Olympus OM-D EM5

First impressions of the Olympus 4/3 camera are very positive. Will all landscape photographers want to trade their full frame setups for this camera - unlikely. Nevertheless it has a place in the gear especially when light weight together with quality is called for. Light and compact it certainly is. If rumours of a 40MP replacement in Feb 2015 become a reality it may have even more of an impact. Wha.....? 40MP?!! Apparently the sensor shifts to compile a 40MP image. Let's see. In the meantime the 12-40mm f2.8 does an admirable job attached to the M5. Its currently one of three Pro lenses Olympus has on offer. I haven't explored it fully but here's a crop of a square shot taken today at Leura Cascades converted to b&w.

A variation on the reflection theme taken from the water. Reflections onto rock face. Something I couldn't have done with a big heavy DSLR - holding the camera above water while swimming out to a vantage point then holding the camera still enough with one hand to take the shot. I could make EVF adjustments with one hand also.

Wave action

Some shots from time spent on the coast a few weeks ago. Slightly slow exposures around Tamarama and Bronte showing waveforms. In particular a few of the black and whites give the appearance of fur showing texture and movement you don't get to see at faster speeds.

Tamarama - late afternoon light on the waves

Rock shelf at Bronte - water coverage showing waterfall effect is created with just enough exposure time

Foreground wave appears as some giant furry creature

Unlike more general surfing shots which are better viewed as colour images, wave and water details can be rendered with more interest in greyscale. They have a more dynamic appeal

Water flow around rock shelf - Bronte

Tasmanian coastline

I've been surprised and amazed at the rock formations around the coast of Tasmania. Both the larger variety and the smaller which has incredible detail and shape. A few samples...

Close to the mouth of the Arthur River. Plenty of beach areas to walk and explore.

One of my favourites from the Arthur River area. A kind of hobbitland on the coast. Late afternoon with an incoming tide.

Not being a palaeontologist, I can't speak about their formation but its certainly a work of art.

Not being a palaeontologist, I can't speak about their formation but its certainly a work of art.

Bay of Fires

Around the shoreline at Stanley.

A "Day that earth was formed" shot. Arthur River area.

A lovely spot close to home - Gordon, Tas.

Water retreating along channel - Arthur River

Huge variety of shells washed up at Randalls Bay

Old man or Buddha?

Fossil Cove was one of the first places I visited on the east coast near Kettering. Incredibly detailed and coloured formations by the water. 

Timing is everything. Tide is out, revealing the sandbar ridges.

Timing is everything. Tide is out, revealing the sandbar ridges.

Gordon - shoreline. Taken with iPhone.

Hasselblad lenses on Nikon D800E

I mentioned how I replaced my broken Nikon 24-70mm lens with a bunch of manual focus Hasselblad (Zeiss) lenses. Even though I'm restricted to manually focusing I'd have to say I'm happy with the trade off given the quality of the Zeiss glass. Build quality is excellent with all four lenses and the tilt/shift capability is a plus whether for architectural shooting or stitched panoramas. The following is a list of equipment I've been using:

Distagon 4/40 T*

Distagon 3.5/60mm T*

Distagon Makro-Planar 4/120mm T*

Sonnar 4/180mm T*

Extension tube 35mm

Really Right Stuff Carbon Fibre Tripod

Markins Q20 Ballhead

Selens Variable ND Filter

A noticeable limitation of the manual focusing lenses which really needs to be considered is the ability to focus them in low light. A technique that helps in this is to open the aperture fully, allowing viewing of the subject in maximum light allowed by the conditions, then stopping down if necessary. Another 'assist' in this is to bring another light source to help focus.

Before buying the Zeiss lenses I searched for images taken by each of the lenses in addition to reading reviews. There's not many available unfortunately. Nearly all images posted here will be from one or the other of the above lenses. In most cases I found it a little (well, a lot really) troublesome to record the detail of f-stop or even which focal length was used for each image. I have listed details like this before but that info was readily available through the exif data where manual lenses have no such info.

Large mushrooms growing at the base of a tree trunk

Colour rendition is another reason I love the Hasselblad lenses. Its more pleasing to my eye. I have yet to enjoy its translation into print.

Back again

Its been sometime since the last post here (coming up to Anzac Day seems appropriate ; ). I've been spending the last 3 months anyway in Tasmania - one of my favourite places on the planet. After a rocky start, I really enjoyed the photographic offering on the coastline right around Tasmania. Not that I've covered every inch of ground but the places I got to had some very worthwhile features. I say rocky start as I lost camera and lens down a cliff before even starting the travel part. Lens was totalled while the body could be repaired. 

       The good news for me at least was the replacement of this very capable Nikon 24-70mm came in the form of several Hasselblad prime lenses all of which I'm happy to report are performing to the highest standard. Additionally all replacement lenses have tilt/shift capability thanks to the Mirex adapter allowing me to fit the lenses to my Nikon body.

Once broken you can see the solid piece of glass that its made of.

