This preset is made for all iphone users. Just snap your shot with the normal iphone cam, drop into lightroom and apply my preset. Bam! 🔥
Fierce fire red, silver chrome and vintage style contrast! That’s how I imagined these photos of my friends epic 1967 Pontiac Firebird! Unfortunately I only had my iphone with me. This wouldn’t let me down though, cause I got that vision in my head and I got to work. A few close ups, a wide angle of me pretending to smoke and we’re set!
For this look, I crushed the shadows but pulled up the black point. The RGB curve adjustments are key here. For the reds and greens, Raised shadows and lowered highlights, but the opposite for blues: lowered shadows and raised highlights. This gives us that warm nostalgic look that we just can’t get any other way.
BeforeAfter
I also love lowering the overall saturation to mute the skin tones and then raise back the less saturated parts of the image by using the vibrance slider. For that epic silver chrome look, I went for a neutral white balance. Making sure the whites are properly balanced. I desaturated the highly exposed highlights and dark shadows. For the cherry on top, or Pontiac on top, I increase the reds saturation for that nice pop!
This preset works best for iphone users. Make sure you shoot something red as the main protagonist and protect the highlights. I had some overexposed shots and this presets just destroyed the whole image. But when dialing back the exposure slider, it all came back together.
Why not visit Ryan’s Firebird’s very own instagram page! He rents it out for weddings and events:
This recipe is amazing for moody foresty settings. Look for pop of highlights in the image for balance, as this will use the dark greens like a natural vignette. The reds are not over saturated, yet they will pop more in contrast to the darkened background.
This recipe is made for the Fujifilm X-Trans IV sensor -> all featured photos here are shot with the Fujifilm X-E4. The recipe also works for X100V, X-T4, X-S10 & X-T30II.
This recipe utilizes the dark blue greens of the classic negative film sim and underexposes the entire image by -2/3 EV. This way the greens are rich, moody and more “cinematic”. To make the skin tones less saturated and red, I adjusted the WB shift so that melanin-rich skin tones look balanced. To fight the strong contrast of classic neg, the shadows are a bit pulled and highlights pushed for a better highlight roll off. As always, similar to Reggie’s Portra, I always set the white balance to AUTO and Clarity to 0 for speedy shooting.
BeforeAfter
I love that as soon as I enter a nature setting or a forest, or a park or something will lots of trees, I know exactly which film recipe to choose. My goal is always to create the best images in cam, instead of having to spend another RAW editing session at home. That’s why, Jpegs only, straight out-of-cam, is the way to go for me.
BeforeAfter
RECIPE
Push/pull processing
-⅔ EV
Dynamic Range
DR100
D Range Priority
OFF
Film Sim
Classic Neg
Grain Effect
Strong
Size
Small
Color Chrome Effect
Strong
Color Chrome FX Blue
Weak
White Balance
AUTO
WB Shift
R:-1, B:+1
Highlight Tone
-2
Shadow Tone
-1.5
Color
+1
Sharpness
-1
High ISO NR
-4
Clarity
0
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If you like my work, please feel free to buy me a coffee while I continue to cook more recipes and presets <3
Guimaras is an island just 20 min by boat from the main city of Iloilo. The buying of the ticket, boarding and arrival has never been so easy. Everything is offline, you’ll have to write your name on a piece of paper for security, buy the boat ticket and take the next boat leaving. There’s no schedule, no online ticket purchasing, no planning. I went there with a friend who lives in Iloilo and I was surprised to be sitting in the boat after just being in the jeepney 10 minutes ago.
The whole trip was very spontaneous. We had nothing prebooked, no accomodation and I knew nothing about that island except that it was very near and i wanted to explore it. My friend has been there several times so I trusted her to show me the best places there.
So we arrived at the port of Guimaras and took a tricycle all the way to the north. The reason is because the place is generally less populated. We also stopped by at some mango vendors to buy the original Guimaras mangoes.
So it was beginning to get dark and the tricycle driver dropped us off at an expensive looking beach resort. Instead of booking a room we decided to take a look at the beach side. There we found simple small nipa huts that didn’t seem to belong to the resort. Luckily we found a guy at the beach who looked like a fisherman and my friend asked him whether he knows who is responsible for those nipa huts. He said he was. Then she started bargaining in Hiligaynon, which is the local dialect in Iloilo, and I went away to not influence the bargaining process with my white face. My friend then came back to me and said she bargained him down to 800 pesos for the hut. Which is like 16$. That was amazing! and all I cared about was the beach anyways. not the swimming pool at the resort nearby. Here we spent our first night in Guimaras. In a small cheap hut right next to the beach.
The next day, we decided to visit the marine sanctuary. A place where marine biologists research and work. It was not really a touristy place but it somewhat cost like 20 pesos entrance for outsiders. We explored the sanctuary and it was amazing! A boardwalk going through swamps, small stone pebble beaches, and we even found a submarine! A bit further into the sanctuary we found a cave and we went in. It ended up being the most incredible sight of the sanctuary. It opened up to the ocean and we took a dip in the cool crystal clear water at the untouched cave opening.
After buying some ice cream from a local vendor, we decided to go to the floating restaurant for lunch. we took a tricycle and it was kind of hard to find the small dirt road leading away from the main road. but we found a tiny sign leading us to the right direction. Then we took a free shuttle boat service up to the restaurant. We were the only ones there. So lucky! We ordered food and beer and I got to jump from their jumping platform which was 10 feet high.
After this amazing experience, we made our way back to start taking care of our next accomodation. We also got some more local grown mangoes at the side of the road sold by a small family. According to Filipinos Guimaras mangoes are supposed to be the best in the whole Philippines. The soil and air here is perfect for growing them. We bought some for dinner and this time my friend knew of a place we can stay the night. I was quite excited and didn’t know what to expect.
As soon as we hit a dead end, our tricycle driver said we have to walk up the unpaved hill. We then paid him and continued our journey uphill. We passed by a small local store where a family was living and as they saw us, they greeted us with large smiles and offered us some of their self made camote-cue (caramelized sweet potato on a stick). We were so grateful, gave them a bit of money to compensate them and continued our journey up the hill.
It was blazing hot and after 30 minutes of hot weather and amazing vegetation, we arrived at a place that seemed completely cut off from civilization. A few wooden bungalows, coconut trees everywhere, kids playing, and we arrived at the place where my friend wanted to bring me. She said it’s the retreat where she and her friends go to have quiet time. I also realized that i didn’t have any phone signal since we left the tricycle at the paved road.
We then found this amazing small beach. It had pristine white sand, a few nipa huts and a family as caretakers. My friend asked the mother for the price for the huts and if we could sleep there. When we heard that they also rent out tents, we changed our minds and decided the huts were a bit too big for two people. As we were the only ones there, we decided to sleep in a rented tent for 5$ in the middle of the beach. There was a nice cool breeze in the evening and we enjoyed the entire beach to ourselves. My friend pitched her hammock to chill until it got dark and I put a table in the middle of the beach for the dinner that we bought in a small store during the day. When you look out into the ocean you can see an island that looks like three tiny hills. It turned out the place we were was called Tatlong Pulo Beach Resort (The 3 islands).
This trip was just a weekend trip but a very memorable one. An amazing non touristy experience that you can only know of by being with locals. Also for this kind of trip you rely on local tricycle drivers, caretakers, family stores. A good connection to the people is a must because their thankfulness and smiles are priceless.
My cousin May and I basically left home without a plan and that was the best thing we could do. No accomodation appointments, no plans, just exploring whatever we find and encounter.
Being based in Sydney, Fingal Beach was our first camp. Here we parked at the side of the road, went to the beach and made our first dinner in the camper. We were still trying to figure out all the features of the van and were so excited to find small hidden treasures. The van was incredibly functional and thought through.
The next day we hiked to the Barry Park Lookout then to Fingal Head and then down to Boulder Bay Road where we headed back to the town.
We discovered a Safari at Port Stephens Sand Dunes and I was super stoked as it was my first time sand boarding.
In the evening we went to Crescent Head, but the camping site was full and the reception closed. So we slept at a camping site (Racecourse Campground) down the Point Plomer road. It was very rugged and right at the beach. It was also raining hard.
