Olympus LIVETIME How-To

Live Bulb / Live Time - What is it?

With digital cameras, for dim scenes, you hold open the shutter and let the light stream through to the sensor. At some point in time, you decide that you have collected enough light so you close the shutter then, hit the Preview button so that you can expect the LCD for correct brightness of the image.

Live Bulb / Live Time enables you to peek at how the image is progressing so that you can decide when that the image is just right in terms of brightness so that you can close the shutter without wasting the current  shot and trying again. If there are light trails or variable motion in the scene, Live Bulb / Live Time allows you to examine the scene as you are waiting for the long exposure shot to complete - you can then continue or abort if something is not what you want, early.

Any modern digital camera should be able to do this, but most designers haven't got round to it. Live Bulb / Live Time was first implemented by Olympus on the E-M5/OM-D, then subsequently the E-PL5, E-PM2 and further models.

What is the difference between Live Bulb / Live Time ?

Live Bulb means you open the shutter by squeezing the shutter release button and hold it down until you want to close it. It's best to use a remote shutter release rather than press the button on the camera body as you might introduce handshake motion.

Live Time means you squeeze down on the shutter release button and can remove your hand. When you want to close the shutter, you squeeze again.

How do you get to the menu(s)?

1. Set the camera to M - for Manual Exposure (that's the M in the P A S M dial / menu)
2. Set the Shutter Speed slower and slower - as I change the setting on my E-PM2, it goes 1" then 2" then it continues to 60" - it then goes to LIVEBULB and then to LIVETIME - I prefer to use LIVETIME because I don't normally have a remote control and don't want to stand there holding down the shutter release button.

Optional Settings

Feature	Description
Noise Reduction	Setup > Gear > E (Exp/ISO) > Noise Reduction I set this to OFF. This carries out Dark Frame Subtraction - if you expose for 20 seconds, the camera does that task and then shoots another exposure ignoring light for 20 seconds further - This Dark Frame represents the background noise of the sensor at that temperature. The camera then subtracts that noise from the real image and hopefully produces a cleaner JPEG. The issue is that if I shoot for 60 seconds, I can't use the camera for another 60 seconds. It does not affect your raw image file if you are shooting raw.
Live Bulb / Live Time display refresh frequency	Setup > Gear > E (Exp/ISO) > Live BULB  or Setup > Gear > E (Exp/ISO) > Live TIME You can choose  between 0.5 seconds to 60 seconds. For ISO 200, whatever you set, the display will only refresh for a maximum of 24 times. Let us say, at ISO 200, you guess that the image could take 60 seconds. In that case, you could set the refresh time to say 3 seconds and this will allow up to 72 seconds of display refresh. For ISO 1600, the display will only refresh for a maximum of 9 times. If you are using ISO 1600, it is likely you may not need 60 seconds of exposure - it might be that 10 seconds will give a nice image. In this case, maybe you might choose a refresh time of 2 seconds. The refresh display time does not affect the exposure of your final image, it just means that if you choose too brief a refresh time, you will not be able see the last moments of your shot. If you choose too long a refresh time, you may miss that crucial moment when the brightness for the image is just right - and cause a bleached out image.

Want to see some videos demonstrating this feature? Click on YouTube Videos

Explaining the Exposure Modes

What this article is about.

This article isn't about Exposure or Calculating Exposure - that's a different topic. This article is about choosing which Exposure Mode you want to consider. That's the P A S or M on the camera's dial - (Canon users will recognise that as P, Av, Tv and M).

This article isn't about the Variables of Exposure

But, how does one mention choosing the Exposure Mode if one does not enumerate the Variables of Exposure. They are:

1. ASLL - Actual Scene Light Level (sometimes quantified as EV number at ISO 100 - e.g. 2 or 16 - 2 being darker than 16)
2. Aperture (otherwise known as the f/no e.g. f/2.8 or f/16, f/16 being darker than f/2.8)
3. Shutter Speed ( e.g. 1/30th sec or 1/500th sec, 1/500th being darker than 1/30th)
4. ISO (or the sensitivity of the recording medium e.g. 100 or 1000, 100 being darker than 1000)

In addition to these factors, there's something very obvious but not often stated. This is what the what the camera's metering system reads - let's call this, the Camera Estimated Light Level (CELL).