Once broken you can see the solid piece of glass that its made of.

A sample of the tilt function can be seen on the following photos. If used with restraint and some purpose, the effect does not detract from the appeal of the image. Certain features can be 'highlighted' leaving the rest of the image blurred. It can result in the 'miniature' look more noticeable in the second photo with a person.

The log is given prominence but effect is subtle.

The log is given prominence but effect is subtle.

More accentuated tilt creates the 'miniature' look.

Kolkata street scenes

A distracted boy watches as foreigners ask for directions. Next to him a man conscientiously does his bookkeeping. 

Girl in orphanage - Cuttack, West Bengal, India

Sleeping in the street - Kolkata, India

Waterfall and rainforest

A shot from one of the waterfalls in Mt Wilson. The rock face is almost black as coal with a blue green tinge. Tripod definitely required for this one. Specs: f13/-67ev/8 secs/ISO100/focal length 44mm

Showing two streams. Specs: f13/-67ev/10 secs/ISO100/focal length 32mm

Rainforest Mt Wilson. Specs: f13/-1.67ev/.5 secs/ISO100/focal length 70mm

Autumn in Mt Wilson

A beautiful transition of the seasons in Mt Wilson. About 40 mins drive from Katoomba autumn was in full swing. With a light drizzle, the weather was otherwise great for photography of detailed nature rich in colour and textures. Some 'scenes' due to tonal arrangements work better in colour and have an impact that does not work as effectively when converted to b&w. Objects seem to merge into one another. Generally this is the case with complex arrangements. See the two photos below to compare.

A more direct, side by side example below. This time, although more detailed than the b&w example above, the two elements of the foreground have very different tonal values and separation is apparent. ​Leaves appear to be floating below the tree.

Specs: ​f4.5/1/125sec/ISO640

Mt Piddington cont'd

A return to Mt Piddington a couple of days later produced a series of images from rock layers. The variations and colours were stunning (I was equally impressed with the black and white versions)​. Some were taken with shallow depth of field and one in particular creates an illusion (near/far) which can be frustrating and defeats most viewers when trying to see the image "correctly" - me included. A sobering lesson in how ineffectual the conscious mind can be. Even when you know something is not right, simply telling yourself is of no help at all. Particularly frustrating when you have seen the "correct" perspective already. Anyway, here is the image... see if you can view it as it was. Hint - the blurred section on the right hand side is the most distant part of the image. Specs: f3.5/1/30sec/ISO100/-.6ev

I won't be posting the whole series here but the next is a b&w sample from the same area. Specs: f13/.6sec/ISO100/-.3ev

From Mt Piddington

Mt Piddington turnoff is to the left just before ​Mt Victoria heading west. I'd driven around the circuit drive that surrounds the peak but never took any of the walks from there. Last weekend I went with a friend and did the Cox's Cave circuit walk. It took us the best part of the day starting out around 10am. Its an interesting and varied walk. Steep in parts but plenty of leafy vegetation underfoot. As it turned out, weather was sunny and temp in low 20s. Ideal for bushwalking really. When you are walking through rainforested area a sunny day is not a bad thing with filtered light finding its way to the valley floor. Having said that, I'm looking forward to a return in more misty conditions.

Specs: f13/.8sec/ISO100/-1ev

Most of the time was spent on the first half of the walk only realising later how much time was spent in each place exploring the overhangs, fern groves and grottos.​

Specs: ​f13/1/6secs/ISO100/-1ev

Fern branch. Specs: ​f5.6/1/6secs/ISO320/-.67ev

autumn fern bw 7740.jpg

Rock overhang (above).​

Sunset in the west

This shot is a conversion of a colour file using only the red channel. It shows a good range of tones - a suitable softness for a sunset image. Colours were quite dramatic, ranging from pale green to strong pink and orange some of them just out of shot. Remarkable.​

F13 1/13sec 100ISO -.67ev

Change of seasons

I could post a shot of the mist and rain that has made the mountains home again. But then there is not much to see right now. No transition here to speak about - we're right into winter. Let's not muck about with autumn. Well its not that cold just yet. I thought I would post a shot from the world of film...

I have been missing some of the subtle colour palette that comes with film like Kodak Portra. Here is a shot taken during the last of the sunny weather we are likely to see for some time. In fiddling about with the Mamiya C330, I missed the delicate rays that slipped behind the clouds last weekend. Its been gone ever since. ​

This is one of the three sisters in Katoomba (hiding the other two). Just a little light left to illuminate the scene. I'll have to get back in the habit of taking notes about the film stock and shutter speeds etc now that I'll be posting some film`based images again.​

A day in the valley

Well not a whole day but a few hours in the middle of the day to get some sun through the trees. There are several mini waterfalls in Coachwood Glen that provide good subject matter.​ A solid tripod and gumboots are pretty much essential. This shot is a converted colour image taken with a Nikon D800E with 24-70mm @24mm - f13 / 1 sec / +1/3ev ISO 160

​The colour image below has an almost studio lighting quality about it. That is to say, its evenly lit all over as if a huge softbox was used. If you take photos in the forest, you will either encounter situations involving high contrast where the suns rays have made an appearance and are shining directly onto an object or you will have reflected light which requires you to take longer exposures.

