August 2008

What a busy month regarding my photography. I took a lot of portraits of our friends. The kitchen idea really works. Even if they hate to be photographed they simply got no choice. I think that everybody would love to have a nice portrait of themself. With every good image it is easier to convince my "models" to give it a try. The technique and style is always the same. I like to concentrate on the face. Therefore I use the 135L on my 5D. I shoot without flash or reflectors. The light I get from the large window works as a giant light box and is ultrasoft so this place in our kitchen proofed to be the perfect spot for portrait photography.

But in August I also took 2 weeks off from work. Because we still have to work on our new house we decided against a longer vacation but drove to Italy for 5 days because of the poor weather in Austria. In Italy the weather was great. It was warm and sunny as you expect it to be in August. We spent 2 nights in Udine and 2 nights in Trieste. I will put a new folder in my travel section under TRAVEL/ITALY => Udine, Trieste

As I always prefer to travel light when on a short vacation I took only my point and shot camera ( a Panasonic FX100 ) with me. I bought a Panasonic TZ5 for my wife a month ago so this camera was available as well. I borrowed it sometimes for long teleshots of the setting sun in Trieste. I can not say how I love these small cameras. Sure it is a compromise regarding image quality but instead of lugging around a big D-SLR you can use a camera that also takes great images but has only the size of your wallet or mobile phone. Sometimes these little cameras are all you need to get the shot.

I owned a couple of digital cameras in the past 10 years but for me the newer Panasonics are as good as it gets. I really like the handling of these cameras. I like the good lenses. I like that they offer real wide angle ( 28mm ) and I like the white balance and colors they produce. Shooting JPEG you really need a camera that get these things right. The Panasonics produce an image that is like what I got from my old Canon Ixus V2 ( my favourite camera regarding colors ) when I set WB to cloudy and set exposure to -2/3 stops. They Panasonics slightly warm the image and gave really great results right out of the box.

Are they perfect? Well no to be honest. They are too noisy and should be used only at the lowest ISO setting ( 80ASA for the FX100 or 100ASA for the TZ5 ) if possible. Even at the lowest setting there is noise in dark areas and shadow. If you hate noise you have to look somewhere else. Try to get a used Fuji F31FD instead or simply go DSLR. I prefer the good colors and punchy images I get from the Panasonics and can live with a little noise.

But I´m also a big gear head. I would love to have a digital version of my Contax T2 ( one of the best compacts ever ). Sigma failed with the DP1 but maybe Panasonic or Olympus are able to produce something with this new Micro Fourthirds. Or maybe there will be a Micro APS-C in the future. I really prefer the 3:2 aspect ratio over 4:3 and so I set both Panasonics to 3:2. I also used the 16:9 format a couple of times which proofed to be great on some occasions. Anyway I think the future looks bright for gear heads.

There is something I have to add: Here is my real picture of the month.

So why it is not my picture of the month in August? The answer is simple: The subject is the same as in the month before. Harald. This time it was a planed shooting. The image was taken in the museum. The light came from a large window. I used my 35L@f2.8. The resulting image was simple stunning. The level of detail is amazing and the transition to the background is just great. If only he could have worn something else. Next time I will bring a blue or grey shirt. ;-)

Now thats a POM this time: 5 images! Seems that I´m just unable to decide. lue of

settings main shots: Panasonic FX100, ISO 80, 16:9 aspect ratio

settings second image: Canon 5D, 135L, A-Mode, 1/125s@f4, 400ASA

settings third image: Canon 5D, 135L, A-Mode, 1/400s@f4, 800ASA