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How to Use a 16-Stop ND Filter for Extreme Long Exposure Photography

18 Oct

The post How to Use a 16-Stop ND Filter for Extreme Long Exposure Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

Long exposure techniques are a fantastic way to inject interest into your photography. By nature, these techniques present your images in a way that is different to how the world is perceived by the human eye. Blurring moving elements within your frame (whether that be water, people or clouds) can also be a tool to help you isolate and focus on the elements of a scene that you want your viewers to focus on. This makes long exposures a valuable asset for composition and design. While most long exposures last for a matter of a few seconds, there are tools available that will allow you to do extreme long exposure photography – even in the middle of the day.

How to Use a 16-Stop ND Filter for Extreme Long Exposure Photography

This tutorial will show you how to use a 16-stop neutral density filter to do extreme long exposure photography. It will take you step-by-step through the equipment you need, the steps you need to take to get started, and the considerations you need to make to overcome some technical issues. There is also a list of tips at the end to help you get the most out of your 16-stop ND filter.

Why 16 stops?

Using the long exposures provided by a 16-stop ND filter, you are able to blur moving elements (such as clouds and water) to simplify your frame and reduce visual clutter.

Long exposures, even with strong 10-stop neutral density filters, are usually limited to low light situations. For the most part, this is fine as that means you will be out at golden hour or blue hour when the light is at its very best for most types of photography.

What a 16-stop ND filter allows you to do is to extreme long exposure photography in the middle of the day when the light levels are at their highest. For example, a shutter speed of 1/125th of a second (sunny 16 rule) turns into an 8-minute and 44-second exposure when you put 16-stops of neutral density filter on the lens. This kind of exposure time turns the water and clouds into an almost ethereal, milky texture that works well visually. By blurring these elements, you are also potentially reducing visual clutter and contrast in your scenes, making them more visually appealing.

What you need

Apart from the filter, this technique is going to require a few other pieces of equipment as well.

A camera with a Bulb setting.
A sturdy tripod that will hold still for several minutes or more.
A release that will allow you to trigger the camera without touching it.
An exposure calculator.
A 16-stop ND filter. (This tutorial will work the same with any strength of ND filter.)

How to do it

Once you’re out on location, setting up for a long exposure is pretty easy. In fact, these steps remain the same whether you are using a three-stop filter or a 16-stop filter.

Step 1: Set up your camera and line up your composition.

Make sure to attach all of your releases or filter holders at this point as well. Anything you can use to reduce the chance of camera movement between now and the time your exposure finishes will help to ensure there is no camera movement affecting your images. Take your time with this step and if you need to, take as many test shots as possible. Once you put the filter on, you will be stuck in place for several minutes.

Be sure of your composition before you get to that point.

Step 2: Meter and calculate exposure

Here, a metered shutter speed (without the filter) of 1/160th of a second becomes 6 minutes and 49 seconds once the 16-stop ND filter is applied.

If you’ve taken test shots, you already know what your exposure is (without the filter). If not, read the camera’s meter. Take the exposure it has given you and input it into the exposure calculator of your choice to calculate the exposure required for 16-stops of ND filter. This will give you your required exposure for your final image.

There are a lot of exposure calculators available on iOS and Android. They all provide the same end result, so pick whichever one you would like.

Step 3: Set focus

Set the focus where you want in the frame and then place the camera in Manual Focus mode. Autofocus will not work at all with a 16-stop filter. It is way too dense. Putting your camera into manual focus will make sure that the camera does not attempt to focus when it can’t, thereby rendering your photos out of focus.

Step 4: Switch to Bulb

Put your camera into Bulb mode to allow it to keep the shutter open for as long as your exposure requires.

Step 5: Attach the filter

Extreme-Long-Exposure-Photography

With everything in place, you can now attach your filter. If you’re using a rectangular slot-in variety, attach the holder to the ring you’ve already placed on your lens. If you’re using a screw-in variety (shown), be very careful not to jostle your set-up because, if you do, you will have to start the process again.

Step 6 – Input shutter speed

My trigger is controlled by my phone, so the shutter speed is inputted into the app as shown.

With the filter set up, you just need to input your shutter speed into whatever trigger you are using. In these examples, I am using a Pulse trigger which allows me to control it from my phone. There are a lot of available options at a variety of price points. Be sure to choose one that doesn’t require you to hold down a button for ten minutes though.

Step 7 – Release the shutter

With that done, the only thing left for you to do is to start your exposure and wait.

Easy as that

How to Use a 16-Stop ND Filter for Extreme Long Exposure Photography

This process may seem like a lot of steps, but it is quite easy. As long as you take care not to move the camera throughout the process, you will be fine. You will be able to set it up in a minute or so once you have practiced a bit. The key here is to know your equipment and to practice the movements so you can perform them as second nature.

Considerations

Now that you know how to create long exposures with your 16-stop ND filter, there are a few technical considerations you should bear in mind.

Noise

Noise is a problem when taking long exposures and is especially prone to showing up in the shadow areas of your images. Be prepared to take care of it.

Unfortunately, long exposures with digital cameras mean noise. The longer the exposure, the more noise appears in your images. If you use a higher ISO to achieve shorter exposures, that will also increase the noise levels in your images.

To alleviate this as much as possible, try to avoid really, really long exposures if they are not necessary. If your camera has a Long Exposure Noise Reduction (or similar) feature, turn it on (remember that this will double your exposure time). It will also help if you to familiarize yourself with noise reduction software, either inside Photoshop or Lightroom, or other third-party program.

Hot pixels

The two circled white dots are hot pixels. They’re easy enough to clone out just as long as you are aware of them in the first place.

Hot Pixels are an unfortunate side effect of long exposures using digital cameras. While there is no way to truly avoid them, you need to be aware of their existence as they have the potential to ruin your efforts. These defects happen when your sensor gets hot during a long exposure (a simplified explanation, but it will serve).

To deal with them, you can heal, patch, or clone them out in Photoshop. Alternatively, you could use the Long Exposure Noise Reduction (or similar feature as appears in your camera system), but be aware this doubles your exposure time. If your exposure is close to nine minutes, that now means that all of your exposures will take about 18 minutes.

Light leaks

While light leaks of this nature can be easy to take care of, there are a few steps you can take to make sure that they don’t appear in the first place.

With such long exposures, light leaks can be a common problem. These happen where excess light falls onto your sensor. This can happen where the filter attaches to the lens, or it can happen where the lens attaches to the camera. It can also happen through the viewfinder.

If you’re worried about light leaks, you can buy dedicated accessories that help to prevent them. If the leak is coming from the lens mount, you can also wrap material around it for a cheaper option. Some camera brands have a little rubber rectangle attached to the camera strap. This handy little feature is used to cover your viewfinder during long exposures. Simply slide off the exterior case over your viewfinder, and slide the rubber rectangle from your camera strap in its place. This will stop the light leaking in through the viewfinder.

Another option is to shoot a wider composition than you need and crop the light leaks out. This wouldn’t be my preferred method, but it will work in a pinch when you have no other choice.

Changing light

Image: This image is underexposed by several stops. Although it was taken at the exposure the meter...

This image is underexposed by several stops. Although it was taken at the exposure the meter dictated, the light dimmed significantly during the exposure, meaning the original exposure time was inadequate.

In the middle of the day, your exposure will be close to a near-constant. Later in the day, however, light levels can start to change rapidly.

If you meter for a long exposure of a hypothetical half hour in the late afternoon, it is entirely possible the light will lower in intensity during that time. Therefore, the actual time required for correct exposure will be much much longer. This will result in underexposed images.

You can compensate by preparing for that possibility beforehand. Choose a longer shutter speed than your meter dictates if you suspect that the light will change on you. This will be mostly guesswork based on plenty of experience though, so be sure to be out practicing as much as possible.

Filter size

Image: For the most versatility, consider opting for a filter system that will fit the complete rang...

