Cameras

If you’ve been able to get your hands on one of these, consider yourself lucky. After driving to most every electronic store I knew of and still not being able to get a hands-on feel for this new camera, I decided to take the plunge and make my order on Amazon. Now, after using it on a recent excursion to Ireland, I wonder why I ever hesitated. Hold on for a quick dive into the micro 4/3rds camera experience. (Scattered around are some sample images minor adjustments done in LR.)

Since deciding to become a “pro” photographer specializing in weddings and portraits some years back, I have always been keenly aware of industry developments in the photographic field. Primarily I kept my ear to the ground to what the big players like Canon and Nikon were doing. I made the financial commitment to Nikon, but both were leading the pack in new developments. Somehow, amidst all the hustle and bustle, I had been ignoring the 4/3rds movement that was starting by the likes of Olympus and Panasonic. I had come across various announcements and brushed them off for another low-end product that couldn’t compete with my high-end gear. But, as a frequent traveler, who also likes packing light, my wife and I have been in the market for a more compact camera, but we’re also spoiled with our DSLRs. I felt I was between a rock and a hard place. I couldn’t bear the thought of pushing the shutter release button, then counting to 10 as my perfect composure fell apart before my eyes and then seeing my camera finally flash. Then looking at the final image in all its grainy glory and wishing I had lugged my heavy D700 and lens assortment along just for that missed shot.

Enter the . Before our recent excursion to Ireland, my brother was debating on whether to buy one of my older Nikon bodies (D200) or spring for one of the new micro 4/3rds mirror-less cameras. I gave him my two cents but he went for the Panasonic and brought it along. Fortunately for me, this meant I had less gear to lug around. For those not familiar with this type of camera, a little explanation is in order.

What’s 4/3rds?

The is the third camera in Panasonic’s Lumix G-series, using the Micro Four Thirds System. This latest model in the Lumix range from Panasonic is said to be the world’s smallest and lightest digital interchangeable lens system camera with a built-in flash capability. Although the Panasonic Lumix GF1 is small, it still offers many advanced features such as its extensive advanced settings and high definition video recording capability. They achieve its small size with one simple trick remove the mirror used to bounce the image up into the viewfinder. The sensor size for the Four Thirds bodies is stuck somewhere between the minuscule point and shoot sensors and the larger APS-C sensors. It is, in fact, the same size sensor that Olympus uses in their larger 4/3 DSLR line. Since sensor size is often a major factor in image noise, this sensor should compare closer to a DSLR than your typical compact cameras, but with lenses much smaller than a beefy full frame camera. Same goes for depth of field. It will perform better than a compact (shallower depth of field possible) but not as well as a full frame DSLR. So if the promises are to be believed, this new standard should equate to smaller and lighter cameras, along with smaller and cheaper lenses that perform nearly as well as your typical SLR. I know. I was skeptical too.

The 20mm Lens

I can say however, after using the viewfinder-less camera for over a week, shooting in all types of situations, I have a new friend in cameras. The GF1 was released in September of 2009. Panasonic gave two options for lenses, a standard 14-45mm kit lens or the now cult classic 20mm 1.7 “pancake” lens. The latter is the lens I’d recommend. It makes the camera small enough to slip into your pocket, but versatile enough to shoot in the most demanding light situations. Having a normal range prime (a 40mm equivalent on a DSLR) will take you back to the days when photographers had to move their feet to get a great composition instead of just rotating a zoom ring. It really makes photography fun. I couldn’t agree more with the in-depth review given by DP Review, “The Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH is a lens that we’ve been looking forward to seeing for real ever since Panasonic first showed a mock-up back at Photokina ‘08. The good news is that it’s been well worth the wait the 20mm is an excellent lens, especially considering its tiny size. It does well in all aspects of our studio tests, and produces fine images in a wide range of situations while also focusing quickly, silently and decisively. On compact Micro Four Thirds bodies such as the E-P1 and GF1, it offers impressive image quality and low-light capability in a package significantly smaller and more discreet than any DSLR system. The last few years have seen Panasonic rapidly improving its cameras; the 20mm F1.7 sees the company flexing its muscles in the field of lens design and showing it means business here too. We’re unashamed fans of fast primes, and it’s great to see Panasonic providing one relatively early in the development of Micro Four Thirds.” The guys over at DP Review have also given an incredible review of the GF1 body here if you need some technical comparisons.

