Annabelle, Drink and Click Portrait – Austin, Texas

I mentioned yesterday when I started posting my classic black and white portraits, that these were different. I was using my new Fuji camera instead of Olympus. While both used a roughly 50mm equivalent focal length, there’s a major technical difference between the cameras that greatly influences the way I shoot. Consequently, I think the look of the photos changes too.

The Olympus has in-body image stabilization, while the Fuji has none. When shot with adequate light supplied by a big softbox, as in today’s photo, as well as yesterday’s, image stabilization isn’t important. I can use a fast shutter speed. However, many of my Olympus black and white portraits use ambient light at a slow shutter speed. Something I can’t do with the Fuji.

Consequently, I’m limited by where I can shoot with the Fuji at night. I need an strong light source. I lose the ability to make those softer moodier black and whites that I can do with the Olympus. Harder dedicated light vs. softer ambient light. Neither is better or worse, just different. But, I personally like the options the Olympus gives me in these darker conditions.

There’s no reason of course that I can’t use both cameras. For my future setup, perhaps I’ll use the Olympus PEN-F with the 25mm f1.4 lens along with the Fujifilm X-T10 with the 56mm f1.2. That’ll give me two focal lengths geared toward portraits.

Today, I feature Annabelle, who I met for the first time that night. The framing is a little different with her looking right, into the dark abyss.

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