Expanding on the topics I covered in my previous lesson, where I outlined How To Use Fujifilm’s Highlight and Shadow Tone Controls, in this tutorial, I show you how to take your creativity and image making fun to the next level by tweaking the film simulations with some of the other creative tools and settings found in your X Series camera.
Buried in the Image Quality Menu and the Q MENU by default, you’ll find a set of useful, but little understood exposure controls. These consist of COLOR, SHARPNESS, SHADOW TONE, AND HIGHLIGHT TONE. On the X-Pro3, X-T4 and X100V, you now have a CLARITY control.
These controls are overlooked by many photographers, me included. We can all be forgiven, because the Fuji camera manuals don’t offer much explanation for what they do. I’ll admit that having been an X Series shooter for five years, I only recently started experimenting with them. I’m kicking myself for waiting so long, because they’re quite useful and they increase the times when you can get by without having to shoot RAW.
CLASSIC CHROME, WITH +4 COLOR
Basically, most of these controls go from +4 down to -2. (CLARITY goes +5 to -5.)“Plus” gives you more contrast and “minus” gives you less. Zero is neutral.
With Shadow and Highlight Tone, a setting of -1 or -2 can help rescue your lights and darks from the edge of the histogram.
Color increases or decreases saturation and vibrancy, just like in Lightroom. Want to bump up Velvia even more, go +4 for maximum, candy-color pop. Make it a little less contrasty? Go minus on the Shadows. Want to mute ProNeg Low even more, go -1 or -2 on and you’re even softer. You get the idea. Finally, Sharpness is kind of like your Clarity slider in Lightroom. Plus adds crispness, minus softens things up.
You realize how powerful these simple controls are when you start combining settings. In addition, you can even add White Balance as one of your saved parameters. Go a little blueish or greenish with your WB and you’ve got the cross-processed look. Tweak toward red or magenta and you can simulate the look of film that’s well past its expiration date. Go orangish yellow and you’ve just aged your photos by a few decades.
Think about it, the options are endless. Whether you’re simply rescuing lights and darks or radically altering colors, these simple controls offer a huge amount of creative flexibility.
VELVIA Film SimCLASSIC CHROME, WITH +2 SHADOW TONE, -2 COLOR
Not only has my “film” approach to photography saved me an enormous amount of time, it frees up my brain to focus on being more creative on the spot. I’m more passionate about my photography now as I ever have been and I don’t feel that I’ve given anything up. On the contrary, I feel as if I’ve come full circle and gained every advantage on the way around.
I’ll occasionally shoot RAW when I’m faced with really challenging light, or if I’m shooting a complex assignment. For the majority of my photography, though, and I hear this from many Fuji shooters, I’m shooting JPEGs and loving it. I encourage you to experiment with this kind of film mentality and see what it does for your photography.
So check out the lesson on my YouTube channel, hopefully it will inspire you to start playing around with the creative settings inside your Fuji and come up with your own recipes as well!
Tweaking the White BalanceVELVIAETERNA, with -2 SHADOW TONE, +4 COLORACROS with B&W Adj. Warm/Cool +7
In this 10-minute tutorial, I show you how to make use of one of the most powerful and easy-to-use tools that’s found on every single X Series camera. The Highlight and Shadow Tone controls give you an very straightforward way to manage the contrast of your images.
By making simple adjustments with one or both of these settings, you can bring slight highlights under control, you can open up the shadows to reveal more detail and texture to the darker areas of your images, or you can increase the shadows for added contrast and drama.
With adjustment settings between +4 and -2, “plus” always adds more contrast, and “minus” always decreases contrast, and you can see the changes reflected in real time inside your LCD/EVF even before you capture your image.
Although you can make Highlight and Shadow Tone adjustments when shooting in RAW and adjust them further in Fujifilm X RAW Studio Software, they’re ideal when shooting in JPEG. They allow you to, in effect, process the scene right there in the moment, before you take the shot, and gain added confidence when shooting in tricky or high contrast situations.
They won’t allow you to make huge moves, and if your images is way overblown on either side of the histogram, there’s only so much you can recover, but for many scenes, a simple Highlight and/or Shadow Tone adjustment might be all you need to walk away with a better image that match your creative ideas for the scene.
