My fingers, ears and nose froze during this exposure. Live Composite

[Robert Watcher]

It was freezing standing out in the open with the cold lake winds blasting me. I had a warm jacket but no gloves or toque to protect me. Hopping back in the car, required several minutes of full heat flowing through my fingers, to return to comfort level. Welcome to winter photography Rob. LOL

​

 

[Robert Watcher]

Why am I such a big fan of my Olympus cameras? Let me show you the ways.LOL

My hands were full leaving the house, with my small tripod in one, and my iPad and car keys in the other. Where to put my camera?

 

[Robert Watcher]

A second angle I took - going for a moody shot allowing lights to flare into the lens and setting the cameras WB to a cold tone.

 

[Robert Watcher]

One more with a carnival feel. I held my hand over the lens when car headlights were driving towards me. The top yellow streak was from the light on top of a taxi as it drove past.

 

[Asher Kelman]

The effort paid off handsomely, Robert.

I bet you are missing the totally different world of photographing the people and flaking bright colors of plastered walls in South America!

Looks like we have another year of disruption.

I miss my studio. You have that useful feature of adding lights to a picture.

I am getting distracted by soft focus!

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

Thank you Asher.

I have always loved bold saturated contrasty colour in photos, finding the photography of Pete Turner to be appealing back in the 1980’s when I was developing my professional style and doing all of my own colour darkroom work where I had full control of the process —- including playing with soft focus in front of the lens and under the enlarger.

I havent really visited Pete’s photography since that time, but I just searched now and recognize not so much the influence - but probably the confidence that seeing his work then, gave me to not hold back with colour or worry about opinions that colour needs to be natural or real.

For me, opportunities presented to me in streets of Central America, as well as by using the Live Composition feature on my cameras at night shooting the skies or finding light trails in various scenarios —- have been fulfilling as a result of being able to produce photos with that kind of intensity.

Yes it looks like it will be a while before I can get back to the streets in foreign countries. I miss it, but Anne & I have been super productive and contented being confined to our home this year - and both have creative projects that will keep us occupied until next spring at least.

 

[Chris Calohan]

I am not sure what you mean by live composition. Please explain the difference between this and just doing long exposure shooting?

 

[Robert Watcher]

I am not sure what you mean by live composition. Please explain the difference between this and just doing long exposure shooting?

LIVECOMP is an Olympus Camera feature.

Long exposures gather light by the amount of time the shutter is open. If too little at a determined exposure value, the photo will be dark and if too long the photo will be overexposed. The effect between the two methods can appear similar, but long exposures require a lot more control in determining the settings to get the results.

With Live Composition, proper exposure is determined at the start (lets say the first exposure is f11@4sec @ 400ISO), and then a series of short exposures (in this case 4sec) take place that only introduce new highlights to the image, until a click if the shutter button stops the process. With a given proper exposure value (based on aperture, shutter speed, and ISO for the initial capture), it wouldn't matter if the the shutter was open for 2 sec, 2 min, or 2 hours —— the image would be properly exposed and never become overexposed. The only difference would be the effects of light streaks that have been added with subsequent short exposures. Basically you can totally control the ambient light of a scene, so that it doesn't build up —- while capturing movement of light sources. No guessing as to how long your exposure needs to be.

Related to startrails. The reason that you traditionally create them from hundreds of short exposures and combine them in software after, is because hours long exposures would brighten the whole sky. Each of the short exposures is properly exposed. I image the software that creates the trails from the layers, is just adding highlight values from each layer. In a sense, that is what LIVECOMP does - except it is all being done in the camera. With this mode, I can capture complete startrails all in one exposure, leaving the shutter open for any length of time I see fit. The sky always stays black.

 

[Robert Watcher]

This is kind of useless demonstration with no forethought - just spur of the moment. But it does help visualize the uniqueness of LIVECOMP over Timed Exposure.

I’m laying in my bed drinking a coffee - I set my camera on the edge of the dresser beside me, and aim it into a little alcove with a light. In Live Comp mode, I set my ISO to Low (100), my aperture to f16 and exposure time to 2sec for a proper first exposure without the lamp or window being too bright.