Next stop was Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise where we took some time off from the rain and treated ourselves with some indoor activities.
We then headed to Noosa National Park where we went surfing at Noosa Main Beach. We also went hiking in the rain to Tea Tree Bay, Granite Bay, Hell’s Gates and Alexandria Bay.
At the car park, we found a small hiking loop called Palm Grove Circuit. It looked incredible especially with the rain.
Next stop was Point Cartwright at Sunshine Coast where we got to finally taste a little bit of sun.
Back on the road, we discovered the Glass House Mountains in Beerwah, Beerburrum when we just followed signs towards a “scenic road”. So we just followed it and found these incredible Glass House Mountains.
After that we went to Brisbane and found the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where we got to hangout with some local animals.
From Brisbane we drove to Byron Bay where I rented a surfboard and tried surfing for the second time. After this we got a tip from a local that we should visit some waterfalls in land. That wasn’t our plan because we wanted to stay along the coast, but hey, it’s a road trip and why not?
We went waterfalls hopping: Killen, Minyon, and Protesters Falls were incredible scenic views and we even had time to visit the Macadamia Farm – Pacific Farms along the way.
We went back to Byron to sleep and then off to Kingscliff where we stayed overnight at a fancy Camping Ground. We made use of the public exercise equipment and went for a run.
Next stop was Cabarita Beach where we had the most awesome view from the camper. May went surfing again before we headed towards Coffs Harbour. I flew the drone at Digger’s Beach, Park Beach and then we went for a walk to the rocks ito the left of Digger’s Beach.
In the morning we went for a run up to Muttonbird Island and stayed the whole day at Park Beach.
Our next stop was Port McQuary where we had another awesome view from the camper. There was a skater park, we went for another run & workout and I pitched the hammock and we chilled the entire day.
Our last stop was New Castle. The One Mile Beach was impressive but the weather was kinda grey again and it was quite windy. So we decided to go to the Mall (Westfield) because of rain and watched a movie at the cinema.
We slept at the parking of the Dixon Park beach and I filmed a surfing competition.
This being our last day, we headed back to Sydney very content and tired from the whole trip.
General Tips
Transportation We got our camper van from Britz. I was super happy with the van as it was the perfect size and not too big. The van had incredibly thought through features. The only downside was that most electric appliances only worked if you plug the van to a camping ground electric plug source. Yes, it had a separate battery, but it was only for the fridge and the water pump. We calculated a maximum of 5 hours drive per day. After day 7 we would head back to Sydney.
Accomodation If you travel with a camper van you still need to sleep in designated camping grounds. Staying overnight at public parking lots is most of the time not allowed and you can get fined for a lot of money. To prevent this, download the app WikiCamps to find free spots to overnight with your camper.
Food Along this route you can find a lot of grocery stores like Woolworths and Coles. We filled up our fridge and made sure we had food and drinks for the next 3-4 days. Try to consume fresh food as soon as possible and keep your kitchen clean. refill the water regularly and make sure everything is stowed away before you drive.
Costs The camper was around 1300 AUD for 14 days and another 600 AUD for insurance. Food was around 50 AUD per shopping. Camping grounds can cost between 15 and 30 AUD per night. Gas was around 30 – 40 AUD every 2-3 days Toll (Linkt) was around 50 AUD for 14 days.
Parking Most of the parking is for free but is limited to some hours. It is usually not allowed to stay overnight at most public parking lots so you’ll have to drive to a quiet side street. For commercial areas, parking fees may apply. If you decided to go to famous areas, make sure to get there early or else you’ll never find parking. If you end up having difficulty with parking, just explore some untreaded area along the kilometer wide stretches of beaches.
We paid around 250€ per person for a 3 day trip. We only expected to see the empty white Uyuni lake but during the trip you get to see so much more and it’s well worth your buck. Hotels, food, transportation and a driver/tour guide is all included. The downside is that the group always has to consist of 6 people and sometimes you can’t choose who you are traveling with. I suggest you try to put together your own 6 people beforehand if you have the chance.
Day 1
We flew in to Uyuni and arranged a pickup from the airport. It’s super easy and either included in the tour package or it costs a few dollar depending on the tour agency.
First we got together at the office and the agency introduced us to the driver/tour guide and the other group of 4 people with whom we will spend the next 3 days together. We got to leave our large bags at the office and only brought the essentials in a backpack for the trip. The tour agent explained the places we’d visit on a map but didn’t really show us any pictures. So I had no idea what to expect, which in retrospect was even better that way. It’s like not watching the trailer to an awesome movie.
The first stop of our trip was the train wreck in the middle of the desert. The tour guide said at some point in time the train wagons were replaced with new ones and the government didn’t have the money to get rid of the old trains, so they just left them in the middle of the desert. Yes, it was the most touristy part of the trip and unfortunately it was also quite dirty and full of dumped plastic. Obviously there’s no budget to clean up the place and being a huge attraction for tourists and locals, plastic waste has found its home here. It was really sad to see. A lot of jeeps were parked beside the attraction and so many took selfies and pictures of themselves in old train wrecks. This was not really my favourite but after a 10 minute walk we found a rather deserted area with broken train wagons in the middle of the desert.
Many of the tour agencies have the same itinerary on the first day. So now we experienced a salt village on our second stop. The tour guide said there is a salt market and a small salt museum and unfortunately as it was a sunday, the salt factory where they actually processed the salt was closed. Everyone hang out at the market and bought decorations, small sachets of salt and other goodies for souvenirs. This place was again packed with tourists and the jeeps were all clogging the parking space and vendors were trying to sell their goods to anyone who passed by.
Now what came next was the actual highlight of the trip. The Uyuni Salt Lake. Either it will be super dry and you can see the hexagonal forms of salt or it is wet and you can see the awesome reflection of the sky. Either way, this is the highlight of the trip…for now. The tour guide knows what to do and offers to do a photo shooting with us for an hour or two. We used this infinity background to do some perspective skewing shots and got really creative. Our driver/tour guide suddenly became an experienced photographer too.
Our next stop was the salt hotel where we had lunch. As it is in the middle of the desert, the food was brought separately with the jeeps and we got reminded that there is not a single water source in the salt hotel and I also realised despite it being so hot, I couldn’t find a single drop of sweat on my forehead. It’s like the salty environment was sucking the water out of me. Nevertheless our group engaged in conversation while eating lunch and we got to bond a bit more.
The next drive was a bit longer than the previous one but we could stop whenever we wanted to take pictures or go take a leak. When we arrived at our next stop, the sun was already setting. But this place was incredible! It was a whole island full of cacti. It is also called the Incahuasi Island. It is full of giant cacti that took hundred of years for them to grow. For a small entrance fee you can enter the island and walk along a man made path for tourists. I decided to go around the island and explore it from the outside. The sun set made the scenery even more epic and i got one of the best pictures of my trip here.
After sun set, we arrived at another salt hotel where even the walls and our beds were made of salt. It was a very dry night but still relaxing after such a full and active day. Now I thought we’ve actually seen everything we wanted to see and this Incahuasi Island was a bonus. I had no idea what we’d see next.
Day 2
The next day, we drove along deserted train tracks leading to a military area. We stoped at a very small hut where we could replenish our water supplies and snacks and fill up some gas for the jeep. Around noon, we encountered some wild flamingos at a lake with a very picturesque mountainous surrounding. This was definitely another highlight of the trip. Just at the side of the lake, we had lunch at a small restaurant and then we left for the rock formations and we saw the famous rock tree. I also happened to find a giant rock that looked like an evil Donald Trump… The red lake came next. The view was spectacular! Later that day we drove through the desert once again. Just a huge landscape, no roads, nothing but mountains and a compass in the jeep to navigate the direction.
Soon we arrived at our second sleeping place. It was a small establishment in the middle of the desert that had several rooms and a common chill area. Our room was a large room with 6 beds. It was still early and the sun was still up so for the sunset, my friend and I wanted to climb up a hill and chase the sun. The hike turned out to be a full hour and on the way we found a dog who seemed to be very excited and lead the way. The dog showed us the best way up as there was no trail at all. When we arrived at the summit you could see the whole area from a birdeye view. That was really incredible! We went back down the mountain, tried to take some night photos of the stars (we were in the middle of nowhere in the mountains afterall) and by the time we arrived in our room, the other were sleeping already. I was so exhausted and got to sleep really well.
