Category Archives: The creative process

Manual Photographers, Manual Photographers series, photography, The creative process

THE MANUAL PHOTOGRAPHERS SERIES PART 9: Hispan

5 Comments
manual photographers series hispan hungary budapest
Dr. Vintage – photo credits: Hegyi Júlia Lily

B: Hi Hispan, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to use manual lenses?

H: Originally I studied history at the university (my PhD is still in progress) but I’ve always been interested in theoretical physics and cosmology, which is a quite wide range of interest. Photography came to my life later, in 2011 to be exact, and I was using only modern lenses in the first 3 years. The beginning of my “vintage adventure” dates back to 2014, after I got my first “fast” Canon 1.4/50 USM lens, and I wasn’t really satisfied with the image quality.

Continue reading THE MANUAL PHOTOGRAPHERS SERIES PART 9: Hispan →

lenses, photography, The creative process

Working with Tilt/Shift lenses

39 Comments

Introduction

canon tilt shift ts-e pc-e perspective control TS T/S sony adapter how to
Canon TS-E 17mm 4.0L via Sigma MC-11 on Sony A7rII

Tilt/Shift lenses are rather exotic, they are mostly used for architecture or table top photography, and with the wide availability of post processing (correcting converging vertical lines and focus stacking) you see them very rarely nowadays, even amongst professional photographers .
In this article I will tell you what Tilt/Shift lenses are all about and what they can be used for.

Continue reading Working with Tilt/Shift lenses →

photography, The creative process

How to: Create Environmental Portraits

26 Comments

Introduction

Sony A7rII |Voigtlander VM 35mm 1.7 +5m PCX | f/1.7

With lenses like the Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM or Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art in the E-mount lens lineup and the ongoing Instragram hype it might be a good time to talk a bit about environmental portraits.
What is an environmental portrait and what is the difference compared to a normal portrait? Which lenses work best? Which mistakes I made in the past but you can already avoid today?
These are the questions I will try to answer in this article.

Continue reading How to: Create Environmental Portraits →

photography, The creative process, Uncategorized

The best lenses for Brenizer / Bokehpanoramas

40 Comments

Introduction

bokeh panorama bokehpanorama brenizer bokehrama mechanical vignetting guide review
Sony A7s | Canon EF 135mm 2.0L | 55m f/0.81 equivalent

Brenizer or Bokehpanorama is a panorama technique to get a wide angle shot with the much better bokeh of a longer tele lens. In this article I will show you what it is all about and which lenses work best.

What is a Brenizer/Bokehpanorama?

bokeh panorama bokehpanorama brenizer bokehrama mechanical vignetting guide review
4×9 single shots before stitching in Microsoft Image Composite Editor

By using longer lenses and taking a panorama you can simulate the look of fictional, wider, very fast lenses that are not even technically possible to build.

Continue reading The best lenses for Brenizer / Bokehpanoramas →

photography, Postprocessing, The creative process

Making of series part 3: “Milky Valley” with Voigtlander 1.7/35

35 Comments
milky way astro astrophotography twan dark night stars milchstraße valley dolomites italy sony a7s voigtlander 35mm 1,7 asph ultron
Sony A7s | Voigtlander VM 35mm 1.7 Ultron + 5m PCX filter | f/1.7 | higher resolution

For decent Milky Way shots you need really good conditions – which don’t come often – and a good location. Regarding the latter I decided to go for the Dolomites in Italy, so I followed the weather forecast for quite some time and one weekend the conditions were finally said to be what I needed, so I decided to go there and challenge my luck…

In the Bag

As I wasn’t bound by airline carry on restrictions this time I brought a little more gear than usual. For astrophotography I carried my trustworthy Mindshiftgear rotation 180 panorama* backpack. In the belt comparment I was carrying my A7s, Zeiss Loxia 21mm 2.8, Voigtlander VM 35mm 1.7 + 5m filter and my Samyang 14mm 2.8. I also carried a very sturdy Gitzo Series 4 tripod and of course a remote trigger.

Continue reading Making of series part 3: “Milky Valley” with Voigtlander 1.7/35 →