For the most versatility, consider opting for a filter system that will fit the complete range of your lenses so you have the choice to use it at all of your available focal lengths.

Image: Alternatively, feel free to shoot wide and crop in. Not ideal, but this works just fine. Crop...

Alternatively, feel free to shoot wide and crop in. Not ideal, but this works just fine. Cropping is also a useful way to get rid of light leaks that appear at the edges of your images like in the example shown.

If you opt for the screw-in variety of filters, you may find yourself limited with the lenses you can use. In my case, I bought a filter that would fit my 16-35mm wide-angle zoom, and almost immediately found that I wanted to put it on my 70-200mm to crop in close on a particular building.

I was convinced that I wouldn’t want to use it on anything but the wide-angle lens. You can always buy stop-down rings, but if you think that you’ll use your filter on a variety of lenses, a filter that fits a slot-in system may be the better choice for you.

Releases, triggers, and remotes

Extreme-Long-Exposure-Photography

As mentioned, there are a lot of options to fire your shutter without touching your camera. It doesn’t matter which you pick. However, it would be best to altogether avoid any releases that require you to hold down a button for the entire duration of the exposure. For thirty seconds, this may not be a problem, but in terms of ten-minute exposures, you are just increasing the chance that you might slip and ruin your frame.

Tips

Here are a handful of tips to help you get the most out of the technique.

ISO

If you want shorter exposure times without using a different filter, you can increase your ISO. Here, changing the ISO from 100 to 400 (2 stops) has cut the exposure time by over 75%.

If you don’t want to wait around for, say, ten minutes for an exposure, you can halve it by upping your ISO one stop. This may introduce some more noise to your images, but as long as you don’t try to go past ISO 800, and your exposures are under or around 10 minutes, you should be fine as long as you are aware of the possibility.

Lighting

Image: In overcast conditions, the effect of the 16-stop filter can emphasize the flatness of the li...

In overcast conditions, the effect of the 16-stop filter can emphasize the flatness of the lighting. This may or not work with what you are trying to achieve.

Image: Conversely, the technique also helps to emphasize hard lighting and the contrast in such scen...

Conversely, the technique also helps to emphasize hard lighting and the contrast in such scenes. Use this to your advantage.

This is no rule, but I’ve found that this technique works well with subjects in direct light as the heavy contrast suits the technique. In overcast conditions, the flatness of the light is emphasized, and the results can feel a little less than inspiring. Again, this is not a rule and if you have no choice but to shoot in overcast conditions, do so anyway.

Moving things

On a rare and anomalous sunny day in Manchester, this river was full of numerous boats that constantly went through my frames. The near ten-minute exposures have caused all evidence of them to disappear.

The longer your final exposure, the less any moving thing will show up in your frame. Is there a lot of river traffic in your scene? A bunch of tourists? Chances are those things will have left your frame by the time your exposure is finished. If you’re at a particularly crowded spot, see if you can make your exposure as long as possible to increase the chances that every unwanted element is removed from your frame.

Be sure of your composition

This technique is a very slow and deliberate form of photography. If you get something slightly wrong, it will cost you a fair amount of time to try again. To prevent having to do that, take your time with every single step in the set-up process and make sure that it is right. Composition, in particular, is vital for you to get right before you press the shutter release.

Embrace the time

Whilst your camera is recording your exposure, you will have a lot of time standing around. Take advantage of it. Take the opportunity to appreciate the scene around you without the viewfinder to your eye. Mindfully think about any other compositions in the area. It’s easy to start worrying about the remaining time on the exposure clock, but I encourage you not to. Instead, take a quiet few minutes for granted when you have nothing to do but stand next to your camera.

Be aware of your surroundings

I was aware of the tide coming in here (I was counting on it) but did not expect it come this far in less than ten minutes.

Because you are going to be standing around for at least a good few minutes, it’s important that you pay extra care to your surroundings during your exposure. During normal-length exposures, you won’t usually have a problem with things like the tide coming in and submerging your tripod during the exposure. With exposures that last into the minutes or hours, that’s more than a possibility.

Simply put, pay attention to your environment and keep yourself and your equipment safe.

End results

Finally, here are a few examples of some of the results you can expect to achieve with a 16-stop ND filter.

Extreme-Long-Exposure-Photography

How to Use a 16-Stop ND Filter for Extreme Long Exposure Photography

That’s it

If you already have experience with long exposures, the only thing new to you with this technique is the amount of time the shutter will be open. The skills may be basic, but the extra few stops of ND filter can lead to wonderful results.

I encourage anyone interested in long exposures to give the technique a try. If nothing else, experiencing the mindful, deliberate, and slow approach to photography that this technique commands are well worth the effort. Also, it is a nice departure from the faster-paced styles of photography.

Share your extreme long exposure photography with us in the comments below!

The post How to Use a 16-Stop ND Filter for Extreme Long Exposure Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

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These are the winners of the 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition

18 Oct

Winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition

The winners of the 55th annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition were announced earlier this week during a ceremony at the Natural History Museum, in London, which develops and produces the international event.

Over 48,000 images were submitted from 100 countries. The 19 category-winning images will be on display at an exhibition that opens Friday, October 18th, at the National History Museum before touring across the United Kingdom and internationally to locations including Canada, Spain, the USA, Australia and Germany.

The Grand Title Winner, titled ‘The Moment’ and captured by Chinese photographer Yongqing Baoas, is a humorous shot of a Himalayan marmot being scared by a Tibetan fox determined to find food for its three young cubs.

Open to photographers of all ages and abilities, entries for the next Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition will open on Monday, October 21st and close on December 12th. Find out more, here.

Winner, Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Winner 2019, Grand Title Winner: The Moment by Yongqing Bao

About the photo: This Himalayan marmot was not long out of hibernation when it was surprised by a mother Tibetan fox with three hungry cubs to feed. With lightning-fast reactions, Yongqing captured the attack – the power of the predator baring her teeth, the terror of her prey, the intensity of life and death written on their faces.

As one of the highest-altitude-dwelling mammals, the Himalayan marmot relies on its thick fur for survival through the extreme cold. In the heart of winter it spends more than six months in an exceptionally deep burrow with the rest of its colony. Marmots usually do not resurface until spring, an opportunity not to be missed by hungry predators.

Gear and specs: Canon EOS-1D X + 800mm f5.6 lens; 1/2500 sec at f5.6 (+0.67 e/v); ISO 640; Manfrotto carbon-fibre tripod + 509HD head

Winner, Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Winner 2019, Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year Grand title winner: Night Glow by Cruz Erdmann, New Zealand

About the photo: Cruz was on a night dive with his dad when he saw a pair of bigfin reef squid in the shallow water. One swam off but Cruz quickly adjusted his camera and strobe settings, knowing that the opportunity was too good to miss. He shot four frames of the remaining squid before it too disappeared into the inky blackness.

Bigfin reef squid are masters of camouflage, changing their body colour and pattern using their reflective and pigmented skin cells. They also alter their appearance to help them communicate. During courtship, males and females display complex patterns to indicate their willingness to mate.

Gear and specs: Canon EOS 5D Mark III + 100mm f2.8 lens; 1/125 sec at f29; ISO 200; Ikelite DS161 strobe; Aquatica 5D Mk II Pro housing

Winner, Animals in their Environment

Winner 2019, Animals in their Environment: Snow-Plateau Nomads by Shangzhen Fan, China

About the photo: A small herd of male chirus makes its way to the relative warmth of the Kumukuli Desert. These nimble antelopes are high-altitude specialists found only on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. For years, Shangzhen made the long, arduous journey to observe them there. Here he drew the contrasting elements of snow and sand together.

Underneath their long hair, chirus have a light, warm underfur called shahtoosh. It grows tightly against their skin and can only be harvested by killing and skinning the chirus. Protection since the 1990s has seen their once-decimated numbers increase, but there is still demand – primarily from Westerners – for shahtoosh shawls.

