Friday 30 December 2016

My photo retrospective of 2016

In past years, I had thought of doing a retrospective over the year but didn’t get round to it. I’ve made more progress this year.
So what happened, photographically this year of 2016? I didn’t buy new lenses or a new camera. By mid-year, work and just life, had taken so much of my focus that my camera was not seeing much action. When I looked over my shots, I saw that tail off in memorable photos as well.

Why produce a retrospective?

It’s about showing your photos. I’m a firm believer that if you are serious about photography, you need your peers to know what  you are producing and an audience to give you feedback. You need to look at your photos and get a vibe, a feeling, the big picture, instead of just looking at just one frame in isolation. So what do I see of my photos this year? Let’s have a look at the images first.

I like the shot above a lot – lots of red in the background (my favourite colour), animated finger expression (I don’t think she was saying that some people had small ones) and that gift monkey from the Vietnamese community during Chinese New Year.

This man above is, I think, Adam Bandt – he had brought his children to the Chinese New Year presentation in Richmond. I’m mesmerised by that thoughtful look.
This was Australia Day, it’s quite close to Chinese New Year. The flags are iconic, cameras are so evident during the parade. Notice the prayer beads – probably Buddhist.

There is a whole collage of participants in the Australia Day Parade. The forbearance of the children in the parade is exemplary, the parents and guardians pretty much supervising progress.

As one of the curators of #ShoesMonday that gear fascinates me enough to watch the different fashions. Melbourne is a shoe capital – there is a diverse range of shoes, reflecting the fashions of different seasons, cultures and ages.

Of course, shoes are not really useful unless you wear them and, um, dance in them.
The image above shifts to the famous Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur.  Whenever I visit, I note that newspapers are still  bought and read with gusto – the folk are equally adept on web and internet but the newspaper is part and parcel of their daily life. This chap seems to be reading some unwelcome news.
 
Here’s good friend Robin, above, his favourite street camera, the E-PL5 in his hand. Although Bjorn prefers his full frame Sony.

Kuala Lumpur is hot, humid the sun shines with a glare on the street. A raised hand does wonders.
 
 
For that day, Robin had arranged to let me shoot the then new, Olympus PEN-F. I rather like its off centre EVF, that twist and flip LCD screen for selfies and the level of control over tones for the SOOC monochrome JPEG (although Olympus persists in calling it Monotone)
 
Amir, Robin and I were in Brickfields and there was this vegetarian Indian restaurant – the menu is extensive.
I will have passed this Chinese temple in Brickfields many times in before but didn’t venture in. A little bird whispered in my ear that the wall paintings of allegories and fables were unexpectedly visual and raunchy.

Back in Melbourne, for the White Night event, with friends Paul, Trace, Kelvin and Kim – I rather like the concentration that Adrien Siboule (#SiB) at #speakeasy put into his performance.

Nick Hadgelias concentrating on the harmonica during the #whitenightmelb event

 
Although the selfie is ubiquitous, some people are not ok with it. I guess she’s one of them.
#whitenightmelb is so packed at certain times and certain places, it’s hard to get a photo. Raising the camera high is a valid technique
Look, even Trace holds his camera high up.
Some people have got tired with the weight and bulk of the classic DSLR. There’s still life in that product line regardless of the uptick in mirrorless product.

Sometimes you have to make sure that the customer knows how to bite the skewered meat. Really!

The things that you can do with moving bicycles is only limited by your imagination. I like the fun these guys had
 
I guess, just another pair of shoes, just because…..
There’s that “come hither” look that Justin Branecki gives in DCW/Photology sessions
I confess I forget her name. Fab sole patterns though.
Melbourne’s Dai Loong (Chinese Dragon) comes out for Chinese New Year and the Australia Day Parade. Many of the volunteers are not Chinese but they all have fun.

 
This dancing fun happens after the parade ends.
Federation Square is often a great place to come on a Melbourne Summer weekend. Heaps of cultural festivals with fab costumes.
 
 
Melbourne is well known for its Street Art. Those at Hosier Lane are in a continuous state of flux.
 
Hosier's is so well known that tourist and locals visit often and wedding parties come for photo shoots.
 
If you've ever wondered how the Street Art is painted so high up, tall ladders are used. As well as cherry pickers.

I wanted to get in closer and show the shopping bags at their feet but this pseudo panorama does convey the scene.

 
I met this little boy at #boxwars. This is my favourite image of the event.

 
Probably the last photo I want to pick as part of this collection. Are we apprehensive of the new year? Should we be?
 