Day 3
We left at around 6am to arrive at the most epic fumaroles I’ve ever seen. The steam was so thick and the mud was just bubbling aggressively.
We passed by a hot spring with almost no people in it. It is being heated by natural gases and we were really lucky with the weather. I loved it, because the air was kind of cold, it was very sunny and the water very very warm.
On our way home we passed by some Llamas. They were on an awesome green field drinking from a natural small river stream. Even though I think most Llamas are being taken care of, these definitely looked like wild ones. On our last stop at a very small market, we had some of the best salteñas from an old lady at the side of the road. they cost only 50 cents per piece and I just had to go back and buy more for the trip after I swallowed 2 of them in one go.
All in all I thought the tour was so well worth the 250€. Not only did we get to see the incredible landscape of Bolivia, but we also got accomodation, food, transportation and a guide for 3 entire days. The food was good too considering the circumstances we were in (Salt Lake without water, trash management and organisation of the food arriving at the salt hotel on time)
must pack for Uyuni:
sunglasses
chap stick
hat/cap
small money for snacks, souvenirs, water
good shoes
sun screen
camera, drone and all your favourite toys
ND filters (sunglasses for the camera)
anything else like clothes, toilettries etc.. is up to you. But missing one of these is really troublesome.
Make sure to prepare for extreme weather conditions: very hot, very cold and very wet! Because yes, all those can come in the 3 days you visit Uyuni. I encountered ultra hot weather and very cold weather when going up the mountain and at night. I was so happy to have my down jacket with me in my bag. At the beginning I thought i wouldn’t need it.
Hey guys, as we all know, Seychelles is known for having incredibly nice white sand beaches, rock formations that look like a CGI and just a very beautiful picturesque landscape. Seychelles is also home to endemic flora and fauna, so you can see animals and plants only unique to this place. I know there are many more trails in the Seychelles, but these 5 were my all time favourites. Some are hiking trails, some are just a nice walk, some are hard, some are easy. I hope you find the right one for you.
Anse Major Trail
This trail is just a few minutes away from Beau Vallon Beach, in the north-western part of Mahe. At the end of the road you will see a small sign showing you the trail going west to Anse Major. Anse Major is a hidden beach cove that you can only access via this trail. Unless you have a boat, then you can just drive to whichever beach cove you want. this trail is not too hard at all but you’ll need good hiking shoes. It’s quite rocky and you walk in the open with the fresh sea breeze blowing off the mountain side. The open view to the ocean kept our spirits up and we hiked around 45 min until we got to the platform that had an awesome view on the Anse Major
Distance: 2km Duration: 40min
Copolia Trail
This hiking trail is a bit steep and can get quite tiring. The vegetation of this trail is amazing and you can find endemic plants and trees. Like for example the carnivorous pitcher plant or the “walking” trees that have long thin roots protruding out of the ground. Unlike the Anse Major trail, you will hike in the deep forest here going in between trees and over rocks. you hike for around an hour and lay back 1.4km and up there on the summit, you will be greeted with an astonishing view of Eden Island and St. Anne Marine National Park.
Distance: 1.6km Duration: 45min
Vallee de Mai
The Vallee de Mai is not a hiking trail but rather a nature reserve that is full of trails and on UNESCOs world heritage list. The entrance fee costs 350 Rupies which is around 25 USD. You will be part of a group with a tour guide who will bring you into the deep forest of the reserve . Here you can find the infamous Coco de Mer, take pictures with it, learn about the whole history and its evolution to becoming the most precious item in ancient times.
At some point the tour guide will leave you alone and you can wander the trails by yourself at your own pace. Going through this maze of unique trees and plants, we found a bunch of cute endemic animals.
Distance: 1-2km Duration: 1-2h
Tea Leaf Trail
The Tea Leaf Trail is a small trail around the tea leaf plantation in Mahe. It’s called the Tea Tavern Nature Walk. This trail is perfect for beginners cause it’s not really hiking but just a short walk around the tea leaf area. When I was here, I was so lucky to experience the epic cloud that totally swallowed the whole area. These are one of my favourite shots I did in the Seychelles.
Distance: around 500m Duration: around 20min
Morne Blanc Trail
When you leave the tea plantation, you can just walk up the road and in 5 min you will find the starting point to the Morne Blanc Trail. This trail is Jurassic Park. It will throw you back into ancient times. The flora here is unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. The higher you go, the more moist the forest becomes with moss covering the rocks and trees. The trail is only 1km but it’s still challenging and quite steep at some points. I was here when it rained and I had the best experience ever! There was no view at all, but the experience in this endemic cloud forest was unforgettable.
Distance: 3.2km Duration: 40min
Links
Download some nature trail maps here: http://www.snpa.gov.sc/about-us/downloads
Check out more hiking trails here: https://www.seychelles.travel/en/explore/walks-and-trails
SOCIAL MEDIA: https://www.youtube.com/eypee https://www.facebook.com/eypeekaaminofilmmaker https://www.instagram.com/eypeekaamino https://eypee.com
When I asked my filipino friends for advice which destinations are the best in the Philippines, I got a lot of common answers that Siargao is the new trend. A few years ago everyone was talking about El Nido and Coron in Palawan. Now it’s Siargao, the surfing capital of the Philippines. Siargao was also voted the best island in the world by the reader’s choice awards in October 2018. Surpassing, Boracay, Palawan and even Bali. It is known for being a surfer’s paradise. This island is definitely a place to check out when visiting the Philippines!
Flights:
You can get to Siargao by flying in from Cebu or Manila. It used to be only Cebu but Cebgo is now operating between Manila and Siargao as well. It is a bit more pricey though.
You can already get a non-stop and roundtrip from Cebu to Siargao starting at 60$ per person and up. It depends on the season of course. From Manila to Siargao we paid 160$ non-stop and roundtrip per person with Cebgo.
Transportation:
From the airport, you can get a van that brings you straight to the hotel. The price should range around 250-300 php/person depending how far your accommodation is. Most resorts are in General Luna and almost all vans waiting for passengers at the airport drive to that area. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any cheaper options like tricycles there. The most convenient way is to arrange a pick up with your accommodation and there will be people with signs at the arrival area waiting for you. This is a bit more pricey. We paid around 400 php/person.
The best way to get around the island is to rent a motorbike or motor scooter. I Siargao, you will see most of the bikes have a holder for surf boards. We paid 500 php per day for an automatic scooter. Gas is 55 php per liter (red gas in a glass coca cola bottle). Full tank is 3 bottles for 165 php (3$) and lasts the whole day. For people who don’t want to drive a bike, they can flag down a tricycle from the road. In General Luna it’s no problem.
Accommodation:
In Siargao there are countless accomodations in General Luna ranging from cheap bungalows to high end resorts. I always prefer a non-touristy flare and I found a place right next to a white sand beach with no rocks! Yes, it is quite hard to find non-rocky beaches in Siargao. They had cute small cottages (bahay kubos), their own local restaurant, bike rentals, a decent reception and very friendly and helpful staff. The cottages were air conditioned, they have warm water and even a TV. The price was around 50$ a night when we were there in January. We had a great time here!
Nay Palad Hideaway (5-Star and instagram worthy) – 1400$ – 2760$ / night
Homestay:
For the more experimental people out there, there are multiple home stays in the island. Here, you can have a taste of how local people really live. You will stay with a family and have the most authentic experience you can have. These places are usually not in General Luna, but rather in the small provincial areas all around Siargao.
Food:
Eat at Patrick’s at the beach restaurant. Siargao doesn’t have a lot of options for dining. The “good” places are either tourist spots that serve foreign food or local spots that take too long to prepare if they get a lot of customers. I had the best authentic filipino food at our accommodation’s own restaurant right next to the beach for only 5$ per meal.
If you wanna go with the flow, here are some touristy food spots:
Offshore cafe at Cloud 9 – Fruit Bowls, Ice Cream, Coffee
Shaka Cafe – the most famous one
Miguel’s Burritos and Tacos
Ronaldo’s local BBQ chicken
Aventino’s Pizza
at some special places, you can get a fresh buko (young coconut) straight from the tree for only 30 php. They are served with natural bamboo straws and the meat is scraped off with the natural bark shell of the coconut. Coconut water is rich in electrolytes but is also diuretic, which means you have to go pee more often. So it’s good for rehydration and diarrhoea.
