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Canon to Produce an 80-Megapixel Mirrorless Camera
The post Canon to Produce an 80-Megapixel Mirrorless Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

If you’ve been hoping Canon will produce a high-resolution professional mirrorless camera, then you’re in luck.

Rumors that Canon has been working on a 70 or 80-megapixel mirrorless camera have been swirling for months, but several new pieces of information make it more likely than ever.

First, Canon has filed a patent for an 83-megapixel sensor, which may be at the heart of a new mirrorless camera body.

Second, someone claiming to have a prototype of the new camera has just revealed specs, including:
- An 80-megapixel full-frame sensor
- A larger viewfinder than the Canon EOS R
- Dual SD card slots
- A new joystick
- A larger size than the Canon EOS R
If these details are accurate, then the new camera (dubbed the Canon EOS RS by Canon Rumors) will likely be a mirrorless replacement to the Canon 5DS/5DS R duo. The two DSLR cameras debuted in February of 2015, and Canon has failed to update them in the years since. Most notable about the two cameras are their sensors: 50.6 megapixels – the largest full-frame sensors in existence at the time.

The dual card slots will be a particularly welcome addition to the Canon EOS RS. Many professional photographers passed over the EOS R based on its single card slot, and it seems Canon got the message. So for photographers who require redundancy in their work, the Canon EOS RS will be a good choice.

And if the Canon EOS RS is truly 80+ megapixels, commercial photographers will appreciate the opportunity to push resolution to its limits.

Such a high-resolution sensor has its drawbacks, however. The larger the files, the faster you’ll fill up space. Plus, a sensor with 80 megapixels will have high pixel density, leading to small pixels. This can be a problem with regard to noise production: the smaller pixels are more likely to produce noise at high ISOs.

Let’s just hope that Canon puts out a high-quality sensor to complement the megapixel count! If you’re a Canon fan looking to make the change to mirrorless, then keep an eye out for news on the Canon EOS RS, which will likely be announced at the start of 2020.

Would you purchase the Canon EOS RS for its 80+ megapixels? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

The post Canon to Produce an 80-Megapixel Mirrorless Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Digital Photography School
September 17, 2019
SLR Magic announces 21mm T1.6, 50mm T1.4 ‘MicroPrime’ cine lenses for MFT camera systems

Budget lens manufacturer SLR Magic has added a pair of Micro Four Thirds (MFT) ‘MicroPrime’ lenses to its cinema lineup: the MicroPrime CINE 21mm T1.6 and the MicroPrime CINE 50mm T1.4.

The lenses, designed specifically with the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and Z Cam E2 in mind, feature full manual control, an 82mm front filter thread, an 85mm front filter diameter for matte boxes and are both geared with 0.8 Mod gears.

The MicroPrime CINE 21mm T1.6 is constructed of 13 elements in 11 groups and weighs 700g (1.57lbs), while the MicroPrime CINE 50mm T1.4 is constructed of 6 elements in 5 groups with a weight of 630g (1.39lbs). The lenses, which will retail for $ 599 a piece at authorized retailers, round out SLR’s MFT lineup alongside the 12mm T2.8 and 18mm T2.8.

SLR MAGIC expands their portfolio at IBC 2019 with additional focal lengths in MFT mount for MicroPrimes – 21mm T1.6 & 50mm T1.4

Hong Kong (13 September 2019) — Following the success of SLR Magic’s venture into affordable yet robust and high-quality cinema and photo lenses, we are pleased to announce new editions to our product range. Based on popular demand and responding to our users, we are now offering a selection of new lenses in the MFT-mount

Given the extreme popularity of our cine lenses in the E-mount range, our engineers and design team logically progressed into the development of extending mounting options.

Taking from our successful formula along with our previous offerings, SLR Magic have now produced 2 additional lengths given the popularity of Blackmagic’s Pocket 4k camera and the Z Cam E2.

Both lenses all feature full manual control, have an 82mm thread front, an 85mm front diameter for clamp-on matte box, are all 0.8 Mod geared and are almost identical in form factor and weight.

