"My artwork is almost 80% manipulation, like this visual, created with a Sony A6400 and iPhone"

With his Sony A6400 in one hand and smartphone in the other, digital artist Buktan Hummen creatively uses photography to blend different subjects and tell his stories.

To do so, he shoots multiple images using the Sony A6400 along with the Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM lens and an iPhone.

Digital photography opens up an endless number of possibilities for image creation. While many of the digital darkroom techniques that are popular today could probably be carried out using a traditional analog darkroom and tools, these effects can be customized with far more flexibility.

Hummen's style conveys the people and places of the region, using a mix of natural and artificial lighting captured with his Sony A6400 and camera phone. His images all have a strong narrative, depicting engaging subjects in compelling environments.

Let's dive into the story behind this image and discuss Hummen's gear choices in more detail.

The story

"I always imagine the story in my head before I shoot anything," says Buktan. "However, I always take a picture as a natural composition, without significant preparation or posing.

"My artwork is almost 80% manipulation, as was the case for the image shown here, which was shot in my village in Thailand. I saw an old woman come to join the village activities, which were agricultural in nature, and I really needed to take her picture for my photo stock, to create a manipulation artwork.

"I walked behind her and thought maybe the story was that she could walk anywhere to ‘catch her dreams’. So I picked up my camera and took pictures.

"The biggest challenge when shooting an image for manipulation is that you have to shoot it in a style that matches the manipulation artwork. This is the only way that we can create the stories that were [visualized] in our imagination."

Gear info

Hummen shot the images using a Sony A6400 and an iPhone. As he described, he captured the woman separately from the mountain landscape and combined his subject with the natural background during post-processing.

The Sony A6400 is an APS-C mirrorless camera that's become a favorite among photographers and content creators alike. With its 24.2MP CMOS sensor it creates quality stills, but the high-resolution 4K movie recording and handy 180° tiltable touchscreen make it a fantastic option for anyone creating video as well.

Launched in 2019, the Sony A6400 is now more than half a decade old. Although it had no direct competitors in the vlogging space at the time of its release, cameras like the Sony ZV series, the Canon EOS R50 V and Fujifilm X-S20 have since entered the market.

As for the lens, the Sony FE 28-70mm is an impressive standard zoom. It can compete with some top prime lenses out there when it comes to maximum aperture, all while keeping a size that's compatible with a typical 24-70mm. Just a heads up, though – the quality and sharpness come with a bit of a price tag!

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• "I used the photomontage technique in post-processing and digitally combined two separate images"