create A Diffused Look In Photoshop

Effect Applied

Before

Today I want to show you how to create a diffused look in Photoshop. This technique will work with many photos, I use it on still life and portraits. One of the great things about using this method is it’s fast and super easy to control the exact amount of the effect. Diffused looking images are hard to control if you try to create them in camera. The problem is you lose too much contrast of you use a light source to flare the lens, once the information is gone. If you do this in post production, there is little chance of looking detail and again you have exact control. This method isn’t something that I would use all the time, but once in a while it does come in handy.

Thanks for taking time to stop by. I hope you have a great day. Sincerely, Thomas Shue

Shooting Raw VS Jpeg with the Fuji X100s A World Of Difference

This is the Raw Converted File (Color is Rich)

This is the In Camera Jpeg



Hey Folks, Today’s post comes a little late in the day and I want to say sorry for that. I had some technical difficulties but we are all good to go now. OK, let’s get started. Raw vs Jpeg, you might be hearing from photographers, “I shoot Jpegs”, with such and such camera, “because creates amazing Jpegs right out of camera”. I have seen it, some camera do make great Jpegs. For example Olympus is world famous for it’s blues when you shoot Jpegs. The algorithms used to process jpegs from Raw files in camera are highly guarded secrets. FujiFilm just released the X100s and they too are said to produce world class Jpegs. I tend to agree because when you use the film emulsion modes to shoot Velvia the jpegs will remind you of the film days. I love those in camera color curves and they are fun to play with. Keyword, “Play”!

If you are serious about your photography, then you need to shoot Raw, it’s that simple. If you are shooting for money and want to deliver your very best work, then shoot Raw. Shoot Raw because there is Huge difference. Here is the reason, when you shoot Raw, you are making a dense file. A the file gives you as much information possible to work with in post. Remember the client doesn’t care how much effort you put in your images, they just care about the end result. Your end results will speak for themself against other photographers who like it or not, you are competing against for paying jobs (if you are a pro).

Take a look at the video below where I process two files in Lightroom. One is a Jpeg, one is a Raw from them FujiFilm X100s. Note they are the same exact file captured at the same exact time. I am here to tell you, there is a night and day difference in the two images as a final result. I am testing this Fuji camera and I can say without a doubt, I will be shooting Raws 100% of the time with this camera.

Thanks for taking time to visit today. Sincerely, Thomas Shue

The first day with the Fuji x100s

Hi guys, I want to thank you for taking time to visit my blog today. Today’s post is hopefully going to be a short one. As you may already know I’m on vacation but I still want to make a post and am trying to do so with meager means.

I got on the road early and it was a long trip, but I was able to take the Fuji out and put it through its paces. First off the camera is super tiny and I have these big hands, so I am fumbling around a little bit with trying to set up and use the buttons. This camera doesn’t operate like a standard DSLR and everything about it is completely new to me.

Today was basically a trial by fire. I did the to the manual little bit and I have looked at a few online tutorials however with that said this camera is not an easy camera to learn. Working with in optical viewfinder in the bright Sun is a real tough thing to do. The the camera has several options and combinations of view finder, optical viewfinder and electronic viewfinder as well as the LCD. In the bright sun, it makes an extremely challenging task to judge exposure, so you absolutely must trust the histogram. For without it, you are doomed.

The next challenge was and still is knowing exactly when the frame is captured. There seems to be a slight delay from when you press the shutter and the actual image is captured by the sensor. Capturing the decisive moment was not so decisive for me today.

I can say when I am lucky enoght to do my part, this camera makes an incredible image. I have zero doubt that the reason I am having difficulty with just picking up the camera and making keppers is nothing more then a standard ESO problem (ESO=equipment superior to operator).

The timing delay thing is a problem that I wish I could easily figure out. I get focus lock on half press, then fully press to capture the image thinking all is fine, but the image is blurry and is not in the same spot I composed it. This means I moved the camera before it had made the capture. I am thinking to myself, the movement must be parallax error adjustment, but why the motion blur. A 35mm lens at 1/500th should never have motion blur, but I sure do. So I believe there is somthing I am just missing here.

The manual is hundreds of miles away so I am on my own. I love this camera so far, it has been a challege, one that I have no plans to back down from. I am completely confident this camera will be with me until it breaks from too much use.

Sorry I do not have any images for you today. I have no internet acess for my laptop, so I typed this post on my EVO 4G LTE. Tomorrow I will have access so everything will return to normal, kind of. Rememer I am on Vacation. Take care and have a great day, Sincerely, Thomas Shue

With The Fuji X100S, My Mirrorless Adventure Starts Today

Well the time has come for me to put the FujiFilm X100s to the test and welcome it to my photographic tool kit. First off I want to say these darn cameras are impossible to get. I was lucky enough to get my hands on one after 20 emails or so to a friend who is high up enough to get things done at FujiFilm directly. I hope all my pestering didn’t do any harm, but I have to say, so far it was all worth it.

This post is not a review, it’s a post to show how huge of an impact using a mirrorless camera like this has on the size of your overall kit. First off this camera has a fixed lens and it’s super tiny. The camera has a leaf shutter lens and can sync with off camera flash at 1/4000 and does so with very little light loss. Try that with most DSLR’s, it equals fail. Also the speedlights become small studio strobes because of the negligible light loss at these extreme shutter speeds. Most of all what I love about this camera is the size of the lighting kit that can be used to support this camera. I have set up a two light kit with a stand, a 43″ softbox (the orb), two pocketwizards, a justin clamp, two speedlights a tripod, gels and batteries. The entire kit fits in a single tripod bag. Anyone that knows me, this is a super tiny kit because I always drag a huge kit around. Heck, my back is super excited about it.

The X100-s is a rangefinder so it means there is a viewfinder but it’s on the side of the camera. This means when you shoot, if you’re right eye dominant you can stay engaged with your surroundings as well as your subject. The reason is because your face is not covered up my a huge camera. Also the small size of this camera means I will always be able to have a professional camera in my pocket. I did steal an idea from David Hobby. What he did was put black Gaff tape on most of the body and put on a scratched up lens hood (mine’s on order) to make the camera look like an old dog. All of the flashy logos, and big lenses say steal me. My new X100S looks like an old pair of shoes. When my five-year old daughter saw it today, she asked me where did I get that old camera. That black Gaff tape really does the trick, what a great idea, thanks David.

My vacation starts in the morning, I am going back to Cali, Cali, Cali… at least I think so Anyway, like I said, I plan to put the new camera to the test. I have been doing lots of homework on this camera for the past month or so. Even with all the time invested in learning, this camera is not an easy one to just pick up and start using. It’s going to take some time, and at least all of you will get to come along for the ride as I learn a brand new camera system. The good thing is, you might find out if a mirrorless system is something you might want to consider.

I made a video showing you the new kit. I hope you find it interesting, I also hope you have a great day. Sincerely, Thomas Shue