Our weekly three-pack takes in a specialist mini-gallery, a mirrorless compact, and a how-to.

Gallery

This (very) specialized mini-gallery on the Nikon Blog is about an emergent urban ‘x-sport’ that originated in Palestine from whence it gradually spread to Europe: Parkour.

 Claudiu Voicu is “a former parkour athlete” and “professional street sports photographer” so he brings the sensitivity of the athlete to his photography.

This sport, generally associated with marginalized social classes on the fringes, somehow suggests a post-civilizational, even dystopic, view in its imagery.  After all, where is the sports field?  The competitor(s)?  The spectators?  All we see are massive monoliths of concrete and someone who looks like a ‘street tough.’

These facts combine to offer a photographer a very different, and much more artistic, challenge than traditional sports does.  Look at the images and see if you agree.

If they inspire you to try your hand at photographing Parkour, take in Voicu’s tips: compose for the “colourful clothing” in the settting of “the urban landscape.”

Gear

The new Fujifilm X-M1 has just been reviewed by Jeff Keller and Andy Westlake on DPReview.

This is a high performance camera that is low maintenance.  In other words, novices who have no desire to creep up to amateur status but do want to take the finest possible photographs may find that the X-M1 is tailor-made for them.

Consider what Keller and Westlake have to say about the sensor: “We’ve been impressed with this 16 megapixel X-Trans APS-C CMOS sensor in our reviews of cameras like the X-E1 and X100S, with JPEG quality so high that you rarely need to use Raw.”

Coupled with that, this camera has different AE modes, filters, and all the electronic and wireless features one could want.  It also stands out from the crowd on a few criteria, such as excellent fill-in flash.

In the tradition of its predecessors, the image quality is more than just a good value for money; it is “exceptional.”

How-To

Shutterbug’s fascinating how-to is low on words and high on the pictures.  They teach and explain by illustration as to just how and when to make use of Shallow Depth of Field.

The usages range from creating “painterly effects” to setting off pin-sharp silhouettes to leading and holding the eye on a particular subject.

This tutorial, if nothing else, is a treat on the eyes.