julia trotti | youtube photography tutorials
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.
In November, I was invited to Japan by LUMIX to attend the LUMIX Global Summit for the announcement of something new. I left Sydney with Dan, Aaron and Simon in the evening and we landed in Toyko, Japan the next morning. We were all a little tired from the overnight flight, but we decided to head out and explore Tokyo since we had a free day before the event.
The Fujifilm X-S20 is a hybrid mirrorless camera body with a 26.1 megapixel APSC sensor. Like the X-S10, the X-S20 embodies a simpler body design without the dedicated shutter and ISO dial you'll find on other Fujifilm bodies such as X-T series. I also use this camera for a portrait photoshoot and share unedited, straight out of camera images at 100% crop.
The Google Pixel 7a is Google's latest mid-range phone featuring 2 cameras. I'm taking the camera's out for a hands-on review in real world to see how they perform. By taking portraits and cityscapes I will share with you unedited and edited samples of the 7a Ultrawide Camera, Wide Camera and 2x Zoom. I also share video samples of the Pixel 7a with both the rear and front cameras, plus share a sample of the microphone quality.
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.
Choosing the right focal length for the scene is half the work in photography. Depending on what focal length you choose, can drastically change what the photo looks like. In this series, I will be comparing all main prime lens focal lengths at portrait photoshoots. We are starting this series off on the wide end with the 24mm vs 35mm!
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.
The Sony G 20-70mm f4 is a small and lightweight lens considering the wide focal range it provides. This lens has external zoom and weighs 488g, it feels comfortable and balanced on the Sony A7IV. This 20-70mm f4 has a focus ring, a zoom ring and an aperture ring which features an IRIS lock switch. The focus ring is linear. There is an aperture click switch, AF to MF switch and a customisable focus hold button. This lens is rated by Sony to be dust and moisture resistant.
The LUMIX S5II is a full frame, 24 Megapixel camera. I am taking it out in Tokyo, Japan to see how it performs in the real world for both photo and video. Unlike other LUMIX cameras that only use contrast detection AF, the LUMIX S5II now uses Phase hybrid AF!
Using vintage lenses is a fun way to capture interesting images. For this portrait photoshoot I am using the Sony A7IV with the 7 element Super Takumar 50mm f1.4. To be able to use this lens on my Sony A7IV, I am using an M42 to Sony FE adaptor. This particular Super Takumar is quite yellowed. It caused a mixture of results on the day.
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.
The Samyang V-AF 75mm T1.9 is a full frame, Sony E-mount lens. For photography, I am using this prime lens on the Sony A7IV and the A7sIII for video. This V-AF 75mm T1.9 is part of Samyang's new video lens line up.
The Tamron 50-400mm f4.5 - f6.3 is a full frame, Sony E-mount lens. For this portrait photoshoot I am using this lens on the Sony A7IV. This Tamron 50-400mm is a zoom lens with an incredible amount of versatility.