Gear and specs: Nikon D5 + 600mm f4 lens; 1/1250 sec at f6.3 (+0.3 e/v); ISO 125; Gitzo GT5532S 6X tripod

Winner, Animal Portraits

Winner 2019, Animal Portraits: Face of Deception by Ripan Biswas, India

About the photo: Ripan was photographing a red weaver ant colony when he spotted this slightly strange individual. It may have the face of an ant but its eight legs give it away – on closer inspection Ripan discovered that it was an ant-mimicking crab spider. By reverse mounting his lens, Ripan converted it to a macro capable of taking extreme close-ups.

Many spider species imitate ants in appearance and behaviour. Infiltrating an ant colony can help them prey on unsuspecting ants or avoid being eaten by predators that dislike ants. This particular spider, says Ripan, seemed to be roaming around the colony, looking for a solitary ant that it could grab for a meal.

Gear and specs: Nikon D500 + 18–55mm lens (reverse mounted); 1/160 sec; ISO 200; Godox V860II flash

Winner, Behavior: Amphibians and Reptiles

Winner 2019, Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles: Pondworld by Manuel Plaickner, Italy

About the photo: Every spring for more than a decade, Manuel followed the mass migration of common frogs. He took this image by immersing himself and his camera in a large pond where hundreds of frogs had gathered. There he waited until the moment arrived for the picture he had in mind – lingering frogs, harmonious colours, soft, natural light and dreamy reflections.

Rising spring temperatures bring common frogs out of their winter shelters. They head straight to water to breed, often returning to where they were spawned. Though widespread across Europe, their numbers are thought to be declining due to habitat degradation from pollution and drainage of breeding sites.

Gear and specs: Canon EOS 5D Mark II + 17–40mm f4 lens at 20mm; 1/640 sec at f8 (+0.7 e/v); ISO 800; Seacam housing

Winner, Behavior: Birds

Winner 2019, Behavior: Birds: Land of the Eagle by Audun Rikardsen, Norway

About the photo: Audun carefully positioned this tree branch, hoping it would make a perfect lookout for a golden eagle. He set up a camera trap and occasionally left road-kill carrion nearby. Very gradually, over the next three years, this eagle started to use the branch to survey its coastal realm. Audun captured its power as it came in to land, talons outstretched.

Golden eagles typically fly at around 50 kilometres per hour but can reach speeds of up to 320 kilometres per hour when diving for prey. This, along with their sharp talons, makes them formidable hunters. Normally they kill small mammals, birds, reptiles or fish, but they also eat carrion and have been known to target larger animals too.

Gear and specs: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV + 11–24mm f4 lens at 11m; 1/2500 sec at f14 (-1 e/v); ISO 800; Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT flash; Camtraptions motion sensor; Sirui tripod

Winner, Behavior: Invertebrates

Winner 2019, Behavior: Invertebrates: The Architectural Army by Daniel Kronauer, Germany/USA

About the photo: By day this colony of army ants raided their surrounds, mostly hunting other ant species. At dusk they moved on, travelling up to 400 metres before building a nest for the night. Positioning his camera on the forest floor, Daniel was wary of upsetting thousands of venomous army ants. ‘You mustn’t breathe in their direction,’ he says.

Army ants alternate between nomadic and stationary phases. These ants are in a nomadic phase, building a new nest each night using their own bodies. The soldier ants interlock their claws to form a scaffold while the queen stays inside in a network of chambers and tunnels. During the stationary phase they will stay in the same nest while the queen lays new eggs.

Gear and specs: Canon EOS 7D + 16–35mm f2.8 lens at 16mm + extension ring; 3.2 sec at f22; ISO 100; Canon Speedlite flash

Winner, Behavior: Mammals

Winner 2019, Behavior: Mammals: The Equal Match by Ingo Arndt, Germany

About the photo: The guanaco turns, terrified, his last mouthful of grass flying in the wind as a female puma attacks. For Ingo, this is the culmination of months of work tracking wild pumas on foot, enduring extreme cold and biting winds. After an intense four-second struggle, the guanaco escaped with his life, leaving the puma to go hungry.

Because they are so abundant in Patagonia, guanacos are common prey of pumas. These big cats are solitary and hunt by patiently stalking before they pounce. Their robust hind legs allow them to take on animals bigger than themselves but they can also feed on smaller animals, such as rodents and birds.

Gear and specs: Canon EOS-1DX Mark II + 600mm f4 lens; 1/3000 sec at f4; ISO 1000; Gitzo tripod

Winner, Urban Wildlife

Winner 2019, Urban Wildlife: The Rat Pack by Charlie Hamilton James, UK

About the photo: On Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan, brown rats scamper between their home under a tree grille and a pile of rubbish bags full of food waste. Lighting his shot to blend with the glow of the street lights and operating his kit remotely, Charlie captured this intimate, street-level view.

Urban rat populations are rising fast worldwide and their association with spreading disease in humans inspires fear and disgust. Rats are smart and capable of navigating complex networks such as subway systems. Being powerful swimmers, burrowers and jumpers makes these rodents particularly well suited to city living.

Gear and specs: Sony ?7R III + 16–35mm f4 lens at 24mm; 1/20 sec at f11; ISO 4000; Sony flash; PocketWizard trigger

Winner, Earth’s Environments

Winner 2019, Earth’s Environments: Creation by Luis Vilariño, Spain

About the photo: Red-hot lava from K?lauea volcano instantly boils the cool Pacific Ocean where they meet at the Hawaiian coast. As Luis’s helicopter flew along the coastline a sudden change in wind direction parted the plumes of steam to reveal the fiery river. Quickly framing his shot through the helicopter’s open door, he captured the tumultuous creation of new land.

As the lava boils the seawater, it produces acid steam and tiny shards of glass, which combine to create a lava haze or ‘laze’. This eruption was K?lauea’s largest in 200 years. For three months in 2018, lava spewed from the summit and surrounding fissures, eventually destroying over 700 homes and solidifying to create hundreds of acres of new land.

Gear and specs: Sony ?7R III + 100–400mm f4.5–5.6 lens at 196mm; 1/4000 sec at f5.6; ISO 800

Winner, Black and White

Winner 2019, Black and White: Snow Exposure by Max Waugh, USA

About the photo: In a winter whiteout a lone American bison briefly lifts its head from its endless foraging. Max purposefully slowed his shutter speed to blur the snow and ‘paint lines across the silhouette of the bison’. Slightly overexposing the shot and converting it to black and white accentuated the simplicity of the wintry scene.

Swinging their huge heads from side to side, American bison sweep away snow with their muzzles to eat the grasses and sedges buried beneath. Originally a common sight, their largescale slaughter for meat and hides brought them close to extinction in the nineteenth century. But populations are recovering and wild American bison now thrive in national parks.

Gear and specs: Canon EOS-1D X + 100–400mm f5.6 lens at 200mm; 1/15 sec at f22 (+1 e/v); ISO 100

Winner, Wildlife Photojournalism

Winner 2019, Wildlife Photojournalism: Another Barred Migrant, Alejandro Prieto, Mexico

About the photo: It took Alejandro two years to take the perfect photo of a male jaguar. Under a luminous, star-studded Arizona sky, he projects it onto a section of the US–Mexico border fence to symbolise ‘the jaguar’s past and its possible future presence in the United States. If the wall is built,’ he says, ‘it will destroy the jaguar population in the United States.’

Jaguars are mainly found in South America but historically also roamed the southwest of the United States. Over the past century, hunting and habitat destruction have resulted in the species disappearing from this area. Any hope of establishing a breeding population in this region rests on the contentious border remaining partially open.

