Lensbaby Omni Filters Complete Collection Review!

In today’s photoshoot and behind the scenes video, we are going to be testing + reviewing every single filter from the Lensbaby Omni System including the Crystal and new Colour Expansion Pack. Watch the video below to hear my thoughts on these filters and see all the results!

model claudia

makeup lidija j

video dan @ i make films

All photos edited with my Amalfi Lightroom Preset (before and afters are in the video)

All photos edited with my Amalfi Lightroom Preset

Google Pixel 4 Camera Review | Portrait + Astrophotography

These are some of the sample images I took with the new Google Pixel 4, watch my review video to hear my thoughts about the camera below! We did a portrait photoshoot on location and also headed on a roadtrip to try our the new astrophotography mode. All of these photos are straight out of the camera with no editing except for the banner image and the final astro photo at the end of the blog post. Download the high resolution images for some Pixel 4 pixel peeping here!

Please subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already! I upload new photography related videos every single week.

Big thank you to my team!

model claudia

makeup lidija j

video dan @ i make films

Standard camera

Standard camera + Dual exposure sliders

Standard camera + Dual exposure sliders

Portrait mode

Portrait mode - without blur / with blur

Portrait mode

Portrait mode

Pixel 3 wide selfie / Pixel 4 wide selfie

Standard camera / 2.9x zoom

Standard camera / No zoom

Standard camera - No zoom / 8x zoom

Night sight + Astrophotography Mode - 4 minute exposure / 2 minutes / 1 minute (Download the high resolution files to be able to take a better look at these! Link at the beginning of this blog post)

Night sight + Astrophotography Mode - 4 minute exposure DNG edited in Lightroom Mobile

the windiest day in the blue mountains | Sony A7iii + Zeiss 35mm f1.4

Last month, Kristina, Dan and I decided to go on a roadtrip to the Blue Mountains to take some pictures in a new location. While it was a perfectly sunny and still day at home, by the time we got to our destination the winds were howling and were so strong it was physically pushing us around! We went ahead with our photoshoot anyway and despite the conditions we were dealing with it was one of the most fun photoshoots I’ve had, my sides hurt from laughing so much at the ridiculous situation - you can watch the behind the scenes from our day down below!

model Kristina

gear Sony A7III + Zeiss FE 35mm f1.4

video Dan

All photos edited with my Mountains Lightroom Preset

All photos edited with my Mountains Lightroom Preset

Scotland Travel Photography, Glen Coe Valley

Our weekend in the Scottish Highlands is one I’ll remember forever - Scotland is such a beautiful place that I could have easily spent a whole week (or two!) just in the highlands exploring and taking photos. On Saturday we made our way to the Isle of Skye, so on Sunday - our last day before our flights back to Gdansk, Poland - we decided to make our way to Glen Coe Valley. We visited the famous Harry Potter train tracks which took my breath away getting to see them in real life - what a beautiful structure! We also stopped at castles along our way, rivers, lakes, bridges - again as you can see in the vlog I filmed, we stopped on the side of the road to photograph everything pretty much every 10 minutes!

On our way home at the end of the day, we passed through the iconic mountains of the Scottish Highlands. All the parking spots with good viewpoints were absolutely packed to the brim, so we stopped at one a bit further back and decided to make the most of Scotland’s nature “freedom” and ran to the top of a hill to the most stunning views of the mountains at sunset. It’s safe to say Dan and I took at least 98098 photos of each other while we were up here and it was the perfect way to say goodbye to Scotland.

Watch the video of our time there below! And please subscribe to my channel if you haven’t yet, I upload new videos every single Wednesday.

All photos edited with my new Mountains Lightroom Preset!

All photos edited with my new Mountains Lightroom Preset!

Sony A7iii + Zeiss 35mm f1.4 portrait photography | hideout

I’ve been sharing a lot of lens comparison videos recently, so I thought I’d do a good old creative photoshoot on the Sony A7III + Zeiss 35mm f1.4. We shot a few photos on the streets, finding good colours, textures and lighting for the background and then headed down to the beach for a few more fun, movement filled shots at the end. You can watch the behind the scenes below where we included a new little fun thing where you can see what I see while I’m taking photos!