In Conclusion

What do I see? I like people. I like photos of people. Sometimes that's called Street Photography. I take photos of abstracts, patterns, shapes, buildings maybe even landscapes. But people turn me on.

Monday 30 May 2016

When Image Quality isn't the Focus

One night, while waiting for a family member on a rainy wintery night, I tried a cinematic shot or two.

Currently, my favourite alley

As the eye darts around, different people on their night out

The great thing about having friends who enjoy photography is that you have someone to share your images and your creativity with.  +Paul Pavlinovich hatched on the Film Noir motive and got a few of us out on a short but very enjoyable night photo walk.

The two men make such a picture, but ok, if you like the glasses in bokeh...

Suits in Conversation

My favourite alley, this time with kitchen staff on a break

The mist of warm food and a warm room

A warm, nice last image for this set.
Conventional and conservative wisdom repeatedly emphasises "Image Quality" above all other aspects of the image. I decided to shoot this series with old gear, with an emphasis on nice tones, potentially old style focus fall off but not necessarily exceptional ISO noise, autofocus or viewfinder. I needed the images to be attractive but was quite happy to put IQ considerations in the back seat. I enjoyed the exercise and the results.

Thursday 3 March 2016

Looking into Lens Corrections

From time to time, people ask why Olympus or Panasonic lenses are not listed in the Lens Profiles of Lightroom. The confusion is both from us for not seeing the clues and from Adobe for poor user interface / communication of the message to the end user.

What do people mean by Lens Corrections?

Lenses are physical designs and have optical imperfections in creating the image. Designers choose to reduce these imperfections to the minimum but that impacts lens bulk, size, number of elements and cost. Or thinking the other way, lens designers in the digital world, can purposely design imperfect lenses and rely on the camera firmware or computer software to correct them.

The imperfections cover:
  • colour fringing (sometimes called Chromatic Aberration)
  • optical vignetting falloff (darkening of the image corners)
  • curvilinear distortion (straight lines becoming bowed inwards (pincushion) or outwards (barrelling)

Where are the correction parameters stored?

Correction metadata can be stored
  • single Lens Correction Profile in separate files one file per lens. Separate files are useful when a user voluntarily carries out the measurements and submits them to the software vendor (e.g. Adobe).
  • stored as an "internal" integrated database supplied with the software program
  • stored in lens firmware which is then copied by camera body and saved as metadata in the raw file
  • stored in lens firmware which is then applied by camera body to the camera JPEG. In which case the SOOC (Straight Out Of The Camera) JPEG does not separately store the parameters, the JPEG is considered the corrected and finished image.

What do software user interfaces look like when they acknowledge the lens identity?

Adobe Lightroom Lens Correction panel in the Develop Module

 Above, you see the Adobe Lightroom Lens Correction panel in the Develop Module. This is what the panel looks like when the lens is recognised by Lightroom. You don't have to take any action. If you click on the Information (i) icon, you will see a dialog stating what the lens model is.

Adobe Lightroom Lens Correction panel in the Develop Module

Above is the Lightroom Lens Correction panel if you explicitly click on the checkbox "Enable Profile Corrections" - presumably, if the lens is already in the internal database, the information it already knows is ignored and you can nominate the individual Lens Profile files that Adobe has supplied or you have created yourself or that you have downloaded using the Adobe Lens Profile Downloader.

Adobe Camera Raw Lens Correction Panel
Similar to Adobe Lightroom's panel design, this is the Adobe Camera Raw Lens Correction panel. Note that this panel is more informative - you do not have to click one more time to display the identification / name of the lens

If you get an .lcp file from a third party, to allow Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw access to it, put the .lcp file in
C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw\LensProfiles\1.0\Downloaded

DxO ViewPoint 2 Distortion Correction Panel
Above is the DxO ViewPoint 2 Distortion Correction Panel. Presumably the DxO Optics user interface will be similar. Note that DxO not only identifies the lens, it also identifies which body it is fitted on. This extra information might be used in their corrections.

Corel Aftershot Pro 2 Lens Correction Panel

Above is the Corel Aftershot Pro 2 Lens Correction Panel. It too identifies the camera body and the lens. Clicking "Enable Correction" does not appear to disable Correction, does it enable Correction and not ticking it ignore Correction? Chromatic Aberration and Vignette Correction are not automatically ticked when you tick Enable Correction. 

Raw Therapee Lens Correction Panel
Raw Therapee is a free raw editor. I don't see information about whether it has or knows how to use an internal database. But if you choose to use a Lens Correction Profile, the resulting file selection dialog will refer to Adobe's nest of folders on your computer.

