Bushido Photo, LLC

Did you receive a $300 portrait voucher in the mail recently? Let us know by commenting here! Bushido Photo, LLC is a full service portrait studio serving the greater Philadelphia, New Jersey and NYC areas. You can come to our studio or we can bring the studio to you. Please call or email to book your session today! Our fine art packages start at $500 and up. Thank you, Chris Bergstrom, Owner

Ok, so what’s so special about the “new-ish” FujiFilm X-Pro1? Well, other than the technical stuff like the sensor technology, its’ compact size and being able to use my Nikon glass on it, it’s just great! The image above was taken in my studio with 2 Alien Bees strobes. This was the first image I took with this camera and when I pulled it up on my computer, I was shocked at the sharpness and image quality… One thing I like is the electronic viewfinder auto adjusts for the brigtness in low light, which helps with focusing either in autofocus or manual using Nikon glass. Another cool thing I like compared to my Nikon D700 is that I can use Eye-Fi cards. I slapped an 8GB X2 Pro Eye-Fi card in my X-Pro1 and it worked like a charm. With my Nikon I had to buy a WT-4a, which was way more expensive than an Eye-Fi card (Eye-Fi – YOU NEED TO MAKE A CF VERSION for pro shooters!!!!!).

My favorite lenses on the X-Pro1 are the 35mm (53mm equiv) and the 60mm (90mm equiv) since I shoot mostly portraits. I also like using my Nikon glass on this camera. The 105mm f/2 DC and lensbaby lenses are fun to shoot with and I am even using my old manual focus 50mm f/1.8 AIS lens.

After the firmware update, the camera seemed to respond faster and there were several menu fixes that were addressed. Since I’ve always been a Fuji film user, I like that they have several film simulators available in camera too. I normall shoot RAW, but the colors in the JPG’s are really great, so I think I’ll stick with JPG for 90% of my work until I feel a need to shoot RAW.

Zack Arias got me interested in these FujiFilm “rangefinder-esque” cameras since the X100 came out. I tried the X100 out in Yodobashi Akiba camera store in Tokyo, but I wasn’t impressed with the inability to change lenses. That’s where the X-Pro1 comes into play for me. I’m not a big camera gear nerd that gets all excited over new gear that’s released, but this camera has inspired me to shoot more than ever before. FujiFilm has really created a cool, fun and great camera!

Things I wish they would improve on. Autofocus is slow and when I press the shutter, it takes a split second for it to fire the shot. If they improve those two things, I’ll be even happier. The other thing is the Fuji lenses cannot be used in manual focus. Not a big deal since I can use my Nikon glass, but the manual focus on the Fuji lenses is HORRIBLE!!!

Ok, so I’ve seen many people posting that their local tile and flooring stores never carry solid white linoleum tile for studio floors looking to achieve that classic white seamless look. I finally found a place that sells solid white vinyl flooring and I got a 6 foot by 14 foot sheet of it for around $100!!! The cool thing is that the back side is solid black vinyl, which doubles your options if you flip it. The vinyl is reflective and long lasting. It’s thick enough to walk on with heels and can be rolled up and transported for location photo shoots as well. I called up this company and spoke with a really nice lady who had a remnant lying around and she offered it to me at a steal of a price (thank you)! After I placed the order, I received it the next day and I have to say, it’s WAY better than tileboard from home depot that only comes in 4×8 ft sheets. This thing is what every photographer shooting on white seamless needs, especially if you’re on a budget like I am. I sent the link to Zack Arias via twitter, but he hasn’t responded, but I know he’d love this stuff a lot!!! I hope people take notice of this and share the link and this blog with many other photographers looking for a better solution for white seamless shooting than tileboard. Thanks for stopping by and I hope this little tidbit contributes to the photography community. Here’s the link.

http://www.flooradvice.com/remnants.htm

Sincerely, Chris Bergstrom
www.bushidophoto.com

Click here to order workshop tickets!

Chris Bergstrom (Bushido Photo, LLC) is hosting an off camera lighting workshop for photographers looking to bring their photos to the next level. The workshop will be held on 13 May 2012 and will run all day starting at 9 a.m. and will end as late as 2 a.m. if need be. Beverages and food will be provided (please let us know if you have any special diet concerns so we can ensure that your dietary needs are met).

Introduction to lighting, fundamentals of photography, composition, studio lighting, equipment recommendations, powerpoint slide show, questions and answers. All attendees will have a chance to take their own photos and have them critiqued by photographer Chris Bergstrom. Location shooting, post processing, having a lot of fun shooting until way past dark! This will be a lot of fun and will absolutely step up your game in photography to the professional level.

I can guarantee that each and every member of this workshop will be fully satisfied and will walk away with all of the knowledge and tools that they need to become better photographers. This course is geared toward the use of strobes/flash, but there is a lot of information about general photography techniques that will be covered.

What you need to bring:

- Digital SLR

- Lens ranging from 24-120mm (Whatever lens you have will be fine, this is just recommended)

- A good attitude

Topics covered

Fundamentals of photography

Subject posing

Lighting scenarios

Seamless white background shots

Shooting at night (dragging the shutter)

Location scouting

Location shooting

Post processing

Color correction

Shooting any time of the day while using variable neutral density filters and high powered strobes outdoors

and much, much more…

I’m looking forward to seeing you there.

–Chris Bergstrom

Bushido Photo, LLC

www.bushidophoto.com

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