You can watch the lesson on my YouTube channel here. Stay tuned for the next lesson, where I discuss how to further tweak your film simulations by using these settings and other tools found on the X Series cameras.
With longer days and a heavy dose of sunshine and beautiful warm weather that’s descended upon Anchorage lately, I’m struggling with the motivation to sit at my desk and do much work these days. Mostly I just want to be outside riding my bike. So, that’s what I’ve been doing on most days.
When I am inside, I try to stay on top of email and keep filming videos for my YouTube channel and lessons for my Photography On The Brain course, which has just begun its second hear. However, I find myself mostly wanting to do things that nurture myself and take my mind off of the continuing pandemic; like bake bread and engage in activities that qualify as goofing off.
So, in lieu of a regular “photography tips” post, I figure I’d take a quick look back at some of my favorite photos from this past winter.
Although I do love summer, winter up here in Alaska has a certain undeniable magic that makes for wonderful photography opportunities. For as much effort as it often requires, I find winter photography to be immensely rewarding. Between the bold colors of the low sun and the otherworldly textures that a heavy blanket of snow often provides, winter scenes hold such a unique fascination for me.
Winter is when I shoot most of my aerials, and during this past season, I even tried something new: I made my first aerial movie, a short film called AERIAL ADVENTURE – Winter Flying in Alaska.
Of course, there’s another aspect about winter that’s making me feel especially nostalgic. The winter of 2019-20 was the last time on earth when there was no such thing as the COVID pandemic. It was the last time we carried ourselves through daily life as we always did before the novel coronavirus spread across the entire planet and messed everything up for everyone.
So, without trying to elaborate on that further or try to come up with some kind of profound photography lesson for the day, I’ll just show you some pretty pictures. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the past winter.
During this very weird time in our lives, I’ve been encouraging people to keep being creative and following whatever crafts or artistic whims that inspire them on any given day or week. In addition, being creative during stressful times helps keep us sane and grounded, and it keeps our minds active and distracted from getting sucked into the news.
I wrote and recored the song last week, and it reflects my own mindset during this terribly uncertain and scary crisis that has brought the entire planet to a halt. Like millions of people, I find myself experiencing a mix of frustration, anger, despair, uncertainty, and trying to gain comfort when I think about my friends, who I miss dearly.
I often struggle with songwriting, but this song came together rather quickly. I recorded it last week, and I think the process reminded me that meaningful creative endeavors lives within all of us. We just need to take the time and immerse ourselves in whatever inspiration that strikes us, as we try and catch that proverbial lighting in our bottles.
In the course of an “average week,” I often find myself too busy to pick up the guitar or work on new songs. Even though this crisis, I’m still keeping myself pretty busy, but I’m allowing myself to run with different avenues of creativity right now, which I hope you are as well.
The result is a finished song that I’m immensely proud of, and so to take it to the next level, I spent the weekend shooting and editing together my very first music video ever. I see it as a project that was only 35 years in the making.
After all, being a high school kid during the golden age of MTV, I had dreams of being a rock star. After graduation, I moved to Boston, where I studied music producing and recording at Berklee College of Music and took classes like Music for Video and Film, Intro to Film Scoring and Music Production for Records.
So, as I’m starting to combine my photography and music in projects like this, and in my recent short film, AERIAL ADVENTURE: Winter Flying in Alaska, I’m finally putting my college degree to good use! 😛
Equipment Used
And of course this was another opportunity to explore a different type of creativity with my Fuji camera. I shot my “Dr. Fauci Say” music video with the following gear:
I’m excited to announce that I have just released the long-awaited 2020 update to my X SERIES UNLIMITED eBook.
Coming nearly three years after the book’s original release, this comprehensive revision is now 397-pages and up-to-date with the three new models that Fujifilm has released in the past few months: the X-Pro 3, X100V and X-T4. These cameras have some really cool new features, and hopefully we’ll see some of them trickle down to other models in the next year.
The new update also includes a host of new additions, edits, clarifications and new images, as well as full notation for all of the X-T30 features, and it’s up-to-date with Fuji’s firmware updates for numerous models, including the X-T3 and X-T30. Both of these cameras seen their capabilities grow during the past year.
