olympus OMD EM5 | alan frost photography

Posts from the ‘olympus OMD EM5’ category

‘People and Places’ course at West Dean – the last entry

Back in the Summer I attended an excellent photography course at West Dean College in Sussex – People and Places with Jacqui Hurst. It now seems like a long time ago, so I ought to wrap it up with one last and very overdue entry. The two previous posts realting to this course can be found by clicking on these links – Glorious Goodwood and Littlehampton Seafront.

I have mentioned it before but at the beginning of the course all the participants were asked what they wanted to get out of the week. My reply was quite simply to see in ‘black and white’ and to produce a selection of images all in monochrome. I was certainly true to my word as the images below and on the two previous posts will testify.

Since the course I have almost exclusively shot black and white. My starting point is to shoot in RAW and then convert to Black and White. I did go through a short period when I set the camera to shoot RAW and a B&W jpeg, but this just filled up space on my hard drive. There were more photos to sort and delete, which I am not that good at doing in the first place.

If the shot is poorly composed, not a good subject or the lighting is poor…..I could go on; then whether or not it’s in colour or black and white is not going to make that much difference. In my view I should still be htting the delete key and only processing something which is really worth the time and effort of looking at a computer screen.

I did not take my DSLR on the course, so all the photographs were taken using the Olympus OMD EM5 and a variety of prime lenses. Although I had only purchased the camera a week or two before the course, by the end of the week I was reasonably familiar with its functions and menu systems. Some reviews have said the menu system is quite complicated and not that intuitive. I cant agree, with a little time the camera settings can readily be changed to whatever suits your style.

The trombone clown
Olympus OMD EM5 12-50mm @ 26mm f5.2 1/160 ISO 1600

The gardener and the wheelbarrow
Olympus OMD EM5 45mm f10 1/400 ISO 200

In conversation? Jacqui Hurst, our tutor and a glass etching
Olympus OMD 45mm f4 1/200 ISO 200

Eyelashes
Olympus OMD EM5 145mm f2 1/1250 ISO 320

In profile
Olympus OMD EM5 45mm f4 1/160 ISO 200

Looking out
Olympus OMD EM5 20mm f2.2 1/50 ISO 200

Delicate hands
Olympus OMD EM5 45mm f2.2 1/320 ISO 800

Glasshouse winding mechanism
Olympus OMD EM5 20mm f4.5 1/3200 ISO 200

Inside the potting shed
Olympus OMD EM5 12mm f3.2 1/15 ISO 400

Goodwood Revival Meeting – the last entry

Its a month since I enjoyed a wonderful weekend at the Goodwood Revival Meeting in September. This is the last entry following on from ‘The Silver Arrows’ and ‘The Characters’ and is a final selection of images. It features the motor cars themselves, the shops, some more characters and the aircraft which was on dsiplay. Its an eclectic mix, but all in black and white and hopefully they capture something of the atmosphere of the great event which never fails to impress through its marvellous attention to detail. Provisional dates for 2013 have recently been announced – 13th to 15th September. For more information visit the Goodwood website.

With the exception of the first image which was taken with a Nikon D90, all the other photographs were taken using the Olympus OMD – EM5.

The Race Starts
Nikon D90 – 70-300mm @122mm f8 1/100 ISO800

On the start finish straight

Olympus OMD EM5 45mm f16 1/80 ISO200

Racing round Molcombe

Olympus OMD EM5 45mm f4 1/1250 ISO200

The Shoe Shop

Olympus OMD EM5 45mm f1.8 1/4000 ISO200

The Hat Shop

Olympus OMD EM5 45mm f4 1/500 ISO200

Tesco – Remember Green Shield Stamps?

Olympus OMD EM5 20mm f6.3 1/320 ISO200

Eyes in the back of my coat

Olympus OMD EM5 45mm F2 1/2000 ISO200

Laurel and Hardy

Olympus OMD EM5 45mm f5.6 1/400 ISO200

Plane rivetts

Olympus OMD EM5 20mm f2.2 1/3200 ISO200

‘Miss Pick Up’ on the side of The Catalina Seaplane

Olympus OMD EM5 20mm f2.2 1/4000 ISO200

Miss Pick Up on the side of Catalina sea plane

Looking to the skies

Olympus OMD EM5 45mm f8 1/2000 ISO200

Gun Wharf Quay and Spinnaker Tower

Last Friday was a significant day for me. Earlier in the year I had agreed with my business partners that as from the 1st October I would reduce the numbers of days I work each week, from five to four days, electing to take Friday as my day off. The 5th October was therefore the first Friday I didn’t go into work, which left me free to do something completely different to what I would normally do on that day of the week. I decided to head on down to Portsmouth and Gun Wharf Quay in particular, to take a few shots of Spinnaker Tower and its immediate surroundings. It was good fun, I didn’t go inside any of the shops although I was questioned by a security officer who must have assumed I worked for a terrorist organisation! I can’t blame him for questioning me, he was only doing his job. In fact once we got talking he was quite interested and liked some of the shots I had taken.

