The latest Fujifilm cameras are getting a lot of attention and hype these days. Are you one of the many photographers picking up an X-Series body for the first time and looking to create some killer portraits? We you are going to need a portrait kit, so let’s get this figured out for you.
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You have your new Sony mirrorless camera and you are wanting to get into shooting better portraits, so what should you have in your kit? Let’s put together the essential budget portrait kit for Sony mirrorless shooters. Continue reading…
Let’s be real here, if we are honest the only truly essential gear for a landscape photographer with passion and commitment is simply a camera. These days great results can come from utilizing just about any camera. That said, there are definitely some highly recommended items that all – if not most – landscape photographers will agree make landscape photography that much easier and fun to enjoy. Continue reading…
Essentials is a series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
Lots of street photographers tend to reach for film these days simply for the aesthetic look and the overall experience of working with it. Plus when you ask a lot of street photographers why they choose to go analog, they tell you that digital just doesn’t do it for them. In some ways you can’t blame them: they’ll play the gear game but they won’t sit there going super crazy over it the way digital photographers do.
If you’re looking to give it a shot, analog street photography is very much a road worth going down. Here’s a kit that we highly recommend.
Essentials is a series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
When you think about most medium format cameras out there, it’s often possible for people to consider the fact that they’re all really large. Granted, the newer digital cameras are changing that, but most of the medium format film cameras have always been very large. The exceptions were the rangefinders. Indeed, some of these are very expensive, but others are pretty affordable overall. And if you’re looking to keep your kit compact overall, then know that it’s pretty simple to do.
Essentials is a series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
While it’s still not totally there yet, the Fujifilm Instax format is starting to offer support for the more serious minded photographer out there. The imaging area is around the size of true 645 format, and for that reason it would be absolutely incredible as a serious image capturing format. The film is more than capable of delivering great details but the problems for many years has been the cameras. However, two cameras in particular are fantastic choices for a photographer looking to get more seriously into the Instax format.
As always, the Essentials series isn’t sponsored but instead designed to give a photographer various kit options.
Essentials is a series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend at the moment. These aren’t sponsored at all; if they were we wouldn’t have any trouble saying it.
Now is as great a time as any for us to bring back this long dormant series on the Phoblographer. In our Essentials series, we put together special kits for photographers to use in specific situations. You’ll find that lots of these are appealing for one reason to another.
If you’re a traveling landscape photographer always in the great outdoors, you typically need something lightweight with solid image quality that is very reliable. Sure, some folks may love their DSLRs, but once you go mirrorless it’s just so tough to go back. With that said, here are some items that we really digg right now.
Photo by Gareth Pon.
All photographers are copyrighted and used with permission from the photographers.
Instagram is the place to be for many photographers. Many tens of millions of photographs are uploaded there everyday. The potential is huge, but not everyone gets to bask in the social accolades that come with tens or hundreds of thousands of followers, millions in some cases. Big breaks aren’t a standard thing on Instagram, and unless you count on third party websites, there is no way to gauge metrics. All you really have are the little orange notifications. You might occasionally encounter social spikes, but it takes time to build an audience. So, how do you get that big following? We spoke to several powerhouses on Instagram to get their insights on what you should definitely not do.
Essentials is a series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
When it comes to creating timelapse videos, you only really need a few things. For starters, a big hard drive will help greatly–but what will also help are some of the right tools. As we’ve always said in our Essentials series, you can use whatever you want. But to give you some sort of guidance, we’ve created a kit for that type of stuff. Sure, time lapse videos are getting overdone, but if you find that you get a bit too tired of them, this kit will help you to transition into other things like studio work, landscapes and much more.
Overall, we’re emphasizing versatility for the creative timelapser.
Essentials is a series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
When it comes to shooting Macro images, you often want to get close. But when you get close, you’ll also want to take other measures to ensure that you’re getting the sharpest images that you can possibly obtain.Whether you’re shooting the intricacies of a watch’s interior or a beautiful flower, you’ll also need good lighting and a reliable camera that can help you get the job done.
Luckily, this is now available and you can also keep the package down to something very portable and small.
Essentials is a series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
If you’re going for the high end Real Estate shooting gigs or photographing architecture, you’ll always need the right gear. Now, we know that using high megapixel DSLR can always do a great job, but to get the most performance from your files and the most versatility overall in post-production–and lots of post-production is needed to get the very best photos of buildings.
Here’s what we recommend for photographing buildings in the high end world.
Essentials is a series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
Documenting daily life as it happens can become incredibly addicting. The mere act of capturing an expression or a scene then looking back on it and never seeing that person again is one that can keep you shooting over and over until you capture a moment that you feel is perfect. Now, you can use a ton of different gear to do that, but when you’re really trying to get into street photography there are some selections that are better than others. And if you’re also trying to do this at a more affordable price, we’ve got a couple of suggestions for you.