Things To Do:
Cloud 9 (surfing and boardwalk)
Go out and surf! It’s Siargao afterall! A surf instructor costs 500 php for an hour. We also had another guy take photos with our gopro for 300 php. At Jacking Horse you get beginner waves and you can try out your surfing skills. Try to go when the tide is high or middle high for good waves. So early morning and late afternoon. The tide is the highest at 6am and 6pm and is the lowest at 12 noon and midnight.
The boardwalk is three stories high and is a good place to rest after surfing. You can also observe the waves and the surfers from up there and the breeze really gets you into vacation mode. At low tide, you can go down to the crystal blue natural pools and take a dip there.
Explore the Island (crocodile marsh, coconut trees)
When you rented a motorbike, I urge you to just stop at one of Siargao side streets and explore the landscapes full of coconut trees. You can do as many stops as you like to take your photos. The best photos i got from this trip came from the multiple spontaneous stops we had. When you leave General Luna and drive up to the Mapupungko Falls, you will encounter a lot of local scenery like rice fields, coconut plantations, carabaos and just around a corner, you will pass by a magnificent view of the middle part of the island that is complete covered with coconut trees.
On another trip down south we also encountered a marsh that is suppose to be a habit for filipino crocodiles. Luckily we didn’t encounter any (but maybe they encountered us and we didn’t know).
Go To The Secret Beach
Use Google Maps and search for “secret beach Siargao”. From General Luna, you drive south on Union Road until you see a small path to the left with a small sign saying Guiwan surfing area.
You need to walk through the coconut farm for around 8 minutes to get to the beach and it is by far the nicest walk I’ve done on this island. Starting 4pm, surfers will stop by the secret beach and ride the waves. This spot is way less touristy than Cloud 9 and you can enjoy a tourist free beach with some surfers having fun. I got most of my shots here, as it was really beautiful and local.
Explore the Enchanted River
You can find this on your way north when you drive up north from General Luna to Mapupungko Rock Pools. You will pass by a small bridge where you can hear laughing kids and happy locals chit chatting. This is a small gathering spot for the villagers where they just hang out and have fun. We overlooked this the first time and then stoped to check it out when coming back. So here, they offer small peaceful paddle boat tours through the river. You will pass by the famous bent tree where kids jump from the swing, and then you will arrive at the very quiet landscape of Siargao’s palm forests. It really is enchanted!
The boat tour costs 500 php/boat (not per person) and takes around 1 hour with a short break at the end of the river. Yes it is not a loop and you will find a small crystal blue lagoon pool where you can take a short dip. There are also some local kids who climb up trees and get some fresh coconuts that you can buy for just 30 pesos. They are served with a bamboo straw and the meat is scraped off with the bark of the coconut shell.
The bent tree stands out from all other trees and the locals made a swing out of it so kids can play and jump into the river. This is what i hoped my childhood would look like. I envy those kids.
Mapupungko Rock Pools
This destination is one of natures beautiful creations and also part of Siargao’s most known tourism attractions. A lot of tours offer a trip to this place. A wonderful natural crystal blue lagoon you can only find at low tide. When the waves go back, it reveals a very blue lagoon at the far left side of the Mapupungko Beach. Make sure to bring rock shoes as the rocks can be very sharp.
The entrance to the beach costs 50 php/person and there are a lot of food stalls offering snacks, lunch and even souvenirs, t-shirts and beach gear. The best time to witness the rock pools is when the water is the lowest. So at 12 noon. But this is not really the best time to go, as the pool will be packed with tourists. I would wait a few hours, the water will rise a bit, but it’s still possible to see the clear blue water.
If you have time, continue your journey north and you will arrive at Pacifico. We didn’t get to explore this part of the island yet, as we ran out of time and had to head back home.
If you have more time than we do, then definitely pay a visit to Pacifico, Burgos and Alegria Areas. Unfortunately we also missed to visit the Sugba Lagoon as it was closed for a month for rehabilitation. So definitely check these out in Siargao.
Island Hopping:
You can ask your accomodation for island hopping tours. They will get a small commission but they already have deals with the boats men. In some cases you can make a deal with the boatsmen directly. So here are some of the most common offers:
Island Hopping – Daku Island, Guyam Island, Naked Island
Sohoton Tour – Sohoton Cove, Jellyfish Sanctuary, Crystal Cave, Tiktikan Lake (includes tour guide, boat, tour entrance fees/permit and special buffet lunch)
Sugba Lagoon Tour
You can choose to do a private or a joiner tour. Joiner tours are the most common ones and most affordable tours too. The prices can vary depending on the season.
In Summer 2018, I shot a documentary in Zanskar and got to see most of the countries hidden gems. I want to share this experience with you guys, as it was so remote and very local. It’s important to note that we did this trip between June 6-16 due to the road conditions. Roads to Zanskar are only open a few weeks per year. In the winter, traveling in and out of Zanskar as a tourist is nearly impossible. You’ll have to drive on frozen lakes or hike through the snowy mountains.
LEH
Leh is a town in the Indian State Jammu and Kashmir, considered as one of the more civilised places in the region. Like Kargil. We flew from Delhi to Leh with GoAir. As far as I know, there is only one flight a day arriving and leaving Leh airport from Delhi. In Leh you can do a lot of sight seeing. There is a local pedestrian area where you can buy lots of branded (definitely fake) hiking gear, carpets, souvenirs, local food, and several places to exchange money. In a side street we discovered a local common area where they served free food for the poor. The place was covered with Tibetan prayer flags and prayer wheels and many locals sitting, eating and chatting.
Main Pedestrian Market Square in Leh
Locals hanging out under Tibetan flags in Leh
Sightseeing:
There is the great Shanti Stupa. This place is always full of local tourists. It is a huge Buddhist white-domed stupa (chorten) on a hilltop in Chanspa. You need to get here by car. It’s only 30 min away from the city center.
The Great Palace of Leh is definitely a highlight and well worth to check out.
Leh Palace
Shanti Stupa in Leh
Accomodation:
There are a lot of good hostels, Hotels and BnBs in Leh. Some more luxurious than others. We stayed at the Munshi Continental Hotel. It’s a simple 3-star hotel with very good service and newly renovated. Breakfast AND dinner were included and the food was really good! They serve mostly local food.
Very important hint: Take the first 1-2 days off and rest. Your body has to adjust to the height and the lack of oxygen in the air or else you will get height sickness. It doesn’t matter if you are a sporty and fit person or not.
Hotel Munshi Continental (3-star)
nice room after 1 night
ROADTRIP TO KARGIL
The roads here are good. Though the landscape is very dry in the summer, you will mostly see grey, stone landscapes and dry colorless mountains in the background. On the streets, everything is full of coloured trucks and you notice that everything is branded TATA. The most common heavy steel industry is run by this company. The government does a very good job in putting up signs on the side of the road to discourage speeding ad encourage safe driving.
One of many typical TATA trucks
LAMAYURU
When driving from Leh to Kargil, you will pass by Lamayuru. If you are a backpacker, you can start your treck here through the Lamayuru Valley. Otherwise, you can also do some sight seeing. There is a great monastery here. Just pay a low entrance fee and then you can explore the huge monastery. (link)
When you enter the Lamayuru region, you will find it has an awesome landscape already. Just see for yourself:
Lamayuru Monastery
Our 4x4 driving through the windy roads of Lamayuru region
epic dry mountains in Lamayuru region in summer
KARGIL is considered to be a more industrialized city just like Leh. We didn’t have a chance to explore the city, instead we just passed by and slept at the Malla Guest House in Lankerchey. It was a small and cute homestay. We got our private rooms and it was like staying at a local families place. They prepared dinner for us and we got to talk with them about the region. It was 1000 better than staying at a hostel or hotel. I didn’t regret not staying in Kargil because our journey will bring us to places far more beautiful with more natural landscapes. So unfortunately I can not write anything about Kargil here.
