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Issue 21 Summer 2010

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Shoot Sequences Theatre Photography Brecon Beacons Panoramics Fenton Bailey Blurring Water Project: Kayak 35mm Macro Reader Gallery

Pack your bags and explore the globe withOlympus-using professional photographersTRAVEL

A passion for



Olympus User | Summer 2010 | www.olympususer.co.uk

12 JEREMY HUNTER



will travel

With a globe-trotting career spanning several decades and a huge catalogue of images to show for it, Olympus-using travel

photographer Jeremy Hunter opens his stunning portfolio and

explains his passion for world festivals

THE INTERVIEW: JEREMY HUNTER

JEREMY HUNTER13

www.olympususer.co.uk | Summer 2010 | Olympus User

INTERVIEW BY CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS | IMAGES JEREMY HUNTER

Have camera,

MOST OF US have, at one time or another,dreamed of being a professional travelphotographer – dust-covered camera bag tohand, battered desert boots on our feet and apassport bulging with stamps and visas – yet inthis technology-heavy modern small world of ours, you’d think that there was very little leftto document. Yet travel photographer JeremyHunter has carved himself a niche not just

capturing images of far off, exotic places: ratherhe shoots the destinations while they play hostto once-in-a-lifetime events, when hundreds of thousands of people might come together forreligious or cultural festivals.

Jeremy’s photographic career started when he worked as an assistant to a fashion photographerin Knightsbridge, London. “There was a complexthere with two adjoining studios,” he explained,“one run by a fashion photographer called RayHarwood, the other by a photographer calledRobin Adler. I assisted Ray Harwood and Robin was assisted by Patrick Lichfield - so you can see I

go back quite a while!” he laughed.After spending a couple of years working at the

studios Jeremy became a photographer himself,first working for the Daily Express shootingpictures for a society gossip column called ‘TheWilliam Hickey Column.’ “It was basically an olderversion of ‘Hello!’ magazine, not an area that Iparticularly wanted to get into,” Jeremy says, “butactually it was very lucrative at the time. I spentsome time doing that and then moved into theadvertising industry, and became a TV producer

for commercials.” Jeremy has a strong belief that his photographic

style was greatly determined by the film directors thathe worked with as part of the commercial industryin the 1970s. “The very greatest directors of the day were in commercials,” he explains, “all cutting theirteeth on the commercial side of film making. Today, Ithink most aspiring photographers will be influencedby the work of Cartier-Bresson, Capa, Penn, Avedon,Helmut Newton, Bailey, Duffy, Donovan - andmore recently by Rankin and Nick Knight, butmy influences came from a totally different sphereof creativity – being able to work with some of the

truly great film directors of the past decades on theselavish, large-scale filmic commercials.




20 FENTON BAILEY

THINK OF OLYMPUS CAMERAS and you can’thelp but summon up that immortal catch line fromthe TV commercials: ‘Who do you think you are;David Bailey?’ It firmly cemented the name of themost celebrated living British photographer withthe brand and Bailey senior is still a regular user of Olympus products, having recently been shooting with his new EP-1 and declaring that it was “a greatlooking camera.”

When your father happens to be such an icon,it’s scarcely surprising that some of that genuinelove for photography is going to rub off, andBailey’s son Fenton is becoming increasinglyinterested in life behind the camera. Now aged 22he’s recently struck out on his own and is lookingfor opportunities to break into the profession onhis own terms if at all possible, and it’s only beennatural that he should look at that same Olympusbrand that his father has helped to market sosuccessfully over the years.

“When I was a teenager I was living at the familyhome down in Devon,” he says, “and I wasn’t sureabout what I wanted to do. I just took on odd jobs,and eventually when I was 17 my dad said that Ishould come and have a job with him as his second

head down and let things go quiet,but if you do that then that’s whenyou start to lose people.”

Realising that he needed to start

moving towards going it alone, Fentonleft his father’s studio at the startof last year and since that time he’sbeen travelling and looking at gettingexperience with other photographers.

“In some ways I need to get a real job,” he says. “Working for otherpeople will be a good way for meto see other ideas and to pick up

some new techniques. There’s alwayssomething new to learn.”

Having seen his father use theOlympus PEN, Fenton was impressedby its compact size and portability,

Words Terry Hope Pictures Fenton Bailey

That Bailey touch...David Bailey is one of the most famous Olympus users there is, and now his son Fenton isfollowing in his footsteps and has just been trying out the latest PEN camera

assistant at his London studio. It was only meant tobe a temporary thing, but I stayed there full time forfour years.