This first pic was roughly 4 sec long (only the first 2 sec determined the exposure) from when I clicked the shutter to begin and again to end.

Next I grabbed my phone and Anne gave me her pen with a light in it, and I walked around this little space in front of the camera, aiming the small lights at the lamp and curtains from the right side - reaching within inches of the brass base to paint with light (blue from mismatched Kelvin) —— then walked in front of the lens and stood in front of the curtain right beside the light (where the light from the curtains comes through) and added a little light from that side.

Yes it is a terrible shot with the light leaks from the side of Annes pen light, and some faint ghosting from my light coloured hands reflecting light back into the lens. But I am standing there in my gray housecoat in full view of the lens for 20 to 30 seconds and at times totally blocking the lens. This would not be possible with a long exposure. Besides that, this 3-4 minute exposure is identical to the 4 sec exposure with the same settings. In fact I could have kept it going for 4 hours and the results would be the same.

This pic just shows an overview of the small space using a wide 28mm lens. It was taken at ISO640 f3.5@1/30’th. For the LiveComp pics above, the camera was sitting right in front of the iPad on the edge of the dresser. Hopefully this helps differentiate between the two methods. Not necessarily better - but different.

 

[Robert Watcher]

Impressive Fireworks images are so effortless with LIVECOMP. I’ve shot them before using bulb exposure, but had to set a small aperture of f11 or f16, and then keep a black card over the lens - only removing it for a few seconds to capture the bloom and then covering the lens again so light doesnt build up. A shot with different explosions like this pic, could be captured with that method too...

but this LIVECOMP image was effortless when I could just leave the shutter open for as long as I wanted, and the sky remains black and lights and colours are crisp - not smeared or blurred. As soon as I was happy with the result looking at the back screen, I ended the exposure and started a new shot.

I took these from a good 1/2 mile away, with a long 200mm lens.

 

[Asher Kelman]

So what are the setting you choose?

Also do any other cameras beside Olympus have this?

Sad that Olympus is exiting the camera business!

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

So what are the setting you choose?

A) whatever is needed to get a proper exposure for the situation I am in. I generally get that from setting my camera to A or S and taking a test shot and using those numbers as the main exposure. Although often I just take a guess and fire off a test shot in LIVECOMP and see what it looks like. I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing where to start. Always based on starting at 2-4 seconds, up to 10 seconds at the most.

Also do any other cameras beside Olympus have this?

A) no. Of course used E-M10’s with a kit lens, can be picked up cheap to use just for this feature. Makes more sense than doing without LOL

Sad that Olympus is exiting the camera business!

A) That doesnt really matter to me. Firstly, Olympus cameras and lenses arent going away any time soon - just carrying on under new ownership. Secondly, I never buy new. The gear I currently have will do me for years, and years down the road there will be used Olympus cameras and lenses if I need them.

It’s been strange to me that the business and profitability of Camera brands has become such a hot topic on photography forums (not referring to your forum Asher). I cant understand why. I’m a photographer - not a camera collector or investor. I have no skin in their game. If my Olympus cameras wear out and cant be replaced - I am happy with whatever is a available at the time. I had to move to Nikon for a few years in my business in 2000, when the cranks on my Olympus film cameras were shot and photography was moving into the digital realm and Olympus wasnt up to speed yet. Nikon cameras created the same images - indistinguishable.

I look at it that I cant predict what 3 or 5 years will bring for any camera company. Or what photography will be like if at all.

of course are just my personal thoughts. Not relevant to anyone elses choices.

 

[Chris Calohan]

I am getting similar results using my Arsenal device though admittedly, I need more experimentation. I'll post some when I think I've mastered it enough not to make a fool of myself.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I am getting similar results using my Arsenal device though admittedly, I need more experimentation. I'll post some when I think I've mastered it enough not to make a fool of myself.

Chris,

Would love to hear your interim report in a new thread. Have been wondering about that gadget. Seems very smart and adds essentially unlimited firmware to any camera!

Asher