Faisal is a San Francisco based lifestyle photographer who currently shoots with a Leica M 240 rangefinder camera. These are his thoughts.
One Year Later
A few words reflecting on one year of photography
Twelve months, eight lenses, five cameras, and two tripods later, I've finally crossed one year of photography. Having gone through most of the major camera brands — Nikon, Canon, Fuji, and Sony — I've come to the simple realization that I'm addicted to buying and trying the latest gear. Technology is what keeps me up at night. I love reading about and experimenting with the most cutting-edge technology available. This addiction is what led me to ditch DSLRs and adopt mirrorless technology.
Because of my background and work experience with software, post-processing is what I look forward to the most when it comes to photography. Computers have always been second nature to me, so naturally, post-processing is just an extension of that. My editing process consists of Lightroom 6 and VSCO Film. I have a custom import action that applies the correct lens profile, my standard VSCO filter (this changes every few months), and sharpening settings. I then tweak exposure and white balance to my liking. That's pretty much all I do in most cases.
In more extreme cases, where the results are not up to liking, I'll usually drive deep into the HSL panel and refine individual colors. The most common scenario for this is adjusting skin tones. Because VSCO Film does not officially support the Sony A7II yet, there aren't any custom camera profiles to match the custom filters, so occasionally I'll end up with some really orange skin tones. Adjusting the luminance and saturation of orange is a simple and quick fix.
Now
One Year Ago
If you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to contact me or leave a comment. Thanks.
A Photographer's Guide to San Francisco
When it comes to landscape and urban photography, San Francisco is an endless oasis of opportunity. From the famous attractions, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, to the more grungy local spots, such as Clarion Alley, SF has something for everyone at any time of day. Here is a list of a few of my favorite attractions to capture.
Bay Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
Land's End
Downtown from Coit Tower
Potrero Hill
Chinatown
California Street
California and Jones
Broadway Street
Palace of Fine Arts
Twin Peaks
Clarion Alley
Dynamic Range on the Sony A7II
In photography, dynamic range refers to the ratio of light intensity captured by a camera's sensor (whites and blacks). For landscape photographers, dynamic range plays a huge role in the craft because it lets photographers capture a huge range of color. This gives the camera the ability to capture detail in the sky while also retaining detail in the shadows (a common scenario is a sunset picture).
In photography, dynamic range refers to the ratio of light intensity captured by a camera's sensor (whites and blacks). For landscape photographers, dynamic range plays a huge role in the craft because it lets photographers capture a huge range of color. This gives the camera the ability to capture detail in the sky while also retaining detail in the shadows (a common scenario is a sunset picture).
My Canon 6D had great dynamic range and I had no complaints, however after using my Sony A7II for a few days, I’m amazed by how much more room there is to play with. With the 6D, I wasn't able to bring the shadows up as much as the Sony can without introducing noise artifacts. I also notice greater highlight retention and recovery with Sony's RAW files.
For the following pictures, I exposed for the highlights, which means the foreground is underexposed. I did this in order to preserve detail in the sky and in the clouds. By using this technique, I’m able to have a detailed sky and I can recover detail in the shadows by lifting them via post processing.
Click the images to see the originals.