Please subscribe to my channel, I share new photography videos every single Wednesday!

model katya

makeup lidija j

video dan @ i make films

outfits zaful

All photos are edited with my Mountains Lightroom Preset Pack!

This blog was put together with Narrative. I love using Narrative as part of my photoshoot culling process to see which images from a shoot I should edit and I also use it to easily & quickly be able to put together these blog posts with different layouts of images side by side. I’m really excited to say I’ve teamed up with Narrative and have a 15% discount code for you guys using the code julia15 or just clicking this link! You can download a free trial to test it out for 7 days too :)

All photos are edited with my Mountains Lightroom Preset Pack!

Scotland Travel Photography Sony A7iii, Isle of Skye

After the wedding, Dan and I only had 3 short days left to enjoy Scotland before our flights back to Gdansk, Poland. We were as far south as we could go in Scotland for the wedding, but decided to make our way all the way north in a long roadtrip to Inverness. Inverness was our base for the weekend and we spent both Saturday and Sunday going on roadtrips to explore the Scottish Highlands. On Saturday we woke up bright and early and made our way to the Isle of Skye, stopping every few minutes on the side of the road (as you can see in the vlog I filmed!) to take pictures with all the stunning landscapes around us.

The Scottish Highlands were absolutely beautiful and I would love to go back there one day and spend more time exploring. Since we only had 2 days to see everything, we couldn’t wait for ideal lighting conditions for landscape photography, so we worked with what we had. Luckily the weather in Scotland is usually quite overcast which I absolutely loved for creating moody photos. You can see a lot more of our trip and behind the scenes of us taking photos in the vlog I created from our time there below! And if you haven’t already, please subscribe to my channel - I upload a new video every single Wednesday.

This blog was put together with Narrative. I love using Narrative as part of my photoshoot culling process to see which images from a shoot I should edit and I also use it to easily & quickly be able to put together these blog posts with different layouts of images side by side. I’m really excited to say I’ve teamed up with Narrative and have a 15% discount code for you guys using the code julia15 or just clicking this link! You can download a free trial to test it out for 7 days too :)

All photos edited with my new Mountains Lightroom Preset!

All photos edited with my new Mountains Lightroom Preset!

Scotland Travel Photography - Moody Portraits, Galloway Forest

After spending a few days in Edinburgh, it was time to head to the south of Scotland to get ready for the wedding we were capturing. The morning before the wedding Dan and I headed out to explore what was in our area and stumbled across Galloway Forest which was a beautiful park full of lakes, mountain views and you guessed it - forests! We spent a few hours driving, going for walks and taking lots of photos. One thing I noticed about the lakes in Scotland is that a lot of them are a very dark colour as you can see from the photo above, which I absolutely loved! The water looked clean but for some reason also looked almost black, it was mesmerising.

We headed back to our accommodation and spent the rest of the afternoon charging up all our camera batteries and getting our camera gear ready for the wedding. You can see a few photos from Laura & Shaun’s wedding here if you’re interested in taking a peek! It was a wonderful day and we were really spoilt for choice on photo locations in the amazing Scottish countryside. You can also watch the vlog I filmed which we were in Scotland below, please subscribe to my channel if you haven’t yet, I upload new videos every Wednesday!

This blog was put together with Narrative. I love using Narrative as part of my photoshoot culling process to see which images from a shoot I should edit and I also use it to easily & quickly be able to put together these blog posts with different layouts of images side by side. I’m really excited to say I’ve teamed up with Narrative and have a 15% discount code for you guys using the code julia15 or just clicking this link! You can download a free trial to test it out for 7 days too :)

All photos edited with my new Mountains Lightroom Preset!

All photos edited with my new Mountains Lightroom Preset!

