View allAll Photos Tagged lumixgx9
Albaicín, Granada, Spain.
Taken with my Panasonic Lumix GX9 camera and a Panasonic G 14mm f/2.5 lens.
... ich habe in der Nacht, den Menschen Freude gemacht. Jetzt darf ich auch noch aufs Foto zur Erinnerung und Freude des Fotografen.
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Hellebores are poisonous flowers, but they can be incredibly beautiful. For some reason, many of the flowers in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) have highly fluorescent pollen – and sometimes even patterns that appear directly in ultraviolet light to attract pollinators. Hellebores, also called “winter roses”, “Lenten roses”, “Christmas roses” among other names, are carefully bred to produce a wide variety of unique cultivars.
This cultivar with dark purple petals stood out for me. I knew the pollen would be a light show from past experience. In regular light, the flower isn’t all that interesting (see that version here: donkom.ca/bts/_1091101.jpg ). The downward curve of the stem was interesting, and I imagined the flower as a lamp of some kind. The pollen would be in the exact same position as a “light bulb”, so the idea progressed. Add ultraviolet light to induce fluorescence!
One of the main “ingredients” here is fog, to give atmosphere to the illumination. This was accomplished with a handheld vegetable glycerine vapourizer called a “microfogger”. You can get one here: workshopscience.com/product/microfogger/ . Using vaping technology in a 3D printed casing, it’s a simple and effective way to add atmospheric fog to macro photographs. I’ve only used it a handful of times but every time it has made the resulting image much more dramatic.
This was shot with a Lumix GX9 and a Laowa 50mm F/2.8 macro lens. ISO 200, F/16 and a whopping 8-second exposure, and the ultraviolet light was provided by a Convoy C8 extremely intense narrow-beam UV flashlight. I still enjoy shooting with the tiny-but-powerful GX9, and this is proof that you don’t need flagship hardware to get successful results, even when you are pushing technical limits.
Photography is a mesh of art and science. This image is a great representation of that: understanding the technical aspects of a composition is incredibly important, but establishing a narrative or a storytelling concept is equally valuable. One may come before the other, or then are intertwined from the inception of an idea, like this “magic lantern”. If you’re curious for more technical tips on how to make your own images like this, my upcoming book on macro photography is something you’ll want to get your hands on!
eBook (available immediately): skycrystals.ca/product/pre-order-ebook-edition-macro-phot...
Hardcover (shipping begins May 10th): skycrystals.ca/product/pre-order-macro-photography-the-un...
Prices go up in the next few days as soon as I take delivery of the printed editions of the book.
A classic “stellar dendrite” snowflake – always a crowd-pleaser! But the real treasure here isn’t the snowflake itself, but the camera gear used to photograph it. This was shot with a Micro Four Thirds camera and a standard macro lens. Nothing exotic, nothing extreme; camera gear you may already have!
I often push the limits of what cameras can capture, right up to the resolving limits introduced through diffraction. At a certain point, no matter how expensive or advanced your camera equipment, you can go no further. However, such equipment can be intimidating to people that want to casually explore a subject. For this snowflake, I used the Lumix GX9 and the Leica 45mm F/2.8 macro lens. The Panasonic 30mm macro or the Olympus 60mm macro would have had comparable results. The Lumix GX9 is an excellent tiny travel camera!
I’ve long suggested that the Micro Four Thirds system is great for macro photography, as you have a perceived magnification increase when you compare the field of view of cameras with larger full-frame sensors. A 1:1 macro lens on full-frame camera would “feel” like a 2:1 (2x) macro lens at the closest focusing distance – which is a huge advantage for subjects like snowflakes. Ideally, you’d want to have at least 2x-3x magnification with larger sensors, sometimes much more than this.
The Leica 45mm macro (Panasonic Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. Lens) is a very decent macro lens that I happen to have had handy at the time of this shooting. However, if there was a lens I’d recommend people buy for snowflake photography on the m4/3 platform, hands down it’s the Laowa 50mm F/2.8 macro: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1585695-REG/venus_optics_v... . Less expensive than most macro lenses, good quality glass, manual focus only but with the ability to shoot 2:1 magnification, you can get the equivalent of 4x on larger sensors. Perfect for snowflakes!
The photos are not just taken with a camera and a lens, but also a ring flash. The best on the market is also far from the most expensive. I always use the Yongnuo YN-14EX II: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1462725-REG/yongnuo_yn_14e... . It’s designed to work with Canon TTL, but I just use it on my Lumix cameras in manual mode. Works perfectly that way (though they also make a native Sony version, manual exposure is ideal for snowflakes).
Are there some limitations? Sure. The GX9 as a small buffer, so only a few dozen images can be captured before you have to wait a while. The resolution of the camera is only 20MP, but for most of my career that was the range I was completely comfortable with. I would argue that there is also an advantage in having a larger camera body for certain subjects, as the extra heft can aid in stability. But the question is: can you photograph a snowflake with extreme detail with a smaller “every-day” camera setup? Yes.
eBook: Macro Photography – The Universe at Our Feet: skycrystals.ca/product/pre-order-ebook-edition-macro-phot... (fully instructive on all things macro, including how to photograph snowflakes)
Buy Me a Coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/donkomphoto
Platypod Exclusive DonKom Macro Studio Bundle: www.platypod.com/products/don-kom-macro-bundle
Our last hotel on our tour of Andalusia, was out in the countryside and it was quite a peaceful treat! Taken with my Panasonic Lumix GX9 camera and a Panasonic G 14mm f/2.5 lens.
Near Ronda, Spain.