P A S

P stands for Program (optimised combination of f/no and shutter speed for the same CELL)

A stands for Aperture Priority (you choose an f/number, the camera chooses the shutter speed for the CELL)

S stands for Shutter Priority (you choose a shutter speed, the camera chooses the f/no for the same CELL)

Whether you choose P or A or S, you are letting the camera recommend the Camera Estimated Light Level.

Exposure Compensation

The camera is not a human being - it does not have the same subjective assessment as you, the human being. Thus, you might want the image to be darker or lighter than what the camera recommends (the CELL).  

Since you are using P A or S, you can roll one of the dials on the camera to force an offset - this is commonly called Exposure Value Compensation. This shows on your camera display as  -0.7. A negative number means you, the human prefers a darker image than the CELL. A positive number means you, the human prefers a brighter image.

But should you use P or A or S?

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter if you get the shot that you want. Usually that means whether P or A or S, it results as the Same Camera Setting for the shot you envision.

P - for Professional

P might get the shot "right". The camera chooses an optimum combination of shutter speed and aperture for the same CELL. Who knows, the camera's choice might be what you have come to by yourself anyway.

A - for Artistic

With A, you explicitly choose an f/no. You choose f/2.8 so that the camera will be forced to use a fast shutter speed. This might be to get a nice blurred background OR to attempt freezing motion. You choose f/16 if you want the street lights or sun to show sunburst.  Or choose f/8 if you want a sharp group shot where people are several rows deep.

S - for Superfast

With S, you explicitly choose a shutter speed. You choose 1/500th to safely freeze most motion. You could choose an even faster speed or settle for a slower speed if you don't have enough light. But with S, you can choose for example, 1/500th the camera will not attempt to change that setting.

M - for Manual Exposure

What about M? What does the camera adjust? What do you adjust?

On my brands of cameras, the camera is hands off. It does not adjust anything. (Unless you set the ISO to Auto ISO - and then it adjusts ISO - that's another story). So,

• F/no - you adjust
• Shutter speed - you adjust
• ISO - you adjust
• Exposure Compensation - prevented from working.

So, why would you go M - for Masochistic? I mean what's the point? You do all the work. It could be:

• You heard "That's what the Pros use"
• You don't like what the camera recommends.  And you don't like it by a lot - like EV + or - 3 or 4 - way past what the camera's dial can do under P A S.
• As you wave the camera at the scene, a slight change in aim point changes the CELL under P A S. - That usually means there is a light or sun in the scene, pointing into the camera's lens.
• You're using manual electronic flash
• You just feel like doing it.

M for Masochistic isn't actually that Maso in the age of the Electronic Viewfinder or Mirrorless LCD systems with Exposure Simulation. As you twiddle with the settings, the EVF changes brightness and darkness - it's like well, the view is Live - no wonder they call it Liveview. 

The Take Home Point

Whether you opt for P or A or S or M, the final chosen setting might be the same.

The vibe that is Google Plus

Preamble

People often ask "What is Google Plus?” – For lack of a term of reference that the layperson can refer to, I respond:

• “It’s like Facebook yet it’s different”
• “It’s Facebook for Thinking Adults”
• “It’s a cross between Facebook and Twitter"

It’s really hard to explain in a few words, verbally and within the short attention span during a casual conversation what makes the vibe of Google Plus, how one would like or enjoy or behave on it more than Facebook, what makes it different from a photo gallery / photo sales channel. So, here’s my slant in this article.

Differences in context

Friends and Posts

Facebook is the social network. It has the largest number of people. It has also heavily evolved, first, alone and then in competition with Google+. The legacy infuses it with certain cultural traits.

Lots of people you know are on FB, you don’t know any or many people on Google+. Your friends, associates, colleagues, classmates, your family, mum, dad, children are there. They’re not going to migrate to another network. Some of them are cluey and internet agile, others are barely able to type a message or respond.