Crop Frame 24mm vs 35mm vs 50mm vs 85mm vs 135mm

In today’s video we are comparing every single prime lens that’s in my photography kit but on a crop frame camera, the Canon 7D mk2! The lenses/focal lengths we have are:

Sigma 24mm f1.4

Canon 35mm f1.4 mkII

Canon 50mm f1.2

Canon 85mm f1.2 mkII

Canon 135mm f2

If this topic sounds familiar, it’s because I just did this comparison on a full frame camera, the Canon 5D mk4 and you can take a look at that video + those photos here if you’re interested. On top of comparing all my prime lenses on a crop frame camera, I also took a photo standing in the same spot on a full frame so we can also see the 1.6x difference a crop sensor makes! It was all a little confusing on the day having to change my lens so many times, but I think in the end run it was all worth it to see these photos side by side.

If you’re interested in seeing more prime lens and focal length comparisons you can check out the whole series I created here:

35mm vs 50mm

50mm vs 85mm

85mm vs 135mm

85mm vs 100mm vs 135mm

24mm vs 35mm vs 50mm vs 85mm vs 135mm on a full frame camera

Crop frame vs Full frame

Watch the video below to hear my thoughts on each of these focal lengths! And please subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already, I upload a new video every Wednesday.

All photos are edited with my Aspen Lightroom Preset!

To make it easier to compare what each focal length looks like, please select which 2 lenses you want to compare below.

Photographer + model standing in one spot:

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

Full body with photographer moving around to fill the frame:

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

Mid length portrait with photographer moving around to fill the frame:

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

Close up portrait with photographer moving around to fill the frame:

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

All photos are edited with my Aspen Lightroom Preset!

Travel Photography in Edinburgh, Scotland

This is my first of 5 blog posts I’m going to be sharing from my time in Scotland and what better way to start than at the very beginning of our trip, in Edinburgh! After only 3 short weeks back at home after Thailand to catch up on work, capture a few weddings and do some photoshoots, Dan and I flew from Sydney, Australia to Gdansk, Poland. We spent about a week at Dan’s family’s place in the country catching up on jetlag, visiting the old town and as usual taking lots of photos and even filmed a video. Next up it was time to head to Scotland!

We were visiting Scotland as Dan and I were capturing a wedding while we were there. We decided to book our flights with a few extra days on either side of the wedding as Scotland is a place we both have wanted to visit for so long! Our first couple of days in Edinburgh were a whirlwind! We visited the old city, walked up to Edinburgh Castle, did a photoshoot with Tamar & Matt at the Botanical Gardens and did a photoshoot of photographer Caroline (behind the scenes for this photoshoot coming really soon!). Here are some of the pictures I captured in those first two days.

You can watch my vlog of the rest of our time in Scotland down below + it’s a sneak peek for the rest of the photo posts to come soon! Please subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already, I upload a new video every Wednesday.

This blog was put together with Narrative. I love using Narrative as part of my photoshoot culling process to see which images from a shoot I should edit and I also use it to easily & quickly be able to put together these blog posts with different layouts of images side by side. I’m really excited to say I’ve teamed up with Narrative and have a 15% discount code for you guys using the code julia15 or just clicking this link! You can download a free trial to test it out for 7 days too :)

All photos edited with my new Mountains Lightroom Preset!

All photos edited with my new Mountains Lightroom Preset!

50mm vs 85mm for portrait photography

In today’s photoshoot we are comparing the 50mm vs 85mm for portrait photography. Below are the photos I took on each of the lenses to test out a few factors that are important when photographing portraits such as the compression when it comes to full body, mid body and close up shots, any distortion in extreme closeups, lens flares, CA with backlighting and harsh sunlight.