More reading:


Tuesday 23 February 2016

Notes for next time. Chinese New Year Lion Dances at Glen Waverley

One thing that detracts from my success in achieving the shots I want, is I have a poor memory, fail to write things down after I encounter issues. This means the next year when I attend a similar event, I forget what sunk me the previous time. Here are my notes for this year's Chinese New Year event at Glen Waverley (but it applies to similar Chinese New Year incidents in other locations).


For the door to door lion dances (this year it was 2 pm to 4:30 pm), we had a high dynamic range scene. The sky is super bright courtesy of Melbourne Summer's day. The shaded shop frontage where the lions dance is several stops darker.

ParameterUsedResultPreferredNotes
MeteringEvaluativeEvaluative
ISOAuto200As needed to ensure high shutter speed
Aperturef/3.5f/3.5
Shutter SpeedAperture Priority1/320 variable1/500 fixedCan't use Shutter Priority because Samyang is non electronic lens. Maybe enable Auto ISO for Manual Exposure mode. Fix Shutter Speed at 1/500
Post ProcessingLightroomRecover highlights severely, use other adjustments
FocusFocus right slippedInfinityUse sticky tape to hold the focus ring stays at infinity. Check position several times during the session

A photo posted by Ananda Sim (@anandasim) on

Friday 12 February 2016

Features that you might not know about the Olympus PEN-F

Owners and intending owners of the Olympus PEN-F have mostly read reviews of this camera from review sites, Youtube videos and so on. To "sell" their experience and be known as cognoscenti of cameras, reviewers often take a few features and emphasise their opinion - this is both a good thing (because people want something to read about whether to arouse interest) or a bad thing (arouse disdain).
So we get to know some features very well from this clamour of voices and grasp little of features that people don't mention. Here's a shortlist of features that may have escaped attention.

Note: I come from an E-330,  E-510, E-620, E-PL1, E-PM2 and E-M1 background so only new features will be listed

Silent Mode can shoot at 20 fps in burst mode. Other mechanical shutter modes shoot at 10 fps

The Spot Metering Mode follows the focus target that is triggered, not the central AF point

See manual, page 109

You can use your thumbs on the LCD to move the AF target around the frame when your eye is to the EVF

See manual, page 105 - the term is called AF Targeting Pad - of course in Custom Menu > Cog A

For non electronically coupled lens, you can name the lens, add focal length, f/no

See manual, page 129 - Custom Menu > Cog K

There are Selfie Assist functions - E-Portrait to smoothen your wrinkles, time delay for the selfie

See manual, page 128, - Custom Menu > Cog K

There is a My Clips facility - short 16 second videos 

See manual, page 70

There is a slow mo movie facility - 120 fps Standard Definition movies played back at 30 fps

See manual, page 73

Face Priority affects not only AF but may affect exposure measurement

This may not be new but worth mentioning - see manual  page 48
When the metering mode is ESP, Face Priority emphasises exposure  of the face.
Even in MF mode, Face Priority emphasises exposure of the face
In a burst, Face Priority only evaluates the first frame of the sequence.

C-AF no worse than other Olympus bodies

There has been a video review where the reviewer went an did a dang thing like fit the huge 300mm f/4 lens to this tiny body and attempted C-AF - result, AF hesitation. Mirrorless bodies still have some way to go to reach the Canon 1D II / 7D prowess with C-AF. Many Olympus users simply use S-AF and in the words of a wise sage: "Half press, observe whether focus has been achieved, if not release and repeat, several times until you get it"

Exposure Compensation has come to Auto ISO on Manual Exposure mode

Many Manual Exposure mode shooters revert to the film era expectation of setting fixed ISO when on Manual Exposure - that means exposure is completely and utterly manual, no shenanigans and that's how it worked in the film days. A bunch of migrators from Nikon DSLR have been crying out for Auto ISO on Manual Exposure and on top of that, changing the Exposure Value Compensation. Prior to the PEN-F, Olympus bodies allowed Auto ISO on Manual Exposure but EV Comp did nothing in that situation. The PEN-F now allows this Nikonish feature.

1. Set the camera to Manual Exposure Mode.
2. Custom Menu > Cog E > ISO Auto > Select ALL instead of P/A/S
3. Ensure that your EVF is not set to S-OVF  (Custom Menu > Cog J > S-OVF)
4. Ensure that Liveview Boost is Off (Custom Menu > Cog D > Live View Boost)
5. Ensure that your EV Compensation dial is not disabled (Custom Menu > Cog B)
6. Set your ISO to Auto (use the Super Control Panel)


Thursday 11 February 2016

Olympus PEN-F - part 6 of my personal narrative, The Finale

Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4 and Part 5 precede this article.

