PhotoBlog of Random Images
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05/15/12 Frames II was talking earlier about frames within the image. The following post is about such an image and you should always be on the lookout for such images. When you have found such an opportunity, take your time in framing and double-check everything before taking a picture. You'll thank yourself when you look at the image on a monitor.
This one was taken on the Olypus E-P3 and the new fantastic 12 f2 lens. Without this wide angle I couldn't have framed this the way I did. 3007
E-P3 Focal Length: 12 mm Aperture: f/5.6 Exposure Time: 1/100 sec ISO: 200 05/14/12 The Difference 2 Stops Makes IIFollowing up on yesterdays post, look at the above image and compare it to yesterdays image. The difference in depth of field is quite apparent. Now, imaine if you had a lens with a maximum aperture of f2.8, that is again 2 stops brighter than f5.6. Imagine how that mosque would look at that aperture. That is what a lot of people are waiting for from the 4/3 manufacturers. Fast wide to standard zooms with an aperture of f2.8. I wonder how the Panasonic zooms will handle. Things are getting interesting for this format sensor at last. 1610
E-P3 Focal Length: 36 mm Aperture: f/11.0 Exposure Time: 1/400 sec ISO: 200 05/13/12 The Difference 2 Stops Makes II'd like to show an example of the difference 2 stops make to an image. by that I mean I took images, one at f5.6 and one at f11. That is 2 stops in total. That means that only a quarter of the light gets through at f11 as got through at f5.6. Stopping the lens down one stop will halve the light getting through, causing the shutter to stay open twice as long. That is not the only result of stopping down, the depth of field will also increase resulting in a totally different image. Why photographers love a fast lens (i.e. A lens with an aperture of f2.8 or faster) is that they can control the depth of field.
This first image was shot wide open on the mZD 14-150, f5.6. Look at the mosque in the background. It is not sharp but also it isn't perfectly out of focus either. A lens with an aperture of f2.8 would render that building as just a blur in the background.
The image tomorrow will show the mosque taken only seconds after the above image taken at f11. Amazing what 2 stops can achieve. 1258
E-P3 Focal Length: 49 mm Aperture: f/5.4 Exposure Time: 1/1600 sec ISO: 200 • bokeh
05/12/12 Background SeparationThis background separation concept is quite important and plays a big part in getting the image to, what some people might call, pop. It gives 3D impression and really improved the image. On this occation I was using the mZD 14-150 (yet again) and it is not easy to achieve this effect with this lens. The background was several meters behind my subject and this is one of those times that you require the lens to be fully open. Well, if you remember me saying a post or two ago the mZD 14-150 is not really sharp at 150mm and f5.6. Well, I had no choice in the matter and this shot was taken at 150 and f5.6. Notice that the background is little too busy for my taste and an aperture of f2.8 or f4 would have been wonderful here. Unfortunately, there are no f2.8 zooms for the m4/3 system as yet, however, Panasonic have announced a couple of zooms and should be available quite soon.
I think it turned out ok though. 1707
E-P3 Focal Length: 150 mm Aperture: f/5.6 Exposure Time: 1/640 sec ISO: 200 • background separation • bokeh • pop.
05/12/12 The Better HalfThis is just an image of my wife made a week or so ago in Spain. This is not an usual scheduled post, it's just that I've changed some stuff on the site and it seemed appropriate to test everything out...online.
If you're interested this was taken with an E-P3 and the great, cheap Olympus 45 f1.8 for m4/3.