If you have admitted a whole bunch of people in Facebook into your main stream, except for unfriending them, your main stream gets filled with their posts. I overheard a guy on the metro train say “My colleague keeps posting photos and photos of her baby – yeah, I get it, you had a baby, you don’t have to keep showing us”.

Although Facebook has, over time, implemented posting controls, because we have a history of just posting to all our gang (but not public), we continue to do that. Post to all our gang. We don’t really think out that new Facebook friends can see our history of posts. Or we are so concerned with this issue that we do not accept new friends because they can see our history of posts before we admitted them.

So, in point form:

• Over time, your Facebook friends encompass some selected people and some people you didn’t select but were socially obliged to add.
• Most people post within their walls and not publicly on Facebook. But if you admit new friends to within your wall, they see all your old posts as well as your new posts. P.S. Check your Facebook Privacy Settings.

That’s not how Google+ works. Or how you want it to work

• You may have no friends to start with at Google+ but if you engage right, you won’t be lonely for long. If you are pining for your old Facebook friends, ask yourself, why are you on Google+? Why not just stay where your friends are, on Facebook? Don’t want to stay at home on Facebook? Well, welcome to Google+ but this is a new place, there are different things to experience here.

At Google+ people often post publicly. 

• Public posts mean that we easily discover birds-of-a-feather experiences. It could be we are into Photography. Gardening. Knitting. Bikes. Vintage Cars. Food. Hijinks.
• Public posts mean that we think before we post. Otherwise, life gets messy. Seriously.

Even though posts are public, all people won’t see all posts

• Unless you search for hashtags or keywords.  Or
• Unless you create a Circle and add interesting people into one of your Circles that are not set to silent volume. Or
• Unless you join a Community
• Or all three.

So initially you have to do something more than sit back and watch your screen fill with content.

Adding people to one or more of your Circles

• does not require the person’s permission like Facebook.
• you can opt to show the world who you have circled or you can use settings to hide this.
• is a one way relationship.

People can add you to their Circles

• You can’t see the name of their Circles. Could be Awesome People or Frenemy or Grumpy Old Sod.
• You can’t tell which Circle you have been added to.
• They can see your Public posts but not your targeted, non public posts. There’s some typical jargon like Private Message from previous types of social network – on Google+ this just means that you remove Public from the target of your posts.
• They don’t need your permission to add you to their Circles.

Notifying people when you post. Or not

• Unless you know certain people invite and welcome notification, do not (intrusive):
• put their name in the To: box
• mention them with a Plus Prefix
• put one of your Circles in the To: box and tick the Also Send Email checkbox. Depending on their settings, they might get email notification that clogs up their email or they will get a ding in their Red Notification Box (top right corner of the Google+ screen).
• Doing the following will not ding people (non intrusive):
• Putting Public in the To: box
• Putting Your Circles (thus not the whole world) in the To: box
• Putting Extended Circles in the To: box
• Putting one of your Circles in the To: box without ticking the Also Send Email checkbox.
• When you do want a private, previously agreed conversation:
• There are times when you do want a private conversation or a limited audience. With one person. Or a small Circle of people. Then remove Public from the target.

Watching Silently (Lurking) vs Engaging

One question wary people ask me is “Can I just lurk without showing my hand, other people knowing what I’m doing?”

Quick Answer: Yes.

You could treat Google+ content like reading a Blog, Twitter, public Facebook or a news site. But a fair part of the social networking experience is the enriching engagement and interaction that you have with other people. Remember, they're birds of a feather with you.

The Google+ experience is a lot more enriching if there is two way communication. But if you're not ready right now, sure, it’s ok to lurk.

I hope you do though. Engage, I mean.

How do you Engage / What’s Etiquette?

• Post some original interesting content from yourself. You don't have to divulge really personal details. Please, not creepy stuff. Or heaps of NSFW stuff. Or Aggressive SEO / Marketing.
• An anecdote
• A story
• Celebration of some small or big moment happening now to you
• A poem
• A photo
• A photo of a work of art
• Share other people’s work in your post. Give appropriate credit to the original author.
• Take the time and effort to make it two way traffic.
• That means Plus One other people’s posts
• Respond to their posts with decent comments
• Re-share their posts.
• Don’t just do “Hello, How are you xxxx?” or “Please Add Me, xxxx” posts.
• Don’t be argumentative and troll – a to/fro response/comment is best left to maybe 4 exchanges. Then walk away. After all, you've got a mature adult mind.