A 21mm and 50mm are now added to the MicroPrime range. With a new design, these 2 new focal lengths will now round out the existing range and provide more choice and versatility to all Micro Prime shooters. The range for MFT will now include 12mm T2.8, 18mm T2.8, 21mm T1.6, 25mm T1.5, 50mm T1.4.

SLR Magic has been synonymous with sharp images wide open with smooth roll-off, beautiful bokeh edge to edge and is fast becoming the lens of choice rather than an alternative for the Cine and Photo industry.

MicroPrime CINE 21mm T1.6
Mount: Micro Four Thirds
MSRP: US $ 599
Optical Structure: 13 elements in 11 groups
Image Circle: ?32
Weight: 700g

MicroPrime CINE 50mm T1.4
Mount: Micro Four Thirds
MSRP: US $ 599
Optical Structure: 6 elements in 5 groups
Image Circle: ?32
Weight: 630g

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

September 17, 2019
Video: Taking photos across California to recreate Apple’s macOS wallpapers

YouTuber Andrew Levitt teamed up with friends Jacob Phillips and Taylor Gray to recreate the stock wallpapers Apple includes with its Mac computers by traveling around and snapping them one photo at a time. The project required a trip into the blistering hot Death Valley National Park, as well as Sierra National Forest, Yosemite National Park, Mavericks and more.

The group of guys showed their endeavors in a newly published video detailing the project. Levitt notes that their final images aren’t quite the same as Apple’s due to different seasons, among other things, but that they’re representative of the experience and getting to see each destination in person. The five resulting images have been made available to download as wallpapers here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

September 17, 2019
Apple’s ‘MultiCam’ recording will be available on iPhone XS, XR and the latest iPads

During its iPhone 11 event last week, Apple showcased an as-yet-unreleased version of the Filmic Pro app running on the new iPhone 11 Pro. The app was capable of recording footage from multiple cameras simultaneously, for example, front and rear camera or wide-angle and primary shooter. According to Filmic Pro, the updated version of its app will be available in the App Store sometime later this year.

The multi-cam recording function uses a new API that comes with iOS 13 and, according to Apple, required a redesign of the camera pipeline on their devices. The good news is that the changes have already been made on the iPhones XS and XR, as well as the latest iPad Pro models, as explained in this WWDC session keynote.

A screenshot from the WWDC session that shows the supported MultiCam Formats on the iPhone XS.

However, having multiple cameras active and recording at the same time puts a lot of stress on the hardware, which is why multi-camera recording on the 2018 devices has some limitations. Only certain combinations of cameras can be activated simultaneously (see table below) and, depending on the hardware requirements of their app, developers might have to revert to lower-quality video streams to make the feature work.

A screenshot from the WWDC session showing what combination of camera modules can be used with the MultiCam API in iOS 13 on an iPhone XS.

It has not been clarified yet which camera combinations will be usable on the iPhone 11 generation but during the Filmic demo, the footage appeared to be recorded from all four of the iPhone 11 Pro’s cameras simultaneously.

Nevertheless, this is good news for owners of 2018 Apple flagship devices who will be able to use the new feature at least partly. The multi-cam API should launch with iOS 13 on September 19. We’d expect a bunch of third-party apps implementing the functionality soon after.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

September 17, 2019
SLC-2L-09: Google Maps as a Visa | BTS 360

Today in Lighting Cookbook, using Google Maps as an entré to meet new subjects, and improvising with a skeleton pack of lighting equipment. Read more »
Strobist

September 17, 2019
PocketWizard ‘E Release’ $10 firmware upgrade boosts range, features and reliability

PocketWizard customers who own the company’s Plus III and/or Plus IV wireless triggers now have the option of upgrading to its new ‘E Release’ firmware. The software update brings a number of notable improvements, including increased range, improved reliability when sending and receiving signals, a Quad Zone Channels increase from 16 to 32, and 80 new Channels for use with Long Range Mode.