Gear and specs: Nikon D850 + Sigma 14–24mm f2.8 lens at 16mm; 30 sec at f2.8; ISO 1600; remote control; Gitzo tripod; Epson projector

Winner, Rising Star Portfolio Award

Winner 2019, Rising Start Portfolio Award: Frozen Moment by Jérémie Villet, France

About the photo: Entwined in each other’s thick spiral horns, two male Dall sheep pause during a fierce clash. For years, Jérémie had dreamed of photographing pure-white Dall sheep against a snow-clad alpine backdrop. Lying in the snow nearby, he battled with strong winds, heavy snow and bitterly cold temperatures, determined to capture this moment of both ‘purity and power’.

Dall sheep thrive in arctic and subarctic regions of the world. They depend on steep, rugged cliffs and outcrops to provide them with places to escape from predators, while using nearby open grass and meadows to feed. In winter they favour areas with strong winds that remove snow and expose forage.

Gear and specs: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV + 400mm f2.8 lens; 1/1600 sec at f2.8 (+1.3 e/v); ISO 500

Winner, Plants and Fungi

Winner 2019, Plants and Fungi: Tapestry of life by Zorica Kovacevic

About the photo: Festooned with bulging orange velvet, trimmed with grey lace, the arms of a Monterey cypress tree weave an otherworldly canopy over Pinnacle Point, in Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, California. This tiny, protected coastal zone is the only place in the world where natural conditions combine to conjure this magical scene.

Though the Monterey cypress is widely planted (valued for its resistance to wind, salt, drought and pests), it is native only on the Californian coast in just two groves. Its spongy orange cladding is in fact a mass of green algae spectacularly colored by carotenoid pigments, which depend on the tree for physical support but photosynthesize their own food. The algal species occurs widely, but it is found on Monterey cypress trees only at Point Lobos, which has the conditions it needs – clean air and moisture, delivered by sea breezes and fog. The vibrant orange is set off by the tangles of grey lace lichen (a combination of alga and fungus), also harmless to the trees.

After several days experimenting, Kovacevic decided on a close-up abstract of one particular tree. With reserve visitors to this popular spot confined to marked trails, she was lucky to get overcast weather (avoiding harsh light) at a quiet moment. She had just enough time to focus-stack 22 images (merging the sharp parts of all the photos) to reveal the colorful maze in depth.

Gear and specs: Nikon D850 + 70–200mm f2.8 lens at 112mm; 1/4 sec at f8; ISO 64; Really Right Stuff tripod + ballhead.

Winner, Under Water

Winner 2019, Under Water: The garden of eels by David Doubilet

About the photo: The colony of garden eels was one of the largest David Doubilet had ever seen, at least two thirds the size of a football field, stretching down a steep sandy slope off Dauin, in the Philippines – a cornerstone of the famous Coral Triangle.

Doubilet rolled off the boat in the shallows and descended along the colony edge, deciding where to set up his kit. He had long awaited this chance, sketching out an ideal portrait of the colony back in his studio and designing an underwater remote system to realize his ambition. It was also a return to a much-loved subject – his first story of very many stories in National Geographic was also on garden eels.

These warm-water relatives of conger eels are extremely shy, vanishing into their sandy burrows the moment they sense anything unfamiliar. David placed his camera housing (mounted on a base plate, with a ball head) just within the colony and hid behind the remnants of a shipwreck. From there he could trigger the system remotely via a 12-meter (40-foot) extension cord.

It was several hours before the eels dared to rise again to feed on the plankton that drifted by in the current. He gradually perfected the set-up, each time leaving an object where the camera had been so as not to surprise the eels when it reappeared. Several days later – now familiar with the eels’ rhythms and the path of the light – he began to get images he liked. When a small wrasse led a slender cornetfish through the gently swaying forms, he had his shot.

Gear and specs: Nikon D3 + 17–35mm f2.8 lens at 19mm; 1/40 sec at f14; ISO 400; Seacam housing; aluminum plate + ballhead; remote trigger; Sea & Sea YS250 strobes (at half power).

Winner, Wildlife Photojournalist Story Award

Winner 2019, Wildlife Photojournalist Story Award: Show Time by Jasper Doest, The Netherlands

About the photo: For 17 years Riku has performed skits three times a day in front of large audiences in a theatre in Japan. The appeal of these traditional and popular performances lies in the anthropomorphic appearance of the trained macaques. It took Jasper a long time to gain permission to take pictures of the performance, and he was appalled that an animal once considered a sacred mediator between gods and humans was now being ridiculed for commercial gain.

Gear and specs: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV + 24–70mm f2.8 lens; 1/160 sec at f10 (-1.7 e/v); ISO 2000

Winner, Wildlife Photographer Portfolio Award

Winner 2019, Wildlife Photographer Portfolio Award: The Art of Conception by Stefan Christmann, Germany

About the photo: Stefan was lucky to find this isolated couple courting – many pairs had already mated by the time conditions allowed him to access this remote spot. The serene backdrop of sea ice and a distant stranded iceberg softly lit by the setting sun gives no hint that the Antarctic winter is about to intensify.

Emperor penguins form a new bond each year and are monogamous for the season. Males perform a courtship call until chosen by a female. The female lies on the sea ice and signals that she is ready before the male climbs onto her back. ‘The male struggled to keep his balance,’ says Stefan.

Gear and specs: Nikon D810 + 400mm f2.8 lens; 1/400 sec at f5.6; ISO 800

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Travel Like A Pro, Take Travel Photos Like A Pro

17 Oct

Travel is the best excuse to pull out your camera and take photos until your memory is full. The sights, people, culture, food — everything about going to a new place calls for a photo opportunity, one that you wouldn’t want to miss. Taking the perfect travel photo, however, isn’t just a simple click. Sometimes, it can be challenging to Continue Reading

The post Travel Like A Pro, Take Travel Photos Like A Pro appeared first on Photodoto.

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Instagram is rolling out new privacy features for third-party app authorizations

17 Oct

A number of third-party services allow users to link their Instagram accounts in order to access certain features, such as photo printing services that enable customers to directly order prints of their Instagram images. Going forward, Instagram is offering its users more control over these authorizations, including which services are connected and when they were authorized.

Instagram detailed the new control on its press blog this week, explaining that users can now pull up a list of third-party services that are actively authorized on one’s Instagram account by tapping Settings > Security > Apps and Websites.

The menu now displays ‘Active’ authorizations given to third-party services, including the name of the app, the date the link was authorized, direct links to the privacy policies for these linked services, and the ability to terminate the authorization by tapping a ‘Remove’ button.

Beyond that, Instagram has also launched a new authorization screen that appears in the Instagram app when third-party services request info from the user’s account. This screen shows the name of the third-party service, which profile information it is requesting, and what kind of data it wants access to. Instagram users will need to manually authorize or cancel the request.

According to Instagram, users will see these new features rolling out ‘gradually’ over the next six months.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Hands-on with the Olympus E-M5 Mark III

17 Oct

Hands-on with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

Meet the newest member of the Olympus Micro Four Thirds family: the OM-D E-M5 Mark III. Coming in more than four years after its predecessor was released, Olympus has really stepped up the specs of the E-M5 III, managing to fit an awful lot from its higher-end E-M1 Mark II into a much smaller overall package. Is it worth the wait? Let’s take a closer look and find out.

New sensor, autofocus system and stabilizer

To start, the E-M5 III comes with a new 20MP sensor and 121-point phase-detection autofocus system which are backed up by a new ‘Truepic VIII’ image processor, all of which are lifted from the E-M1 II. The resolution bump is welcome, of course, over the E-M5 II’s 16MP of resolution, but the older camera only utilized contrast-detection autofocus. The adoption of phase-detection should make the E-M5 III a more tempting option for users that want to photograph moving subjects.

There’s also an updated, more compact in-body image stabilizer, promising 5.5 stops of shake reduction with a non-stabilized lens, while putting on a stabilized lens gets you 6.5 stops using ‘Sync IS’. That means you should be able to hand-hold pretty slow shutter speeds and still get sharp results, so you can keep your ISO value down in low light or simply leave a tripod at home in some situations.