Essentials is a series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
They appear all over the web: street fashion blogs and images are the thing of Tumblr and Instagram amongst many of the images that you see on Pinterest. The street fashion world is one of finding cool locations out in the busy streets of a city and capture a moment that looks candid. And to do that, you don’t need the most sophisticated of gear. However, the details and a vision can surely help.
Essentials is a brand new series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
This kit was cool before photography was cool. In fact, it’s probably not going to be cool any more since everyone now knows about it. What are we talking about? Well, it’s something that has to do with making a statement. Capturing a real life photo of someone instantly and making a print means that no one else in the world will ever have that photo. It can’t be duplicated, and even though you can surely scan it, it still won’t be the same as the original.
But beyond that, you’ve got to get your name out there somehow. Here’s a kit that’ll make you the coolest party snapper around. PBRs for all!
Essentials is a brand new series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
After taking a short break, we’ve decided to head right back into the Essentials for what we think an environmental headshot photographer would use. So what exactly do we mean by this? Well, here in NYC, lots of photographers like using a combination of natural/ambient light and blending it with flash. And due to the fact that they’re on location and sometimes without assistants, they tend to try to pack as lightly as possible.
While we often recommend using monolights, they aren’t as portable as a couple of hot shoe flashes placed in the absolute right positions to give the right amount of kick.
And for that, we recommend the following.
Essentials is a brand new series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
There are a couple of major things that you need to keep in mind when you’re exploring abandoned places. First off, you’ll need to pack light–especially if you’re going to take pictures. What I’ve discovered once when exploring an abandoned tug boat graveyard is that some of those floors aren’t so sturdy–and they can give way at any time. Second, you’re going to need to go in a group or a two person team. Plus, you need to do your research.
And whatever you do, don’t be seen.
Not that we condone breaking into abandoned places, but photographers are bound to do that. And if it’s going to happen, we recommend sticking to just a couple of core essentials.
Essentials is a series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
If you’re on the West Coast, Comic Con has happened already this year. But if you’re on the East Coast, you’re probably ready to lick a nerd to get your weekend pass. One trend that we saw for years and years was that folks tended to bring better and better cameras. And last year was when lots of folks started coming out and bringing the heavy artillery–we did too!. If you don’t feel like you’re up to having huge light setups, then consider our setup two years ago that earned us these photos.
Our setup was mobile, effective when used by someone that has become one with their gear, and can earn you quite a bit of photos worthy of your portfolio.
And with some time to go still until NYCC, you can probably save up to get all of this relatively soon.
Essentials is a brand new series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
Some of us have a crazy dream: we’re doing a location shoot involving models or even products, and we’ve got either a small crew or an assistant to help us out. While that dream is really sometimes very awe inspiring we never think about all the gear that we need to sometimes adapt and make the dream possible (on top of all that portfolio building.)
Now, don’t just think that you’ll be able to naturally light it all every time. There is sometimes lots of work that goes into it all and to give your potential clients great images.
And here’s a kit to start you off. More than anything though, we have to recommend and remind you all that the items are interchangeable. But here’s a starter guide.
Essentials is a brand new series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
Medium Format photography is what many shooters yearn to do. While the digital counterpart is extremely expensive, its film predecessor is probably more affordable than most digital setups overall. An excellent kit can be had fairly cheaply and you’ll be rewarded with images that aren’t totally possible with most digital cameras.
So why make the move to medium format? Besides the obvious benefits of a significantly larger negative area, medium format film blows its 35mm brethren away in terms of not only overall sharpness but also in color depth, tonality, and more. And with the right lighting, it will beat anything that your DSLR might be able to produce.
Ready to take the plunge? Here’s our essential kit for the person ready to step up.
Essentials is a brand new series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
Time lapsers love to get super technical and uber geeky about their creations. But we all need to start somewhere and some of us will need to reach for lower hanging fruit at one point or another. And as creatives, we also need to remember that it’s not always about the gear. By using a very minimalist kit, one can create a mesmerizing time lapse if they’ve got the vision and know how to execute it.
For the visionary, the modest creative, or the introductory shooter–here’s our specially curated essential kit.
Essentials is a brand new series where we round up specially curated kits for different photographers in different situations. Other items could surely be substituted, but these are what we personally recommend.
When you’re headed into the great outdoors for the purpose of creating breathtaking imagery, you want to travel as light as possible, but still have the gear you will need. If at all possible, try to plan ahead so you don’t over-pack. It all starts with having a proper bag, then you load up from there. There are certainly a million other variations on what you could bring, but what I’m choosing to share is what works for me personally.
