Let’s talk travel photography! I have two upcoming classes and photowalks this month: Austin on July 8th and Oklahoma City on July 25th. These will be centered around gear selection, tips, and Recipes for your summer outings. If you live in Texas or Oklahoma, I hope that you can make it to one of these two events.
The Austin class and photowalk will be at Precision Camera & Video, located at 2438 W. Anderson Lane, on Wednesday, July 8th. The class will begin at 5 pm, afterwards—about 6:30 pm—we will head over to the Austin Public Library to walk around downtown with our cameras. The fee is $5, and you do need to register (click here). It’s going to be a great time of learning, community, and photography. This is only two days away, but it’s not too late to join!
The Oklahoma City class and photowalk will be at Bedford Camera & Video, located at 3110 N. May Ave, on Saturday, July 25th. The class will begin at 4 PM, afterwards—about 6:00 pm—we will head over to Scissortail Park to walk around with our cameras. This event is free; however, if you plan to come, you do need to register (click here). It’s going to be a great time of learning, community, and photography. This is only about two-and-a-half weeks away, and will arrive quickly. If you are in the Oklahoma City area, be sure to join us—I hope to see you there!
Those are the only classes and photowalks currently scheduled. Events like these are always a lot of fun, and it’s so great to meet you and talk gear and photography with you. If you are in the vicinity of Austin or Oklahoma City, be sure to come out. These types of events are highly collaborative, and it takes a lot of people to pull them off, including representatives from Fujifilm and the camera stores—I want to give a big “thank you” to everyone involved. And I hope to see some of you real soon in Texas and Oklahoma!
I have an upcoming project, and as part of that I want to create some Troy Paiva inspired night photos. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Troy creates nighttime photos of abandoned buildings, cars, airplanes, etc., illuminated by colored lights and the full moon (check out his Instagram). For this project, I want to do something similar for some of the pictures. I don’t have very much experience with this type of photography, so I need some practice before attempting the important images.
Some critical parts for this project arrived yesterday, namely lights and a Fujinon 23mm f/1.4 lens*. I’m not sure yet if the 23mm f/1.4 is the lens that I want to use, but I think it might be. We’ll see. Fujifilm let me borrow it, so I can try it out before deciding. More important than the lens are the lights, which are cheap Neewer mini portable LED lights I found on Amazon for $27 each. I purchased two. All of this arrived in the mail yesterday, so as soon as the sun went down and the (nearly) full moon came up, I grabbed my trusty tripod, set up the camera, and took some test shots.
Because I parked on a dirt lot, it stirred up the dust. I had no intentions of having the car lights on, but it looked cool, so I tried a handful of exposures with the car lights. I set one LED light to red (actually, I thought it was a rusty orange color) and the other to green (I thought it was teal), placing the red light in the backseat and the green in the front. The Recipe I used was Vivid Velvia, but I modified it slightly, setting Color to +3 instead of +4 and Highlight and Shadow both to -2. I tried a few different angles. Then I moved the lights from inside the truck to underneath, placing them behind the passenger-side wheels. After a handful of shots I moved them back inside.
I quickly realized that two lights weren’t enough for what I wanted to achieve. More ideally I needed four, so I ordered some more once I got home. But, not to be defeated, I made a double-exposure picture using the multiple exposure feature in the camera, moving the lights in-between the shots. At the time, I was a little afraid that the Vivid Velvia images were a little too punchy, so I switched to an experimental Recipe I’ve been working on (not sure yet if it will get published); however, in retrospect, I think I should have stuck with what I had been using.
Overall, the experiment was a failure in that I didn’t quite achieve what I was hoping to achieve; however, it was a success in that I learned some important lessons. It’s a step closer to the goal. For certain, I need more practice. That’s the point of this article: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Don’t expect that your idea will work on the first try, and don’t get discouraged when it doesn’t. Learn from what went right and what went wrong. Go back out on another occasion and try again. With enough practice, eventually you’ll get it. I will practice a few more times before beginning the project.