The range for both supported PocketWizard models running E Release firmware is doubled for triggering remote cameras and flashes; it is increased to up to 5 miles when used with radios in Long Range Mode.

Though the firmware is only available for the Plus III and Plus IV (FCC frequency) models at this time, PocketWizard says it plans to release the software update for its MultiMAX II, FlexTT5 for Nikon, FlexTT6 for Canon, and PowerMC2 models in the future. The E Release is available for units purchased in North America and South America; it cannot be used with CE frequency units.

Below is a video shared by PocketWizard showing how photographer Michael Heeney was able to capture a rock climber from four diffrent perspectives thanks in part to the upgraded firmware:

PocketWizard warns on its website that the firmware can only work with other radios that have also been upgraded with the E Release firmware. Upgraded PocketWizards can be downgraded back to the company’s legacy firmware for use with radios that aren’t running the new software.

Customers who want to upgrade will need to purchase a $ 9.99 USD E Release firmware license for each radio. PocketWizard customers who purchased one of the supported models from an authorized dealer in the US or Canada after September 1, 2019, can download the E Release firmware for free.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

September 16, 2019
Phase One IQ4 sample gallery

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It’s not every day that we get to shoot with a system like the Phase One IQ4. We took the 150MP medium-format camera into the studio for some portraiture, as well as shooting in some more casual environments because, well, why not? Take a look at the incredible detail that can be captured when you have 150 million pixels at your disposal.

See our Phase One IQ4 sample gallery

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

September 16, 2019
Video: Cinema5D goes hands-on with Sony’s new full-frame cinema camera, the FX9

Last week, Sony unveiled the FX9. While we were able to get a brief look at the camera in the product shots, our friends over at Cinema5D have gone hands-on with the full-frame E-mount camera.

Throughout the 14-minute video, Nino Leitner of Cinema5D covers nearly every component of the camera. He starts by explaining where exactly the FX9 fits into Sony’s lineup and then dives into all of the new features, including the various sensor modes, the new S-Cinetone Picture Profile, the new dual-base ISO and much more.

Leitner also interviewed Yasuo Ueda-san, head camera designer at Sony, if you want even more insight the FX9 and its development process.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

September 16, 2019
9 Great Lensball Perspectives for Creative Photography!
The post 9 Great Lensball Perspectives for Creative Photography! appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Bond.

One of the most effective ways of getting more out of your photography is to change the perspective. It’s a great way to explore your camera without needing to get additional equipment. The same concept can be applied to lensball photography, where a change in your lensball perspectives can lead to a burst of creativity with your work. It’s easy to think of lensball photography as a one-trick pony, rather like, say, a fish-eye lens. As any fish-eye lens owner will tell you though, there are plenty of ways to add creativity with that lens, and the same is true of refraction photography with a lensball.

In this article, you’ll learn about nine different lensball perspectives, and how you can go about using them in your photography.

1. The standard lensball perspective

This shows a standard lensball perspective. It shows the tree as the main subject in the ball. There is also context provided by the area outside the ball.

The standard photo might vary from person to person. A lot of people choose the second item on this list, so this is of course subjective. In this type of photo, the lensball will be a significant part of the photo, it will absolutely be the main subject. Where you place the ball and the subject you choose to have within the ball are subjects covered in this article.

Typically the ball will be off-center within the frame, and will fill around forty percent of the photo. The remaining portion of the photo is likely to be the foreground the ball is sitting on, and the background that has been blurred out as part of this photo. This type of photo will be taken using a macro lens, or a lens with a long focal length.

2. The lens ball as part of the scene

The ball can also be used as part of the scene. Here, the interplay with the arch works well.

A popular alternative to the above photo involves bringing the background into play. This style of photo will need a wide-angle lens, so you can get reasonably close to the lensball, while taking a more standard landscape photo. In this photo, the lensball has become more of an accent in the photo, yet it’s still a focal point for the image. You’re looking at using repetition in your image, with the background of your photo appearing inside the ball as an upside-down image.