“My role was to assist the assistant, and I also

helped out in the darkroom. I got to see close uphow Dad is able to get a picture out of people: he’sgot his own way of working and of talking to peopleand the important thing is that he never stops. It’svery easy when you’re behind a camera to put your

“Dad’s got his own way of

working and talking to people– he never stops. When you’rebehind a camera, it’s easy to letthings go quiet but then youstart to lose people”




FENTON BAILEY 21

and was keen to try it out forhimself. Accordingly he acquired anE-P1 body and the two lenses thatpartnered it at its launch – namelythe 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 and 17mmf/2.8 Pancake. So what did Fentonmake of the camera that has such aretro sixties-style about it? “I reallyliked it,” he says. “It produced reallysharp pictures, it was really quickto turn on and I could do anythingthat I could do with a DSLR. It wasa really good, fun camera to take out,and it was compact enough to carry inmy pocket. I loved the pancake lensbecause it was so compact, but to behonest the zoom wasn’t really thatmuch bigger and that gave me loadsof flexibility.”

Small, light and compact, thecamera fitted into Fenton’s lifestyleperfectly, and found itself carriedaround pretty much everywhere.“I just took it with me all over theplace,” he says, “out to clubs andthings, shooting reportage-stylepictures, hanging out with friends.I just loved its size: it wasn’t too bigand neither was it too small. It justfelt right in the hands and the peopleI showed it to loved its style; it looksreally sharp and that’s one of its keyfeatures.”

Perhaps predictably Fentondeclares that it’s fashion that he wouldhope to move into, and it’s for verymuch the same reasons that motivatedhis father. “It’s one of the few areasof photography where you canfulfil the brief but still bequite creative,” he says.

“I would love to be ableto have fun behind thecamera and get paidfor it.”

The time spent inthe David Bailey studioshould stand him in goodstead, as should his experienceof modelling himself, somethinghe’s done on occasions for the likesof Burberry and Agent Provocateursince his move to London. “I don’tfind it any problem getting up in

front of a camera since my father hasbeen photographing me ever since Ican remember,” he says. “However,it’s sometimes difficult when you’re working with a photographer who

you feel isn’t doing things right, not topoint out how it should be done!”

Overall, has Fenton found it apositive thing to have a father likeDavid Bailey (and supermodelCatherine Bailey for a mother)? “It’scertainly not been a drawback,” hesays. “If he wasn’t my dad then I wouldn’t have been working with him,and that’s been a big help. If he likesmy pictures he tells me and he alsotells me if he doesn’t like them! I’veonly had a few instances when people

realise who my family is andyou can see a change: I put

it down to snobbery and I

just think it’s quite funny.I don’t let it bother me.”

So, anotherBailey is setting outthere on the road tobeing a professionalphotographer, and it’sclear that whatever

happens he will always relish theopportunity to be behind a camera.“I’ll give it my best shot,” says Fenton,“but if it never goes any further thanthis it will always be a hobby.” One

can’t help feeling however that thislikeable chip off a very famous blockhas inherited enough of the charmand the talent to get there in the end.

“With fashionphotography,

you can fulfil thebrief but still

be creative”

BEHIND THE CAMERA

Fenton Bailey

Having been broughtup in a family wherephotography was such anintegral part of everydaylife, Fenton is at ease bothin front of, and behind,the camera. A huge fan ofvintage techniques suchas Polaroid instant film,Fenton has a collection ofelderly cameras that he

uses alongside moderndigital models and, likehis father, he has an openmind on the gear he usesand is more concerned

with the imagery that hecan produce. Havingencountered the PEN at

his father’s studio, Fentonhas found it ideal forcarrying around the worldand he’s enjoying thechance to travel light.




22OLYMPUS USER PROJECT

PROJECTWith a project that is going to push you to your limits, you need cameras that can take the pressure, which is why the Big 5 Kayak Challenge team approached Olympus

A TOUGH TEST

WORDS TERRY HOPE | PICTURES BIG 5 KAYAK TEAM

“We areable to test out

Olympus camerasin the toughest of

conditions”

Richard Harpham

ADVENTURE SPORTS ARE all about gettinginvolved in the action, fighting the elements andtesting yourself to the limit, and that’s exactly whatthe hardy types who make up the Big 5 KayakChallenge team are primarily looking for, enjoyingthe experience of pitching themselves and theirtiny craft against the rigours of the open ocean andchallenging weather conditions.

Last year saw the team battle their way roundthe Isle of Wight, navigate the length of the Thamesduring the blizzards, cross the English Channel,kayak across from Lands End to the Isles of Scillyand, most impressively of all, complete a 1000 miletrip along the Inside Passage from Vancouver toGlacier Bay Alaska. This year there is more of thesame: a trip around Malta has just been completedand the team is tackling the prospectors’ route alongthe Yukon River as you read this, with a furtherexpedition via the ominously named CorryvreckinWhirlpool (off Scotland’s West Coast) as they crossto Ireland planned for the near future.

