Photoshoot: Rita Ora at the Trevor Project with the X100F
My love affair with the Fuji X100F grows and grows – and so does my confidence in leaving every other camera at home.
I'm lucky enough to count the multi-talented Rita Ora as a client, so whenever we're both in New York City, I make myself available to shoot her glam, travel, event, and BTS photos.
On June 11th, Rita was set to perform at the annual TrevorLIVE gala, a fundraising event produced by The Trevor Project, a hugely influential LGBT Youth suicide prevention non-profit (one that I used to work with back in San Francisco!) – but before that, it was glam time at the hotel.
For this kind of gig, there's no time allotted for you in the (down-to-the-minute detailed) call sheet – in other words, you generally have about 30 seconds to dive in, find the light, expose the image, pose, focus, grab what you can, and deliver ASAP.
When shooting high profile subjects with tight schedules and big teams in small rooms, busting out a massive full frame DSLR and fiddling with exposure settings is a recipe for disaster. That's why I swear by using the Fuji X100F as my dedicated camera in times like these.
The Fuji X100F as a Portrait Camera
Not only is this camera unobtrusive and visually stylish – both factors being more important than you'd think – but it also focuses lightning-quick, meters perfectly (especially with the easy-to-rotate exposure compensation dial), and produces gorgeous jpgs straight out of camera and wirelessly transfers them to my iPhone.
Now, that last point may not seem like too a big of a deal, but consider this: as soon as we'd shot the below photos, Rita asked me to send them to her so she could post them on her Instagram before she walked out to paparazzi in front of the hotel (who would then get the jump on posting her look).
Note: these photos were taken using the TCL-X100, my favorite Fuji X100F accessory.
Never let anybody tell you the X100F can't take portraits!
I was able to use the Fuji Remote Camera app to upload every photo taken, cull them on my phone, and Airdrop to her within minutes – and best of all, because of Fuji's baked-in color profiles – aka 'film simulations' – they were presentable to the client without any additional filtering (though, of course, a little Facetune and VSCO is par for the course on the top selects – which is why I recommend shooting in Pro Neg Std for a flat-yet-stylized JPG).
The Fuji X100F as an Event Camera
After we arrived at the Gala, Rita took photos and did press on the red carpet.
The red carpet/step and repeat portion of the night was especially brutal: between the harsh overhead lighting, overblown and too-warm continuous lighting from the interviewers, the constant flashes from the press wall, and the swarm of reporters getting in the way, it wasn't easy to nail. Thankfully, the X100F's all-star metering and quick autofocus pulled through.
After the red carpet, the lighting in the vent was predictably dim, with lots of shiny things – jewlery, glasses, etc – around to catch the X100F autofocus over the designated focus point. This problem isn't unique to this camera – most cameras rely at least a little bit on contrast detection to find and lock focus – but it's a problem all the same.
In both of the below shots, you'll notice the Fuji caught the shinier object – Rita's bracelet, the wine glasses – causing a slightly blurry image.
After settling down to dinner, I tried using my video camera – the Fuji X-Pro 2 – to play around with some telephoto shots of dinner while the speakers presented. Nothing too good came of it, but it was a fun experiment on the color latitude of the Fuji RAWs.
Lighting in events can be especially hellish. Colored LEDs tend to blast the color channels that your sensor picks up, resulting in an overwhelming amount of red, green, or blue with no other color detail. Your JPGs will likely be rough, so shooting events in RAW+JPG is vital here – though if you're a Fuji JPG event shooter with a need for instant delivery like myself, the Pro Neg Std or Classic Chrome film simulations will help you get semi-usable JPGs straight out of camera.
But back to the Fuji X100F – I'm constantly amazed by this little camera's ability to quickly nail shots. While you can get squeeze out more resolution, dynamic range, or color accuracy in various other high end cameras, the X100F seems to sit at the perfect intersection of technical capability and usability.
Before Rita's performance, she warmed up back stage with a dance house that would be joining her on stage for her performance of "Girls". The lighting in this room was quite dim, lit only by two chandeliers on a high ceiling, but focusing was nice and easy – thanks in part to the bright, shiny outfits worn by the dancers.
The Fuji X100F as a Concert Camera
Shortly after, Rita took the stage to perform a short set and close out the Gala. I was positioned at the front of the stage, about 2 feet below standing level. I'm normally loathe to shoot performances at a shorter focal length, but I found the fixed 23mm focal range was perfect for the smaller stage.
If I the performers were any farther back – or if the stage were any larger – I would've needed either the TCL-X100 or my Fuji X-Pro 2 with a longer focal length, but I'm really happy with the feel of the photos we managed to get.
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