Lastly, the new sensor and AF system now allow the E-M5 III to fire at a maximum burst rate of 10 fps with full autofocus and auto exposure (and up to a 30 fps mode with manual focus), and Olympus claims equal tracking performance to the E-M1 Mark II. It also gains a Pro Capture mode, which captures 30fps bursts, but saves 15 of them prior to the moment you hit the shutter – a great feature for peak action moments.

Top-plate controls

The top plate of the camera has been extensively redesigned, and is far more similar in layout to that of the E-M1 II. The power switch is in the same place as the old model, but the mode dial is now on the right side of the viewfinder hump instead of the left, and the left shoulder adopts drive and display buttons that are also customizable.

Clip-on flash

Just like its predecessor, the E-M5 III has no built-in flash, but Olympus includes the FL-LM3 compact clip-on unit that allows for tilting and bouncing. The external design helps the camera stay smaller and better sealed, but the fact that it can articulate makes it much more versatile than a fixed or pop-up strobe that’s built in. It’s a really nice touch, and as an added bonus, the flash is advertised as being splash and dust resistant.

Rear controls

The E-M5 III’s rear control layout is actually pretty similar to the older model, which isn’t a bad thing – but the ‘Fn’ rocker switch is now textured for easier operation, and the top right thumb pad gains a dedicated ISO button. The screen is unchanged, coming in at 3″ and 1.04M dots. Olympus has added the ability to drag your finger around on the touchscreen to move your autofocus point while the camera is to your eye – and you can quickly enable or disable this feature by double-tapping. Pretty snazzy.

The viewfinder has seen some updates as well, including…

OLED Electronic viewfinder

…an increased eyepoint spec, which should make it easier for eyeglass-wearers to get the full view of the 2.36M-dot panel. Plus, that panel is now OLED, which is a welcome update to the previous model’s LCD tech thanks to greater contrast. Unfortunately, there has been a tradeoff – the magnification has fallen from approximately 0.74x to 0.68x.

Ports

Like the older model, the E-M5 III comes with a microphone port to get you better audio when recording video (and more on video very shortly), but no headphone port to monitor audio during recording. The other ports have been updated, though – gone is the proprietary USB / A/V-out connector (hooray!), and in its place are standard micro USB, micro HDMI and remote trigger ports. The camera can also be charged over its USB connection, but Olympus still includes a dedicated charger in the box, which we always like to see.

Video

The E-M5 III is, like Olympus’ other models, now capable of shooting 4K video at up to 30 frames per second with no crop. We haven’t yet been able to test its quality, but we expect it to look quite good. Even the lower-end E-M10 III can capture impressively detailed 4K footage, and the E-M5 III inherits that camera’s effective digital stabilizer on top of the already good in-body stabilizer to smooth out hand shake. It also gains a DCI 4K video mode from the E-M1 II, with a theoretical maximum bitrate of ~237Mbps.

If high-speed video is more your thing, the E-M5 III tops out at a respectable 1080/120p.

Battery

Olympus has changed the type of battery the E-M5 III uses; it’s now the BLS-50 unit that we first saw in the PEN-F, as opposed to the BLN-1 from the E-M5 II. It’s more of a packaging and design consideration than anything else, as the new battery’s capacity isn’t much diminished (1210mAh compared to 1220mAh and 8.7Wh rather than 9.3Wh), and CIPA-rated battery life is likewise unchanged at 310 shots. As with all CIPA ratings, you can expect to get more shots than that in real-world use, but this rating looks a bit low against the competition.

UHS-II card slot

Another welcome update is the inclusion of a UHS-II card slot, which should speed up write times with compatible cards. This isn’t especially common in this class of camera, and will come in handy if you’re using the 30 fps Pro Capture burst mode.

Weather-sealing

Although the older E-M5 II was also described as weather-sealed, the Mark III now gains the same official IPX1 rating that Olympus’ sports-shooting E-M1X earns. This technically means that it can withstand dripping water for 10 minutes, which may not sound super impressive, but the fact that these interchangeable lens cameras have ratings at all sets them apart from most of the market. Of course, we’re not advocating you go and run your brand-new E-M5 III under the tap, but it should stand up well to shooting in inclement weather or environments.

And that’s about it! We’ve long been fans of the E-M5 lineup, and we’re happy to see that Olympus has crammed plenty of updates and refinements into the Mark III, all while keeping the size similar and even losing a few grams of weight. After all, so many cameras are so capable these days, we generally expect to see refinements of already good cameras rather than revolutionary changes.

But what do you make of Olympus’ latest camera? Do you think it’s worth the wait? Let us know in the comments.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III sample gallery

17 Oct

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We recently joined Olympus in Moab, Utah for some preliminary shooting with the OM-D E-M5 III. That’s why you’ll find plenty of classic American Southwest scenery among our first sample images taken with the newest Digital OM camera – see for yourself. We threw in a few shots from the Olympia, Washington area for good measure.

See our Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III sample gallery

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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How to turn your DSLR into a Digital Pinhole Camera

17 Oct

The post How to turn your DSLR into a Digital Pinhole Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

For all the advances made over the last 190-some-odd years of photographic history, at its primordial core, a camera is a highly simplistic apparatus. Our cameras are just light-proof boxes except for an opening that allows a small amount of light to enter. Any photograph ever made owes its creation to the technology of the camera obscura, from the Latin words meaning “a dark box” or “a dark room.” These magical devices project images consisting of light rays which pass through a singular, relatively small opening (aperture), thus casting the inverted scene inside the darkened space. If you were to add an optical element (lens) and an image receptor (digital sensor, film, other material) then, my friends, you have yourself an essentially modern camera system.

how-to-turn-your-dslr-into-a-digital-pinhole-camera

Even today, some cameras operate without lenses, relying only on the raw essentials of image-making to produce a photograph. These are “pinhole cameras” and consist of the bare-bones of photo-making – a light-proof box with an aperture and an image receptor.

A pinhole camera is, in fact, so easy, so simple, that you can morph your current DSLR or mirrorless digital camera into a surprisingly efficient pinhole camera. You can do so, using only a few basic materials that you likely already have on hand.

Not only is making your own digital pinhole camera a great project for all ages, but it is also an excellent way to “reset” yourself if you’ve become a little burnt out with your current photography gear.

For lack of a better phrasing, using a pinhole camera is arguably the most “pure” form of photography you can practice, in terms of tools involved. Let me show you how to turn your DSLR into a pinhole camera.

What you’ll need

As with most things, you can make your digital pinhole camera as simple or as complicated as you would like. For this example, I’m going to show you the most basic construction method I have used thus far. Now, let’s get down to business.

Materials:

An interchangeable lens digital camera. Although there is little chance of damaging your camera, I still recommend using a camera that you don’t rely upon daily. The reason being that you will have a small opening in which dirt or moisture could enter your camera. For our example, I’m using the back-up for my back-up; a Canon 7D MK1.
Aluminum foil
A pin or thumbtack
Tape. Preferably opaque such as electrical or gaffers tape
Scissors

how-to-turn-your-dslr-into-a-digital-pinhole-camera

That’s it! Yes, really. This is the basic materials that you need to turn your camera into a digital pinhole camera.

A brief introduction to pinhole photography

Before we continue, let’s take a quick time-out to talk about a few of the basic principles of pinhole photography. First of all, this is not going to be a tutorial for making a perfect digital pinhole camera.

Believe it or not, although incredible lacking complication, pinhole photography is an extremely nuanced craft. There are formulas for figuring out the optimum aperture size (the pinhole), and how to determine the actual F-stop you will be shooting to calculate exposure.

Even though we’ll be forgoing the complexities, it’s still good to have grounded knowledge in the principles of pinhole photography before you start.

Focal length

For our purposes, the focal length of your pinhole camera will be practically equal to the focal flange distance (FFD) or your camera. The FFD is just a fancy way of saying how far it is from the lens mount of your camera to the image sensor plane. Most cameras will have a symbol that demonstrates the image plane location.