Landscape after Kargil heading towards Rangdum
RANGDUM
At some point, the roads heading towards Rangdum stop being paved. So prepare for bumpy driving and passing through many checkpoints, as these are common places where hikers can get lost. The landscape is more wild here and we start seeing gigantic snowy Himalayan mountains in every direction. In Rangdum you can stop for a small local meal and a short rest. It’s basically just a few houses surrounded by snowy mountains.
resting and having a lunch stop in Rangdum
Our cook in Rangdum
THE KINGDOM OF PADUM
The journey to Padum is an adventure. You basically drive through mountain passes, white Himalayan mountains everywhere you look and we stopped regularly to grab some fresh mountain water from the side of the road. We even picked some wild rhubarb from the side of the mountain and snacked on it. The highlight was the grand glacier we discovered and the entrance to Zanskar up in the mountain. It was a small stupa covered in Tibetan praying flags.
Our small travel group traveling to the Kingdom of Zanskar
Grand Glacier surrounded by Himalayan Mountains
The Entrance to Zanskar
Padum is the capital of the Kingdom of Zanskar. There used to be an old Padum which is now deserted. The new Padum sports restaurants, hostels and even a hospital with western doctors. Still padum, is very rural and local and you don’t see a lot of tourists here. Because it’s very small, everyone knows each other and the community seems very happy and they create a very homey atmosphere in the kingdom of Padum. It took us 2 full days to get here by car from Leh.
Padum - The Capital of Zanskar
Stupa overlooking old Padum
ZANGLA
Zangla was historically one of the two main capitals of the Zanskar Kingdom, the other being Padum. It is only a 1 hour drive from Padum. Zangla is basically a province. It is blessed with green fields and very accomodating home stays. Zangla only gets 4 hours of electricity a day from Padum. There’s no running water either. The people get their water from downstream in huge buckets. We stayed at a very nice and comfortable home stay with locals. They cooked local food for us.
Zangla Nunnery
Zangla is surrounded by incredible mountains. It has an awesome nunnery. A Hungarian scholar edited the first Tibetan-English dictionary while living at Zangla Palace in 1823.
View from the Balcony of the Nunnery
KARSHA VILLAGE
This village is a bit bigger than Zangla especially because of its huge monastery (gompa).
The Karsha Gompa is a Buddhist monastery in the Padum Valley of the Zanskar region of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in northern India.
The villagers here are also blessed with green fields and a mountain range view that is unforgettable. Here, we slept at the house of our tour guide. We met his wife and kids and had awesome local food.
Entrance to Karsha Village
View of Mountains surrounding Karsha Village
TOURISM
Padum and especially Zangla, and Karsha Village are places you will not find a lot of tourists. If you are a photographer, this is the best best place to do night photography, as you are very high up in the mountains and there literally no light sources to obstruct your camera. In these small villages, you usually stay in guest houses and/or home stays. So depending on what was agreed upon, you are dependent on the locals there when it comes to food and transportation. We had a guide with us at all times. He organised accomodation, food and transportation for the entire 10 days. Eventhough we had a guide, we mostly did untouristy things because we were shooting a documentary.
FOOD
Throughout the whole trip I learned that locals usually eat vegetarian in summer and a lot of meat in the winter. In the summer, it is har to store meat as you will need to freeze it and many do not have a freezer or refrigerator. In the winter, vegetables do not grow or are hard as stone and meat can easily be stored in the cold.
Here is a Youtube video about Ladakhi food, created on this trip by my dear friend Arseny: https://youtu.be/mkUaYNq-7m8
Chapati
Chicken Curry
CHECKPOINTS
Nowadays, there is this checkpoint system introduced by the government. You have to pass a certain checkpoint by showing your passport if you leave or arrive at a certain region. So in case if someone gets lost, they can just check the last time they registered your passport and then they can search only that area.
Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsum decided to leave for the far World of Grammar. It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth. Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsum decided to leave for the far World of Grammar
Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsum decided to leave for the far World of Grammar. It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth. Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsum decided to leave for the far World of Grammar
The Manú National Park is a part of the Amazon Jungle that is located near Cusco and Madre de Dios river in Peru. “Near” is relatively optimistic because the drive from Cusco to the park was still roughly 7 hours long. But when talking about the scale of the gigantic amazon jungle, it is quite close.
On the first day, we left at 6am and went for several stops along the way. The drive alone was already an adventure because we got to meet a lot of locals and saw what a simple life everyone had. We did a long stop at the town called Paucartambo. All the women wore old traditional clothes and had these colorful towels wrapped around their back to carry goods or babies. Men would also use them to carry stuff around. basically a local traditional backpack. I got to taste the best mandarines and got to explore the town from the ground and also from the sky with my drone.
Going up hill, we realised the climate changed from being super dry and hot to humid and cold. We were in the cloud forest in an instant. We got off the car and started to walk along the road exploring the mountains and found some amazing unique birds and plants on the way. The altitude varied between 3000 and 5500 meters in height while we were driving, so even though we were just sitting in the van, it felt like work out.
Finally we arrived at our first sleeping place. I was surprised because it was a very clean, concrete building with several rooms in it with running electricity and warm water. It was well equipped with mosquito nets and we got an amazing local dinner and breakfast. I must mention, the jungle is very loud. But I still had a very good sleep that night and was a bit disappointed that we all got so spoiled in the middle of the jungle.
Day 2 was the most adventurous day of all. We got some rubber boots and were told that we would need them in the jungle as we would have to go through water and mud. That made me smile and I was already super excited. We started at 7 morning, but I decided to secretly fly the drone at 5am before every woke up. After I got my epic hazy morning shots of the river and jungle, we left for the entrance of Manu National Park. We entered quite early and got to meet an awesome hermit who decided to leave everything behind and take care of his own garden of endemic plants. He practically lives in his garden, his clothes were all covered in dirt and soil and he seemed to be very happy living his life in his garden. He even showed us a hat he made as a dedication to his best friend who died and who always used to wear hats. After seeing all kinds of endemic plants, bleeding bark trees, vanilla orchids, a prayer ritual and a whole colony of coca leaves, we continued our way to the madre de dios river.
There, we found a sign saying we should be careful of tribes. There are still some tribes in the jungle that have no contact to the outside world. They have different values and don’t think killing is as bad but necessary to stay alive. Animal instincts I guess. So we were told not to photograph them or get in contact with them, as they might think a camera is a weapon. There were already so many cases where tourists or locals got killed by them. This made me even more excited and our guide also told us how he encountered them 4 years ago across the river and that it was super exciting and also scary at the same time.
We got off the van, saw a cute little baby ant eater at the rest house and got on a boat. This was where we saw how dense the jungle was and how much untouched nature is out there. It was mind blowing. we rode the boat for around 30 minutes until we got off at a shore and started waking another 20 minutes through the dense jungle. On our way we tried to find some monkeys, because they were so loud, but unfortunately they didn’t like to be around us and ran away.
We crossed knee high water strips, hiked up the jungle hills and arrived at our wooden cottages. They were very simple and more of what I imagined to be suited for the jungle. Yet, they had good and clean beds, running water and even mosquito nets around the bed. I was again quite surprised. The weather was hot and humid this time and we were all constantly sweating. There was no way to charge camera gear for the next days and we had to deal with cold morning showers. we all went to bed at 8pm because there was no light and nothing to do and always woke up at 5am. We got to explore the jungle in the afternoon. We saw a caiman, I ate some termites (like what monkeys do), got to try the jungle tomato and some medicinal roots against fever, we went on a raft and saw some Hoatzin stinkbirds birds on the way. Finally it got dark and we did a short night walk up to our hut where we saw all kinds of insects and animals.
Day 3 was basically just on the road. we drove back to the other side of madre de dios river with the boat, hopped on the van and drove back home. We got to make multiple stops and found ourselves flying the drone over rivers and Paucartambo, meeting new locals and having the time of our lives.
As everything will be super bright, and the snow reflects the sun lights in all directions, you will want to get some good ND Filters. For my run & gun shoot, I used a good variable ND filter from Rodenstock to compensate for the high exposure. With the variable one, you can quickly dial in the number of stops you want to darken your footage. If you stop it down too much, the quality will suffer. To get the best quality ND filter, i suggest getting a fixed one with 0.3 or even 0.6 for snow so you can shoot in a wide open aperture. The downside is, that you can’t change the number of stops you’ve darkened the image. you’ll have to change exposure with the camera settings: aperture, shutter speed or ISO.
