Pic(k) of the week 10: SUNSET BIRDS - Fujifilm X-E4 and XF70-300 lens

Recently I reviewed both the minimalistic Fujifilm X-E4 and the great travel telephoto XF70-300 lens,  through some "Travel photography" in my own city; Dubai.

For obvious reasons over the last 6 months my photography has been largely limited to shooting throughout the UAE; being a tourist in your own country. While I can't wait to hit the Streets of Paris, New York and Tokyo again, staying close to home has definitively pushed my creatively, which is of course a good thing! 

While walking around the Al Seef area, I photographed lots of seagulls in this relatively new project along Dubai creek. Somehow I really enjoy observing these birds doing their thing while trying to come up with some interesting images. It must be the pilot-photographer in me!

Closer to sunset, I started seeing the possibility to do some bird silhouettes with a nearby mosque in the frame. Shooting these birds at the right moment is not easy, but this is where the "PRE-SHOT" mode on the newer Fujifilm cameras comes in very handy. Set your camera on Continuous High (CH) and use the Electronic shutter. Next switch on PRE-SHOT in the shooting setting menu. 

So what does PRE-SHOT do? When half pressing the shutter to focus, the camera stores the images in the buffer of the camera; not on the memory card. Whenever one decides to take the image by fully pressing the shutter, the  last second of images is this transferred together with the images being made while the shutter is fully pressed. The system is made to compensate for the time delay between you see and when you actually click the shutter. 

While I shot a series of Black and White images, I also shot some using the Velvia colour film simulation, tailored by the FujiWeekly recipe (click here for more). Also check out the free FujiXWeekly app's both for iOS and Android devices.

Rather than just picked just one image for this weeks post, I decided to make a triptych and tell a bit of a story with the series.  

Image details:

  • Fujifilm X-E4 with XF70-300 lens
  • ISO 2500, f13, 1/320, different focal lengths
  • Straight Out Of Camera (#SOOC), no editing
My favourite area to shoot Street and Travel photography in Dubai, is without a doubt the old part of Dubai on both sides of the Creek (Deira and Bur Dubai). I invite readers to take a look in my "Life at the Creek" gallery; a substantial body of work which hopefully one day will make it into a photo-book. 

Remember: "Birds born in a cage, think flying is an illness" - Alejandro Jodorowsky 


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