The Fashion SnapPak: Spotlight Feature

The Fashion SnapPak was released at the beginning of May and was developed by Hipstamatic, in collaboration with Kevin Tachman; the pak contains a lens, the Tachman and a film, the Runway. Both elements are rather novel; they add movement and a reflective effect and that’s a first for Hipstamatic! Here are the personal opinions from a number of hipstographers, along with some tips and tricks.

Wendy Garfinkel-Gold

"I was on vacation when the new Fashion SnapPak was announced from Hipstamatic so I was able to spend time shooting and testing this combo in various light conditions to understand its capabilities. This is one of the most exciting combos from Hipstamatic to come out in a while. The motion blur that the Tachman Lens produces is recognizable from photographs taken during fashion shows. People will definitely see the distinct blur resulting from slow shutter speeds while models walk on the runway in front of bright lights. Runway Film has a mirror effect, which I think was purposefully created to extend the idea of motion and movement. I am a big fan of photo blur so I was thrilled with the concept for the Tachman Lens. In my opinion, the Runway film’s mirror effect might be too much in combo, depending on the photos. I tried shooting in front of window light with this combo and I feel it works best with layers of light to show off the blur and mirroring. This combo will work very well for street photographers. The Fashion SnapPak lens and film can be used individually, as well as with other films and lenses. Yes, it may take some experimenting with subject position to get the best results from these effects. I shot my combinations, and then changed the cropping and positioning of the image to see what would happen. The closer you get to to the center of the frame, the more interesting the mirroring effect becomes, without it being cut off at the bottom. Some Hipstamatic fans may think this too gimmicky but I love the idea of shooting with a streaky blur."

Lens:  Tachman 

Film:  Runway 

Erik Lieber

"The new Fashion Pak is quite interesting. The movement created by the Tachman lens combined with the reflective quality of the Runway film yields some very stylized images. Playing with the sliders on the film and lens offers exciting results. You can intensify the reflection in Runway by dialing up the slider but if you prefer a more subtle reflection, dial it down. With Tachman, when the slider is pushed all the way to the right, it can produce a partial negative effect. I had some real fun with the Tachman lens. I found that if you shoot an object in motion or a scene with action, it really enhances the movement. Shooting stationary objects with the lens creates a pleasing blur. I've also had a lot of success shooting flowers. It lends a breezy kind of movement to the flower while leaving the background fairly motion free. So far, my favorite film to combine with Tachman is Uchitel 20. By adding the Standard flash to this combo you can create a very appealing glow. For the moment, I feel I will use Tachman and Runway independent of each other, most likely focusing on Tachman, as I like the entropy it creates. Since both the film and lens create multiple images, both can be used as an alternative to, or in conjunction with, Salvador 84. I'm looking forward to further experiments with both the film and the lens over the coming weeks."

Lens:  Tachman (100) 

Film:  Uchitel 20 

Flash:  Standard 

Clarity: 81 • Definition: 60 • Vignette: 56

Paride Ficente

"When it comes to lenses and films, I don’t really like pronounced effects, vignettes or blurs; in my opinion they overload the picture and I’m more inclined towards color filters. The Fashion SnapPak adds a strong and distinctive effect, but despite this, I find the Tachman lens rather intriguing. It adds dynamics or an almost eerie atmosphere to the photographed subject and the light. I prefer tweaking down the intensity a bit. I like matching it with BW films, especially with Blackeys44 or with T. Roosevelt/Flash Triple Crown-combo, as these seem to add a 30’s feel to portraits, which reminds me of some pictures of Marlene Dietrich. Pairing Tachman with Blanko BL4 (possibly with the help of Tasty Pop Flash) gives an interesting color combination like 'Bleach Bypass'."

Lens:  Tachman 

Film:  Gotland 

Flash:  Juicy Orange Gel 

Alex McCormick

"The Fashion Pak is an interesting one, if maybe a bit gimmicky. I do like the sense of movement and light it produces. My personal experience is that it works best photographing people or things in motion, such as birds: movement becomes exaggerated and almost ghost-like. It's worth shaking the Pak to produce different results. Sometimes my photos look like they have objects reflected in water, which I like. I've experimented with moving the sliders to the max - I like to take things to the extreme - and love the graphic quality this creates. When mixing with other equipment, I've gotten better results using Tachman with other films, such as Uchitel 20. But can't really say I like the Runway film that much with other lenses. I can see myself using the Fashion Pak on occasion, but the equipment won't be part of my regular go-to films and lenses. It has limited appeal to me, but who knows, it might grow on me over time."

Lens:  Tachman 

Film:  Runway 

Flash:  Juicy Orange Gel 

Lens:  Tachman 

Film:  Runway 

Sabine Gromek

"Like every first Friday, I am very curious and eager to try out the new pak. Since it was my turn to come up with a combo for the weekly Hipstamatic Sardinia contest, I decided to use either Runway or Tachman, or both. I tried different combinations and my conclusion is that, generally, I don’t like them together. The reflective effect often distracts from the subject, although I do like Tachman in combination with other films. It works well with everything in motion since it adds traces of movement to the subject, whether that’s people or natural settings, i.e. flowers, trees. It works well with films like Gotland or Telegraph, which aren’t too intense in color are. I have also obtained nice results with Uchitel. The “shake function” in 300 Pro Mode can make a huge difference."

Lens:  Tachman 

Film:  Gotland 

Flash:  Tasty Pop 

Ger van den Elzen

"At first, I was a bit disappointed with the Fashion SnapPak. The results I got differed too much from the samples presented by Hipstamatic, so I had to find out how Kevin Tachman and Hipstamatic performed their magic trick. To me, it was obvious that the best results would only be obtained by making use of the Hipstamatic editing tools and this meant that I had to refrain from shooting in Classic Mode. When I used the Fashion SnapPak for the first time, I really disliked the Runway Film; it looked like it screwed up the final result and this was my main reason for minimizing the effect of the Runway Film, by moving the cursor to the left. My next action was the 'shake' function. In the editing mode I just shake my phone to get different variations of the image that I'm working on. The Runway Film became a real challenge for me. What to do with it? I love the idea of creating mirrored images so why not make use of this film? The mirrored effect is really enhanced by the 'shake' functionality. For me, the most important 'hidden functionality' within the Fashion SnapPak was the outcome when I changed the exposure. By making use of the Exposure Cursor (reduce exposure), I could influence the motion effect of the Tachman Lens, without changing the exposure itself. When I reduced the exposure of the Runway Film, I noticed that, in combination with different lenses, the exposure on the mirrored part only changed in the original part of the picture. This function works great when shooting portraits and the result is closest to what Kevin Tachman & Hipstamatic presented."

Lens:  Tachman 

Film:  Runway 

Flash:  Standard 

Exposure: -0.6 • Clarity: 20 • Definition: 20

Lens:  Tachman (59) 

Film:  Runway (1) 

Flash:  Laser Lemon Gel 

Clarity: 20 • Definition: 20 • Vibrancy: +20

Rob Meeuwsen

"It’s always exciting to try out a new Hipstapak. While watching the Eurovision Songcontest, I just had to snap the Dutch performer, Douwe Bob, with the Fashion SnapPak and I have to say I am really pleasantly surprised by the result, especially the stunning effect in the white parts. Chapeau Hipstamatic!"

Lens:  Tachman 

Film:  Runway 

This post is also available in: French

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