I also suggest you get an ND filter with the diameter of your largest lens. You can then use step up rings on your smaller lenses to fit your ND filter. Also, larger filter have a better handling and don’twear out as quickly.
Gimbal vs. Glidecam
Make sure you know which shots you need for your projects. Is it more of a run & gun shoot and do you have to film sports and will your equipment get wet from the snow? Then use a glidecam. Are you shooting a commercial style video, will you need steady controlled portrait shots, or shots that are filmed from a low angle? Then I suggest you shoot with a gimbal. It really always depends on the setting, wind situation, kind of shot and how fast you need to be. I ended up using both a gimbal and a glidecam on this music video shoot I had in Sölden.
here are some example situations where I would use which stabilizer:
windy setting
setting with limited charging options
cold setting
run & gun in the snow
tight schedule
steady tracking shots
low angle shots
parallax shot telephoto (50mm and above)
sport shots with running
organic following shots
precise and leveled following shots
long controlled shots
short organic shots
Glidecam
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Gimbal
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Batteries
Original batteries last the longest. I know they are quite pricy, but it’s totally worth it especially if you have a shoot out in the snow. Always keep your batteries near your body. I keep it in the breast pocket of my sweater for example. My jacket protects it from the wind and the cold. The original batteries of the panasonic GH series last very long. In the cold weather, i only need 2 original batteries for a whole day shoot (GH5 has IBIS and takes up more power than the GH4 and GH3). If the shoot was longer than 8 hours, I need a third one. But it’s nothing compared to the amount of batteries you need for the sony alpha series cameras.
Stay Warm
Obviously you want to stay warm but still flexible when shooting in snow. Down jackets are perfect, because they are light and warm. layering clothes is very good except for your feet. I got the tip from professional skiers, that wearing multiple socks will actually make your feet cold due to the moisture forming in between the socks. They also tend to fold in each other so that it’s quite uncomfortable for your feet. Just go with some good snow socks out of merino wool, so they don’t start to smell. Don’t underestimate a hardshell water proof pants and some long underwear. You’ll thank your body afterwards.
At the end of the shooting day, make sure you eat well, take a hot bath and regenerate for the next day to come. Try to not get sick and stay fit for the next shooting day.
Stay Positive
Keep up the good mood! The people around you need to do great work and are not doing them a favorif you show that you are in a bad mood. Just stay positive, be professional, have the ability to improvise and if something doesn’t work out, it usually isn’t as bad as you think. At the end, the overall memories of the project are the most important and you want them to be positive right?
When booking my flight to the Seychelles, I went for a 20 hour layover in Abu Dhabi instead of 3 hours. I was so excited to explore the city without having to book an extra flight and accommodation. These were the places that I visited:
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Heritage Village
Marina Mall
Desert Safari
I also totally underestimated the distances between places. On the map it all seemed walkable but especially under the heat of the arabian sun, i had to rely on getting a cab every time I wanted to go somewhere else.
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
At this point, it was really difficult for me to get in. Remember that I am only transiting in this country? That means all I have with me is my handcarry backpack so basically, as I am a filmmaker, all my camera equipment, drone and laptop and other valuables. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to bring my laptop and my drone was a total no-go. So I had to take out my camera and leave my bag at the entrance. Out of respect, I also had to take off my shoes.
I was so excited to be one of the first people there. The mosque was deserted. Empty and no people when I arrived. The light wasn’t perfect and unfortunately there was no way for me to bring a glidecam or any sort of stabilisation in my situation. So I had to rely on the dual IS of my camera and went handheld.
Heritage Village and Breakwater Beach
Heritage Village
From the Grand Mosque, I got a cab going to Heritage Village. On my way there, the driver let me down at some other sights like:
The Emirates Palace (7-Star Hotel)
UAE Towers
Corniche Beach
At Heritage Village, I asked the security guard if it was ok to fly my drone there. He laughed and seemed quite excited. I got an approval as long as you can’t recognise specific people. I was starting to feel really really hot as it was the hottest time of the day. It was a constant 45°C (114°F) and I had my backpack full of heavy stuff. At the same time I couldn’t prevent the urge to film and walk around for awesome sceneries. Luckily I found this guy in the village who was making miniature pots out of clay. His room had an aircon and I stayed for quite a bit to regenerate. He was happy to have some company 🙂
After this I really needed to cool off. So I gathered all my water and strength and walked over to the Marina Mall. The walk was faaaaaar. The maps are fooling you. Or maybe I’m just so German and can’t stand the desert heat. As soon as I entered the mall, it was like my hometown Manila. So many Filipinos.
Getting the sunset shot in the desert
I went straight to a frozen yoghurt store where I met a nice filipino man serving me the delicious refreshing goodness. It took me like 30 minutes to completely become normal again and cool off. I then observed all the people coming in through the main door. They looked like they just came back from a swim. They were drenched in sweat.
I had an appointment at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in a few hours which was located right across the Grand Mosque. I didn’t know I would sit here, at the other side of the island, in a cold mall when I first booked the desert safari tour at home. I then called my cab driver (we exchanged numbers) and he brought me to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel where the other driver of the desert safari tour was already waiting for me in the lobby. We drove off in a 4-wheel drive sand jeep and entered the desert.
Hafik, our professional driver
Desert Safari
I got to make friends with Hafik, our driver. We exchanged numbers and now he is sending me all sorts of videos and i can impress him with some drone footage of his office.
As soon as the paved roads ended, Hafik stopped the jeep, went out and released air out of the tires. He then explained it’s for better grip on the soft sand. We then drifted through the sand dunes, up and down and sand hills became our halfpipe. On the way we came across some camels and hawks.
As soon as it got dark, we arrived at a camp site where they had a belly dancer and a tanoura dancer (a traditional Egyptian folk dance where the dancer spins his body non-stop) dancing to what sounded like modern Middle Eastern EDM music.
They had an eat&drink-all-you-can buffet, free shishas with all kinds of flavors, nice music and we could even wear some local veils and robes. After the whole event, they switched off the lights for star gazing in the middle of the desert.
At the end of the day, Hafik was so kind to call and ask his boss if he could bring me directly to the airport instead of to the hotel. I had absolutely no business at the hotel or whatsoever. To my luck it worked out and I was brought directly to the airport with still 2 hours to go until boarding. I would say it was a perfect and yes, very productive layover!
I booked my desert safari here for only 50€: Get Your Guide
All the compact gear that I used to make this video:
While you are traveling it is essential to have a good overview of your gear. That means don’t pack too much as you will be carrying your stuff around everywhere. Stay compact and make a mental checklist of your gear. Refrain from changing lenses too much and try to replace your gear with lighter versions like for example the micro four thirds camera system for lighter cameras and lenses. Here are some examples of light gear I always have in my bag:
I always combine my Aputure Amaran with fixates and I can put light literally everywhere I want. The Pedco Ultraclamp acts like mini tripods that you use to attach light, sound or camera gear to other objects like chairs, tables or shelves. For backing up footage, you will want to exchange your heavy laptop with something like a Gnarbox. Gnarbox is a device you can connect to your phone and it is basically your processor for 4K footage. It can backup footage on to it directly, as it is also a ssd hard drive, you can edit 4k clips off of it and you can use it as an interface for transferring data from your sd card to your external hard drive.
Plan Ahead
The time you have when shooting abroad is precious. You would want to make use of that time and start shooting immediately. Go location scouting with Google Maps Streetview, call your travel agency and make arrangements and time schedules, get your story draft done and make appointments for interviews. If you need staged scenes, talk to the people you need and plan ahead. This of course you can do at home while preparing for the shoot. Packing light, as mentioned above, according to the kind of shoot you are planning is essential as well.
Remember that you can only plan ahead to some extent. Be prepared that a lot of things cannot be planned ahead of time and you’d have to organise it when you are there. So stay open to schedule shifts, spontaneous interviews, flight changes. That’s why it is always wise to plan some buffer in your time plan.