There are a number of strategies you can use to enhance this type of photo.
- The tunnel – A classic in photography, this works very well with the lensball as well. Use the infinity point of the tunnel and place the ball at this point in the photo. The tunnel will then frame the photo, and there’s a good chance the image in the ball won’t be noticeably upside down.
- Holding the ball – Holding the ball while photographing it is a popular form of lensball photography. Using a wide-angle lens will allow you to hold the ball, and include a lot of the background in your frame.
- Flipping the image – As the background is prominent in your frame, you might want to use post-processing to flip the image within the ball. You can learn how to do this here.
3. Getting closer

In this photo, the lensball fills the frame, and you can barely see the edge of the ball.

Alternatively, you can get much closer to the ball, and use a macro lens for your photo. You will need to scout a good location for this type of image.

In this photo, you’re using the ball much more like an external lens. Through the use of the macro lens, you can get close enough to the ball that you’re only photographing a portion of it. This allows you to use the curve of the ball as a line coming through your frame, with the main subject photographed within the ball. The outside of the ball will be blurred, even with a smaller aperture. With this in mind, keep the aperture to around f/8. This will give you a sharper image inside the ball.

4. Splitting the horizon line

Lines that can be bisected by the ball work especially well.

A great technique to use with the lensball is splitting the horizon.

This works well because of the effect refraction produces. If you line the ball up with the horizon line, the inverted image in the ball will invert along this line. When aiming for this type of photo, it’s important to get the horizon line exactly lined up. Getting this wrong is as bad as not getting your horizon line straight on a regular landscape photo. The following are some ideas that will help you acheive this type of photo.
- Holding the ball – Holding the ball up to the horizon line with your hand can be effective. It’s tricky to get the exact horizon line. Take multiple photos until you’re happy the horizon line within and outside the ball is lined up.
- Minimal landscapes – In order to split the horizon line, you need to be able to see the horizon line. Look for coastal, desert or other locations that don’t have objects blocking this line.
- Use the tripod – With the ball steady on a wall, or perhaps a rock you could use a tripod. With the camera on a tripod, you can make sure the horizon line is lined up. Once you’re ready to take the photo you’ll know this won’t shift as you take the photo.
5. Bending the horizon line

This photo shows the fisheye-like effect of the ball. You can see the horizon line in the ball is bent and distorted.

The lensball’s fisheye-like lens properties can, of course, be used in exactly the same way as a fish-eye lens. You can bend the horizon line in the lensball by raising or lowering it away from the horizon line. This can be used to creative effect with your photo.

If there is a lot of interest in the foreground, you could include more of these within the ball. Equally, if the sky is really dramatic, and you want to include more of that, you can. Simply lower the ball away from the horizon line, and watch the line bend towards the top of the ball, and more sky fill the bottom portion of the ball.

6. Distorting your main subject

This abstract portrait is the result of lensball distortion.

In addition to bending the horizon line, you can use the lensball to produce other distortions as well. Once again, think of the distortions a fisheye lens can make, and apply that to the lensball. You can use the ball to distort elements of your main subject, providing you can get close to your subject. This works well when the subject is smaller, so this won’t be effective with large architecture.

You can use this distortion to great effect with portrait photography. Here the aim is to distort part of the body, for instance, the eyes, to get a more creative portrait.

7. Photographing down onto the ball

Shooting directly down onto the ball can give interesting results.

A simple trick involves photographing down onto the ball.

Place the ball on the ground, and stand over the ball to photograph it. No inverted image will appear in the ball, but you will see a magnified version of what the ball is sat on.

This can work well for surfaces that have a texture. For instance, gritty sand or a pebble beach works well. Those photographers looking to create a series of lensball photos that have variety could attempt this style of photo.

8. A worm’s eye view

The worm’s eye view can work well. Note the ball is placed at the infinity point of the image.

The worm’s eye view means photographing below the ball and looking up. The only realistic way to do this is holding the ball above yourself, or better still, ask someone to hold the ball for you. This will mean a person’s hand will be in the photo, so look to incorporate this into your composition as best you can. Finally, you’ll need to find an interesting subject to photograph.

