Jeff Levingston

Architecture | Last Updated: February 23, 2021

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My photography obsession started in 2005 when I bought a camera from eBay. It was a Canon EOS 500 and I shot my first rolls of film on that. Ever since then I’ve always shot photos.

After finishing school, I ended up studying Graphic Design. This has helped me a lot with photography and my workflows. Also allowing me to take control of my branding and any custom printed material I need to do.

I used to take a lot of surf photos from about 2007 – 2014. Being based on the Gold Coast in Australia it’s hard not to get into surfing. Though it’s fairly tricky to make any consistent money from surf photography.

So, I thought I better get more well-rounded as a photographer. I worked in a studio in Sydney where I learnt all about lighting, grip gear and general studio photography.

Though I’ve always liked being as versatile as I can, I still do graphic design and a lot of my design jobs have led me to shoot photos. Whether it’s look books for brands or products for catalogs, I’ve been lucky to utilize my skills.

Recently I got into architecture and building design. I also like older buildings and urban scenes. Then shooting them during a nice afternoon light into the night is always fun too. It’s definitely more of my personal work at the moment.

I was hoping to go full-time freelance this year though it’s been tricky with COVID19 :(

My gear is Canon as I find it easy to use and relatively affordable. I’ve used Nikon though and found Canon lenses better.

Camera

Canon 5D Mark IV – Currently my only digital camera, it’s image quality is everything I need and the dynamic range in the RAWs is crazy. It’s easy to use and reliable so I haven’t bothered upgrading it. I know the menus and physical buttons back to front, so being able to operate it fast is another reason I love this thing.

Lenses

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 – Great all-round lens, epic for detail shots and always comes in handy for portraits.

Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L – I used this a lot when starting out shooting interiors, I still use it today. Super sharp and great for tiny spaces. Also if I do need to do any videos this lens is great with image stabilisation.

Canon EF 24mm tilt-shift f/3.5 – Only recently bought this and it’s really the main lens that allows me to shoot architecture properly. Took a while to get used to but now that I’ve got it down pat, I don’t take it off when shooting architectural photography (examples).

Canon EF 100mm Macro f/2.8L – An amazing lens for products and capturing all sorts of details on all types of jobs. I also use it for the odd portrait.

Tripod

Benro Carbon Tripod and Manfrotto Junior 410 Geared Head (not pictured) – The geared head is great for making my camera level and tweaking it in minor increments.

Hardware & Software

For processing shots, I use an Apple Macbook Pro 15” 2.5 GHz core i7 and Capture One or Photoshop.

Misc.

ZoMei CL Polariser Filter – Great for keeping reflections to a minimum and I find it makes my images have a lot more contrast.

DJI Mavic Air – I have this for mainly personal use for landscape shots and occasionally houses where I’m in an area that permits it.

I keep my gear in a Chrome Niko Backpack which has been by far the best camera backpack I’ve owned. Any gear that doesn’t fit in the bag goes into a Pelican Case. For my memory cards, I use an incase wallet card.

www.jefflevingston.com.au | @jefflevingston

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