I was surprised to hear this reviewer from Wired say he’s also willing to leave his trusty DSLR behind. This excellent review notes that you can also use your legacy lenses with an adapter if you’re willing to give up automatic focusing. Adapters are available for almost all lens mounts to be used on any micro 4/3 body, so that Canon “L” glass can still be useful, even if you aren’t lugging around your 5D Mark II.

So with that background, here are a few of my personal impressions.

Things I liked:

• Size. I like carrying this around and I don’t scare people off when I pull it out.

• Historgram and Live info before you take the shot. The f-stop and shutter settings are uniquely displayed live on the screen. As one reviewer put it, “Some are bothered by the lack of a built in viewfinder, but I find the different perspective refreshing and adds some unique capabilities you don’t get with an SLR like a live histogram, full brightness depth of field preview, live black and white and crop. For some reason it just feels like a creative tool instead of another piece of electronics.”

• Dedicated movie button. This is just a convenience god-send. No more switching dials or digging into menus to capture a short clip on the spot, or forgetting you are in movie mode when you try and take a picture for that matter.

• Did I mention size

Things I didn’t like:

• No viewfinder. In bright sun this will be an issue. The optional electronic viewfinder seems to be lacking in resolution.

• So far, very limited lens choices. The Pancake 20mm lens is gold though. Large aperture lenses and primes are lacking.

• Movie mode, although nice that it is HD quality, had focusing issues. Better to focus the camera and then leave it in manual to avoid focus searching (unless your subject is moving around a lot).

Summary:
I’ll be buying a micro 4/3 camera as soon as my budget allows it. Perhaps by then there will be even more models to choose from. In the mean time, if you’re in the market, take a look at what’s available. Olympus just released the for $599. It is the lowest cost Micro Four Thirds camera currently available and comes in many stylish colors!

To see other articles by Chas, click the author link below.

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This is a guest post by professional photographer, Joe Graziano.

Low light photography can be a lot of fun. And you don’t need to trade your soul for an expensive camera to do it. You just need to have one that has some manual setting options. I’m focusing on digital here, but I think most of what I’m going to talk about will apply to film cameras too. The only real difference is that with digital you get to view your results instantly, which allows you to adjust your settings on the fly and you can switch ISO without changing your roll of film.

You’ll have to adjust your methods to accommodate for film a little and keep better notes to track what you’re doing. I recommend keeping a small notebook with you no matter what you shoot with to track what you did so you know what works and what doesn’t.

OK, so before we get started there’s a few things you’re going to need. Here’s a list:

* Camera

* Tripod

* Flashlight

* Remote shutter release (this is optional if you have a timer on your camera)

* A subject to shoot. This can be anything; a person, landscape, an object, whatever. I recommend starting with landscapes or inanimate objects to keep it simple.

So, get your camera mounted on the tripod and either set it to timer mode or attach your remote trigger. You want to trigger the shutter remotely or use the timer to keep from jiggling your camera when doing long exposures. The remote is the best way since you never actually touch the camera, but I’ve also found that a solid tripod, a light touch, and a two-second timer work just fine. That gives the camera/tripod combo some time to stop moving if you bump it. If it’s not enough time switch to the ten-second timer.

I shoot with a Canon 1D Mk2n in Manual mode, so at this point I’m going to tell you what settings I use and you can tweak as needed to fit your camera’s capabilities. I use the following settings as my starting point:

ISO 100, 20 second exposure, f-stop 22. If you want a shallow DOF, you’ll have to cut your exposure time down drastically when you open your aperture. I use a small aperture to keep the subject sharp and I’ve come to the conclusion that 20 seconds is a good starting point for my camera and lenses. Usually the only thing I change is the shutter speed. I only change the aperture if I can’t get enough light with a 30 second exposure. I don’t use the bulb setting very often. I’m kind of ADD and my mind wanders after about ten-seconds of waiting for the shutter to close.

What’s the flashlight for? Well, it’s for two things. The most important function is for focusing. If you’re shooting in extreme low light conditions you’re going to need some light for your autofocus to work, especially if you’re using a point & shoot camera that won’t allow manual focusing. Even if you have the option to focus manually, you might still need the light to see whether or not your focus is sharp. It’s easy to be close and still be out of focus when its dark.

