So today was also the Newtown Festival, I have not been in years and years; my friend Nyk thought it might be a good work out for me and the X-Pro1 and he was right - here are the results of a very enjoyable afternoon photographing the style, the fashion, the people that made the Newtown Festival the great success it surely was, You! These shots were all made with the Fujifilm X-Pro1 with the XF18mmF2 R lens and the tiny dedicated EF-X20 flash unit - as I knew the light would be tricky and I wanted to try a bit of a 'Martin Parr' Magnum on camera fill-flash approach to the shots. More photography details after the pictures for those so inclined..
I knew the harsh Australian 'Summer' light would make it very difficult to create a consistent set of images at the Newtown Festival. I decided to see if I could use the X-Pro1's EF-X20 TTL flash to get a series of shots for a Street Fashion Sydney post. This is the first time I have tried shooting in this style so I tested flash and camera settings at home in my backyard before heading out. I settled on shooting with these settings - Camera at 125th - the fastest flash sync speed, lens set to Shutter priority, A setting on the lens. ISO at 200 and .. Exposure compensation at -1 EV (but I jiggled it to -1 1/3 & -2/3 depending on the light). The flash I also ran mostly at the minus 2/3rds setting. So Minus on camera & Minus on flash. Most of the shots here ended up at with an F# between 11 & 16 due to the brightness of the light with 16 the highest F# on the lens. I set the focus point to the left of centre and kept it there all day, great for vertical portraits and if the shot was not; I did a 'half press' and re-composed which was quick and worked. I shot just over 200 frames; went through six so-so quality AAA batteries in the flash; and the results are above. All the pictures above were quickly adjusted from the camera JPEGs in this software. You can read my review of the X-Pro1 here.
If I took your picture and you don't see it here; drop me a line, let me know what you were wearing and I will email you a copy of your shot. 200+ pictures down to 26 was a big call, there were many lovely pictures I loved but passed on. Hope you enjoy the Newtown Festival shots as much as I enjoyed making them.
Telling Stories in Pictures all over..
Kent Johnson, Sydney, Australia.
0433 796 863
