"Snapshots to GREAT Shots" - Guest post by Rob Knight

Intro by Skip Cohen

There are some exciting benchmarks in many photographer's careers. One of the first is getting an image published. Second is landing a cover shot. Third, is getting a book published. A big congrats to my buddy Rob Knight and Panasonic Luminary for his first LUMIX book.

The book is available on amazon.com and wherever Peachpit Press books are sold. If you've got any questions, Rob does a great job of always being accessible. You can email him directly at rob@robknightphotography.com if you have any questions about the LUMIX GX7 or GM1. You'll find all of the   members of the LUMIX Luminary team in the LUMIX Lounge, a great place to follow their infectious creativity!

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I am very proud to be the author of the first LUMIX book for Peachpit Press. My book is part of the “Snapshots to Great Shots” series, and it covers both the LUMIX GX7 and GM1 cameras. This is a great series of books that covers everything from landscapes to studio lighting. It may seem strange to include the GM1 in a book like this, but as you can see from shots like this, the GM1 captures stunning images for any size camera.

Writing the book was an opportunity for me to explore the functions of the GX7 and GM1 in a way that most photographers don’t have the time or inclination to do. I wanted to share two of my favorite tips from the book...

Take Advantage of the Touchscreen

There are more and more cameras using touchscreen LCDs. Some let you use the touchscreen to choose a focus point or fire the shutter, and others use onscreen buttons to augment the physical buttons and dials on the camera. Your GX7/GM1 uses the touch-sensitive LCD for all of that and more. The physical buttons on the GM1 are limited by its small size, but the touchscreen allows you to adjust your settings quickly and easily. Even with the excellent external controls on the GX7, the touch interface makes focusing, changing settings, and navigating the menus much quicker and easier than on a conventional control setup.

Along with touch focus, I find that navigating the menus on the GX7/GM1 is one of the most useful functions of the touchscreen. Touching the menu items to change settings is much faster than using the cursor buttons to scroll through the menus. You must press the Menu/Set button to bring up the menu, but after that the touch interface is the way to go.
 

• Touch the tabs along the left side of the screen to choose a menu.
  
• Touch the arrows on the right side of the screen to move up and down a page at a time. The
  numbers between the arrows indicate which page you are on and how many pages there are in the current menu. For example, 1/7 means you’re on page one and there are seven pages total.
  
• Touch the menu item you want to adjust to select it, and then touch your choice of setting.

Flicker Decrease for Video

It is common practice to set your shutter speed to twice the frame rate to replicate the characteristic look of a film movie camera. For 24p video, that means setting the shutter speed to 1/50 of a second for a smooth, cinematic look. You can set your shutter speed higher for a more staccato look (think Saving Private Ryan), or lower for more motion blur. Whatever shutter speed you choose, it is a good idea to use the same shutter speed for an entire project so that all the video clips have the same feel.

You can use the Flicker Decrease function to control your shutter speed when you are not using Creative Video mode. Navigate to Flkr Decrease in the Motion Picture menu, and select a shutter speed that is twice the frame rate you are using. Now when you press the Motion Picture button you will know that your video will have a consistent shutter speed. 

Image copyright Rob Knight. All rights reserved.