The following are some subjects that work well for this angle.
- Tall buildings – When close together these can form a tunnel-like look when looking straight up. Place the ball at the infinity point of this, and take your photo.
- Repetition – When you’re standing under something like a roof of repeating umbrella’s or lanterns, you can use the lensball to capture this.
- Dramatic sky – Sky photos can work well if the sky is interesting enough. This type of photo will be more interesting with a strong subject.
9. Reflection

Reflection works very well in lensball photography.

Photos that involve reflection will give you a strong composition. Of course, you need to use the right angle to maximize this reflection. In this case, your perspective will be as low to the angle as you can get.

However, there are scenarios where you can get great reflection photos without the need to get on all fours. In both of these cases, use a circular polarizing filter to increase the strength of the reflection.
- Ball on reflection surface – In this case, you’ll need to get a low angle, so you’ll be on the floor. Marble surfaces or a puddle will work well here. Your aim is to reflect the ball itself in the puddle.
- Ball in front of reflection surface – In this case, you’ll see a reflection surface like a large pond. It’s obviously too large to place the ball into it, but you can still capture the reflection. The ball needs to be placed or held in a position near to the reflection surface. Now within the ball, you’ll see both the reflected and the actual image. These images will both be refracted, so the reflected image will be the one that appears the right way up.
Creativity is in your hands

A change of perspective is a great creative option for every photographer and can lead to some really compelling results. The lensball, when thought of as an external lens, is a great creative tool. When used properly, it is capable of creating a great series of photos under the one theme.

So if you have a lensball, you can go out and try some of these ideas. If you don’t have one, why not get hold of one?!

Finally, we love to see your photos at digital photography school, so why not share some in the comments section below?

The post 9 Great Lensball Perspectives for Creative Photography! appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Bond.

Digital Photography School
September 16, 2019
Useful Ways You Can Use the Olympus Live Composite Feature for Long Exposures

The post Useful Ways You Can Use the Olympus Live Composite Feature for Long Exposures appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mark C Hughes.

Olympus has a number of unusual features for longer exposure photography. Aside from the classic bulb style photography, there are two other specific long exposure features available with Olympus cameras: Live Time and Live Composite. These two functions, although related, treat longer exposures quite differently and can produce quite interesting results. Both are really fascinating tools for photographers looking to experiment. Both use computational features of your camera to allow you to get an image in a different way. Although we will briefly discuss Live Time, this article primarily focuses on the Olympus Live Composite feature.

The Live Composite feature on Olympus Cameras lets you mix light sources for long exposure

Live Time

Live Time is like the bulb function on old film cameras that held the shutter open as long as the bulb was depressed but with a twist. With modern cameras, you open the shutter by pressing once and then close it by pressing it a second time. As with any bulb function, you end up holding the shutter open for as long as you want but without a set time on the camera.

In the film days, you would just guess how long you wanted (or use a light meter and a stopwatch). With most digital cameras, there is a function to allow you to hold the shutter open for an extended time. However, for many makes of cameras, you won’t see the image until the camera has closed the shutter, taken a noise reduction image, and then processed the image.

Live Time in Olympus cameras is a little different. It allows you to see the image on your display developing during the process while the shutter remains open. As the exposure lengthens, you see the image form as more and more light gets added to the entire image. The image gets brighter on the back panel, and it is really cool to see the image created live.

This process allows you to decide when you have held the shutter open long enough. Like the old bulb settings, you decide how long the image progresses. You press to start the exposure and press to stop.

Long Exposure images simply mean that light sources get brighter

Fundamentally, Live Time is just a manually extended exposure time that allows you to watch the image develop as you take it. It is still a pretty cool feature.

Problems with long exposure photography

The trouble with Live Time (and any long exposure image with any camera for that matter), is that bright things get brighter faster than the dark areas.

This means that dim, infrequent events in lower light environments with some point sources of light will be overwhelmed by the point sources. When you have enough light to expose the dark areas properly, this usually means that the lit areas have far too much accumulated light. Everything in the frame gets treated the same.