Make Leisure Time
Please make sure you enjoy yourself. Working the whole day requires stamina, passion and persistence. A healthy lifestyle makes it easier to accomplish the shots you need and enough sleep and good food helps you regenerate for the next shooting day. Traveling requires a lot of energy. But filming while traveling takes a toll on your body and psyche. This can directly influence the way you shoot and your ambition of creating awesome footage. A well-rested mind and healthy eating helps you stay persistent and positive which leads to better communication with the people around you and better stamina for your whole day shoots.
What is being a traveling filmmaker if you can’t enjoy the culture to its fullest? Make time to experience the different things happening around you. You can learn new cultures and it will influence you as a person and at the same time the projects you are working on.
Story is King
Always have the story in mind. This helps you use your precious time more efficiently, because it will prevent you from doing B-roll that is not actually relevant to your story. It is easy to drift away from the story when you are so hooked on camera gear, lighting and cinematography. Remember the motives you need and that are important to your story. Now you can concentrate on getting awesome footage of that sequence and you will have more time for lunch breaks or leisure traveling time.
I know every filmmaker wants to do awesome professional cinematic footage. But especially in documentary filmmaking, things happen only once and will not repeat itself. Nothing is staged, at least in the documentaries where everything is “real”. So have your camera out and shoot-ready at all times. Even if the technical stuff is not perfect, just capture the moment. This moment might be relevant to the overall story and is more important than perfect lighting or noise in your footage or other technical faux-pas.
Make Local Friends
Locals are a huge help when doing a documentary in another country. They are inevitable actually. Some areas in the world can not be entered without a local guide. Sometimes it’s better to be escorted around by a local who knows the streets and short cuts. It’s always better to listen to them when it comes to food recommendations and culture. They know the tourist traps and how the locals actually live.
If you are lucky, you can even get professional help for your documentary. For example someone who knows a rental place for filming equipment or can help you with translation. When you learn more about the culture, you understand more about what’s going on around you and it might be very beneficial to your project. You can get pretty far with new friends and that’s what traveling is all about isn’t it?
I have been a user of the Micro Four Thirds System for around 4 Years now. I am also a Canon and Sony user and no camera is perfect. In this post, I’d like to talk about my favourite 5 Lenses for the MFT System, considering their small sensor size and other pros and cons.
#1
Panasonic 12-35mm f2,8 (= 24-70mm on Full Frame Sensor)
I have used this lens ever since working with the GH3 3 years ago. It was my only lens for a long time and I got all the shots i wanted without going crazy on focal lengths. Of course sometimes I wished to get closer to subjects and with the crop on the GH4 when shooting in 4K, I wished the lens would be wider than just 12mm. Nothing is perfect. But I need to say that the continuous aperture of f2.8 was a charm and the weather proof sealing of the lens saved my ass a couple times. It is very durable, versatile, very sharp and can the focus and zoom ring are smooth as butter. If ever you should get an MFT body, I recommend getting this lens as an all-rounder.
#2
Panasonic 42,5mm f1,7 (= 85mm on Full Frame Sensor)
This is my go to lens to create shallow depth of field. I have compared this to the Panasonic 42,5mm f1,2, the Olympus 45mm f1,8 and the Voigtländer Nokton 42,5mm f0.95 and figured out that this lens is what I would prefer to buy. This lens has IS, the Olympus doesn’t. That means with a GH5 I get Dual IS and with camera bodies that don’t have a 5-axis IBIS, I still get the IS of the lens and can work hand held. This lens has autofocus and the Voigtländer doesn’t. I can take quick pictures with it without having to rely on manual focus. That leaves us with the Panasonic 42,5mm f1.7 vs. Panasonic 42,5mm f1.2. I basically went for the cheaper version, as it is extremely light weight and super small. I’d love to have the f1.2 of course, but I would have a big, heavy and quite expensive lens. I can’t live with that. The f1.2 also has a manual aperture ring that you can switch to “A” for automatic to control the aperture with your camera. The problem is that you have to make sure you don’t accidentally turn the ring, or else you can’t control the aperture with your camera anymore.
This lens is also my best lens when I need a tele lens in low light situations. At f1.7 and the extra teleconvertion option on my GH5 it gives me an additional x2,7 reach of 115mm (= 230mm on Full Frame) at FullHD. And that WITHOUT changing lenses!
#3
Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f0.95 (= 50mm on Full Frame Sensor)
Knowing that the micro four thirds system is working with a smaller sensor and thus can not capture as much light as a full frame sensor, you need to compensate this with a fast lens. Everybody needs a low light monster
and for me, this is it. From the Nokton Series of Voigtländer, which all have an aperture of f0.95, I chose this focal length to be the best for frequent use. The field of view of 50mm (FF) is the most natural focal length that resembles the human eye the most. It is not too wide and not too close and perfect for cinematic shots with shallow depth of field. I love the metal build and the image quality. You can focus on objects that are very close to the lens and the focus rings are smooth as butter. A downside is that it doesn’t have auto focus. But that’s about it.
#4
Panasonic 7-14mm f4.0 (14-28mm on Full Frame Sensor)
I found myself missing a good wide angle lens that gives you this wide stylistic look. I film a lot of landscapes and this is when I decide to take this lens. It has a closed aperture, which helps with sharp and crisp images for landscapes and real estate videos. As the lens is a bit curves, there is no way you can attach a proper pol filter, but luckily I found a company that produces adapters for this lens so you can attach 86mm filters on it. They are called PV Gear and I am very thankful for them. I also have to mention the weight and size of this lens. It’s super light and quite small. Perfect for traveling.
Panasonic 35-100mm f2.8 (=70-200mm on Full Frame Sensor)
Everyone know this focal length. It is the equivalent to the famous large white Canon lenses but like a fourth of the size and weight. This is a perfect telephoto lens with an aperture of f2.8 for all focal lengths. It gives you good shallow depth of field, is weather proof and super sharp. This lens is like the big brother of the 12-35mm from Panasonic.
Plan ahead. Go scout a location. If it has to be low budget, then try looking for spaces that are free to shoot in, like for example public areas where there are little to no people. If you have a little bit of budget you can rent an airbnb, a studio or even pay someone private to use his/her facilities. If you are shooting live, check the sound by clapping or snapping your fingers. Reverb is something you want to avoid unless you are filming a gospel choir. Make sure you have enough electricity for the lights you wanna use at the location. When you are depending on natural light, make sure you visit the location by the same time of day/night you want to shoot. That way, you can see where the sun is and how the light is affecting the scene.
#2 PREPARATION
Depending which mood you want to achieve in your video, you need to know which style you wanna go for beforehand. If you want slow motion movements but still want the mouth of the singer to be in synch with the song, then you have to prepare your clips for the shoot. I always speed them up by double the speed, so the band can perform to the clip in double speed while I shoot in 50fps. In Post, I will then slow down the clips by 50% and voilá! The movements a cinematic and the performers are in synch. If you plan shooting playback, I suggest splitting the song in several parts so you have multiple possible on set.
#3 COMMUNICATION
Make sure ALL band members are happy with the concept. Otherwise you will have difficulties maintaining a proper flow in the project. Make a deal of how many feedback loops you are willing to offer before starting to shoot. This is a very crucial point. Also make sure you communicate with only ONE person who represents the whole band. It can be someone from the label or just a band leader.
#4 STYLE
Most of the music videos are based on a mix between story and performance. Sometimes they are completely seperated and sometimes the artist is integrated into the story. Try to find something unique. Something the world hasn’t seen before. It can have a totally simple story, but is visually interesting or have a strong story that is completely supported by the music. There are so many ways to visually support the music other than the usual artist-story-artist-story concept.
#5 SHOOTING
When shooting, make sure you got your crew and performers set and everyone knows their job for the day. If it’s a performance scene, you will need crew members that know how to do proper lighting. When working with color gels or LEDs, make sure you use color contrasts. Don’t forget to bring loud speakers and your prepared soundclips in case you plan to film the performance in playback.
#6 MODEL RELEASE
Yes, it would be wise to have model releases of all actors, extras, dancers, performers and everyone who can be seen infront of the camera. Nothing is worse than having to deal with unsuspected troubles after post production.
#7 POST PRODUCTION
In my opinion, editing a music video makes out 50% of the creative process. The speed of your cuts, transitioning, or the flow of your video is as important as the content of the video. Try selecting the best of the best performance footage and fill it the more emotional story scenes. Don’t be afraid to leave in blurry footage or dutch angles. This is a music video and it’s a perfect place to work a bit rough. What is important here are the visuals and the story.