This photo shows the amazing variety of rocks to be found here. Colours appear rich and textures are detailed. ​24-70mm @38mm - f13 / 5sec / +1/3ev ISO 160

This shot gives a view of the surroundings. There are a few of these mini falls to explore. They provide good opportunities for some closeup shots. Some waterproof footwear is required for some of them. 24-70mm @24mm - f13 / 1 sec / +1/3ev ISO 160

Where to look?

Depending on your destination and why you are traveling there is a wide range of photo ops to look out for. There have been occasions where I would have preferred to have another more independent mode of transport than a train or a taxi. But even these methods can provide opportunities for a keen photographer. Its true you don't have the autonomy and can't just pull over at will. It does however free you from having to 'watch the road' or pay attention otherwise.

The following images are from travel in India. They were taken either from a taxi window or shot from a train.  

Journey from train station in Delhi

Journey from train station in Delhi

Journey from train station in Delhi

Journey from Delhi to Haridwar - taxi window

The above shot and the following were taken through a taxi window using a 50mm lens. A lot of life goes on in the streets. The shot below though appearing posed was taken before I was noticed. The instant he saw me, he moved away. Most people don't mind too much having their photo taken but are a bit shy and become more self-conscious when they see the camera. 

Journey from Delhi to Haridwar

Taxi from a train station in Delhi

Just briefly, For most of the street photography that I do the question of getting permission does not arise. You can see the complexity and really, impossibility of this while traveling. In any case the photos in this section would have lost their spontaneous quality had this been the case.

This shot surprised even me. These friends were standing on the footpath as I passed them by in a taxi on the same trip as the above shots (most of them). It was highly serendipitous that I could frame them in this way so perfectly and the expressions were 'perfect'. There must be a good story behind this shot! 

Taken from an open train door somewhere between Mount Abu and Delhi. Not such a 'Fairy Queen' scene.  Looking more like a set from a play.

Rainy day post....

Architectural shot - Sydney

Since its howling wind and horizontal rain at the moment, its a good time to post some images from the past. Many of them unrelated to landscape work but satisfying none-the-less. The first an architectural shot of Sydney - well, a skyward view somewhere near Phillip St.​ This was taken when I first acquired the Nikon D800E with a Nikon 14-24mm lens which can only be described as stellar. Specs: f8 / 3secs / 14mm / tripod

While I consider the Nikon to be superior (I also use a Canon 5DMKII), there are many instances where the availability of the Canon 17mm Tilt/Shift lens makes the Canon setup preferable. Nikon lacks a decent Tilt/Shift lens which is why I have opted for an unorthodox combination of a Mirex adapter (a German made adapter with a tilt/shift mechanism) coupled with a Zeiss Distagon 55mm lens (originally used on a Hasselblad camera). I love using this combination for landscape work. The catch being the lens can only be used as a manual lens.

Lucky lens test

This image was taken some years ago in a park near where I live. I just received a lens in the 'mail' - the Canon 100-400mm. Although I had broken my foot a week or two before, I felt obliged to test the optics. Putting discomfort aside, I made my way to the park and hobbled a few metres into a position where I was greeted by the scene in the photo below. The person in the image is well known in the area and walks dogs almost every afternoon for other locals. The photo itself won an award and has been sold several times over. I was in two minds about making the effort to get out with my minor disability. It was certainly worth the effort.

The background of this shot appears to have rapid movement but its more the blur (bokeh) created by the lens. It is the water of the bay however - an excellent backdrop without distracting detail.​

After this guy had a drink, the others joined in... except for one. This shot could have many captions.​

Beautiful light

A view to the west from Narrowneck. Very pleasing lighting as is often the case when ithe mountains aren't shrouded in mist.​

Not all all landscapes shots have to be 'literal'. A few hours in the Megalong Valley gave me an opportunity to play around with a combination of shots leaving more of the interpretation to the viewer...​

Even though I've been living here for a few years now, there still places I've yet to explore in the mountains. There are always favourite spots you tend to go back to. It was only last year that I went down the path along Leura Cascades.​

A wet and rather humid day produced this image. The curved bough appears to be interacting with the water flowing in the opposite direction. ​

Macro flowers

Don't own a macro lens at this stage but I borrowed one from a friend - results are quite pleasing, for me at least. I do appreciate the subtlety that you can achieve with a very shallow depth of field. These kinds of images seem to be popular as large canvases.

Another attempt at a macro flower shot....                        f3.5 / 1/125s / 400iso handheld

Local beauty

A short trip to Tablelands Rd (area) offered the chance for some shots of the bush. Some converted to b&w. We're enjoying a little more of the summer this year. Hope this post doesn't scare it away.

Shooting late in the afternoon gives some beautiful rich tones.