A still Image of a fire provides lots of detail and freezes the action of the flames.

Long Exposures tend to smear the light as the light sources persist.

Enter Live Composite

Live Composite is a particularly unique feature present in Olympus cameras that is not currently offered by other camera makers at this time.

Live Composite is similar to Live Time, in that you are taking a longer exposure image, but Live Composite is just light additive for new sources of light, not existing sources. What this means is that Live Composite takes a base image and then only adds new light to the image that was not present in the original base image. This means that light sources seen in the original reference image do not get brighter. Only new lighting or new light sources that move in the frame will appear in the final image.

Live Composite of a campfire shows that the entire image is not getting brighter

The mechanics of Live Composite

Using Live Composite is a two-step process; first, it requires you to take a base or reference image exposure. This image forms the base layer of the composite image. Then you take subsequent additional images at intervals with only new light in the field of view added.

This allows you to take a static image of a colorful background under low light conditions and add only new light sources.

Just like Live Time, you get to watch the image develop right before your eyes.

After the base image is taken, only new light sources (such as a lightning bolt) show up

How to use It

Turning on Live Composite on your Olympus camera is not the most prominent process. It is a bit hidden. Live Composite is a type of manual mode setting, so that is where you find it on the camera.

However, before you use Live Composite, you need to decide a few key parameters for your base composite image – specifically initial shutter duration, ISO and aperture.

You set the shutter time duration in the menu (out of the function itself) before setting the camera to shoot. However, you set the ISO and aperture as you go.

Turning on Live Composite varies a little between cameras (the EM1X does it slightly differently), but for most Olympus cameras, you simply set the mode selector dial to Manual (M) and adjust the time to beyond the 60-second shutter duration. At that point, you get a Bulb, LiveTime, and then LiveComp setting. LiveComp is the one you want for Live Composite. On the EM1X, you set the mode selector dial to B (bulb) and then turn to LiveComp. Everything else is the same.

At this point in time, you set your ISO and Aperture. This, combined with the shutter time duration you set in the menu system for cycling the images, will be used to set your base composite image. For instance, if you set the shutter timing to 4 seconds, plan on using an aperture of f/4 and ISO of 800. You will use those values for the base reference composite image.

To activate Live Composite, set up your composition, focus your lens, and then press the shutter for the reference image. The composite is now ready to start.

Next, when you press your shutter button again, the image creating process begins! The camera will open the shutter and add to the image as each time period compares to the base image. Any new light gets added to the composite at the end of each cycle. The image changes and grows on your display as Live Composite progresses.

It is very cool to watch as your image develops.

Does Live Composite mean you can take images that you couldn’t before?

Lightning storms work incredibly well with Live Composite, especially if there is a lot of nearby light sources (such as streetlights)

Yes and no. You could take the images separately and combine them as a composite, but as a single image, you would not have been able to do it. Also, there are certain types of images that are way easier to take with the Live Composite function than would be possible to achieve in a single image.

Live Composite also forces you to change your approach to certain images. As part of that change, it may actually take longer to take some images (because you need to create a base/reference every time), but you get the benefit of seeing if it is doing what you want.

What kind of image works well with Live Composite?

Several specific types of images can get the full benefit of Live Composite. These include star trails, lightning flashes, fireworks, night photography with bright lights present, and light painting.

You can take all of these in other ways, but using live composite allows you to see if the image is turning out how you want.

Most of these images all require manual focus and manual settings for your exposures. All require some trial and error and pretty much all benefit from the use of a tripod. In theory, you might be able to take these images without one, but in reality, the requirement to be steady really limits those cases.

Star Trails

In astrophotography, taking an image of stars can be particularly daunting. This is because the earth is rotating and the stars are relatively dim. What this means is that you need a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the motion of the star but also need to leave the shutter open long enough for the start to appear on your image. If you leave the shutter open too long, you will see a streak or smear instead of a star. If you leave the shutter open even longer, the stars leave even longer trails that are circular. In the northern hemisphere, these star trails appear to rotate around the North Star.

