Better Fuji Photos

Better Fuji Photos Episode 42: 2023 Wrap and 2024 Thoughts We made it a year! I honestly didn't think this podcast would make it a year, discouraged mainly by statistics of how many of them quickly die. But I was encouraged to continue by all of you! How did 2023 go for everyone? Were you able to pursue the year-long challenge presented in Episode 1? I hope so, and I hope it made you a better...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 41: Tips for Using Fujifilm's Color Chrome Effect Fujifilm's camera manuals leave much to be desired when discussing Color Chrome Effect and Color Chrome FX Blue. What exactly do they do? When would you use them? And how? Color Chrome Effect settings (which may or may not be found on certain cameras) help you avoid oversaturating specific colors by decreasing the...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 40: Mastering Depth of Field - It's Not Just Aperture! Maybe you've been there. You're wondering why your photo created at f/22 has a sharp foreground but a blurry background, even though it was at f/22. Or why your photo made at f/1.4 doesn't have a blurry background like f/1.4 photos should. That's because, as educators, we've failed to emphasize how depth of field is...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 39: Processing with Fujifilm's In-Camera RAW Converter If you're striving for the perfect in-camera JPEGs but want to change something simple on a photograph you already captured, like the exposure or the white balance, no need to take that file to a computer to make the changes! Use your in-camera RAW converter. To do this: You must be recording the RAW file (Im...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 38: Obsessing Over the Wrong Things What do you think is the most important part of a photograph? The moment captured or the small technical details that no one but yourself will notice? This short episode is not meant to diminish the technical aspects that accompany photography - only to say that, with all of the gear being sold to us, sometimes we lose sight of what&#3...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 37: Staying in Manual Focus All the Time Are you currently using the "traditional" back-button focus (BBF) technique where you're in autofocus modes but using the back AF button? Or have you tried BBF but didn't like how you had to permanently disable autofocus with the shutter button? This alternative may be a better solution for you. Staying in Manual...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 36: Using the Histogram for Perfect Exposures Traditional "metering" is still available in today's digital cameras. But why not use an easier, better tool to get more accurate exposures? That's the histogram! This graph, which you can enable in different ways in your camera (outlined in the podcast & article), is easiest to use when broken up into t...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 35: Fujifilm's Targeted Contrast Control Fujifilm Film Simulations have set contrast levels, all different. But what if you want to modify that contrast even further? That's what the Tone Curve (Highlight Tone & Shadow Tone) settings are for, and the topic of this podcast episode. Just remember: Shadow Tone only affects the dark tonal areas (shadows), not the...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 34: Camera Bag Essentials There are just some things that photographers should always have with them, and I like to break this up into the "must haves," "nice to haves," and "situation-dependent." I'm also a big fan of the modular system - using organizers like those from Think Tank Photo and Shimoda to keep all related items together fo...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 33: ACROS Color Filters ACROS is an awesome black & white film simulation. So why does it have color filters if there's no color? It's all about controlling contrast . Color filters separate colors rendered in grayscale, giving you different amounts of contrast. These color filter options are in the Film Simulation submenu for the ACROS and Monochrome film si...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 32: A Photo Mechanic + Capture One Workflow Photo Mechanic is a great editor, but you can't process RAW photos. Capture One is a superior RAW processor, but its editing functionality is nowhere near what Photo Mechanic can do. How can you easily combine Photo Mechanic and Capture One in a workflow to get the best of both programs? That's what we'll discuss in...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 31: Fujifilm's Q Button in Shooting Mode That little Q Button on the back or top of your camera - a nuisance to many, a savior to others. This episode will discuss what the Q Button is for, how to program it, and how to use it. We'll go over why to use it, picking how many slots to use, the background mode, and examples of programming for both JPG and RAW photogr...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 30: Editing to Improve your Photography When chasing the perfect photograph, we often get bogged down in gear choices and post-processing techniques. But when was the last time you paid attention to editing - the process of selecting which photos you want to share - as a means to improve your photography? Why are you selecting those photos, and how can you improve your p...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 29: Fine-Tuning Colors with White Balance Bracket Continuing with our one-year Fujifilm challenge outlined in Episode 1, here we're going to discuss another tool available to us to get to that goal. And that's the White Balance Bracket drive mode, useful for when you might want to see some variations in the selected white balance. There is no correlation between...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 28: Finding Photography Success without Instagram Go to any "Starting your photography business" checklist and you'll see "create an Instagram page" on there, with a long list of "rules" for posting to Instagram. It works, and some people really have fun with it, and find success doing so. But it's not for everyone. So is it possible...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 27: How to "Simplify" Your Fujifilm Camera Do you ever get distracted by all of the fancy features in your camera that you get overwhelmed or, worse yet, miss an important moment? Do you ever wish you could just have a "bare bones" camera at times? Set your exposure & focus, wait for the right moment, then press the shutter button? This episode, a...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 26: Stuck In a Rut? Give Yourself an Assignment! We all experience "photographer's block" or get in a rut where we just don't have any interest or desire to get out with our camera. And that's a shame! One way to fix this is to give ourselves photography assignments. We look at a few ideas for photography assignments in this episode, as well as how...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 25: Dealing with High-Contrast Scenes in Fujifilm Cameras When the scene you're photographing has a lot of contrast - the entire range of tones from really dark shadows to really bright highlights - there are two standard ways of dealing with it: 1) Accept it, or 2) create an exposure bracket and blend an HDR image. What if you don't want that much contrast, but...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 24: Backing Up Your Photos While Traveling How do you ensure your photos are secure while you're on the road? You certainly don't want only to have them on one SD card - you'd lose everything should that SD card disappear or get damaged. You can still follow the 3-2-1 backup rule while traveling, and we'll look at some strategies for this in this episode....

Better Fuji Photos Episode 23: Changing Aperture in Fujifilm Cameras Nearly all Fujifilm and third-party lenses have a ring on the lens to change your aperture. However, this may not be entirely intuitive and might be completely different than what you're used to if coming from a different camera. This episode will cover how to configure the different methods of changing aperture in Fujifilm c...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 22: Choosing the Right SD Card How do you pick the right SD card? There are so many different letters and numbers on them that understanding their capabilities - and how that relates to your photography/videography - can be incredibly confusing. In this episode we'll cover: Storage capacities Bus speeds Speed classes Ideal cards for different photographers Ideal card...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 21: Troubleshooting Fujifilm Grayed-Out Menu Settings One of the frustrating things about Fujifilm cameras is that when you see a menu item grayed out and inaccessible, there's no indication as to why it's inaccessible. No tips on the screen, and the manual doesn't offer a lot of help in many situations. This leaves you wondering, "how do I get to this s...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 20: Photographing People in Public (Case Study) If any stranger has ever been in your camera viewfinder, I'm sure these thoughts have crossed your mind at some point: Can I photograph this person? What can I do with the photograph afterward? Is it legal? Is it ethical? We will answer those questions in this episode via a case study, a photograph submitted by one of o...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 19: How Accurate are Fujifilm Film Simulations? Some time ago, I went down some rabbit hole on the Internet and came across an argument about the "accuracy" of Fujifilm film simulations compared to the analog equivalents. How close are PROVIA, ASTIA, VELVIA, etc to the real deal? But does it really matter? Film is all about which subject you're photographin...

Better Fuji Photos Episode 18: Five Apps to Improve your Landscape & Travel Photography As much as I hate to say that I love smartphone apps to help my photography, I'm going to have to get used to it. Smartphone apps can really help with photography planning, creation, and post-production. Here are five landscape & travel photography apps that you should really check out if you're...