by Skip Cohen

I get that one camera and one lens can't do it all, but on the other hand, here's one that simply never disappoints.

​Remember, I'm not a working pro although I know more than I let on. After so many years in this industry and hanging out with people like Tony Corbell, Roberto Valenzuela, Denis Reggie, Jerry Ghionis and Michele Celentano, just to name a few and then co-authoring books with Don Blair, Bambi Cantrell, Joe Buissink and Scott Bourne I had to learn something.

For the last year I've been shooting with a LUMIX FZ1000 and I simply love it. It makes me look far better than I deserve. I thought it would be a fun post to share a little of what I'm talking about.

It's another in-camera preset called "Impressive Art". You either love it or you hate it, but the camera gives me so many choices to play with. Remember, I wasn't shooting for any other purpose than just for the fun of it!

From a shot on the trade show floor at IUSA to good friends Tom Curley and Joseph Linaschke in the booth, the camera does an outstanding job in low light and uneven lighting situations. All I wanted was to get a few shots of things going on in the new booth design, which by the way is spectacular.

This homeless man in Key West was just sitting and feeding the pigeons and roosters. The camera's 25-400mm zoom gave me the opportunity to capture the moment without interruption. Although I like it much more with most of the color removed. 

I needed a quick shot to make a point with a blog post while at WPPI. The post took a shot at the MGM gouging on their $5.00 price for a very small bottle of water. All of their pools below gave me a little more help with the post as I wrote:

"I know we're in the desert. I know that water is tough to come by except to fill your pools. I get that you deliver the water in a stunning plastic bottle with a classic label...but what makes it worth $5.00?"

When I started this I honestly didn't mean for it to look like an infomercial for Panasonic. I simply love the camera and looking back over the last year of images, it's fun to share them as a blog post. I've shared a lot of posts from the members of the Luminary team over the last couple of years. Each post has demonstrated a little more about the features and benefits of mirrorless technology.  

For me there are two big things that over and over again come through - the quality of the images and the ease of travel with lighter more compact gear. I'll leave the discovery of the hundreds of other benefits to you guys, the professionals!

​However, while anybody can shoot a sunset, here's one last favorite from this past year! It was from the balcony of the Marriott in Marco Island, Florida. I was easily 400 yards from the beach, but could still pick up a few sunset walkers on their way by, one of them fishing.

I'm not suggesting for a second I shoot like a pro, but I had a great conversation with past PPA President, Ann Monteith, while we were both at the Marathon Getaway last summer. She was on her way into a concert when security stopped her and told her cameras with interchangeable lenses weren't allowed. She smiled and said, "It's not!" and then continued to her seat. So, there's one more fun little benefit!  

This camera has become Ann's number one choice for all the stunning work she's been shooting for over a year.
So, don't take our word for it, check out the LUMIX Lounge, then wander into a LUMIX dealer and check out the entire line for yourself.

Intro by Skip Cohen

It may have been written and posted last fall, but this article by my good pal Mark Toal is still right on point. Too often we tend to forget about the power of shooting panoramic. Even more important is making sure you have the right gear! For example, check out the image above, as I share a lesson in what NOT to do.

I was without a camera one evening last year and we were walking on Siesta Beach here in Sarasota. I was looking at an amazing sunset in one direction and a rainbow after a powerful storm in the other. All I had with me was my iPhone and sadly, not a steady enough hand to pay attention to getting a level landscape when I tried to get a "180" of the scene in front of me. It left me determined to simply never be without a decent camera and the right lens!

While I still love the image, the rockiness of the horizon line drives me nuts, even after a professional tried to clean it up for me. So, the lesson is this: have the right gear with you and capture panoramic images that draw in your audience like Mark talks about in today's post!

And, if you're interested in checking out more of Mark's work along with his "partners in crime", Joe and Mary Farace, put Mirrorless Photo Tips on your radar. Lots of great content always shared with the intent to help you raise the bar on your own skill set and awareness!

You'll also find lots of great images and helpful content in Panasonic's Lumix Lounge. Check out Mark's work as well as the work of Panasonic's Luminary team. They're all just a click away.

by Mark Toal

It’s fall and everywhere you look the landscape is amazing. Leaves changing, great clouds and shadows are everywhere. Even with a wide-angle lens like the Lumix G Vario 7-14mm on a  Panasonic Lumix GX8 it’s hard to capture the view of what your eyes see.
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I was making one of my favorite drives from Reno to Carson City then up to Virginia City and then back down to Reno. Coming down Geiger Grade from Virginia City you get an incredible view of Washoe Valley, Reno and the Sierra Nevada mountain range. At one of the turnouts high above the valley I pulled over and walked a few hundred yards and saw this view.

Looking through the viewfinder the wide-angle lens didn’t capture the scene the way that I saw it. Like a lot of mirrorless cameras, the GX8 allows me to switch to a dedicated panoramic mode that prompts me to move the camera across the scene as it take images and stitches them together. 

Tip: If possible set your camera to shoot while holding the camera vertically, not horizontally. This will give you an image with more height as opposed to a very wide, narrow image.

If your camera doesn’t have a dedicated panoramic setting you can still get the same affect by taking individual photos and overlapping them by approximately 25% as you shoot. There are a lot of software that will stitch them together including Adobe Lightroom.
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Contrary to what you read you do not need a tripod to shoot panoramic images. The camera or the software will correct for most problems when it stitches the images together.