This is the Sony G 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 and usually you would use this lens for sports or wildlife photography, but today I’m using it for portraits.
When I do portrait photoshoots, I usually like using wide lenses like a 35mm and the most telephoto I'll go is something like a 135 prime. Since this 200-600 is such an extreme telephoto range it was a really fun and different experience to shooting with than I'm used to, especially in the city streets.
I hope you enjoy all the photo examples and video!
All photos edited with my Earthy Lightroom Preset Pack
All photos edited with my Earthy Lightroom Preset Pack
During this photoshoot, I’m using the Sony A7IV paired with the Samyang 24-70mm f2.8 zoom lens. This zoom lens gives me a lot of flexibility while shooting as it allows me to capture both wide and tight compositions without changing lenses. This is especially helpful is fast paced environments or when taking photos on a time crunch. While taking portraits, I’m also sharing a few of my go to composition tips for working with a standard zoom like this.
I spent a morning doing landscape photography around Lake Bled in Slovenia using the Sony A7IV with the GM 35mm f1.4 lens.
In this video, I want to share with you reasons to help you decide wether you should be upgrading your camera body or your lens and which one to do first. I’ll walk you through the key factors to consider when deciding between each option.
For this portrait session, I am using the Zeiss 50mm f1.4 on the Sony A7 IV, capturing backlit images on the beach during golden hour. The combination of the lens’s wide aperture and the warm, soft light of the setting sun helped create intimate, glowing portraits with beautiful light falloff and natural skin tones.
I am comparing the Zeiss 50mm f1.4 vs Zeiss 55mm f1.8 at a real-world portrait photoshoot. I share various different side by side photo comparisons at 100% crop, so you can see all the details.
For this portrait photoshoot I am using the Fujifilm X-T4 paired with two of my favorite prime lenses: the Fujinon XF 16mm f/1.4 R WR and XF 23mm f/1.4 R LM WR.
I captured these photos of Megan Emmett for the Candice Lee Femme Collection. You can see more of Candice Lee’s bridal gowns and hair styling work here.
This blog post includes some of my favourite photos I took during my time in Japan with the S5II. If you want to hear my complete thoughts and review of the S5II capabilities for photo and video, you can watch my review video here.
In November, I was invited to Japan by LUMIX to attend the LUMIX Global Summit for the announcement of the new LUMIX S5II. Paired with the new camera body and an array of lenses, Dan and I took to the streets of Tokyo, Japan to film our review video of the camera body.
In November, I was invited to Tokyo, Japan by LUMIX to attend the LUMIX Global Summit. They didn't tell me what was going to be announced, but I was very excited to find out because it sounded like it was going to be something big. On the morning of the event, I met Pav and we went for a little photo walk around the streets of our hotel. For this trip, I decided to bring the LUMIX S5 with me to test it out for photo and video.
The Sony A7RV is a full frame, 61 megapixel camera for stills and video. In today’s portrait photography session I am using the Sony GM 135mm f1.8 lens. For this portrait photoshoot, I am using natural light and making use of different parts of our location to create a series of photos.
We set off the loop walk around the lake and it was such a stunning stroll. I loved every minute of it and kept stopping to take photos. I was contemplating coming here for sunrise but I'm happy we visited in the afternoon. The second half of the lake was all backlit and I captured some of my favourite photos where you can see the moon plus the jagged peaks of the mountains. Austria is SO incredible!
It's been a long day starting at 4am for sunrise landscape photography, then a trip to Lake Gousau and finally a stop in the town of Hallstatt. I have visited Hallstatt a few years ago during the spring. It's strange on that trip I was wearing a thick turtle neck jumper and on this trip just a light dress!
As I was getting ready to go to bed for a sunrise start the next day, I noticed the moon outside our bathroom window. It was in a crescent shape during blue hour and headed towards the jagged mountain peak. Dan quickly set up the tripod for a timelapse while I snapped a few photos. I started with a closeup shot of the moon with my 200-600mm f5.6-6.3 OSS lens.
I set my alarm for 4am, Dan and I hopped in the car while it was still dark and drove to our first location. We had scouted a couple of sunrise spots the day before. This spot was a nothing place - not a landmark or a viewpoint. It was by a little carpark for an army base just off the side of the road.
This is the last part of my mammoth blog series from my time in Prague, Czech Republic. I have recently been loving shooting on 35mm film again, specifically with point and shoot cameras. I brought the Contax T2 and Olympus Mju-ii with me on this trip and I used both those cameras to take the photos in this blog post. I used 2 film stocks including Fujifilm C200 in the Mju-ii and Portra 160 in the Contax.
Our final day in Prague included another sunrise start. The best way to capture stunning shots of a city in the middle of summer is to get up before everyone else does haha. This morning we decided to head to the Prague Old Town Square. WOW it was beautiful with the bright, sunrise light streaming through the buildings.
Unlike our first day in Prague, on day 2 Dan and I managed to wake up at sunrise. Since we are here in the middle of summer, it gets extremely busy during the day. In order to be able to capture photos of the city, we need to get up as early as possible! The bonus side to having quiet streets is early in the morning, you also have beautiful soft light to work with as well.
After a busy first day exploring Prague under the summer sun, Dan and I took some time to relax and do some shopping. We ended up at FotoSkoda to take a look at the film cameras and I also bought a cross body camera strap in green. Having a camera strap around my neck is too uncomfortable during long days shooting! It's been a long 4 years since I've travelled anywhere so I'm learning all over again along the way.
It was a slow, rainy 5 hour drive from Poznan, Poland to make it to Prague, Czech Republic. We arrived in the late afternoon and checked into our hotel. It was one of the only hotels left in the city with parking which was a tight squeeze to get into. We dropped off our bags and wandered around the streets of Prague during the light afternoon rain which felt so fresh in the middle of summer.
I thought I would share my street photography separately in this post instead. I captured all these photos with my Sony A7IV + GM 35mm f1.4.
Finally, the travel blogs are back!! It's been 3 years since I went overseas, my last trip being to Scotland to do photography for a wedding. Now that the Australian borders have opened again, Dan and I decided to head back to Gdansk, Poland to see his family. By the end of our first whirlwind week we were ready to head off on our month-long road trip. First stop - Poznan, Poland!
During this photoshoot on the streets of Sydney, I share 5 composition tips to improve your portraits. I take you through my thought process when taking portraits in busy locations and share what to look out for to capture beautiful portrait of your subject.
The Sony FE 28mm f/2 is a compact, affordable wide-angle prime lens designed for full-frame Sony E-mount cameras. It's a great choice for travel, street photography, landscapes, and even video! The Sony 28mm F2 is perfect as a lightweight and fast wide-angle option without breaking the bank.