A labor of love that was first published in July 2017, X SERIES UNLIMITED has become the Go-To reference guide for Fuji shooters around the world. This bestselling ebook has inspired thousands of photographers to get better results from their cameras and become more confident shooters.
With its clear, down-to-earth explanations and real-world insight and examples, it teaches you everything you need to know in order to master the X Series cameras and maximize your creative liberation with photography.
If you’re a Fuji shooter, I cannot emphasize how helpful this guide will be towards helping you understand your camera and expanding your photography in fun, new, creative ways. If you look at this page, you can see a wide range of testimonials from readers who have benefitted from my guide.
If you are an existing customer and have already purchased X SERIES UNLIMITED, you will be able to download the update for free. Watch for an email notification from me with the link.
This is a free event that will be done via Zoom, and during my talk, I’ll discuss the ways you can stay inspired and creative through these stressful and uncertain times we’re facing right now.
An extension of my recent video, I’ll share a few of my own ideas for how to stay motivated with the camera, and how continuing to engage in our creativity hobbies can help keep us sane and grounded admits the chaos.
In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to ask me questions via Zoom’s chat window and steer the discussion towards the topics you want to hear about.
If you haven’t done a Zoom chat before, it’s very simple. The easiest thing to do is download the Zoom app to your phone or tablet and then just click the invite link, which you’ll receive after you register for the event.
I’ve done a few events with Kate at Glazer’s Camera in Seattle and so I’m excited to be teaming up with them again for this talk and doing my part to keep everyone engaged through this period of extreme social distancing.
We photographers seem to have it easy. Whereas most artists spend anywhere from hours, to months to years to manufacture their creations, we can simply point, press and be done. However, that kind of convenience doesn’t necessarily translate into great imagery.
Shooting powerful photos that have lasting visual appeal requires more than just pointing and clicking; it takes applying some fundamental compositional methods that are designed to simplify your compositions and actively engage your viewers.
This is the subject of my latest YouTube video lesson. In this short tutorial, titled 5 Tips for Composing More Powerful Photographs, I outline a few essential techniques that you can use to help you strengthen the visual impact of your imagery and craft photos that will connect with your viewers.
I hope you enjoy the lesson. If you do check it out, leave me a comment and give me your feedback.
I realize that hobbies like photography have taken a backseat for many people right now, but I believe that continuing to engage in our creative passions and immersing ourselves in learning can help alleviate the stress that we’re all feeling right now in this uncertain time.
So, while you probably won’t find it quite as entertaining as Chris Mann’s awesome My Corona video parody, you might learn something that you can use the next time you pick up the camera.
The Luminar 4.2 update just came out last week, and included in the latest version are some refined AI Portrait Enhancer tools and the new AI Augmented Sky tool.
I’ll just say this right up front. I’m kind of a purist. I love the journey and challenge of searching for and capturing the natural beauty of our world with stunning, unaltered imagery. For me, this is where the true magic of photography exists.
So, augmenting my photos by adding adding things into the skies is not something I normally like to do. However, as I talked about in my video tutorial about Luminar’s Sky Replacement Tool, there are situations when this technique can come in handy, whether for personal or professional uses.
More importantly, though everything in our world has changed right now.
In this very stressful and uncertain time, we desperately need to keep our creative engines running and we should welcome just about any kind of help we can get in this arena. To this end, many music, photography and other creative software companies are offering free or heavily discounted plugins and products during the next few weeks.
And serendipitously, Skylum Software has given us a brand new AI Augmented Skies tool in their latest Luminar update. The timing couldn’t be more perfect.
This feature works very much like the AI Sky Replacement tool, except in addition to clouds, you can also add things like moons, planets, airplanes, hot air balloons, aurora, fireworks, lighting, mountains, rainbows, birds, bald eagles, and even a giraffe. Or, you can upload and add your own objects.
As with the regular Sky Replacement took, AI Augmented Sky lets you adjust the opacity and warmth of your added object, you can “relight” the object to match the ambient light in your scene, and you can even adjust the level of focus and blur.
These options allow you to create a more “realistic” look to your final image. I say that loosely, because with this tool, you can create just about any kind of image you want. You can embellish your shot with a plausible object to give it added interest, or you could go all out and combine it with Luminar’s “Dramatic” and “Mystical tools and far-out LUT color palettes in order to create wild, fantasy landscapes or comical scenes that aren’t rooted in reality at all. At least not ours.