The flashlight is also for painting with light. This is a lot of fun. You can use a flashlight, a laser pointer, a hand held flash fired manually, basically anything that emits light. I like using a mini Maglite for still life subjects. One of the things I like about the Maglites is that you can adjust the beam diameter from a tight focused spot to a soft wide glow.

So, now you are ready to experiment. Keep it simple to start. Just pick an object from around your house and rig a black backdrop for it. I usually do this after dark so I don’t have any stray window light. I also like to go down to the waterfront late at night. The glow from the city lights and the street lights in the parking lot are more than enough light to shoot by. And experiment with light painting. It can be a lot of fun.

Spider Baby 02

Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)

Aperture: f/5

Focal Length: 70 mm

ISO Speed: 800

Single light source (clamp type shop light) from stage left. Lots of layers and adjustments in CS2 afterward, but no dramatic changes to the basic lighting effects from the original.

Red Queen & Black Queen

Exposure: 5 sec (5)

Aperture: f/4

Focal Length: 17 mm

ISO Speed: 100

These are the same photo, except I converted one to B&W. This is an example of painting with light. It’s an abstract style and not normally my thing, but it was a fun experiment. I set the camera for a 5 second exposure and waved it around. When I got home I uploaded the photos, picked the most interesting area and then cropped it and mirrored it. Some of them I mirrored bilateral and others quadrilateral. Outside of contrast and curves adjustments in CS2, I didn’t alter anything else.

Reentry

Exposure: 5 sec (5)

Aperture: f/5.6

Focal Length: 75 mm

ISO Speed: 100

One of my favourites despite the fact that it reminds me of a Journey album cover.

Skull Baby

Exposure: 30

Aperture: f/22.0

Focal Length: 70 mm

ISO Speed: 100

Single light source (3 D cell Maglite) from stage right. I use a large piece of black poster board for a seamless backdrop for small objects like this baby head. The skull face was painted in Adobe CS3 and several layers of grain in opposing directions were also added later.

Deer Skull & Antlers

Exposure: 30 sec (30)

Aperture: f/32

Focal Length: 200 mm

ISO Speed: 50

This is another light painting. Black poster board background, pitch dark room, and a mini maglite. I set my focus with the lights on and then shut them off. I triggered the camera with a remote and then painted the skull and antlers with a mini maglite. This is a perfect example of trial and error. I think it took me around 15 shots to find the right combination of settings to get this photograph. So, if you don’t get it on the first try, don’t be discouraged. Remember that when you’re looking at someone else’s photos they’re showing you the two or three good ones not the five hundred that went in the trash. Shoot, shoot, shoot, and then shoot some more!

Waterfront at Night

Exposure: 20 sec (20)

Aperture: f/4.5

Focal Length: 22 mm

ISO Speed: 100

Tripod, remote trigger, and a hint of sunlight on the horizon. For all intents and purposes it was dark. I mean, we’re talking just barely a glow on the horizon.

Baby Head & Laser Pointer B&W

Exposure: 30

Aperture: f/22.0

Focal Length: 70 mm

ISO Speed: 100

It’s that damned baby head again! I know it’s my favourite subject for low light shots. This was shot with no light. I focused with the lights on and then switched to manual to keep the focus from changing when I hit the remote trigger. Then I just painted on it, scribbled really, with a three dollar laser pointer. It’s not the most exciting photo, but it gives you some idea of what you can do with a laser pointer.

Joe Graziano is a professional freelance photographer who also has some great photojournalism shots worth checking out. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter and check out his page on Facebook!

lightstalking.com

Despite the name, Photoshop was created more for graphic designers, not photographers, but photographers looking to airbrush their digital files quickly adopted it as their go-to piece of software. By the time v7 came out, specific tools, plugins and actions were being created for photographers and Photoshop could handle the RAW, or unprocessed files from digital cameras.

Anyone who’s opened up Photoshop knows it’s not exactly a straight forward application it does take some knowledge to be proficient in it and productive. All that aside, here’s a few tips that all photographers should know how to do in Photoshop.

Properly prepare images to display on the web. Showing off your work is half the fun of shooting and the Internet is a great way to let millions see it. Properly preparing the images to load fast and show the optimal quality is something most photographers never bothered to learn though. After all edits are done and you’ve saved the edited version (not over-written the unedited version), change the DPI to 72 and the long side of the image to nothing over 1000 pixels. Then select File > Save for Web & Devices that will bring up an applet window. Select JPG, tick the Progressive box, and then tick the 2-up tab, which shows the original on the left and optimized on the right. Adjust the quality on the slider scale to somewhere between 60-80.