Lenses

Canon 50mm f1.2

Canon 85mm f1.2 II

Body

Canon 5D mkiv for both lenses

model madeline

makeup lidija j

I have a whole series comparing prime lenses and focal lengths, you can check them all out here:

35mm vs 50mm

50mm vs 85mm

85mm vs 135mm

85mm vs 100mm vs 135mm

24mm vs 35mm vs 50mm vs 85mm vs 135mm on a full frame camera

24mm vs 35mm vs 50mm vs 85mm vs 135 on a crop frame camera

Crop frame vs Full frame

This blog was put together with Narrative. I love using Narrative as part of my photoshoot culling process to see which images from a shoot I should edit and I also use it to easily & quickly be able to put together these blog posts with different layouts of images side by side. I’m really excited to say I’ve teamed up with Narrative and have a 15% discount code for you guys using the code julia15 or just clicking this link! You can download a free trial to test it out for 7 days too :) And the gear links listed above are affiliate links, so they help me out as a creator and don’t cost you anything extra

Watch the video below to see the behind the scenes from our photoshoot as well as hearing my thoughts on both these lenses! Please subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already, I upload a new video every single Wednesday.

All photos edited with my San Francisco Lightroom Preset!

top 50mm // bottom 85mm

50mm // 85mm

50mm // 85mm

top 50mm // bottom 85mm

50mm // 85mm

50mm // 85mm

top 50mm // bottom 85mm

50mm // 85mm

50mm // 85mm (there wasn’t enough space in our location to capture a landscape version on the 85mm)

50mm

50mm // 85mm (again, there wasn’t enough space in our location to capture a full body landscape shot on the 85)

top 50mm // bottom 85mm

50mm // 50mm (just wanted to get a few extra creative shots on the 50 in this location!)

50mm

50mm // 85mm

All photos edited with my San Francisco Lightroom Preset!

Zeiss 35mm f1.4 vs Canon 35mm f1.4 II

During today’s photoshoot I really wanted to compare the Zeiss 35mm f1.4 to the Canon 35mm f1.4 II. I’ve loved using both these lenses for portrait photoshoots in the past, but wanted to do a side by side comparison to see what the similarities and differences are. Watch the video below to hear my thoughts about it all and see lots of photo examples straight out of the camera + camera settings I used. Here are some of my fav photos from the photoshoot, edited with my Disposable Film Lightroom Preset - which in case you didn’t hear is now a pack of 4 presets instead of just a single preset!

gear

Sony A7iii + Zeiss 35mm f1.4

Canon 5D mkiv + Canon 35mm f1.4 II

model @thekarinawhite

makeup @lidija.mua

video @danpodbierezki

This blog was put together with Narrative. I love using Narrative as part of my photoshoot culling process to see which images from a shoot I should edit and I also use it to easily & quickly be able to put together these blog posts with different layouts of images side by side. I’m really excited to say I’ve teamed up with Narrative and have a 15% discount code for you guys using the code julia15 or just clicking this link! You can download a free trial to test it out for 7 days too :)

Please subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already! I upload a new video every single Wednesday.

canon // sony

All photos were edited with my Disposable Film Lightroom Preset!

Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 + Sigma 50-100mm f1.8 on Canon 7Dmkii

The Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 is a lens my partner Dan uses to film our YouTube videos with on the Sony A7sII and A7sIII. During this photoshoot, I decided to try it out for portrait photography alongside the Sigma 50-100mm f1.8 lens. I love the colour rendition and quality of our raw YouTube video footage, and am excited to see what these lenses look like for photography!

Both the Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 and Sigma 50-100mm f1.8 are crop frame lenses. Dan uses them adapted with a Metabones 4 to his Sony cameras. However, I hired the Canon 7D mk2 crop frame camera body to use them for this portrait photoshoot. I find that using native mount lenses helps with autofocus performance and accuracy. For video it's not a problem since Dan manual focuses. But for photography, part of a lens review is seeing how well a lens can autofocus.

Watch the behind the scenes video below to see my camera settings and how we took these images. I also share my review on how these 2 Sigma zoom lenses perform for portrait photography.

Below are my favourite photos I took on this day! I included before and after examples so you can see what the image looks like straight out of the camera. The photos in this blog post are edited with my Mountains Lightroom Preset Pack. You can watch the behind the scenes video to see all the SOOC photos.

Please subscribe to my channel, I upload new photography videos every single week!

model @mahaliaceleste

makeup @lidija.mua

All photos edited with my Mountains Lightroom Preset!

after // before

before // after

50-100mm unedited // 18-35mm unedited

All photos edited with my Mountains Lightroom Preset!