Timing is everything. Look around, don’t spend too much time on camera settings. Try to set it up at home, before hand. If you are close with the organizers, try to figure out the itinerary of the event before starting the shoot. This will help you to organize your time slots and you know how much time you have for each motive.
#2 Angles
You would want to make your video interesting to watch right? So refrain from using boring angles and try going down on your knees, go behind tight spaces where eyes normally would not go. Try a good mix between wide and close up shots. This gives you more diversity in your shots without changing the content too much.
#3 Communication
Talk to the organizer, the people you are filming, or even the sound technician and fellow photographers and security. This is your way of letting people know what you’re doing and then they will respect you and sometimes try to help you with the shots you need.
#4 Pack Light
Events are quite tiring because you have to film non-stop to not miss a moment. Pack light to make sure you will not sweat to death and stay as flexible and mobile as possible. Try to reduce the amount of times changing lenses and choose a versatile all-rounder like a 24-70mm (12-35mm for MFT) or something like that.
#5 Ninja
Don’t ask for permission. Ask for forgiveness. Just film. Get your shot. Don’t ask. If the people don’t want to be filmed, they will tell you. Usually it’s the organizers job to make sure you can work properly. They would hang a sign that says that the event is being filmed. If you start asking people, you will lose precious time.
#6 Faces
Your video should transmit emotions. That means filming happy, laughing faces is a very VERY good idea. The people watching your video connect with the people in your video. Try to capture funny moments, emotional interactions, hugs, kisses, laughs, everything that is positive.
#7 Post Production
My style of an event video is a fast edit. This keeps the tension and new images tend to be less boring. try to edit to the beat but keep up the diversity. Try to not only use hard cuts, but also nice swipe transitions or for the pros, masking transitions. Don’t overdo it though. Sound is as important so make sure you add some SFX and edit your sound as well.
Yes, this is it. The filming kit I use for most of my travels.
Micro Four Thirds System
With the help of the micro four thirds system, lenses are super light and offer exactly the same look as bigger and heavier lenses with the expense of working with a smaller sensor camera. The producers know the downsides of smaller sensors and therefore produced lenses that are pretty fast. For example the Voigtlaender Nokton series with f 0.95. Many people tend to use a speedbooster, but then they start having issues with autofocus. I am staying with native MFT lenses and never had any problems with auto focus or whatsoever. In low light situations, the GH5 does a great job at 4000 ISO in combination with the Voigtlaenders. It’s the shadowy parts of an image that gets grainy at high ISO values. But if the aperture is really wide open for example around f0.95, the high ISO doesnt affect the shadows that negatively. It produces a very nice film grainy look.
Whatever you do, stay compact and light
Throughout the years of filming, I have come to the conclusion that the content of your shots is limited to the right timing, good imagery composing of well lit exposure, good focus and good composition and of course the subject shown that tells us the story. Being able to capture the right moment means to be mobile and flexible and being able to use your camera as quick as possible. Aside from getting to know your camera really well, I found that lightweight gear helped me a lot in capturing the right moments. Gear is getting smaller and better and it’s smart to go with the flow.
Cinematic movement
When working lightweight, you have to take care of stabilisation even more. Light cameras tend to shake more and if you go hand held, a bigger, heavier camera will likely reduce jitter. I found the perfect solution for myself by using the Glidecam and Gorillapod. Going hand held on the GH5 is a dream because it has dual IS. That means that the lens AND the body work together to give you the possibility to make smooth cinematic movement when going hand held. Here is an example video of me filming mostly hand held: ICELAND
Accessories
When traveling, do pack only the essentials. We all tend to overpack and then at the end we travel with lots of “light weight traveling equipment”. Think about what you REALLY need. Leave the extra batteries at home or the heavy laptop. To backup footage on the road, you can use this solution: Gnarbox I love using the Aputure Amaran light in combination with the fixate gel pads. They saved me in dark tight spaces a couple of times. Also don’t forget a portable charger for your phone. You can also use it to charge the gopro with timelapsing, charge the aputure light and the remote control of the DJI Mavic.
Check out my Kit below to see more light weight travel gear. By buying through one of these links, you can support me financially without paying more for the product.
If you want to do a road trip where you can see a lot of nature in a short period of time, then Iceland is the perfect place to go. Though being quite cold even in the summer, you have a very large chance to be overwhelmed by the countries nature. Alternatively, you can also have a great time in the big cities like Reykjavik and Vik.
As Iceland is best to explore by car, I suggest you rent a car. If you are planning to stay longer and explore regions outside the ring road, I suggest you get a 4×4 wheel car so you go off road. If you are just planning to see the “touristy” stuff, it’s enough to get a 2 -wheel drive and stay on paved roads. Campers are very common in Iceland because a lot of visitors prefer to stay free and not be dependent on searching for accommodations.
I strongly suggest driving counterclockwise, because most of the attractions are in the south. In my experience, the east and north part of Iceland has the best landscapes with tons of mountains and snow and an awesome scenery, but we ended up not stoping as much.
So here is the map that I got from amazon. It’s rip and water proof. Price was around 10€. I was super happy and we used it everyday. I marked all the places that I didn’t want to miss and you with this you do not have to rely on google maps on your super small phone screen. Sometimes analog is better.
10 Important Tips and Tricks
get an analog map
listen to the locals, don’t go to Blue Lagoon.
get a 4×4 for more off road nature
don’t go in summer
get good shoes and stay warm. don’t underestimate mütze and gloves
Iceland has good restaurants
visit geothermal baths like the pool in the valley and the hot springs. myvatn hot springs not as good
drive counterclockwise
camps for campers are mostly closed in winter. some are open, some not. some have water, some not. here is a list of my experience
beware of strong winds and snow for 2-wheel drive.
I strongly suggest you get a SIM card with enough data, so you can navigate yourself through the country. It’s important to keep track of the roads, weather and camping sites near you at all times. and not to mention instagram 😛 you can buy “Simmin” cards at every gas station. They come with 1 GB Internet Data. You can upgrade your data everytime via browser. I booked an additional 4GB on my first day and payed a total of 45€ for Sim card and 5GB of internet data. This saved us a lot of times on our entire trip.
Important websites
http://www.road.is – whole Iceland is equiped with webcams and they all monitor the roads. In Winter, a lot of the roads are closed, snowy or too slippery to drive. It’s always good to know which roads to take and not to take beforehand.
http://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/elements – This is very important when doing a roadtrip! If the wind is too strong (14 and up), don’t drive! We encountered a lot of accidents especially big camper vans beside the road that were just blown away by surprise.
ring road: We started going south because most of the attractions are there. Unfortunately we couldn’t go to the remote areas like Thorsmörk because the roads were closed and we only had a 2-wheel-drive camper. I bought an actual physical map from amazon for 10€ (rip and water proof) and marked all the spots I wanted to visit. It was THE BEST! i hate always looking at the phone. it’s too small and sometimes doesnt work.
Golden Circle
very touristy! all the famous attractions are on this route.
Don’t go to Blue Lagoon unless you want to experience something very full, touristy and expensive. All locals discouraged us from going there. Rather go to the Secret Lagoon, Myvatn Hot Springs or my favourite Laugarvatn Fontana Hot Springs and Seljavallalaug Pool where you are surrounded by mountains.
Restaurants
A lot of young passionate chefs reside in Reykjavik. They are known for competing internationally and have incredibly pure culinary skills. We got recommendations from a chef who worked there. Tips are included in the bill, so no need to tip.
Sjavargrillid – is located just down the road that leads to the big church. This was by far the best high class food I’ve tasted. Though pricey, I could tell the chefs are very talented, regarding taste, consistency, high quality ingredients and even colors and looks.
Apotek Restaurant – also in downtown Reykjavik. The food is high class, but a bit more exposed to tourists. We were here on our last day and tried some fresh oysters, local plaice fish and grilled salmon.
Here are more Tipps from the chef that we haven’t visited yet: Matur og Drykkur, Kaffivagninn, Fiskifelagid, Haust Restaurant, Baejarins Bestu (Hotdog Stand)
Filming Gear
To stay light and compact, I only bought the essentials of the essentials.