How to turn your DSLR into a Digital Pinhole Camera

Check out this handy database over on Wikipedia for finding the FFD for your particular camera. In our case, the FFD is 44mm, which is also our effective focal length. This will come into play when we learn about optimal aperture size for the pinhole camera; which we’re about to talk about right now.

Optimal aperture (pinhole) size

Believe it or not, there is a beautifully elegant equation derived by none other than Joseph Petzval which helps us to determine the best size for the opening of our pinhole camera based on the focal length. In our case the FFD, and the wavelength of light. The equation is as follows:

How to turn your DSLR into a Digital Pinhole Camera

In the formula “d” is the diameter of the pinhole, “f” is the focal length, and lambda (the “l” with a kickstand) is the wavelength of light. Unless your goal is to make an extremely precise pinhole camera, you can essentially forgo all of the information in this section. Still, if you’re a camera nerd like me, it’s cool to know.

So, based on our formula, my “optimum” pinhole diameter is about .011mm, which is TINY. In fact, if we were to manage it, our effective aperture at 44mm focal length would be about F/157. Again, this is all just food for thought, and it won’t actually play into our final pinhole. You won’t need to crunch any numbers to turn your DSLR into a digital pinhole camera. So let’s move on to the good stuff!

Putting it all together

Now, let’s get to making our pinhole camera. As we’ve said before, this will be an extremely simple construct. We’ll begin by cutting out our aluminum foil diaphragm. This is the operable component of the entire system, as it will be what we eventually use to form our pinhole aperture.

Keep in mind that aluminum foil has a shiny side and a matte side. This will come into play later. A piece of foil 3×4 inches (7.6×10.2cm) should be plenty for almost all cameras.

Shiny side…

…matte side.

Creating the Aperture

I like to use the front cap for the camera to trace a rough outline for the diaphragm. Just flip the cap over and this will give a good approximation of the front surface of the camera flange. Feel free to trace the outline on either side of the foil. Don’t worry if you don’t have a front cap to use as a guide, cut the foil as best as you can, making sure to leave some overlap.

Remember to trace the cap (if you have one) face down.

How to turn your DSLR into a Digital Pinhole Camera

Throughout the cutting process, try to keep the foil as unwrinkled and flat as possible.

how-to-turn-your-dslr-into-a-digital-pinhole-camera

Next, it’s time for our bravery test. We need to make our pinhole now. If you remember from earlier, our “optimum” pinhole size is .011mm. Of course, we won’t be able to achieve this exactly, so the best we can hope for is to make the smallest hole with the tools we have on hand. The pin I’m using has an approximate diameter of .77mm, which is still much larger than our optimum calculated hole size. So we’ll try to make the opening as small as possible using just the tip of the pin.

Lay the foil shiny side up on a semi-firm surface like a cutting board, or in our example, a piece of poster board. Aim for the approximate center of the foil disk and lightly press down with the pin. Don’t attempt to press the pin completely through the disk. Just a small amount of pressure will likely be sufficient to puncture the foil.

How to turn your DSLR into a Digital Pinhole Camera

And there you have it; our freshly minted pinhole.

how-to-turn-your-dslr-into-a-digital-pinhole-camera

From here, it’s just a matter of fixing our new pinhole diaphragm to the front of the camera.

Mounting the pinhole

Center the pinhole diaphragm as close as possible to the lens mount of your camera. Then, carefully tape the foil to the lens flange. I’m using a few pieces of electrical tape. It’s a good idea to use tape that is as opaque as possible and one which won’t leave excessive residue on your camera once it’s removed. Again, keep the foil as flat as you can.

How to turn your DSLR into a Digital Pinhole Camera

Begin at the outsides of the foil and be sure that the tape seals the diaphragm as tightly as possible. After this, I like to add a few more pieces of tape to the front of the foil for added strength. A delicate touch is required here. Be mindful not to cover your pinhole!

how-to-turn-your-dslr-into-a-digital-pinhole-camera

I know it’s difficult to believe, but you’ve just made a pinhole camera!

Tips for shooting with your pinhole camera

As you have likely already assumed, pinhole cameras make use of relatively small apertures. As such, shooting with them will require longer exposure times. So, a tripod will always be a good idea to have on hand for your pinhole work. Furthermore, it will be complicated to compose your images visually. However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t shoot your pinhole camera handheld!

Here are some suggestions for getting the most out of your pinhole camera when shooting with and without a tripod:

Bump up that ISO. Use the highest ISO you are comfortable with in order to bring the required shutter speed into a manageable range for handheld shooting.
Forget the viewfinder. While it’s perfectly acceptable to keep the camera held to your eye, it won’t benefit you all that much. Try shooting with the camera in a “waist level” configuration, holding it close to your body for added stability.
Pinholes love long exposures! Try mounting your pinhole camera on a tripod and lowering your ISO for some great long exposure images. That small aperture is your friend when it comes to super long exposure photography.
Protect your camera. Remember, you are now shooting without the protection of a lens. Even though the pinhole is extremely small, dirt and moisture can still make their way into the internal components of your camera.
Be ready to observe any and all dirt present on your sensor. Seeing as you will be shooting at extremely narrow apertures, any specs of dust or dirt on your camera’s sensor will be readily apparent.
Try a few extra pinholes. There is no rule saying you have to limit yourself to a single aperture. A few additional pinholes can produce some amazing effects. Experiment with different numbers and configurations of pinholes.
Embrace the blur. By its very nature, pinhole photography is imperfect. Remember that the beauty of working with a pinhole camera stems from the simplistic nature of the method itself.
Pinhole photography works great in black and white. Converting your pinhole images to black and white can change the entire dynamic of the photo.

Here are a few examples of images I made with my converted pinhole DSLR:

How to turn your DSLR into a Digital Pinhole Camera

These last two images were made after I introduced three additional pinholes…

how-to-turn-your-dslr-into-a-digital-pinhole-camera

Ways to improve your pinhole camera

You can make more heavy-duty pinhole apertures using more sturdy materials and by more precisely measuring and cutting your pinholes. Of course, this means additional work and will likely require much more advanced tools. Still, we can make our pinhole camera perform much better through some simple ingenuity.

The best way to up-the-ante of your digital pinhole camera is by adding a bit of flocking to the inside surface of the diaphragm. Flocking is just a way of reducing reflections and glare inside of the camera by darkening the components that might produce these sorts of problems.

Even though we faced the matte side of the foil inward (told you this would come into play), we can still help further reduce the reflections by darkening the inside of the foil. The easiest way to do this is to use a black permanent marker to darken the inside surface of the diaphragm.

Careful not to color over the pinhole. The aperture is extraordinarily delicate.

This will help to reduce stray light rays that can degrade image quality. An even better solution is to add dark tape to the inside of the diaphragm. This will make for a much more efficient flocking material. If you plan to add tape flocking, it’s a good idea to apply it prior to making your pinhole. Again, leave a small amount of room around the aperture so that the diaphragm remains as thin as possible.

How to turn your DSLR into a Digital Pinhole Camera

Final thoughts on pinhole cameras

While I was making the images for this article, I realized what might be the greatest benefit of turning your DSLR or mirrorless camera into a pinhole camera; it makes you forget. What I mean by this is that when you use such a simple camera, most of your worries over composition and tack-sharp focus seem to fall away. It’s an odd feeling, really.

What’s more, given the fact that you’re shooting at such small apertures, it produces an enormous depth of field. This means that the entire scene will technically be “in focus.”

At the same time, you know that without the benefit of a lens, the entire photo will simultaneously be less sharp, even dreamlike. When operating under these conditions, it forces us to strip away our pretenses and focus (photo humor) on the core values of our images.

If you’ve never used a pinhole camera before, I hope that this tutorial has shown you that it is incredibly easy to turn your DSLR into a digital pinhole camera. Follow the steps shown here, and you can have a digital pinhole camera in your hands in less time required to read this article.

