Theme image: Cool Coots

[Judy Howle]

Hi everyone, sorry I've been absent lately. I forgot I had some nice reflections shots and got a couple of nice ones yesterday, when I finally had time and it was warm enough to go out to the lake. I tried out my new Oly E-M1 with Panasonic 100 - 300 mm lens which might have a problem or I do as my last 2 sessions with it, one on the E-M5 resulted in 90% non-sharp images. All I saw yesterday were coots. This one was a candidate for small in the frame. I used Lightroom with radial tool, and worked on uneven tones (due to the late afternoon sun) a bit more in Photoshop. On 2 layers I used Aquarella and Artista Haiku by jixipix.com and adjusted opacities and masked a lot to reveal detail in the coots that was wiped out by the filters. Then I used Perfect Effects with an HDR effect to bring out detail and a border at lowered opacity.

[Anita Bower]

I love the look/expression of the Coot on the left. :-) I also like the eyes. The blue of the water is lovely, and I think the effect is interesting and works here. Sorry to read that you are having trouble with your new camera.

[Dennis Bishop]

I really like what you did with Jixi Pix. In fact seeing your results made me visit their website, which I'll explore in more detail, later. The composition is wonderful, too. And I like the border. Nice work.

[Judy Howle]

Thanks Anita. I wish both of them had been looking at me.

Yes I had trouble with that lens on both of the OM-D models, but maybe I just wasn't steady enough and as you can see they were moving all the time, never stopped for a photo! I even tried making noises (I was in the car) to hopefully get their attention but they didn't pay any attention other than swimming away from the car but I'd drive back along side them.

I love the look/expression of the Coot on the left. :-) I also like the eyes. The blue of the water is lovely, and I think the effect is interesting and works here. Sorry to read that you are having trouble with your new camera.

[Judy Howle]

Thanks Dennis! I like their plugins a lot. I haven't tried several of the ones in the bundle, and some I'd probably rarely use anyway.

[Diane Miller]

Is that a longer focal length than you have been using before? (Factor in the crop factor of the sensor compared to what you have been using.) Longer focal lengths need exponentially (well, almost) faster shutter speeds. And if you're shooting from a car with the engine running, isolate the lens from any vibrations. That really means hand holding, which needs very fast shutter speeds.

But since I don't know what you have done previously, this may be obvious and useless advice. But it's cheap.

[Judy Howle]

Thanks for the advice Diane. It's a whole new camera system for me. I got the camera and a short lens 17 mos. ago and I got the lens for Christmas 2012 and I haven't used it but a few times. The OM-D has a 2X crop factor so 300 = 600 mm. The camera is mirrorless and very small so you can't press it against your forehead like an SLR. And the lens is small too. Camera and lens weigh 2 lbs or less, so it is a bit of a challenge to hold it still, but the engine was not running and I was propping my elbow on the arm rest which I did successfully all the time with the Canon 100 - 400. It also doesn't focus on subjects that are far away and small in the frame nearly as well as the Canon lens. I need to test it on a tripod and make sure there isn't something wrong with the lens since I made a lot of good shots with it last summer. The coots were probably 50 or 60 ft from me and sometimes further. There are a couple of other things to check too.

Is that a longer focal length than you have been using before? (Factor in the crop factor of the sensor compared to what you have been using.) Longer focal lengths need exponentially (well, almost) faster shutter speeds. And if you're shooting from a car with the engine running, isolate the lens from any vibrations. That really means hand holding, which needs very fast shutter speeds.

But since I don't know what you have done previously, this may be obvious and useless advice. But it's cheap.

[Diane Miller]

Sounds like a small beanbag might be the solution. Being able to hold a long focal length still is a real challenge. And focusing accurately on a subject like this can require care with the most sophisticated camera. In these days of 100% magnification, any slight miss in focus really shows.

But I'd bet that a small camera like that will open up a world of new adventures. I've been thinking about something like that but so far have been saved by the fact that there are just to many of them to keep up with.

[Judy Howle]

Yes, I need to come up with something to prop it on. There are some made of foam with a flat top and a slit in the foam to slide it over the window. They aren't too expensive.

I really like my Oly OM-D E-M5 and the new E-M1 is a higher end pro model. It got the dpreview.com Gold Award. It has a larger grip than the E-M5 which makes it a lot easier to hold, a better arrangement of the dials on top, and improved stabilization. If you want to go mirrorless, these are rated best in category 2012 and 2013! See dpreview.com - they had a poll for best mirrorless and E-M1 was 1st and now all the winners of the various categories are competing for Best Product of 2013 and are being voted on now; the E-M1 is way ahead! I also ordered the new Oly 12 - 40 f/2.8 PRO lens at the same time before Xmas but it was back-ordered. It just shipped Mon. and is supposed to arrive Friday . It has super reviews. Sony also has some nice mirrorless models. But the in-camera 5 axis stabilization in the OMD line is amazing. I made a photo indoors at 1/6 second handheld with my 12 - 50 mm kit lens and it was very sharp! I have no trouble with the short lenses. One guy posted some photos at 1/2 sec handheld that were just the tiniest bit blurry.

The M1 is $1400 and the M5 was $1k but is now less than that, 8 or 900 - body only prices. I sold my 7D and am selling the 100 - 400 and 300 f4 so I raised the $ myself for the new gear.

[Diane Miller]

The foam thing sounds good, I haven't seen those. Keep us posted on what you get with this rig!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I like the folk art look to this Judy. Hope you solve your problems. Yikes 90 percent!