Below are a couple more pictures I made last night. The image at the top of this article is my favorite, and the closest to what I want to create (although it’s definitely not quite right). The double-exposure at the bottom is another that’s along the lines of what I’m looking for. I’ll keep trying, and eventually get it right. I can’t wait for that to happen, and I’ll be thrilled when it does.
*Edit: I mistakenly said the lens was the Fujinon 18mm f/1.4 when it was the Fujinon 23mm f/1.4. Guess that’s what happens when I write an article before my first cup of coffee after just six hours sleep. Won’t do that again. My apologies, and I hope it doesn’t cause any confusion or problems.
Red Boat in Nyhavn Canal – Copenhagen, Denmark – Fujifilm GFX100RF – Avalon Ace
Last night I was scrolling Instagram when I saw a Reel that bothered me a bit. Maybe you saw it, too. It wasn’t from anyone I follow, just something the algorithm thought I would like. I would have much preferred to have been shown content from those I follow, but Meta kind of sucks and instead gives me things that I don’t really care for. The video in question was insulting, so I thought I would address it.
Specifically, the person in the video, who has a somewhat large following, doesn’t like that a lot of people within the Fujifilm world don’t edit their photos. “I don’t have a problem with Fujifilm cameras,” the video starts out. “My problem is with the brand and people telling you that you shouldn’t edit your photos, that you should skip Lightroom and editing, and that you should only do straight out of camera. I think that is really, really, really crap and lazy advice.” It goes on from there, and only gets worse. At the end he reveals that this is why he’s moving to Leica. Apparently he thinks that Fujifilm shouldn’t point out to their customers that their camera-made JPEGs are pretty darn good, and he doesn’t seem to like the Fujifilm community in-general and doesn’t want to be associated with such people. Perhaps not enough Fujifilm photographers were buying his preset packs?
First, I don’t think anyone is saying (or, if they are, it’s very, very, very few) that you can’t edit your photos, only that you don’t have to if you don’t want to. There are a thousand ways to do photography, and no one way is better than another. It’s only what works for you personally. If that’s shooting RAW and editing in Lightroom, great. If that’s unedited straight-out-of-camera JPEGs, cool. If that’s film photography, awesome. For a lot of people it can be a combination of things, just depending. There is no right or wrong way to do photography, and anyone who tells you otherwise is gatekeeping and should be ignored.
Misty Saguaro – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Pacific Blues
Fujifilm Recipes can be used in a surprising number of ways, not just for unedited straight-out-of-camera photography. Personally, aside from cropping/straightening and maybe a small exposure adjustment sometimes, I don’t edit my photos. I used to, until I realized that the straight-out-of-camera JPEGs could be made to look like my edited RAW images. That discovery literally changed my life (no hyperbole). Before that, I edited so many photos it’s not even funny. Personally, I don’t enjoy editing, and I’ve found it unnecessary for my photography. But that’s just me. Other people (like my wife) will sometimes edit the JPEGs, which have a fair amount of latitude for manipulation, in Capture One. Other people use the JPEGs sometimes and the RAWs other times, just depending on the picture and what they will use it for. There are some who are strictly RAW-only and still use Recipes because it helps them to better pre-visualize in the field how the edited photos will look, and it gives them a head start in the editing process. One person will sometimes layer the out-of-camera JPEG over the edited RAW image, and blend them together. It’s all about what works for you—not what other people are doing—and there are a plethora of possible paths, all of them legitimate.
Going back to the video, the implication is simple: if you don’t edit your photos and you tell others that they don’t have to, you are “really, really, really” crappy and lazy. That’s complete nonsense and just bullsh*t. A completely awful and insulting take. Someone who edits RAW photos is not inherently any better or worse than someone who doesn’t, and their pictures aren’t inherently better or worse, either. Even Ansel Adams used Polaroids and wrote a whole book about it. Was he being lazy? Was he giving crappy advice when he wrote a whole chapter on the benefits of one-step photography (skipping the development stage)? Was he a bad photographer because he didn’t always use the darkroom? Of course not! Nobody would argue that, but that’s essentially the argument of the video.