Summarising and Tidying Up: What I liked.

I started by saying that the Olympus PEN-F is a controversial camera. Do I still think so after some days looking at my images, interacting online? Yes, I do. Briefly

It's a nicely responsive camera, with strong retro design hints.
"The camera part just gets out of the way and lets you concentrate on shooting." (Ming Thein).
It has milestone enhancements in "studio in the field" JPEG customisation so that you can pre-visualise the "look" of the photo instantaneously and intimately whether you want to save the JPEG as a keeper or use the raw for processing in Olympus Viewer or your third party workflow. Olympus innovated with the the S curve Shadow+Highlight adjustment and then subsequently the Color Creator a few models ago. Now the S curve has Midtone adjustment in addition to S & H. And the Color Wheel in the Color Profiles has a rainbow of individual colour adjustments. There is Vignette and Film Grain emulation in the Monochrome Profiles. And..... On Olympus Viewer, you can combine an Art Filter with Color Profile (can't check that on the body because I don't have one).


Phew! The noon day tropical sun so hot and glaring

Regardless I will be there.

We still run the old skool way.


The EVF is offset unlike a faux DSLR - it allowed me to keep both eyes open for a few lenses (mind needs some control) so I would observe more of the scene with one eye and ensure AF got the focus right with the other eye. It gave me confidence in the street with the camera raised to the face, something I feel nervous about with a faux DSLR in street photos of people.


You taking a photo of me?

What I would have preferred

A less obvious and more easily surreptitious simple hinged flip LCD screen (rather than the flip & twist screen that would be very useful on a faux SLR like the OM-D series. (By the way, the flip and twist is fitted on the old E-620, the E-3, E-5 DSLRs). I just figured out why they chose this flip and twist design though. For a little camera like this, with a target audience of travellers, genteel tourists, it needs to do selfie duty.


The Selfie with the Fishie

I would guess as with most middle income enthusiasts, I'm on a 2 to 3 year gear refresh - the need to save for family and extended family expenses and so on. My OM-D E-M1 purchase was recent in relative terms, so I'll have to wait. The price for the PEN-F is not low at retail and pre-order launch - there's a lot of nice stuff in it and there are return of investment costs that Olympus has to recover. There are cheaper cameras. There are surely more expensive cameras. And there are cameras whose bling value is higher than their utility value. The PEN-F has a lot of "I like it value"


I don't think I could buy one even if I sold the shirt off my back
Or sold my snaps on the sidewalk
Starting up an Institute might do it


Prayers wouldn't go astray for sure

Reasons people make up for not buying the PEN-F

From the range of feedback and comments, I thought I would summarise the vibe

The PEN-F is not weather sealed

For whatever reason if you must have weather sealing, this isn't the camera for you. Some people must have a Toyota Kluger 4WD instead of European luxury car. Different strokes for different folks. For your weather sealed body though, these products are designed to a test condition. Weather sealing is not an absolute. FYI.

The PEN-F breaks the mold of cheaper PEN prices

The PEN E-P5 was not "cheap". In contrast to the OM-D E-M10, it did not have the slant of features to distinguish it from the lowered prices of the OM-D E-M5 old stock and the E-M10. It didn't sell well at recommended retail price but towards the end, the prices were so discounted that people managed to get their hands on the E-P5 and love it for the shape in street shooting and travelling.

The PEN-F to me, is a much stronger product with stronger slants towards its intended audiences. I hope it does well. It's not a Sony with a wood grip. Or machined out of solid metal. 

On a features matrix on a web page, the PEN-F has nothing really different from the OM-D E-M5 Mark II

Probably. Have you got the right features in the matrix? Or is the left column a list of faux DSLR design features? Like a big grip to balance the 300mm f/4 M.Zuiko lens. Or Phase Detect so that the body can focus a Bigma. The PEN-F isn't a faux DSLR.

You don't have a skirt. Or wear tight pants, a lumberjacket and have a beard.

So sorry for you. But you don't have to wear a skirt. Or tight pants, lumberjacket and a beard. Look, I held a PEN-F for some hours. Nuts still feel ok. Voice hasn't changed an octave higher.

Will you tell the CEO or shall I?

Be Happy. Enjoy Your Day