Want a simpler explanation? How about +Carmelyne Thompson 's mindmap / infographic?

So what can you do if you don’t like certain person or vice versa?

In escalating order, you can:

1. Mute the one painful post from the person you Circled. Or delete the painful response to your post or delete your own post if that is the parent of the painful discussion.
2. Remove the person from your Circle(s).
3. Mute the person.
4. Block the person.
5. Report the person.

And vice versa.

What’s the difference between Google+ and Flickr / Smugmug / 500px / Zenfolio

Google+ is the general purpose social network where you meet all kinds of people, some of who are photographers. If you engage / interact with other photographers, potentially you engage on a wide variety of topics – food, gardening, flowers, humour, art, music. There may be pros or amateurs. There may be people who wield a camera, actually have heaps of talent but don’t consider themselves photographers.

Photography isn't the only thing that happens on Google+. On the other sites, photography is the main or only thing that happens. It’s likely that people will be online lots more hours on Google+ than they would on the other Photo focussed websites.

For more info relating to photography and photographers use of Google+ have a look at my previous post Tips for newbies to Google+ and newbie amateur photographers

The New Photography

You know how some holier than thou photographers say that you must only take photos with a real camera  and you can't just let the camera provide a read-to-go JPEG (but must shoot RAW and sit at the throne throwing some LIGHT into the ROOM)?



It's just silly.

The artist, you, uses whatever works to create what you envision. Don't confuse Art and Aesthetic Appreciation with Technical Image Quality. Or Gear Lust. Otherwise you might as well  drive a manual stick shift automobile without ABS.

Snapshooting is an activity, Not a camera type

We often refer to those small cameras as a “Point and Shoot”. It’s colloquial for “compact camera”. And people often yearn to graduate past such a limited camera and get a big DSLR. And then, after that, the gates of Gear Acquisition Syndrome are opened and the hounds of hell pursue you to the house of Full Frame. (Have a look at +Eric Kim 's article on how he left Full Frame.)

Sure, it’s their life, it’s their money – they can spend it anyway they want. They can collect gear and enjoy the pursuit of Gear Lust and Camera Collection.

But, a fair number of people really do want to take better photos. Have you seen the recent burgeoning of Digital Camera Magazines and Photography Magazines in your local newsagents? The Personal Computer Magazines have all but disappeared as a result.
So, some newbies finally save up and grab an expensive, big, serious camera. Then what?

Some take to the new gear easily. And produce way different photos. But some just shoot really sharp, squeaky clean, noise free photos of… the same as they shot with the compacts. That is, the gear has upgraded, sure the picture IQ (Image Quality) has gone up by leaps and bounds but the photo itself, well it isn’t that interesting. You don't have to tell them it doesn't look interesting – they themselves feel something is missing.

So what do they do? They reach for the technique du jour (or the gear du jour).
Yet, the underlying photo looks the same.

And then, they ask YOU, the more experienced photographer for critique.

What do you say? Here’s what Sab Willi says (it’s not just for Street Photography). There would be differences in some examples but I would concur.

Tips for newbies to Google+ and newbie amateur photographers

I’ve been on Google+ for a while now. Google+ is young and evolving social network. As more people come on board and different types of people (age, gender, educational and life background, cultural and national background) affect this social network’s aggregate vibe. And the network’s developers and corporate direction also evolves the vibe.

So, here I am, thinking about how I can advise these new people about how to enjoy photography, soak up the love of the Google+ people can offer. I’ll note that these are my perceptions and perceptions are subjective, personal and….evolve.

