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Car Editing Tutorial : Quick and easy way + Bonus Color Toning in Photoshop (Basic to Intermediate Level) by Michael R. Cruz

Car Editing Tutorial : Quick and easy way + Bonus Color Toning in Photoshop (Basic to Intermediate Level)

On this video tutorial, I’m going to show a technique I acquired when I was starting to learn photo editing. This process is sometimes referred to as multiple raw processing technique or digital blending technique. This video is more geared towards Photoshop users with basic understanding of Photoshop’s key features. They are: Layers, Layer Masks and Adjustment Layers. It’s a straight forward technique that can be applied for landscapes, fashion, stills and other commercial work. Once you grasp the concept, […]

dubai photographer, dubai car photographer michael r. cruz

Samyang XP 14mm f2.4 Review | Dubai, UAE

Samyang is one of the lens manufacturers that offers affordable lenses with top notch quality.   I have personally owned 3 Samyang lenses and I never regret it, in fact I recommend them.  So far, they have never let me down.  The Samyang 14mm is an ultra wide angle lens, if you haven’t tried an such focal length, it can be overwhelming to use.  This super wide angle can easily introduce distortions, but once you get the hang of it, you […]

Sony A9 Review by Michael R. Cruz

Sony A9 Camera Review, Dubai, UAE.

It’s been a while since I tested a camera from Sony. The last professional, mirrorless Sony camera I tested was the A7RII, which is a really good camera that can do it all, except maybe fast action stuff. Then recently the Sony A9 was released and I was really eager to check it out, because this is like a wish list camera, it just ticks all the boxes of what you would want from a camera and more, a lot […]

Samyang 135mm F2 with Fujifilm mount Review. Dubai, UAE.

I remember when the first Fujifilm X-series with interchangeable lenses was introduced, the X-Pro1; it came with three prime lenses and it was well received by the photography community and those prime lenses created quite a buzz.  Prime lenses are known to be fast and sharp but so is the price, it’s so sharp it hurts!  However, thanks to companies like Samyang, you won’t have to empty your savings or use your kid’s college fund to afford a fast prime. […]

Michael R. Cruz Dubai Photographer

Samyang 24mm f3.5 Tilt-Shift Lens for Fujifilm X-Series Review, Dubai, UAE.

Fujifilm X-Series came a long way. Gone are the days of limited options for lenses. Fujifilm have produced excellent selections of lenses, which I feel made the X-Series successful as it is now. However, they still have a few “niche” lenses that haven’t made into production yet, until now. Samyang recently made a tilt shift lens for Fujifilm X-Mount, 24mm f3.5 ED AS UMC. I would like to thank BHMstore for letting me test this lens. Tilt-shift lenses have been […]

Sony RX100 V Review – Dubai, UAE.

  Have you been asked a question many times and you gave a different answer all the time?  As soon as my alarm clock (which is also my phone btw) buzzes with that annoying tone, the first thing I do is check my messages.  Instagram, Facebook, E-mail, whatsapp and so on.  Out of all the messages I get, I get this question a lot:  “What is a good everyday camera you can recommend which is better than my phone?” or something […]

Michael R. Cruz Dubai Photographer

Shooting a red Aston Martin DBS in Dubai

I met the owner through a Nikon School car photography workshop I conducted here in Dubai.  He showed me some pictures of his car and immediately told him, let’s do a photo shoot with your car since I don’t have an Aston Martin DBS in my portfolio.  What struck me is that the car is in red! Taking photos of red cars is always challenging because every camera interprets red differently so, color correction is always tricky. So we met […]

Lighting experiment with 2016 Audi S3, Dubai, UAE.

The past few months have been really tough to shoot.  Temperature is rising every week and slowly reaching its peak recently.  Temperatures of 47 – 50C is no joke especially when paired with crazy humidity.   Weather is bearable at night though, so I geared up and decided to shoot my own car, 2016 Audi S3 with an Audi Exclusive Color called, aventurine orange mica. The paint being a mica contains some pearlescent properties meaning it changes the shade depending […]

Shoot with Abbey Sketch with Sony A7R II

I had a pleasure of testing the A7R II for a shoot, I only had the camera for a few days so I can’t really provide an in-depth review of it.  However, with a brief time using the A7R II, I can tell that it is a very good professional grade camera.  I would say that the Sony A7R II is the “DSLR” of the mirrorless cameras.  It feels heavier than it looks; using it for an hour of shoot […]

Dubai Photographer Michael R. Cruzz

Car Photography workshop at Bahrain for Nikon School

If you are following me in my social media (if not just click my social media links on my website) you know that I conducted a Car Photography workshop for Nikon School in Bahrain. To my surprise, Ashrafs from Bahrain, in conjunction with Ford Middle East Bahrain provided a super rare car.  2014 Ford Mustang GT500 Shelby Super Snake.  This is the highest factory spec’d mustang there is, 850 HP of pure american muscle. Gear info: Nikon D800E + 14-24mm