Here are selection of the images, all taken with the Olympus EM5 and as is usually the case with my workflow, imported into Lightroom and converted into Black and White with Silver Efex Pro2.

Spinnaker Tower – an unusual but symmetrical approach to this very tall structure
12mm f10 1/500 ISO200

Spinnaker Tower looking across the harbour – a much more traditional approach
12mm f13 1/320 ISO200

A statue near the entrance to the Historic Dockyard with the tower in the background
45mm f3.5 1/4000 ISO200

A Ship’s Head again with the tower in the background
45mm f4 1/4000 ISO200

The rigging of the ‘Old Warrior’ ship – part of the Historic Dockyard
45mm f4.5 1/3200

A view across Portsmouth Harbour
45 f6.3 1/500 ISO200

The ‘Ship Leopard’ pub now closed down
45mm f4 1/1000 ISO200

The pedestrian walkway leading to Gun Wharf Quay and its shops
12mm f13 1/8 ISO200

A Busker in Gun Wharf, fiddling for a drink perhaps?
78mm f5 1/1000 ISO 200

An old dockyard crane in front of No. 1 Apartment Block
67mm f6.3 1/800 ISO200

Another unusual angle looking up at Spinnaker Tower
12mm f10 1/500 ISO200

HAPPY FRIDAYS!

The Characters of the Goodwood Revival Meeting

There are two major elements to the Goodwood Revival Meeting. Firstly the wonderful machinery (the cars, the aircraft and the motor bikes) and secondly the people who attend and frankly make this event what it is today. In the past I have concentrated on the former but this year I decided that I would work harder to capture images of the characters, their outfits and through them the spirit of the event itself.

In an earlier blog entry I made it clear that all my images this year would be in ‘black and white’ and through this medium I think the mood of the event is further enhanced.

With one exception all the photographs have been taken using the Olympus EM5, imported into Lightroom and converted into black and white using Silver Efex Pro.

The Rocker
Olympus EM5 45mm f2 1/1250 ISO 200

The Bike Mechanic
Olympus EM5 12mm f2 1/500 ISO 200

The Artist
Olympus EM5 20mm f2.5 1/20 ISO 200

An Artist drawing one of the Silver Arrows

I later found out that the artist in the above photo is Stefan Marjoram. He is both a professional artist and a photographer specialising in motor sport. In my opinion he produces some wonderful work. His photographic work can be found here and his drawings here. He has a specific blog entry for his drawings of The Silver Arrows, which includes the very drawing he is working on in this image.

The Pilot and the moustache
Olympus EM5 45mm f2.2 1/1600 ISO 200

The Kenwood Shop Assistant
Olympus EM5 20mm f4.5 1/80 ISO 200

The Car Salesman
Olympus EM5 20mm f1.8 1/125 ISO 200

The Couple
Olympus EM5 20mm f2.5 1/800 ISO 200

The Cleaner
Olympus EM5 20mm f2 1/800 ISO 200

The Lady and the bike
Olympus EM5 20mm f2.2 1/800 ISO 200

The American Biker
Olympus EM5 45mm f2 1/1250 ISO 400

The Lady in the bike shed
Olympus EM5 45mm f2 1/640 ISO 200

The Lady and The ‘Spiv’
Nikon D90 70-300mm @ 116mm f5 1/320 ISO 200

Photo opportunities – always have a camera with you

So often when out and about, I see something and say to myself if only I had my camera with me. Every photographer will have uttered those words at some time and probably more than once! Well from now on I will try and avoid that mistake. I will also follow the saying which states – ‘the best camera, is the one you have with you’. How true is that! The next couple of images were taken on the way to somewhere else, with no intention whatsoever of releasing the shutter on the journey but on both occasions I did have a camera in the car.

The first is a shot of the late afternoon light on the South Downs in West Sussex between the villages of Amberley and Storrington. This was captured with the Olympus EM5 and 45mm 1.8 prime lens. Its not the best landscape photograph I have ever taken but I think its quite pleasing and I wouldn’t have it at all, if I hadn’t got the camera with me.

The second image is a sky scape taken on my way home from work. The dramatic clouds and light were crying out to be caught on camera. On this occasion the Olympus E-PL3 was in the car with nothing more than the standard kit lens and attached EVF (electronic viewfinder). An almost essential extra when in bright light.

Once downloaded into Lightroom on the computer at home, I wondered how well this image would convert to black and white. Well here is that version using my favourite ‘plug-in’ for Lightroom – Silver Efex Pro.

Which one do I prefer? Well I’m not sure, they both have their merits, I think its down to personal choice. If I had to come off the fence then the ‘black and white’ version would win the day. All I do know is that had the little Olympus E-PL3 not been in the car, there wouldn’t be a choice, as there wouldn’t be a photograph to look at!