Such crazy adventures deserve to be recorded,

but it takes a special camera to take the regularsoakings and frequent knocks that go with theterritory. The reputation of the Tough compactrange from Olympus came to the team’s attentionand encouraged them to see if this sturdy littlecamera really could live up to its name, and sothe association was born. Now the Big 5 KayakTeam have the chance to not only experience theirexpeditions first hand but to bring back a record of events as well to give outsiders the chance to morereadily understand what they have been through.

“I met up with Olympus at the Outdoor Show three to four years ago,” says Big 5 Kayak teamExpedition Leader Richard Harpham, “and theysupported the Great Britain rafting team initiallyand some top freestyle kayakers through myintroductions. Our association then grew as theBig 5 was created, and it’s been a good relationshipfor both sides. We’re able to get images of theexpeditions that we’re undertaking and in return we test out the Olympus products in the harshest of environments, and really show what it can do.

“The gear can stand up to everything we can takeourselves and more: we’ve used the Tough compactsover a number of years and they have proved great

for leaving in buoyancy aids and deck bags for pointand shoot operation. Life on our expeditions is hardon kit; these cameras have survived cold, continuedsalt water immersion, being thrown around and allsorts of abuse, but they keep on working which isgreat because, for us, photographs are an essentialpart of telling the story.




OLYMPUS USER PROJECT 23

OPENING THE DOOR TO A NEW SHOOTING EXPERIENCE…

“More recently we’ve stepped up a notch and weused the Olympus E-PL1 in a waterproof housingduring our expedition to Malta this year, whichgave an added dimension to the pictures we couldachieve. It is obviously not possible to put thecamera and housing in a buoyancy aid or pocket,but it does take great pictures. The camera andhousing combination is versatile and we are lookingforward to taking it with us to Alaska, where we willuse it in and out of the water.”

The Big 5 Kayak team came about through anidea Richard had to embrace some demanding

adventures while also raising funds and awarenessfor some good causes/charities. As the namesuggests, the original concept was to tackle five bigchallenges and then to call it a day, but things havesnowballed and others have come to join the team,

IMAGE ABOVE

On each expedition it’s vitalfor the Big Five Kayak teamto record their adventures forsubsequent talks

MAIN IMAGE OPPOSITE

The team has kayaked throughsome of the world’s mostchallenging terrain

IMAGES OPPOSITEWith the benefit of the newwaterproof housing it waspossible to shoot pictureswith the E-PL1 attached to thefront of one of the kayaks

K A Y A K

E X P E D I T I O N

To increase its flexibilitystill further, Olympus hasproduced the PT-EP01Underwater case for theE-PL1, and it’s claimedto be the world’s first waterproof housing for aMicro Four Thirds Systemcamera. In line with thePEN’s compact philosophythe housing, carrying a

street price of around£600, is significantly lighterand more compact thana conventional DSLR housing. However, itcan still accomodate thecamera and either the14-42mm or 9-18mm,along with the optionalVF-2 Live Viewfinder. Thehousing also supports the

Olympus Wireless RemoteControl Flash Systemusing the UFL-2 dedicatedunderwater flash unit.

and now the future for the whole project appearsopen-ended. “The Big 5 has changed some of ourlives forever,” says Richard, “and has led us onto such things as inspirational speaking and ever-bigger and more challenging expeditions.”

Even before that gruelling 1000 miler in Alaskalast year had ended, Richard knew that he wantedto do more. “Personally I loved the mixture of thephysical challenge, the spiritual peace of being ina remote wilderness and the sheer beauty of thenatural world. I found I returned from Alaska with an intolerance for the grind of everyday life,

mobile phones, emails and traffic jams. In fact I wasonly back a week or two before I felt the need toget away again and went off to paddle in the Seaof Hebrides, around Barra, in Scotland with teammember Olly Jay.”…




26BRECON BEACONS

Words Charlotte Griffiths Pictures Nick Mason

We meet landscape photographer Nick Mason, who reveals his love ofmountains, Olympus cameras, and his tips for creating a stunning panorama

The wide view:Nick Mason

“Ninety percent of my time is spenton my day job,and ninety per cent is

spent on my photography...so... er...”

BELOWThis shot was taken atGokyo in Nepal at around4900 m and shows TheThird Lake, one of a seriesof beautiful glaciated lakesin the Gokyo Valley.

