Monochromatic with the Fuji X100 By Renan Luna

January 18, 2014 essay, follow ups, Fuji, Guest Post, Mirrorless, Street Photography, User Reports 37

Monochromatic with the Fuji X100

By Renan Luna

Like many others, I’m a hobbyist photographer and I visit your site daily. I have been shooting for at least 10 years, mostly part-time with my old – and now semi-retired – Canon Rebel XS. I love this camera, but its weight and size hardly go unnoticed by the subjects.

In São Paulo, where I live, the people are not so open-minded to be photographed. In fact, they hate it! So, I needed to upgrade my equipment or lose one shoot after another. I decided…the Fuji x100 looks nice to me!

The camera is amazing (the Steve wrote a great review of that). The grip, lenses, size and everything fit with my needs perfectly! I’m back to action days, sneaking in the shadows and hunting for the photos without being discovered.

I’m a color-blind person and monochromatic photos is true passion to me. And again, the Fuji x100 supports me very well in this case with some interesting options of film simulations, especially the black and white ones, that do not need a lot of processing to get images with the results that I want.

After I bought the x100, my style changed a little bit. The fixed lens of 23mm has no zoom of course, but yet it is so versatile you can shoot in open areas and in a living room without losing quality or details. It’s a unique experience!

My intention with this text is just to show that a good camera is just a tool, what counts is the person who controls it. I hope this will inspire someone to do something special!

Thank you for the opportunity to write.

Wishing you well and good photos for us all!

My contacts:

http://www.flickr.com/renanluna

http://www.facebook.com/renanlunas 

Thank you again,

Renan Luna

A cat in the dark

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37 Comments

  1. X100 is a great camera for black and white photography. With some creative post-processing, the pictures can be indistinguishable form film (if scanned). I love my X100 and I often shoot B&W with it. However, shooting film is a completely different experience. To me, digital (no matter how good) cannot completely replace film. I’ve been shooting B&W with my Yashica T4 with flash lately and the results are simply astounding! I cannot replicate them with X100 or any other digital camera I own. So, go X100, but don’t give up on film 🙂

  4. I usually shoot Tri-X when I want B/W. But for low light shooting, my X100 is wonderful. The monochrome files look great at 3200 and even 6400. I made a couple B/W presets in Aperture 3 and then usually just adjust exposure. Very quick and easy!

      • It certainly looks different – but neither the X100 nor my favorite tool (Sony RX1) or any other camera can really replace or even emulate the look of ‘classic’ film like TXP or HP5… the grain and rendering are just too different.

        I like and use both media.

        Cheers,

        Michael
        =->
        PS: Thanks for presenting your pics!!!

  6. I also enjoy your monochrome images as well. Like you, I’m also color blind and prefer to photograph in b&w since I have such a difficult time to get pleasing colors. For those unfamiliar with color blindness, it does not mean that we can only see in gray scale. Rather, certain colors can look similar such as red and green, blue and purple, etc. For me, street lights look the same color as the green traffic lights…they all look white to me!

  7. I like your subjects and compositions. You’re having fun, and it shows!

    I have a personal opinion about tone (maybe it doesn’t match yours, but here goes, anyway):

    I find that if there is too much of the shot hovering around middle gray (and a bit darker), things look a bit dingy.
    Sometimes keeping that look is the _right_ choice — it may match the subject matter.

    But often I find that separating the darks from the lights makes things more compelling and inviting. I mean: if necessary, push a lot of the mid-tones brighter (still leaving satisfying shadows) — making a bit of a hollow in the middle of the histogram.

    It’s certainly not appropriate in all cases; but for me it works as a general guideline.
    I find it often really makes a photo breathe!

    I hope I’m not too opinionated; but that’s what I would have done to some of your shots.

    But I certainly enjoyed your work! Hope to see more of your beautiful and interesting country.

  8. I was really interested to see how you compose with just the 35mm fixed lens – great! I like the off-centre cat in number 1, and the landscapes are super, too. I know it’s a matter of taste, but I think lightening the shadows – just enough to reveal the wall in number two and a good bit more in number nine – makes for more interesting shots.

  9. That’s my man!
    Congratulations for the post! Its awesome!
    Some pics I love for ages, some I starting now, because I’ve never seen before.
    Dude, you rock!
    Love you!

  10. “My intention with this text is just to show that a good camera is just a tool, what counts is the person who controls it.”

    This is to give compliment to yourself that you are very good?
    LoL..things like this only looks good when someone else tells you, not you tell yourself.
    It’s quite embarrassing.

    • No no no, sorry if I say something wrong, but what I mean is: good photos dont depends only of top cameras! Sorry about that, my english is very weak and I may have spoken silly things … =P

    • To “Just Passed”….I think you completely misread Renan’s text….It made perfect sense to me and I would actually agree with his statement.

  11. I found that making myself visible, laughing and joking with people around me seems to break down barriers. It helps that I am an older gentleman. I guess I don’t appear threatening.

    It is easier to take a photo if I give them something in return. It could be a compliment, a joke, or other types of interaction. One instance involved trading lighthearted barbs with the distrustful eldest daughter of a family I wanted to photograph. The exchange relaxed everyone including the protective daughter. I got the photos I wanted, and I hope they enjoyed the give and take.

    • “Laugh is the best remedy”, my mother says! ANd she is right! I like the interactions, the smiles, and jokes with the people that I photograph, but sometimes, they just are not about to play, then I photograph, I thank my way and I’ll embor. Thanks for the tips!

  13. Hi Renán, nice Pictures, the x100 is indeed a wonderful camera. Must be quite unique shooting color blinded, my respects for that.

    I also live in São Paulo, but have a complete different idea in regards to the people, I actually find that they love to be photograph. I lived in other countries and never bump into people so eager to be shoot. Remember just smile and be polite, I learned that in SP that takes you a long way… 🙂

    • Hi ailukewitsch, I totally understood you. The people have differents reaction to different approaches. I’m polite and smile everytime but you lived here and know how the dangerous is walk in some streets of this city. Thank you by you comment and support.

  14. lindas fotos! Moro em Curitiba, Brasil, e por aqui as pessoas também não gostam muito de serem fotografadas…
    Gostei de todas, especialmente a segunda e a nona!
    Parabéns!

    • Obrigado Diego! Percebi, depois do post, que o pessoal não compartilha muito essa visão da nossa dificuldade em fotografar pessoas aqui no Brasil, mas isto é interessante também para vermos as coisas por outro lado.Abraço.

  15. hi there really loved your images…could you
    please share the monochrome settings as well

  17. Fascinating. Thanks for these photos. I do not believe I’ve ever knowingly viewed the work of a color-blind photographer other than myself (I’m partially color blind). I enjoyed this tour of a place I will likely never have a chance to visit.

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