Have you ever used a pinhole camera? If so, be sure to share your thoughts and images in the comment section below!

Author’s note: While the method shown here poses little risk to your camera, I strongly urge you to only attempt projects such as these using equipment that you wouldn’t mind being damaged. As always, use good judgment and proceed at your own risk.

The post How to turn your DSLR into a Digital Pinhole Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

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In the desert with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 III

17 Oct

Out-of-camera JPEG. Shot this using Olympus’s Live Composite function, a handy feature that’s long been included in OM-D cameras. LiveComp is enabled from within the ‘Bulb’ setting on the mode dial.

ISO 800 | 8 sec | F2 | Olympus 12mm F2 | 30 minute composite (cut short by clouds moving in)

The E-M5 III is essentially an E-M1 II in a smaller, 28% lighter package, with the same stills, video and AF capabilities as its bigger sibling. Combined with a modest kit of Olympus’s M.Zuiko glass, the Mark III has the potential to be an excellent travel and adventure camera.

Olympus brought a small group of journalists out to Moab, Utah last week to get some initial hands-on field time with the E-M5 III (full disclosure: Lodging, transportation and meals were provided by Olympus). I’ve long been a fan of the E-M1 II as a travel camera, especially when kitted with the versatile 12-100mm F4 IS Pro for daylight shooting, and a small, fast prime like the 12mm F2 for low light shooting. And I’ve never stepped foot in the American Southwest, but the prospect of testing an “E-M1 II lite” in this new environment, definitely appealed to me.

The most significant differences between the E-M1 II and E-M5 III is the former offers a better grip and faster shooting, while the E-M5 III offers a lesser footprint and a lesser price tag. Given the amount of hiking we were planning on doing in and around Arches National Park, I was just fine trading some burst speed and grip real estate for less weight.

Our first day was spent touring all the sights in Arches National Park, including ‘Park Avenue,’ ‘Balance Rock,’ ‘Garden of Eden,’ ‘North Window,’ and ‘Turret Arch.’ You can see many photos of all of these spots in our sample gallery at the bottom of the page.

At each of these extraordinary locations I took note of the countless people snapping photos; many with smartphones, but plenty more with full-size cameras. How fortunate I felt to have the equivalent of 14mm to 200mm between two lenses (7-14mm F2.8 Pro and 12-100mm F4) without breaking a sweat. I especially felt bad for those carrying around bulky DSLRs with telephoto lenses attached: what a drag that must be in the heat of the desert.

Lens quality, versatility and compact size are huge selling points for Olympus

Lens quality, versatility and compact size are huge selling points for Olympus, as is image stabilization. Other systems have them beat when it comes to resolution, but it’s hard to compete with the completeness and compactness of Olympus’ Micro Four Thirds system, (especially considering their telephoto lenses). I think this undeterred dedication to a truly light-weight system helps set Olympus apart from just about everyone else. And I think it makes a lot of sense for them to capitalize on this compactness by releasing a slimmed down E-M5.

Out-of-camera JPEG. Olympus’ black and white JPEG profile is a personal favorite.

ISO 200 | 1/320 sec | F5.6 | Olympus 12-100mm F4 IS Pro @ 17mm

In addition to my desire to keep the gear load light while traveling, I’m also the kind of person that likes to share lots of photos along the way. Sure, I’ll likely make some Raw conversions when I get home, but I definitely value cameras that make it painless to send files to my smartphone. And even though I signed an NDA agreement barring me from sharing anything during the trip, Olympus’s Image Share app is pretty simple to pair and use.

I also appreciate cameras with appealing JPEG profile settings. With the E-M5 III, I found the default “Natural” Picture Mode a tad flat and “Vivid” a tad too punchy – in both cases I was able to adjust contrast, saturation and sharpening to my liking via the ‘Super Control Panel’. Olympus’s ‘Monochrome’ mode in particular suits my tastes nicely, especially when the ‘Gradation’ is set to “High Key” for an even more dramatic effect.

After a full day in the park and a hearty dinner, we wrapped up our evening capturing star trails at Balance Rock. Sadly, incoming clouds cut short our time to test out the camera’s Live Composite feature: a fun and easy way to capture star trails. The image at the top of the page is an 8 sec exposure, with a 30 minute composite of the sky.

Out-of-camera JPEG. Shot using the high-res mode on a tripod.

ISO 200 | 1/320 sec | F5.6 | Olympus 12-100mm F4 IS Pro @ 18mm

Our next day began with a sunrise shoot from Dead Horse Point, looking out toward Canyonlands National Park. My bones are still cold just looking at the image above. The location was perched high up over the dessert floor with winds lashing us. With my E-M5 III on a Manfrotto BeFree tripod, I feared a gust would take the entire light-weight rig over the edge. I didn’t want to have to explain that to the Olympus representatives, so I held on to the camera strap at all times, just to be safe.

Unlike some of my fellow journalists who likely needed finger amputations after this shoot, I brought a pair of gloves. Unfortunately the camera’s small control points made it especially tough to operate. Seeing as I was shooting a stationary scene on a tripod, I opted to use the camera’s ‘High Res’ shot mode: it’s easy enough to access via a click of the drive button and a turn of the control wheel. Those actions I was able to complete with a glove on, but when I realized setting a shutter delay for this mode would require a deep dive into the menus, I cried just a little.

Ultimately, I think cold hands were worth getting the shot. And I look forward to pulling the above Raw file into Adobe Camera Raw and punching up the saturation a bit when support becomes available.

Out-of-camera JPEG. This was not my first rodeo.

ISO 250 | 1/2500 sec | F3.2 | Olympus 40-150mm F2.8 Pro @ 150mm

After our morning shoot, a hot breakfast and a very long hot shower, we headed up the Colorado River toward Red Cliff Lodge Ranch, the site of many a famous John Wayne movie. Here we got to put the camera’s autofocus, burst speed and dust-sealing to the test.

The fastest burst with continuous AF on the E-M5 III is 10 fps using the e-shutter (6 fps with the mechanical), compared to an 18 fps max burst on the EM1 II (also e-shutter). Despite being spoiled by the faster burst speeds of its sibling, 10 fps proved plenty fast enough for capturing cowboys wrangling cattle. And the camera’s buffer depth and clearing speed also proved ample for my needs, even when shooting Raw+JPEG.

The E-M5 III’s 121-point PDAF system is a huge improvement over the older CDAF system

The E-M5 II shares the same 121-point PDAF system as the flagship E-M1 II, a huge improvement over the previous model’s 81-point CDAF system. Most of my action shots were made using the camera’s ‘C-AF+Tracking’ setting which seemed to do a good job sticking to my chosen subject. A quick look through the bursts suggests a solid, though not class-leading, hit rate when using tracking in good light. Considering the random movement of my subject, heavy shadow and dust-filled environment, I was pretty pleased with the number of keepers.

Raw file converted in-camera with adjustments made to the exposure.

ISO 125 | 1/2000 sec | F5.6 | Olympus 40-150mm F2.8 Pro @ 40mm

I did struggle to follow the action occasionally – even with the EVF brightness maxed out to +2 and the camera pressed firmly to my glasses, the bright sun seemed to leak in. The EVF refresh rate is also locked at 60 fps, compared to 120 fps on the E-M1 II and the difference between the two is noticeable when trying to follow fast action. Still, despite my struggles seeing through the finder, I managed as best I could to get the shots. That is, until the dust clouds started getting kicked up, at which point I relied more on the LCD to frame.

By the end of the shoot my camera was absolutely covered in dust. I’d managed to keep the lens, EVF and LCD clean by blasting them with a rocket air duster every minute or so. I’d also been careful when changing lenses and followed sound advise to flip the power switch every so often to engage the supersonice sensor cleaning. Still, looking down at my black boots, now a shade of newspaper grey, I was worried some dust had still made its way to my sensor. But it didn’t.