If you enjoyed this blog post, you might want to check out this photoshoot on the one of a kind Sigma 35mm f1.2 on the Sony A7iii! Or if you are after more Canon photoshoots, in this photoshoot I compare crop frame vs full frame with the Canon 7Dmk2 and the Canon 5Dmkiv.

Portrait Photography with Animals: Kristina & Ollie

This was one of the most special portrait photoshoots I’ve ever done with Kristina and baby Ollie the goat. Ollie is absolutely so sweet and loves being around people so even though he was having so much fun running around and jumping on Kristina, we had the best time getting some photos of the two of them together. I started off the shoot on my Canon 50mm f1.2 for some classic looking portraits, then decided to jump on my 35mm f1.4 to have a little bit more reach as Ollie moved around very fast! Watch the behind the scenes of our photoshoot below!

All photos edited with my Mountains Lightroom Preset.

All photos edited with my Mountains Lightroom Preset.

birthday adventures

A few snaps from my birthday this weekend. I spent Saturday hanging out with my family making gnocchi and my mum baked me a gorgeous cake and then Sunday adventuring in the Blue Mountains with Dan!

I took all these photos with the Sony A7III + Zeiss 35mm f1.4 and I edited them all with my new Mountains Lightroom Preset.

Sony A7iii + Sony Zeiss 35mm f1.4

A natural light portrait photoshoot with the Sony A7III + Zeiss 35mm f1.4. I finally got my hands on my very own 35mm lens for my Sony A7III! I was so excited to be using it for the first time at a portrait photoshoot.

From the moment I bought this lens, I took it out with me every day to shoot and take daily photos. So it was a great experience taking it for an actual portrait photoshoot in this beautiful location. Our shoot with the Zeiss 35mm f1.4 was during golden hour turned to blue hour in a gorgeous, overgrown location.

In this behind the scenes video I share my SOOC Zeiss 35mm f1.4 photos so you can see the quality and sharpness of this lens. We test autofocus performance while capturing movement shots and utilising different lighting situations.

Since this photoshoot, the Zeiss 35mm f1.4 has become my workhorse lens on the Sony A7III. I use it to photograph my client work alongside my Zeiss 50mm f1.4 and Sony GM 85mm 1.4. I also use it heavily for wedding photography, it's my most used lens on a wedding day!

The Sony GM 35mm f1.4 was announced in 2021 and you can watch my real world review video about it here. The Zeiss 35mm f1.4 is a fantastic lens with beautiful image quality, sharpness and autofocus performance. It served me very well for over a year shooting heavily with it. However, Sony have improved many features the Zeiss 35mm f1.4 was missing in the new GM 35mm f1.4.

I decided to pre-order it the minute I finished my review video on the GM 35 - that's how quickly I fell in love with it! You can see an updated what's in my camera bag video here. The Zeiss 35mm f1.4 was my first native Sony lens and coincidentally, the first of my Sony lenses to be replaced.

model Madeline

hair + makeup Lidija

Watch the behind the scenes of our photoshoot below to hear all my thoughts about the Zeiss 35! And please subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already, I upload a new video every single Wednesday.

All photos edited with my new Mountains Lightroom Preset Pack!

All photos edited with my new Mountains Lightroom Preset Pack!

If you enjoyed this set of photos, you might want to check out my natural light portrait photography on the new GM 35mm f1.4!

24mm vs 35mm vs 50mm vs 85mm vs 135mm

The 24mm vs 35mm vs 50mm vs 85mm vs 135mm are common prime lenses for portrait photographers. During this photoshoot, we are comparing ALL my prime lenses side by side. I am using the Canon 5D mkiv, a full frame camera body for this test. The exact lenses we have include:

Sigma 24mm f1.4

Canon 35mm f1.4 mkII

Canon 50mm f1.2

Canon 85mm f1.2 mkII

Canon 135mm f2

on the Canon 5D mark iv

If you’ve ever felt stuck or unsure on what should be your next prime lens, then this comparison of all my prime lenses is just for you! I will be taking photos with each lens: 24mm vs 35mm vs 50mm vs 85mm vs 135mm in a few different scenarios.