For example, you could take your nature landscape and make it look like it it was shot on a distant Star Wars planet on the other side of the galaxy. And seriously… who among us doesn’t wish that they were on a completely different planet right right now?
For those of you who are hesitant and think this is too “gimmicky,” I hereby give you permission to embrace the fun-ness that Luminar has given us and take it down whatever creative detour your mind allows.
Many of us are home right now with plenty of time on our hands, so immerse yourself in your photography and make some art. Bring in the kids and make some silly pictures, or escape and craft an amazing, surreal world that feels like the setting of whatever sci fi or fantasy book that you’re currently reading.
Besides, what else are you going to do today? Watch the news? This is way more fun. I promise.
If you ready have Luminar 4, then the 4.2 update is a free download from within the “Check for Updates” menu selection right inside the app. If you don’t have Luminar 4, you can order the program here and save $10 with code DANBAILEY. It works as a standalone app, or as a plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom and Apple Photos.
So stay safe everyone, and remember to find some fun today.
Remember back in January when I wrote my New Year’s blog post about looking forward, making our lives what we want them to be, and pondering ideas about where we want to go with our photography this year?
Well… 2020 and this brand new decade haven’t exactly started quite out like we’d hoped, now, has it? Unfortunately, regular life has suddenly ground to a halt for many people around the world, and all those big ideas are on hold right now.
With many of us in self isolation as we try to flatten the curve, and many people home and out of work for the foreseeable future, life has suddenly become a very serious and in some cases, desperate affair for a large number of people around the globe.
As I’m sure it has for nearly everyone, the severity and urgency of this crisis has weighed on me with a great deal of concern as to what our immediate and longer term future will mean for us as a society. With my self-confidence and adventurous personality, I am usually ok with the aspect of “I don’t know” in life, but this is different. Very different.
At the same time, I’m doing my best to remain calm as I hunker down in my little house in Anchorage and stay close very close to home right now. Having traveled earlier this month, I am engaged in my own self-quarantine, and so here I am, pounding away at the keyboard just like I always do, doing my best to try and keep inspiring you, just in case you still want to think about photography.
In some ways, photography seems like kind of a trivial thing right now. After all, don’t we all have more important things to be concerned with? Yes, but even in these stressful and harried times, engaging in hobbies that make you happy and exploring your creativity can help keep us a little more sane during the chaos.
If you find that it helps you to stay a little more grounded by immersing yourself in your own creative endeavors, then I encourage you to keep exploring in whatever small chunks you find available or desirable.
Of course, it may be impossible, impractical or unsafe to practice your preferred style of photography right now, but that fact can actually force you to stretch your own creativity in new ways that you don’t normally do.
If you’re looking for inspiration, here are some ideas of isolation-friendly shooting approaches.
Shooting in Your Own Backyard
That pink poppy photo at the top is actually in my front yard. Well, not right now, but I’ve spent a lot of time over the years capturing subjects right around my house, and around my neighborhood.
Even with Anchorage’s “Hunker Down Order,” our mayor has recognized the need for us all to get outside and enjoy some fresh air during this crisis. He stated as such in the actual wording of the legal document.
Taking walks is a vital thing for us all to do, especially right now, providing that you do you best to retain proper “social distancing” techniques. With that in mind, this is a good time to explore and photograph those out-of-the-way places near your house that you never visit any other time.
There’s a world of beauty out there, and even the mundane subjects you pass by every single day can inspire some new photographic ideas if you make the effort to get out and try new approaches.
Portraits of Your Fellow Quarantinees
Of course, regular portrait photography is SO not ok right now. Well, maybe it’s ok with with a really long lens. Either way, if you’re sharing your self-isolation with someone special or a group of friends or family members, practice your people photography skills on those special people you’re stuck with.
Not so much into people photography? Like your pets better? Maybe you’re jonesing to do some action photography, or perhaps you had to cancel that that overseas wildlife photo safari trip. Not to worry. While it’s not safe to hang around people, you don’t need to social distance from your beloved pets.
