Mac Sokulski | MiKS Media Photography

Macro Photography with Fuji 16mm Extension Tube

by Mac Sokulski | Jan 12, 2015 | Macro

New year, brings new directions. At least I can hope since a little Fuji addition which was supposed to be a Christmas present arrived well into the new year. The Fuji 16mm extension tube. It’s a little piece of hardware that moves your lens away from the camera. The nice thing is that it has all the electronic contacts, so auto focus works as normal, and the camera knows which lens is attached. It allows for the lens to focus closer to the subject, which makes practically any lens a macro lens. The one caveat of the extension tube is that the lens looses focus at about 1 meter. Then again I was expecting to shoot with this tube normally anyway. Most of the images were taken with the Fuji 56mm f1.2 and it worked very well as a macro lens. I also tried my old Pentax 100mm f4 Macro lens. It worked very well.

I wanted to compare the results with a Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro, which is considered a true macro lens as the level of magnification is 1:1. Both Fuji 60mm Macro and the old Pentax 100mm Macro are only 1:2 which is half the magnification of the Canon lens.

My wife went first with the Canon 40D and 100mm Macro. I literally followed her footsteps around our house. It was a pretty chilly morning, with a fresh light snow, perfect for this type of photography. Here are the results. The images in this gallery will alternate, starting with Fuji, then Canon, Fuji, Canon, etc. Personally, I think for a $100, the Fuji 16mm Extension Tube is well worth it, and it’s an easy, cheap way of expanding your photography.

Fairies – Conceptual photography with Fuji X

by Mac Sokulski | Oct 10, 2014 | Art, Boudoir, Fuji X, People

Do fairies exist? I wanted to find out with my camera. The results are a little different from the norm. The session proved to be a lot of fun specially when working with a professional model. Kate was just plain awesome! She knew exactly what to do, how to pose … it was perfect. The fuji cameras I was shooting with did not disappoint in the least. The two lenses I was using, 56mm f1.2 and the 23mm f1.4 were great for the task and worked really well. I also had a Canon 580EX flash on hand, but that’s coming up later…. Enjoy!

Elk Island in the sun and rain – Landscape Photography

by Mac Sokulski | Oct 8, 2014 | Fuji Landscapes, Fuji X, Landscape

Having beautiful weather is not always good for landscape photography. The clear blue skies, are great for camping and general merriment of being outside. Personally I prefer a little more things to be happening in the sky above. This though was a perfect day. Rain, sun, clouds rolling in and out of existence. It was almost a matter of pointing the camera in the right direction and just capturing everything. Having a wide angle Fuji 10-24mm f4 lens helped as well. Most of these images are HDR or high dynamic range. I feel that shooting HDR gives me a lot more control over light, specially when shooting sunsets, and pointing the camera towards the sun. I don’t shoot on a tripod, as I find it too restrictive. All are hand held. Enjoy 🙂

Rainy day in Jasper – Alberta landscape photography

by Mac Sokulski | Oct 3, 2014 | Fuji Landscapes, Fuji X, Landscape

Going to the mountains is always associated with a risk of having rain, cold, and not a very pleasant day for photography. Specially when you have to drive about 4 hours. Yes there are weather forecasts, but as more weather “forecasting” becomes almost common place (all you have to look is your smart phone and there are hundreds of apps trying to tell you what the weather is going to be like), the quality of said forecasts diminishes exponentially. So getting up in the morning for the nice long drive to the mountains is always associated with a bit of a surprise of what mother nature can throw at you.

This was exactly one of those days. The clouds hung low, spitting rain from time to time, and then all of a sudden a happy sun would peek out for few minutes. Actually in my opinion is a perfect day for photography in the mountains. Much better than clear blue sky with no cloud in sight. It gives a lot more interest to the beauty of the Rocky Mountains in Jasper Alberta.

Going on trips like that with a fellow photographer (my wife Kasia) brings a bit of a challenge. It’s quite easy to get almost the same images from a trip. Even though we both have different camera systems, she shoots mostly with Sony NEX, I shoot with Fuji X, the lens line up for both is very similar, and does get into the problem of capturing almost the same landscape images. This is where the thinking begins, and not just being trigger happy with the beautiful scenery. After a trip like that I usually end up with far less images. Which is a plus… less editing, less storage needed on the computer, and better quality images overall… I think 🙂

Alberta is Beautiful – Fuji Landscape Photography

by Mac Sokulski | Oct 1, 2014 | Fuji Landscapes, Landscape

Living in Alberta one could say that the flat prairies are kind of boring. They can be, yet at the same time they can be quite exciting. The prairies are not that flat, and depending which direction you go from Edmonton the landscape varies. If you go east, you will encounter typical flat prairies with huge skies. Go west and the landscape becomes hills and valleys, with lakes and streams. This time my a wife and me, decided to wonder east. There were several storms passing by as the sun was setting. We needed big skies. It was a little bit urgent, since we left late, and did not have a destination in mind. At the last moment we found a spot that looked half decent from the road, and since we were running out of time, we had to do with what we got.

I shoot primarily with Fuji X cameras now. After ditching my Canons a few years back, I haven’t looked back. The Fuji 10-24mm F4 lens that was used to capture these images, is one of the best lenses I have used to create landscape photos.

Enjoy!