Photography is deeply personal, and many people—the gatekeepers—tie their identity to how “skilled” they think they are. When someone else succeeds with a different method—shooting JPEGs, iPhone photography, etc.—it threatens the fragile belief that their way is the only legitimate path. It’s a defensive shield: If you do it differently and are successful, then my choices—and hence myself—might be less special. Gatekeeping is a way of preserving a hierarchy that does not naturally exists. I’m a real photographer because I do it this way, and you’re not because you don’t. It’s a game of king-of-the-hill, except nobody else is playing. And it’s just dumb.
I’ve been told I’m doing much harm to photography because I don’t edit my photos and I tell other people that they don’t have to, either, if they don’t want. That’s crazy! You do photography however you want to do it, and worry less about what others are doing. If you want to shoot Leicas, edit RAW files, and sell Lightroom presets, by all means do so. If you want to spend less time at a computer and more time out creating photographs, Fujifilm might just be the brand for you. Whatever way you want to do photography, go ahead and do it that way, and don’t let the gatekeepers tell you that you are less-than for it. In the end, nobody really cares how you made the photograph, they only care that you made it.
This is Part 3 of what will be a five-part series exploring Fujifilm Recipes for each generation of cameras. Beginning with the latest models, we will work our way back towards the older cameras. For each article, I will suggest seven Recipes to try. This is intended for those new to the whole Recipe thing, who haven’t tried them before (or perhaps only a few Recipes so far). The intention is to provide you with a list of seven that you can program into your C1-C7 Custom Setting presets.
The list below, which are the seven Recipes for Part 3, is specifically for the Fujifilm X-T3 and X-T30 cameras, the first two X-Trans IV cameras, which are in a category of their own. If you have one of those two cameras, these are the correct Recipes for you. This is far from an exhaustive list of fourth-generation Recipes, it’s only seven really good ones to get you started. Something to note is that with the X-T3 & X-T30, you cannot save a White Balance Shift within C1-C7; however, the camera will remember one WB Shift per WB type. With that in mind, each of these use a different WB type so that you don’t have to remember to adjust the WB Shift when going from one Custom Setting preset to another. If you are unsure which Fujifilm Recipes to begin with, these are ones that I highly recommend.
Window to the City – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 – Kodak Portra 400 v2
Kodak Portra 400 v2 does well anytime the sun is out, but especially for “golden hour” near sunrise and sunset. As the name suggests, it’s a good option for portrait photography, but it’s excellent for many other genres, too. This Recipe uses the Daylight White Balance.
While Classic Kodak can be used anytime the sun is out, it is a great options for middle-of-the-day situations. This Recipe uses the Shade White Balance.
Street Lamp Sunset – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 – Kodak Ultramax
I like to have at least one Recipe programmed into my camera that’s highly versatile and can be used no matter the situation. One of my personal favorites is Kodak Ultramax, which uses Auto White Balance.
Although each of the first four Recipes have a Kodak-negative-like look, Kodak Vision3 250D produces a notably divergent aesthetic than the three above. This Recipe uses the Fluorescent 1 White Balance.
Fujichrome Sensia 100 offers a notably different look than the options above. It’s one of my favorite Recipes for sunrise and sunset colors when the sky is pink and purple, but is good for a lot of other situations, too. It uses the Fluorescent 2 White Balance.
Wet Glass Bokeh – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 – Jeff Davenport Night
If it’s between dusk and dawn, especially if there are city lights, Jeff Davenport Night is the recipe to use on your X-T3 and X-T30 cameras. Period. It uses a Kelvin White Balance.
Minolta SRT303b – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1 – Analog Monochrome
Filling out the last slot was tricky because most of the White Balance types have already been used. There are basically three options: choose an X-Trans III Recipe—which are fully compatible with the X-T3 and X-T30—that uses a different WB type (that’s what I’ve done here, as Analog Monochrome utilizes Incandescent); use an Auto WB Recipe—perhaps Ilford Delta Push Process—and disregard the WB Shift, and accept the results for what they are (which will be nearly the same, but not exactly the same); or use a Daylight WB Recipe—perhaps Kodak Tri-X 400—and substitute Daylight with Underwater, which is similar enough that you’re unlikely to notice the difference.
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