During the Photoconvention I met up with the guys from Formatt Hightech.
Now if you don’t already know these guys make sure to check out : http://www.formatt.co.uk/default.aspx they make some amazing filters, I took a test set with me which I demo during some workshops when fighting the sun with strobes plus I will be doing some long exposure shots with them in the coming weeks/months, so keep an eye out for that.

 

Today however I give attention to something else.
They also have an iPhone camera app, now most people will go like… “yeah another one?”
And indeed I had the same reaction, however what I love about this app is the look and feel, of course there is the setting of focus and exposure on different areas in the scene, but… (and I love this) they also have ND filters including graduated and inverted ND filters which can be incredibly handy when shooting under more dynamic situations. Here is a small example of a scene with and without.

 Do realize that these are straight out of the camera and not retouched in any way.

 

After testing out the ND filters I decided to double up my iPhone to the Sony A99 during a photowalk we did in Prague with Ivan from http://www.fotoivan.eu (the Sony images I will show later). During the walk I shot different scenes with some of my favorite filters in the app. Do realize that this is a real LIVE filter app, meaning you shoot with the look you want, it’s not possible (yet) to add the filters after the shot, a concept I had to get used to but after a while actually liked, you’re really thinking about the look you want and choosing the “film type” / “filter” accordingly.

 

The app itself is nicely done and very easy to operate, and best of all…. it’s free, so make sure to check them out under “tenbelowzero” at the app store, the app itself is called FILTERS!
Click on one of the images to open up the gallery. ALL images are straight from my iPhone, without any retouching.

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A lot of people ask me “Frank how can I improve my photography quickly?”
I could of course tell you to study as hard as you can, join sites like www.kelbytraining.com check out the masters like Dean Collins and buy all my instructional videos and book my workshops, but……. Let’s be honest when you only sit down and watch and maybe shoot a bit during a workshop it’s a great way to learn but there’s also another way which is probably just as much fun and will without a doubt boost your level another notch.

 

You’ve already read me writing about old lenses and old cameras, and this post has the title Polaroid/Impossible so I guess you see it coming 😀 and indeed the tip for today is very simple.

 

Go on E-bay and hunt for a Polaroid camera, for example the SX70, most of the times you will score one well below 100 bucks. Now get some film from the Impossible project and start shooting.

There are a few different reasons why your photography will benefit from this.

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