Star trails occur when you take astrophotography shots and leave the shutter open for an extended period of time. The stars create a trail. This image was taken with the shutter open for 27 minutes

With conventional digital cameras (or film cameras for that matter), working at night can be a challenge. The shutter duration required to create star trails are long, and you can’t see what your image is like until you’ve completed the entire exposure duration. In addition, if you have made an error in focus or composition, you won’t see it until the entire process is complete. There are ways to combine star trails together in post-processing, but the Live Composite allows you to do it in a single exposure.

With Live Composite, you can see the image develop. Particularly with star trails, this allows you to quickly figure out if you want to have your image in a different setup or use a different point of interest so that the star trails work with your composition.

You also have the ability to have star trails show up when there is an illuminated object in the foreground.

Lightning

Another significant challenge for photography is capturing images of lightning, particularly in areas where there are light sources. As anyone who has attempted to take lightning images knows all too well, this is a difficult type of photography.

Lightning strike captured using the Olympus Live Composite Feature.

The main difficulties of capturing lightning images are fourfold. Lightning is difficult to schedule, so you have to wait to find a storm to photograph. Depending upon your position relative to the storm, you need to find a vantage point to capture images that are reasonably clear (you need to be able to see the lightning from a distance) and have a perspective that forms a reasonable composition. More common vantage points are across a field, across a valley or from highrise building.

Next, you need to hope the lightning is not blocked or shrouded by rain (a common companion to lightning). This will interfere with your sightlines. Lighting is often at leading and trailing edges of storms, but if you are at the wrong end, the lightning will simply light up the sky.

Finally, taking images at night always presents a problem for trying to achieve focus. Focusing in the dark means that you can’t see what you are focusing on and the light from the lightning hasn’t lit up your subject yet.

If you have the right conditions, you can take the base image and wait for the lightning strike and the image to develop. You just wait until lightning strikes in the field of view.

For a detailed guide on photographing lightning, see this Ultimate Guide to Photographing Lightning.

Fireworks

Fireworks is an interesting subject for live composite. It actually isn’t faster to take images, but I think it takes better images. Fireworks requires you to manually focus where you think the images are, set the time, aperture, and ISO for a darker setting than your camera will want, then wait.

Fireworks also work well, although it is a two-step process for every image.

Without Live Composite, you simply open the shutter and wait. The image gets brighter, and the duration is based upon a little trial and error.

With Live Composite, you take the reference image and then wait. When the fireworks start, you hold the shutter and watch the screen. You press the shutter when you have the image you want.

Unfortunately, you need to take a new reference image each time, so you end up with additional steps. However, the results are at least as good (and often better) as simply guessing an exposure time.

Night photography with bright lights and light painting

Capturing car tail lights and headlights will appear but the street lights don’t get overly bright

Night photography featuring bright lights, such as carnivals or street performers using fire at night, can turn out really well with Live Composite. So can images where lights are moving, but you don’t want the background to get brighter.

You can also use Live Composite for light painting. This is particularly useful if you have someone helping you when you are taking a light painting image.

Light painting is a technique for taking an image under low light conditions with a long exposure and lighting up the object with controlled use of flashes or light sources. The neat thing about using Live Composite for light painting is that you can have light in the image when you are taking the image with the light painting because only new light gets added. It also means that dark objects won’t show up, and the bright surfaces behind them will remain illuminated.

Live composite allows you to do light painting with light sources present in the image (not the greatest light painting image!)

Conclusion

Live Composite is a unique feature in Olympus cameras that allow you to make composite images in-camera that previously would only be able to be created with two separate images and a bunch of post-processing. It is another useful tool for your photography kit.

The Olympus Live Composite feature is a unique tool to allow you to be creative with low light images.

Have you used Olympus Live Composite Feature before? What are your thoughts? Share with us in the comments!

The post Useful Ways You Can Use the Olympus Live Composite Feature for Long Exposures appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mark C Hughes.

Digital Photography School

September 16, 2019