1. Don’t be timid or stingy in taking lots of photos. Shoot lots if shooting lots helps you understand the gear and the technique.
2. Do pick out shots to share. If you shoot 100 shots in a session, that does not mean you should upload oh, 80 or more to an album and share. More than say, 30 shots gives even your fans, nausea and ennui as they initially look through and then subsequently force themselves to go through the album. Having too many shots in one album undermines the importance of each shot. Exceptions may be when you are submitting a set for people in a crowd to pick a photo where they appear.
3. The point about picking out shots to share is to develop your sense of taste and choice. Developing your sense of taste and choice is as important as learning how to shoot, what to shoot.
4. Make it clear when your shot is to celebrate your joy and when it is to seek critique. We’re all human. Sometimes you want to share a shot that might be technically awful but it is a source of joy. Some people can’t or won’t read your mind. They say the weirdest, unexpected things at the wrong times. Develop strategies to handle such incidents for them and for your ego. Remember, be social.
5. It’s ok to make several posts of photos a day when you’re feeling all warmed up by the joy of a good session. How many is too many? Depends on a lot of things. You’ll know when people start unCircling you. Or Muting you. Or putting you in a Circle which does not show to their main stream. Being unCircled, you can tell. But being muted or put into a zero volume circle, you can only deduce or guess. Don’t go overboard.
6. Think about your freedom to do what you want when you post direct from your account vs posting into a Community. Some people don’t have much experience with Google+ and they think the Community is all of Google+. Google+ offers the independence of self as well as the ready eyeballs of Community members. If you post independently to the Public circle, you have much freedom. If you have not engaged much on Google+ however, you won’t have many people circling you. If you post into a Community, there are lots of eyeballs but the Community owner, the moderators will have guidelines and rules on what you can or cannot do.

Food for thought.

The Short and Long of Lens Hoods

I've thought of writing an article but why, when Phil Steele speaks so eloquently?

A Matter of Taste

I've been musing on how our photos evolve and the evolution of Taste. It's a big thing, Taste, and coincidentally, +Catherine Hall highlighted in her post about the intent and feel of a Ralph Lauren ad and the compatibility with some of our perceptions, feelings.

Firstly, Taste is subjective. Personally so. There is of course a group or a communities's taste vs an individual's taste.

Secondly, Taste evolves. What you liked a few years ago may not be the same as what you like now.

Thirdly, Taste varies depending on circumstance. If you're full in the stomach, you may not want more of the same. If you've been sucking a sweet, a drop of lemon in the next moment feels excruciatingly sour.

Fourthly, your Taste (for example, of food) depends on what is possible. Maybe you can't cook well. And you can't afford to eat at expensive restaurants often. So, you might know that what you're tasting isn't the best but over time, you accept what you get.

I was musing this when I encountered the different results from different devices - phone cameras, small sensor compact cameras, larger sensor interchangeable cameras.

I encountered different results shooting near realistic photos (my native and usual style) vs Tone Mapping (artificially enhanced HDR visuals) vs equisolid / equidistant fish eye visuals.

So where do I stand on HDR (or what is commonly perceived to be HDR)? Or Fish Eye visuals?
Well I do them. Tastefully, of course.

Encounters with my fish

You know how when you buy something and then you notice that other people have the same thing? Like when you have an Olympus and you spot other people also have an Olympus? Or if you bought some red soles and other people also have a Christian Louboutin?



Well, I finally acquired a fish, something that I had been eyeing for a long time.

I was leaning close to a wall for photos of street art. With a fisheye, you get closer than Robert Capa would say "close enough".

A couple came by. I saw that she also had a camera, aiming at the wall and stepped back to give her space. She gave me a huge smile and said "my lens is very wide". I peered closely and I thought I saw a Canon fish.

I wonder how her photos turned out.

Getting in touch with my artistic side

It's been a long time from my last post. As usual for the past 2 years, I've been spending way too much time having fun on Google+ This social network brings engagement, friendship and learning. And you can see it in my photos.

I sometimes look at what I shoot and how I shoot, then ask myself - how was it like when I used photo only galleries like Flickr or Picasa. And I reckon I think differently, look for different things. The gear might be the same. Or Improved. The software might be the same. or Improved. But the things that bring me the stopping of the heart? Way different.