Not only are they great companions during stressful times, they make wonderful photography subjects, even though the don’t always cooperate. But therein lies the challenge, right?. In that way, photographing your pets in motion can be an excellent way to practice you sports, action and wildlife photography skills.
And lets face it, we love our pets. It can be quite rewarding to make an awesome and memorable photo of your favorite animal friend.
Still Life and Object Photography
This is a great time to practice capturing subjects that you’re not always adept with or interested in shooting during normal times. Well, these aren’t normal times, and there’s a world of interring stuff inside your own house to keep you busy for a long time, like plants, textures, lego people, Star Wars action figures, musical instruments… you name it.
The Bird Feeder
I don’t think I need to say much about this. I know that some of you do this on a regular basis. If you don’t, then dig that old bird feeder out of the attic/basement, hang it up in front of a window, break out that long lens and have fun.
If you don’t have one, then make one. I’m sure there are plenty of tutorials for making homemade bird feeders to be found on the YouTube.
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No matter what you like to shoot, there’s plenty of stuff in your suddenly shrunken world right now to give you lots of visual pleasure. It may take some time to get back in the swing of things, but chances are, once you start, you may quickly find that enjoyment when you immerse yourself in your own creativity.
And don’t neglect those other hobbies too. Anything to keep you sane and happy during these strange days, even if it’s in very small chunks: Music, drawing, dance, cooking, break baking etc…
Finally, I want to offer you my heartfelt thoughts during this extremely challenging and uncertain time.
Having gotten to know many of my readers in person and through email exchanges and social media, I feel like you guys are my extended world family. I embrace the connections I feel have with you and I wish you the very best in the coming days and weeks.
Last night, Fujifilm announced the brand new X-T4, the new flagship camera in the X Series lineup. The obvious successor to the already awesome X-T3, the X-T4 adds the one thing that a lot of people have been pining for: IBIS, or In-Body Stabilization.
In a way, the X-T4 fills two roles. Not only does it improve on the X-T3’s impressive performance, it takes over for the discontinued X-H1 as a stabilized sensor camera. Using a series of magnets instead of springs, the X-T4’s IBIS allows for an even smaller footprint inside the camera, and improves accuracy up to 8 times better than what the X-H1 offered.
Designed for shooting extremely high quality stills and video, the X-T4 also solves the number one problem that many X Series users were facing, especially when shooting video or when using the camera in extreme cold:
It has a bigger battery. 👍
As X-H1 users noticed, the 5-Axis In-Body Stabilization uses more battery power, and with heavy video shooting, the NP-126S battery didn’t always last very long. Switch to 4K and battery life is even shorter.
The X-T4 uses a brand new NP-W235 battery, which is said to provide an average of around 400-600 shots per change, as opposed to the 300-400, which is typical for the NP-126. When shooting 4K video, the X-T4’s battery life is spec’d at 110 minutes, vs. 55 minutes for the X-T3.
Add in the new VG-XT4 Vertical Battery Grip, and you can get up to 1,700 frames per charge and dramatically increase your video shooting time. There’s also a Dual Battery Charger for the new NP-W235 batteries.
Main Camera Specs
On a base level, the X-T4 looks very similar to the X-T3 under the hood. It has the same Back Side Illuminated 26.1 MP APS-C X-Trans 4 CMOS sensor, and Fuji’s X Processor Pro image processing chip. So, image and video quality essentially remain the same.
Both cameras have a native ISO range between 160 and 12,800, and both cameras shoot Full HD, High Speed (Slow Motion) Full HD, and DCI/UHD 4K at up to 60p (59.94p) at up to 400Mbps, with a shutter range of 1/4 sec to 1/8,000 sec. In addition, the X-T4 allows you to choose ether MOV format or MP4 video format. This gives you even more flexibility for sharing/uploading your video files.
With its increased power, though, the X-T4 can shoot an impressive 15 frames per second when using the mechanical shutter. Compare that to the X-T3’s 11 fps max. Using the electronic shutter, both cameras can shoot at up to 30 fps, and both cameras use Fuji’s awesome PRE-SHOT ES setting.
Both the X-T4 and X-T3 have 100% phase detect pixel coverage on the sensor and use the same autofocus system.