Your goal is to get the file size to be 100kb or under with no loss in quality. Doing so will ensure the photos will load fast on your website and reduce bandwidth, but they will also attach to emails faster and lessen the chances that someone can print an acceptable quality piece from your image. I use 700 pixels on the long side because that’s what fits in my website and most color images are between 55 and 100kb.

Crop to specific size. Most all DSLR cameras shoot in the 2:3’s standard, same as 35mm film cameras, however some follow the 4:3rds standards. Not a big deal until you need to make prints. Making an 8 10 from any Canon or Nikon DSLR mean losing 2 of the image, or 20%. If your lab doesn’t make 8 12’s (the proper proportion for a 2:3rds camera) you are far better off preparing the image instead of them choosing what gets cut off. Same principal applies if you are simply cropping out unwanted content from the photo. Select the crop tool and then in the top menu set your height and width in inches if you’re making prints. Leave the DPI box empty. When you draw a box around your image it will stay at the proper proportion.

Create an adjustment layer. One of the most common mistakes new Photoshop users make is adjusting the original. Creating an adjustment layer makes going back to the original or comparing the changes made painless. A simple right click in the layers panel can create the adjustment layer for you.

Remove red-eye. Starting with CS2 of Photoshop they included a red-eye tool and it’s only become better with newer versions. Choose the tool from the tools panel and either click the affected eye or draw a small box around the red section and watch the red instantly disappear.

Remove skin blemishes. There are easily a dozen different ways to remove skin blemishes and zits, but the healing brush is one of the fastest and most effective. There are two versions, spot healing and healing. Spot healing requires you to simply click and drag over the affected area and it uses surrounding pixels to define and clone the area. The spot healing tool isn’t foolproof though and often gets confused towards the edge of an image or around the hair line. If you get undesirable results, use the healing tool, which requires you to select the area you want to clone.

Note that the clone tool itself is a totally different tool which does 100% exact cloning from one point to another point on a photo, the healing brushes blend and usually have a much more natural look.

Sharpen an image. No matter if you are a RAW shooter or JPG shooter, almost all digital files will benefit from some amount of sharpening. One of the easiest ways is to utilize the Unsharp Mask tool from the filters (Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask). There are three sliders that give you control and explaining how they work and why is a whole article on it’s own, however there is a pretty good baseline I’ve been using for years.

• Amount: 500%
• Radius: 0.2
• Threshold: 0

There are also some great plugins and actions like the Nik Smarter Sharpner and the OnOne suite of tools for Photoshop that take some of the guess work out of sharpening.

Create an action. Sure, there are thousands of ready made actions, free and premium paid ones, but creating your own can help boost your post processing power measurably. An action is simply a set of commands in Photoshop that you have recorded to do repetitive tasks. Creating them is as simple as clicking the record button and then the stop button when you’re done.

One of the biggest time savers for me is a simple action that does a File > Save, which may seem like a pretty basic task, but when I open up 10-20 images to do blemish removal on, I don’t want to be bothered to go to File > Save for each and every one. Actions can be run two different ways, one by one utilizing the Play button on the actions pallet or in a batch, which is how I run the File > Save command. Running a batch will allow you to run the same action on every file you have open in Photoshop or by selecting a source directory and a destination directory, helpful so you don’t over-write your originals. To run an action in Batch mode, click File > Automate > Batch and select the action you want to run and the parameters needed.

Learn to love shortcuts! Being efficient in Photoshop means keeping your hands moving at all times. The mouse, or track pad for laptop users can be the biggest time waster when post processing. Everyone uses shortcuts differently so it’s tough to say which are the best for any one person, so take a look at what you commonly do and in the menu system is the shortcut for you. To become a Photoshop keyboard shortcut ninja, download Trevor Morris’s Keyboard Shortcuts, available for every version of Photoshop back to v5 and Bridge.

Photo by misocrazy

Photoshop, like your camera and other gear is a tool at the end of the day, a tool which has many uses. Becoming efficient with Photoshop means spending less time in front of a computer and more time shooting!

Note: All screen shots are taken showing Photoshop CS4 on Windows, depending on your operating system and version of Photoshop your menus may vary in appearance slightly.

lightstalking.com