Whenever you hear praise for this lens, believe them, because they are all true. It is a great lens, everything is pretty much there, sharpness, micro contrast and the images do pop. I just hope the announced 75 f1.8 will be in the same class but one thing I'm sure will not be and that is price. The 75 f1.8 will be dearer than the 45 f1.8, I'm sure of it. 1155
E-P3 Focal Length: 45 mm Aperture: f/2.2 Exposure Time: 1/1600 sec ISO: 200 05/11/12 Spring is here!Spring is here at last! The older I get the longer the winters seem to get. When spring pokes it's head around the corner is the time I start to plan my outings in earnest. Every weekend is planned and booked for weeks ahead and everything else get put on hold. It was quite windy as we took an afternoon outing to a special place of ours and the blossoms were actually starting to fade. As a steady breeze blew the petals were being blown off at an alarming rate. Looks just like it was snowing. Very pretty and is the kind of image that I can photograph over and over again. 1857
E-P3 Focal Length: 67 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/640 sec ISO: 200 • spring • Olympus • E-P3 • mZD 14-150
05/10/12 mZD ED 14-150 f4.0-5.6This is one lens I keep coming back to. It makes for a great holiday lens if you don't fancy changing lenses or just want to take one lens with you for convenience. There may be better lenses out there but I just like using this one. Results are good and adequate for my needs. It is also lighter than the Panasonic 14-140 which was designed for the videographer in mind. I use the 14-140 on a Panasonic G1 and the results are impressive. I do believe there is a quality assurance problem somewhere within Panasonic because not all people who bought one got a good copy. Luckily my copy is pretty sharp.
The 14-150 is not a fast lens by any means and the image quality at 150mm and f5.6 is not top notch. Stop down to f8 however and the image quality increses dramatically. Very acceptable. F8 seems to be the optimum aperture for the lens and sensor, because stopping down to f11 sees a dramatic image degradation, so mine stays at f8 most of the time at 150mm. Background separation is possible with all lenses, it just depends how far away the background is from what you want to photograph. It's a lot easier with fast lenses of course as DOF is quite small. This image was shot at f8 and the cloud in the background was miles away so the bokeh is quite good. 2079
E-P3 Focal Length: 150 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/640 sec ISO: 200 • Olympus • E-P3 • mZD 14-150 • spring.holiday lens • versatile
05/09/12 Frame within a FrameI like to frame an image within another frame. These images are not easy to find and think yourself lucky to just see one right in front of you. I normally have to look for these and I don't find them very often. I was out the other day with the fantastic Olympus mZD ED 12 f2 prime lens. Just got it and haven't used it much yet so I thought I'd give it a little outing. This is a park we go to quite often as it is quite large and I can spend hours just roaming around. It's a photographers paradise in a way. Plenty of scope for different types of images. I had stopped to change lenses and after packing the old lens away I turned around and found this. I was delighted. This is the sort of image I really like. A frame within a frame within a frame. I just wish I could find more of them. 2748
E-P3 Focal Length: 12 mm Aperture: f/5.6 Exposure Time: 1/320 sec ISO: 200 05/08/12 Voigtlaender 50 f1.5 Adapted for Sony Nex-7I find this to be a pleasing image. It's a well known fact that the Nex-7 sensor produces a purple cast with shorter RF lenses, and not only at the edges but throughout the image. This photograph exhibited this colour cast which shouldn't really appear the this focal lenngth. I had to correct this in post processing. Not much work for one image but if you have a couple dozen to do, it gets a little tedious. Of course there's Cornerfix for this but you have to save the file as a DNG before opening in Cornerfix. As long as it's not normal (and on this outing I only hads one image that exhibited this sort of behaviour) I'll stick to Photoshop. 1533
NEX-7 Focal Length: unknown Aperture: f/1.0 Exposure Time: 1/1600 sec ISO: 100 • Voigtlaender • Sony • 50 f1.5 • manual focus • Nex-7
05/07/12 Voigtlaender 50 f1.5 Adapted for Sony Nex-7This was taken at a short distance, about 2 meters. You may not be able to see the detail at this resolution, but believe me, at full size these blossoms are very detailed and sharp. An excellent lens for this sort of photography. The colours from the Nex-7 sensor I find very pleasing here as well. 1536
NEX-7 Focal Length: unknown Aperture: f/1.0 Exposure Time: 1/2500 sec ISO: 100 • Voigtlaender • Sony • 50 f1.5 • manual focus • Nex-7
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