If you’re familiar with Eric Rubens’ work, you know he has a knack for capturing the intense colors of sunrises and sunsets. In order to do this he relies on his device to have a solid dynamic range so he can fully take advantage of the colors. On a recent trip to French Polynesia, the Alpha Collective member utilized the Sony Xperia PRO-I to capture the beautiful scenery. “The dynamic range on the Xperia PRO-I was insane,” he says. “I'm typically shooting at sunrise and sunset, so being able to have a device that can shoot images that don't break down when I go to edit them and push the boundaries for color and light and recovering shadows is super handy.” We talked to him more about his experience shooting with the Xperia PRO-I.
Photo by Eric Rubens. Sony Xperia PRO-I.
Eric Rubens of the Alpha Collective explains how the Xperia PRO-I’s dynamic range allowed him to capture the beautiful colors of French Polynesia.
Rubens first switched to Sony because of the important role that dynamic range plays in his work. “Most of my photography has a very heavy emphasis on shooting at the ocean, beaches, sunrises, sunsets – a lot of jobs around the world at different resorts,” explains Rubens. “So I'm typically shooting at dawn and dusk. The lighting isn't great and the colors are pretty intense in the sky, so I rely very heavily on the dynamic range of whatever device I'm shooting with. That's single-handedly, the biggest reason why I switched to the Sony line many years ago. Outside of Sony continuing to evolve with technology and every device on the mirrorless line and the Xperia line, that's what has continued to cause me to go to them for every single job it is.”
Eric Rubens using the Sony Xperia PRO-I
Rubens has used many of the Xperia devices in the past and is always amazed by how easy they are to use as a Sony shooter. His experience with the Xperia PRO-I was no different for him. “I have been blown away by the interface and how natural it is going back and forth between my Sony Alpha mirrorless camera and the Xperia PRO-I,” he says. “It makes it very easy to not only color grade videos and pair them together, but also to use the interface to dial in your settings. Everything is so easily customizable and it’s nice to be able to jump back and forth between the two.”
The ease of use is especially important for Rubens since many of his shooting opportunities involve fleeting light. “It just makes everything a lot quicker when you're not diving into a completely different menu structure and trying to think of which settings you had on one device, which settings you had on another device,” he says. “It makes everything a lot easier, especially when you're operating in the very short time windows that I'm typically shooting in.”
Photo by Eric Rubens. Sony Xperia PRO-I.
Rubens passion for photography all started with sunsets, and having a capable device that he can easily grab to capture that brief moment while still enjoying it is everything for him. “I fell in love with photography because every day after work, I would go to the beach and I would just get there in time to catch the sunset,” he explains. “Just the chase of that fleeting moment was something that always I gravitated toward – chasing and trying to think of how I could be creative in a very short time window and get different looking content. I think it's the most beautiful time of the day. The colors are the most intense and it's the one time when everyone seems to stop what they're doing to take a collective moment of pause to take in that sunset. People call it the best free show on Earth, and that's truly how I see it. I enjoy the challenge of being able to capture it and trying to emphasize its beauty through the way I edit and share.”
See more of Eric Rubens’ work on Instagram @erubes1.
See more about the Xperia PRO-I HERE.
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