Vadim Sherbakov

Landscape | Last Updated: April 4, 2024

My name is Vadim Sherbakov. My main profession is an Art Director specialising in interactive web projects. But my biggest hobby is photography and videography. I specialise in landscape, cityscape and aerial as far as photography is concerned, and also aerial or drone videography.

I started to photograph about 10 years ago, shooting all subjects and genres. I used film for a while but quickly switched to digital. My first digital camera was from Canon, so that is how I get involved with that brand over Nikon or other brands. I am true to this company even now.

For a few years after switching to digital I was happy with my photography as an occasional hobby, but when I saw the work of pro photographers, I realised how awful my photos looked.

I got “sick” with updating and new gear syndrome, wrongly assuming that a more expensive camera will instantaneously make me a better photographer. How wrong I was! Eventually, I realised that ever more expensive gear or filters or lenses were not doing me any good.

So…I put down the camera for 2 years. I think it was the smartest decision I made. If I had continued shooting those poor images I would have been devastated and quit photography for good.

You see I live in Russia, and at that time it was difficult to find any decent tutorials or books or magazines to improve or learn about composition, light, or technique. So what kept me from improving wasn’t that I was bad; I wasn’t improving because I had limited knowledge.

After a few years I went to Iceland on a trip. I was blown away by its majestic landscape. I did not bring a decent camera with me but even with the limited equipment I had, I was able to shoot much better images than I had in all previous years. But still they were not even close to good.

So I decided to start my hobby once again, but this time learn more and use what I have. Thank God for internet and the explosion of great and accessible tutorials and information.

Since then I am learning all the time, updating very carefully, and I know exactly what genre I want to shoot.

3 years ago my friend showed me a footage of a consumer drone flying over some great European mountain range. Once again I was blown away by possibility, and after a few months bought a new DJI Phantom 3 Pro.

Ever since that date I’ve been shooting and creating short drone films with that capable machine. Just recently I won a Mavic and upgraded to a Phantom 4 Pro for my drone photography (see guide).

Now about my Shotkit.

From top left:

1. Lee filters Little and Big stopper 100mm x2
2. Benro aluminium Mach3 TMA37AL (discontinued model) tripod with AcraTech GPSS ball head
3. Polariser Filter Kenko 82mm
4. Haida Filter holder for Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 lens
5. Canon 24-105mm f/4 L lens
6. Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens
6. Canon EOS 80D with Tokina 11-20mm f/2.8 lens
7. Canon 5D Mark IV with Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 lens
8. DJI Phantom 4 Pro with Polar Pro camera holder
9. Joby GorillaPod Focus tripod
10. Lee Filter Big Stopper 150x150mm filter
11. Samyang 24mm f/3.5 Tilt-Shift lens
12. 2 remote shutter intervalometers Dörr and Vello
13. Several Polar Pro ND filters for both Mavic and Phantom 4 Pro drones
14. Mavic Pro remote control
15. Phantom 4 Pro remote control
16. DJI Mavic Pro
17. Induro carbon CT213 tripod (discontinued model) with Syrp ball head.
18. Cocin holder ProZ with 2 rings

Little bit about my gear – My main camera as of last month is Canon 5D Mark IV with Canon 80D being primarily my time-lapse camera or my wife’s camera when she is on location with me.

My main lens is Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8. I really love this lens and specifically choose it to be able to shoot astrophotography as well as cityscape and landscape. The Tokina 11-20mm is an equivalent of that lens but for my 80D crop sensor camera. It’s also f/2.8 which is awesome.

My second most used lens for now is 24-105mm Canon and the only L lens I own. But Samyang is competing with this for the Top #2 position. I just recently purchased it second hand and I really love it and the possibilities that the lens gives me for cityscape and architecture.

Benro is my number 1 tripod. It’s heavy but sturdy. Induro is light but less sturdy so I use it less. I love the ArcaTech ball head. I think it the best ball head I ever owned.

I am a big fan of Lee filters and use them often. I use ND only since my technique of shooting is composite which requires a lot of post production, so I find it unnecessary to use grading filters.

I love both my quadcopters: The DJI Mavic Pro for its easy use and discreet nature, but I love Phantom 4 Pro more because of its superior camera. I am a Polar Pro ambassador and ProTeam member so I use only Polar Pro filters, but honestly I find them the best and was using them before I was ambassador.

www.vadimsherbakov.com