Tag: ricoh GR

Bokeh vs Bokehless, the lost art {Portraiture}

~ Marcus Low ~ Leave a comment
angela {bokehless}
angela {bokehless}

I been struggling to master the bokehless portraiture. This struggle has motivated me to force myself to use cameras with deep depth of field and hence inability to produce bokeh photos. One such ridiculous camera is the Casio TR. If you read my previous blog, i took this camera and went walking around Singapore as well as shot my model friends in Kuala Lumpur. Things took a change when i decided to ask Angela Lieche to do a shoot with me. Angela (x.x.angela instagram) have been creating beautiful bokehless images and her fame instagram is rising fast, thanks to her images.
Bokehless portraits, takes a very different set of eyes and mind to capture them. When i had the Casio TR, i tried my best and eventually i admit i could not take any satisfactory portraits with it. You can read about how the model herself could take a better picture here.

angela {bokeh}
angela {bokeh}

I am lucky to be the owner of a Noctilux f1. An ancient lens granted by Leica to possess magical qualities. I maybe exaggerating but the fact that you use a rare aperture, it can only create different bokeh and imagery. So in this shoot with Angela, i use the new skills of utilizing both bokeh and bokehless cameras. The bokehless camera is the Ricoh GR 28 mm f2.8 and the bokeh camera is my trusty Leica ME Noctilux F1 v3.

angela {bokeh}
angela {bokeh}

If i were to be downright honest here, i am one of the best outdoor portrait photographer anyone can find in Malaysia. Not the best, but definitely one of the best.
Well, let me correct that statement earlier, “best outdoor female portrait photographer”. LOL.
I pay my dues with constant learning, practicing and restrain in learning and enhancing my skills, do visit my other articles and photos to see the various themes that i have done and collaborated with. I learn from the best, be it Dragon Chow from HK, Ming Thein of Malaysia or a freelance model like Angela who is gifted, i take my lessons with no prejudice.
Is it profitable? No by a far margin, photography to me is like an art and a gift to me and people that i meet.

Please do enjoy the images below and drop me a comment if you enjoyed my images and lame jokes.

angela {bokeh}
angela {bokeh}
angela {bokeh}
angela {bokeh}
angela {bokehless}
angela {bokehless}
siew may {bokehless}
siew may {bokehless}
siew may, {bokehless}
siew may, {bokehless}

Ricoh GR, the force is strong with this one {practical review}

~ Marcus Low ~ Leave a comment

 

very near
very near

Last two weeks was a really challenging week for me. That is because i was forcing myself to use the Casio TR camera, a camera without bokeh and at 21mm wide angle. Short story, I have the Ricoh GR lying around that i recall can support 21mm and since i am now more equipped in skills to use it…

the turn
the turn

Although the GR is 28mm f2.8, its bokeh is almost unusable except for real closeups, thats fine, the picture above shows you how i would have shoot normally with a bokeh lens like f1.4 but on the these weak shallow dof cameras, the left side elements of this picture are distractions.

vsco pastel
vsco pastel

This is done correctly, since there is no bokeh, u have to place the subject using compositional elements to surround/highlight the subject. I used VSCO on the mobile app for editing this photo, making it pastel like.

color positive film
color positive film

One thing i really love about the GR is the positive film effect. When its used on earth color subjects and dark colors, you get a kind of rusted red feeling.

color positive film
color positive film

color positive film
color positive film

If they are going to release GRII i hope it comes with one fix that i think is the main weakness of this camera. OIS. It needs serious optical stability or 5 axis stability else for some people with handshakes like mine, i rarely get any usable image except in decent daylight.
The lens is very sharp across the board. Camera light as a feather, probably lighter than any APSC camera i have ever used and its a truely pocketable camera. GR was relesed in 2013 and today you can get a really good buy. It cost me more on the TR than this camera today if you were to get it brand new, mind boggling.