Of course sensor cleanliness isn’t everything, dust and dirt can cause damage anywhere they get into a lens or body. Fortunately Olympus weather and dust sealing tends to be second-to-none, and the E-M5 III’s IPX1 rating is the same as its biggest of siblings, the E-M1X, making it one of the few cameras to be tested to industry standard levels.

Out-of-camera JPEG. I preferred manually using an AF point over relying on Olympus’ Face+Eye detect.

ISO 200 | 1/800 sec | F4 | Olympus 12-100mm F4 IS Pro @ 44mm

With the rodeo winding down and our cowboys at rest, I decided to flip on ‘face+eye detect’ and shoot some portraits. But I quickly realized Olympus’ version of this handy feature, which they were the first brand to introduce, seemed less precise than what I’ve become accustomed to on other cameras. But of course, more testing is needed to confirm this. Still, I ultimately decided to rely on a single point instead.

The camera’s touchscreen proved a tad unresponsive as an AF touchpad

There’s no AF joystick on the E-M5 III so you either need to rely on the four-way controller to move your AF point/area or enable touchpad AF from within the menus. I prefer the latter method of dragging my finger on the screen with my eye to the finder to set my point placement. Unfortunately, the camera’s touchscreen proved a tad unresponsive, not always activating when I touched it.

We soon departed the ranch for a few more scenic shoots before calling it a day. I used our time in the bus to juice up the E-M5 III’s battery (via USB and a power pack), which was still near half charged, even after a full day of shots.

Out-of-camera JPEG.

ISO 80 | 1/8000 sec | F1.2 | Olympus 25mm F1.2 Pro

As I reflected on the last 48 hours of both scenic and high-speed shoots, I pondered the question, ‘Would I recommend this to a friend for this sort of travel adventure?’ The answer is most certainly yes. The E-M5 III offers good image quality (class-leading among its direct peers), reliable autofocus, high quality/stabilized 4K video capture, excellent protection from the elements and a huge system of high quality, compact zoom lenses. It’s also got a lot of useful creative features, like LiveBulb/LiveTime and high-res mode.

Ultimately, my time spent in and around Moab, Utah left me with a strong desire to return to the area as soon as possible. I dream of driving my tiny Toyota Corolla through the entrance of Arches, friends in every seat, all of us taken aback by the enormousness of everything we see. Everything, that is, except the camera I choose to bring – it will very possibly be an Olympus.

Sample gallery

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Sensor Without Blown Highlights May Be the Future of Photography

17 Oct

The post Sensor Without Blown Highlights May Be the Future of Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Sensor Without Blown Highlights May Be the Future of Photography How would you like to never blow a highlight again?

Most photographers would jump at the chance, which is why a recent paper published by German researchers has generated such excitement.

The paper discusses a new image sensor that researchers successfully built, one that offers the potential for avoiding all blown highlights.

Currently, CMOS sensors work by way of pixel cell photodiodes. You hit the shutter button, exposing the sensor to light. Each pixel cell has a photodiode, which receives light waves and converts them into a current. This current is then measured by the camera and ultimately turned into an image file.

But here’s the thing:

The pixels in our cameras can reach a point of saturation. Once a certain amount of light hits a photodiode, that individual pixel cell stops processing light waves. And it creates a blown-out, completely white spot. When this happens many times during the same exposure, you end up with blown highlights.

Yet the researchers on this new project have found a way to get around this.

Imagine a pixel. Once it’s fully saturated, it can’t measure any more light.

Unless it can reset itself, going back to zero, so it’s ready to process light once more.

That’s what these researchers developed. They created “self-reset” pixels, which go back to zero upon becoming saturated. But the initial data isn’t lost; instead, it’s recorded by the pixel, so that the camera gets an accurate reading of the amount of light in the scene.

The final image, theoretically, would retain detail in every highlight, even when light levels are extremely high.

Now, while researchers have already created an experimental sensor with self-reset pixels, it will be some time before this invention is incorporated into electronics (if it’s incorporated at all). However, if this line of research does pan out, photography will be utterly transformed. It will suddenly be possible to stop thinking about exposure when shooting in good light. All you have to do is overexpose, and your images will turn out just fine. You’ll instead be able to focus entirely on other aspects of photography: color, composition, lighting, and more.

What do you think about this new invention? Would you like to see cameras that don’t blow out highlights? Or do you think it would make photography too easy? Share your thoughts in the comments!

The post Sensor Without Blown Highlights May Be the Future of Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

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Olympus OM-D E-M5 III initial review

17 Oct

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The Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III is a 20MP Micro Four Thirds camera aimed at enthusiast photographers. It shares the same sensor, AF system and 4K-video capture as the flagship E-M1 II and E-M1 X, in a considerably smaller, lighter package.

It’s the first in the E-M5 line to offer on-sensor phase detect autofocus, which includes both face and eye detection modes. The updated AF system is complimented by a 10 fps max burst rate in AF-C. The camera also gets a new image stabilization system, an updated EVF and some small ergonomic improvements.

Key takeaways

20MP Four Thirds sensor
121-point autofocus system
50MP high-res shot mode
10 fps burst shooting with AF-C
Cinema (DCI) and UHD 4K video
Up 6.5EV of image stabilization (CIPA-rating) with supported lenses
2.36M-dot OLED viewfinder with 60 fps refresh rate
Extensive direct controls and articulating touchscreen
Weather-sealed body
In-camera USB charging
1/8000 sec mechanical shutter speed

The E-M5 III will be available at the end of November for a body-only price of $ 1,199.99, CAN $ 1,499.99 in either black or silver. It will also be available kitted with the weather-sealed Olympus 14-150mm F4-5.6 II for $ 1,799.99, CAN $ 2,249.99. At launch there will be a $ 300 discount off the price of that kit.

What’s new and how it compares

The E-M5 III is Olympus’ smallest, lightest 20MP camera. Here’s what else is new and how it stacks up against its peers.

There rear of the E-M5 III is larger unchanged, but some significant changes have been made to both the camera’s top plate and the EVF.

Photo editor Dan Bracaglia spent 48 hours shooting in the deserts of Southern, Utah, E-M5 III in hand.

Curious what kind of files the E-M5 III produces? Have a look at our vast sample gallery.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Why 16 stops?

What you need

How to do it

Step 1: Set up your camera and line up your composition.

Step 2: Meter and calculate exposure

Step 3: Set focus

Step 4: Switch to Bulb

Step 5: Attach the filter

Step 6 – Input shutter speed

Step 7 – Release the shutter

Easy as that

Considerations

Noise

Hot pixels

Light leaks

Changing light

Filter size

Releases, triggers, and remotes

Tips

ISO

Lighting

Moving things

Be sure of your composition

Embrace the time

Be aware of your surroundings

End results

That’s it

Winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition

Winner, Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Winner, Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Winner, Animals in their Environment

Winner, Animal Portraits

Winner, Behavior: Amphibians and Reptiles

Winner, Behavior: Birds

Winner, Behavior: Invertebrates

Winner, Behavior: Mammals

Winner, Urban Wildlife

Winner, Earth’s Environments

Winner, Black and White

Winner, Wildlife Photojournalism

Winner, Rising Star Portfolio Award

Winner, Plants and Fungi

Winner, Under Water

Winner, Wildlife Photojournalist Story Award

Winner, Wildlife Photographer Portfolio Award

Hands-on with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

New sensor, autofocus system and stabilizer

Top-plate controls

Clip-on flash

Rear controls

OLED Electronic viewfinder

Ports

Video

Battery

UHS-II card slot

Weather-sealing

What you’ll need

Materials:

A brief introduction to pinhole photography

Focal length

Optimal aperture (pinhole) size

Putting it all together

Creating the Aperture

Mounting the pinhole

Tips for shooting with your pinhole camera

Ways to improve your pinhole camera

Final thoughts on pinhole cameras

Sample gallery

Key takeaways

What’s new and how it compares

Body and controls

Shooting experience

Sample gallery

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