However, with updated AF algorithms, the X-T4 now has even faster focus performance, better AF tracking, highly improved Face and Eye Detection AF, and higher sensitivity for acquiring and tracking subjects in low light. The X-T4’s AF system will focus down to -6.0EV, which is nearing the level of complete darkness.
New Features
The X-T3 contains a number of new features, some of which were first introduced into the X-Pro 3 late last year, like CLARITY, COLOR CHROME BLUE FX, and the HIGHLIGHT/SHADOW Tone Curve setting.
However the X-T4 takes it up a notch and offers the HIGHLIGHT and SHADOW Tone Curve controls with half stop adjustments. This give you even more flexibility for capturing your scenes exactly how you want them to look right inside the camera.
It also has three “Boost” modes that change the responsiveness LCD and EVF, depending on what you’re shooting.
Luminance Priority: Enhances the subject when shooting in low light
Resolution Priority: Allows you to see more of the fine details
Frame Rate Priority: Allows for smoother transitions, essential when shooting moving subjects
The X-T4 also features a brand new Film Simulation called “ETERNA Bleach Bypass.” Designed primarily for filmmakers, this new color profile produces a high-contrast look, while keeping the color saturation low.
ETERNA – Photo by Pål LaukliETERNA Bleach Bypass – Photo by Pål Laukli
Body Design
The X-T4 retains the same basic look and ergonomic functionality of the X-T3, with a few small tweaks, as you can see in the pictures below.
The old AF-L/AE-L buttons have been replaced by an AF-ON button, which I assume will also work as a Fn button. The Q Button has been moved up as well, and now there’s a simple “STILL and MOVIE” control on the color below the shutter speed dial.
The other big change is the new Vary-Angle LCD Touch Screen, which allows you to close the screen against the body for distraction-free shooting, or preventing it from being damaged, say if you’re scrambling on sketchy terrain or banging the camera around, which some of us do sometimes.
The X-T4 body is slightly bigger than the X-T3, but not by much. It also has a slightly larger grip, which will certainly appeal to many photographers. It’s not nearly as big as the X-H1 grip was, but it does offer a larger hand hold than the X-T3.
Overall
Fujifilm certainly jumped ahead of the usual X Series update schedule. It comes only a year and a half after the X-T3’s release, but with constantly improving technology and increasing competition and demands from shooters, I guess it’s not a surprise, especially with the demise of the short lived X-H1.
Obviously the X-H1 allowed Fujifilm to figure out the whole IBIS thing, but let’s face it, that camera was kind of an oddball in the lineup. If you loved your X-T2/3, then you probably didn’t like the body layout of the H1. It looks like Fuji finally decided to give people what they were asking for: a stabilized sensor X-T series camera.
So, here it is, through and through: A fully capable IBIS body that offers all the benefits of the stabilized sensor, but that faithfully retains the classic X Series design and ergonomics that we’ve all grown to love. In my mind, this is probably the best move they could make.
There’s no question, the X-T4 is the best, fastest and highest performing X Series camera ever made. Whether you shoot stills or video, this camera will get the job done for you in a big way.
If you already have an X-T3, then there might not enough reasons to upgrade to the 4. I would say that if you’re a professional and you need the fastest, most capable system for high-end photography and video, then sure… get the X-T4 and either sell the 3 or keep it as a superbly awesome backup/second body.
Of course, having IBIS on the X-T4 can extend your shutter speed by up to 6.5 stops. This is a big concern if you love to use the Fuji primes, which don’t have OIS stabilization built into the lens. This can be a huge boon to anyone for shooting in lower light.
If you’re one of those people who are still using the X-T2, or even the X-T1, then this is probably your logical upgrade… unless you want to save a few hundred dollars andpick up the X-T3 on sale. (It’s currently $200 off, with a price of only $1,299. That’s quite a bit less than the X-T4, which has a $1,699 price tag.)
Either way, we’ve got to hand it to Fuji; they’ve really delivered with the X-T4. Even the trolls will have a hard time picking this one apart.
And you can watch this X-T4 preview video by my good friend Bryan Minear.
Finally, now that the X-T4 has officially been announced, I can get to work updating my X SERIES UNLIMITED eBook to match this, and also the X-Pro 3 and X100V. Man… what a great time this is to be a Fuji user!
Finally, I want to offer you my heartfelt thoughts during this extremely challenging and uncertain time.