The first comparison will be with the model and I standing in one spot. You will be able to see the difference each focal length makes when it comes to background compression, bokeh, distortion and how it changes the look of someone's face and body.

During the next comparisons, I will be moving around to frame each focal length to look as similar as possible. First we will shoot a landscape, mid length portrait with each lens. Finally, we have a closeup headshot focal length comparison. Here, the difference in background compression is extremely noticeable. Not only that, but it's interesting to see how each focal length changes the shape of someone's face!

Focal length choice with prime lenses can either be a stylistic or technical choice. An 85mm is classified as the perfect portrait lens, as it's flattering for closeup portraits and has great background to foreground separation. I personally like to use a more “unconventional” lens for my portraits - a 35mm. I love the distortion it creates and how you can see more of the location that we’re shooting in. In this case, using a 35mm for portrait photography is a stylistic choice.

If you were to choose a prime lens for a technical reason there are 2 (among many other) simple reasons you could choose one lens over the other. I used to work as a retoucher and photographer at a headshot studio. I learnt from the photographer who owns the studio that people have different face shapes and features - well, duh! But depending on their features, can be a reason to choose a particular focal length.

For example, if someone has a wider face, I would opt for taking portraits on a wider angle prime lens like a 50mm. I personally have a wider face and always find I prefer portraits of myself taken on a 35mm or 50mm rather than an 85mm. If someone has a smaller face with features closer together, I would choose to use a telephoto prime such as the 85 or 135. Having a longer lens compresses the photo and flattens out a face more in a photo.

Another easy reason to choose a focal length is your location. If you have an amazing location you want to incorporate into your photo, then a wide lens like the 35mm could be a good choice. If you are in a busy location, then a lens with more compression such as the 135mm could come in more handy. A telephoto lens will throw the background out of focus and help your subject stand out in your portrait.

Watch the video below to hear my thoughts on each of these focal lengths! I share each of the comparisons side by side throughout the video to help you decide which prime lens is right for you.

I also have a more detailed series of photos + videos where I compare only 2 focal lengths together so you can see even more examples with different portrait and location combinations. You can see those all here:

35mm vs 50mm

50mm vs 85mm

85mm vs 135mm

85mm vs 100mm vs 135mm

24mm vs 35mm vs 50mm vs 85mm vs 135mm on a crop frame camera

Crop frame vs Full frame

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel, I upload a new video every week.

All photos are edited with my Aspen Lightroom Preset!

To make it easier to compare what each focal length looks like, please select which 2 lenses you want to compare below.

Photographer + model standing in one spot:

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

Full body with photographer moving around to fill the frame:

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

Mid length portrait with photographer moving around to fill the frame:

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

Close up portrait with photographer moving around to fill the frame:

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

24mm

35mm

50mm

85mm

135mm

Let me know what you think of the lenses in the comments of the video, would love to know which ones you guys prefer, what you like to use the most, etc!

All photos edited with my Aspen Lightroom Preset to give the photos a natural look so they are easier to compare when they are all colour graded the same.

if you enjoyed this video, I have also compared all my prime lenses on a crop frame camera!

Creative Couples Photography Ideas: Tamar & Matt | Edinburgh, Scotland

While visiting Edinburgh, Scotland I had the chance to meet up and photograph photographer-videographer couple Tamar & Matt (please check out their Instagrams that I linked, they are absolutely amazing at what they do!)! We wandered around the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens and I was obsessed with all the beautiful backdrops we had to work with such as the greenhouse and the field of Daffodils which is almost impossible to come across in Australia.

We also filmed our portrait session, so if you want to watch the behind the scenes of our afternoon, it’s down below! I’ve also included some before and after images so you can see what my shots look like straight out of the camera and also edited! I edited all of these with my New York Lightroom Preset as I wanted a warm, vintage look to the photos.

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel below, I upload new videos every single Wednesday!

All photos edited with my New York Lightroom Preset