OPPOSITE PAGE TOP

This is Kyajo Ri (6186m) a stunningly beautifulmountain that sits at theend of the MachermoValley where our rescuepost is situated. It’s nota bad view from the back door of our office!

OPPOSITE PAGE BOTTOM

The Brecon Beaconslacks any real climbing ofsubstance but in winterif we have a long coldspell the many waterfallsin the area can come intocondition and providevery good ice climbing.This was shot with theE-420 and the so-called14-42 f/3.5-56 “kit lens.”I think the detail on theshot belies the apparentconsumer nature of the setup. I love this set up forclimbing and ski touringbecause of its light weight.

IT TOOK A surprising amount of time to trackdown Nick Mason to interview him for OlympusUser, and even after all the effort we only managedto speak while he was housebound, recoveringfrom a long-overdue knee operation. However when Nick started speaking about the projects he’sinvolved in, I was amazed that he’d ever managedto find time to speak to us at all: not only is hea full-time consultant in intensive care medicineat a busy hospital in Cardiff, he’s also a fundand awareness raiser for a Porter charity basedin Nepal and a celebrated panoramic landscapephotographer - not to mention a husband andfather-of-one. Trying to reveal how he divides histime, his maths seemed to falter a little: “Ninetyper cent of my time is taken up with my day job,

and ninety per cent is spent on my photography- so... er...” he laughed from his home near theBrecon Beacons.

For someone who’s so active, being coopedup indoors is tricky to deal with, especiallyconsidering the time of year. “The surgery’sbeen very frustrating,” he said. “I’ve timed thisvery badly because for the last couple of years,I’ve been trying to get up to the East part of theBrecon Beacons National Park at this time of yearbecause all the Hawthorn blossom comes out.I’m doing a book on the National Park and I’vegot to have those shots of the Black Mountains with the blossom - the hillside’s just covered withthese white trees - but I just can’t make it there.I suppose I could hobble up,” he laughed.




BRECON BEACONS 27

Nick’s landscape photographycollides nicely with his day job. “I work in a very stressful environment,I’m dealing with a lot of people whoare very seriously ill, a lot of my workis spent talking to their families -it’s emotionally draining, it can

be very traumatic – so gettingup into the mountains andtaking pictures is mycoping mechanism.The times when Idon’t get out there,my wife will tell youthat I’m very grumpyto live with and I findmy day job a lot moretiring - so I see the two asvery complimentary. There’sa huge artistic streak in me which

needs to be creative - and I’m nothappy unless I’m expressing that.

His love of mountaineering and hisinterest in high altitude physiologygrew up alongside each other.

“Basically I was a medical trainee whoalso loved to climb, and back in 1994 Igot invited on a medical research tripto the Himalayas – which was whereI’d been training to go for a year or

two, so that really was too good tobe true – then over the years,

the research led to more andmore mountain medicine

and as a spin off, I gotvery involved in thischarity called theInternational PorterProtection Group,

which looks aftermountain porters.

“I’ve now spentabout a decade of my life

studying altitude or mountainphysiology. It’s a very good way of

getting the opportunity to go to somereally wacky places, and being able to justify it because of my job.”

And of course, getting accessto those amazing locations gave

“Te times when I don’tget out to the

mountains, I’mvery grumpy to

live with”



30BRECON BEACONS


1“I often use a technique that AnselAdams used. I’ve got two plastic

rectangle frames cut out - one of themis four thirds sized, and the other isthe classic panorama ratio of three toone. It’s quite difficult to see what apanorama’s going to look like, so I’ll wander around with my frame, trying tosee how best to frame it. I think one of the biggest mistakes - particularly withlandscape photography - is that peopleget their cameras out far too early. I tryto develop the skill of seeing the picture without looking through the lens.”

2“Then, I’ll set my camera and tripodup. If I’m out in the mountains the

Zuiko 12-60mm lens is perfect - thathardly ever comes off my camera. Iuse polarisers very sparingly, but youshould never have one while shootinga panorama as the polarisation of thelight changes as you move across.

“I use a special head that goes onthe tripod, a panoramic head from anamerican company called Really RightStuff, who I think make some of thebest photographic accessories.

“I have a ball head on the tripod,and then onto that I put what they calla ‘levelling plate’. Onto that, I put a‘rail’, and that’s important because youcan move the camera backwards andforwards on the levelling plate.”

NICK LIVES RIGHT next to theBrecon Beacons national park, which he shoots on a regular basis,and has hit on using the panoramicform to convey the uniqueness of thelocation. “It’s very beautiful but it’s avery subtle landscape, for want of abetter way of putting it. The Beaconsare made up from a lot of uplandplateaus, with not many really pointy,peaky mountains like you’d get in

Want to create some greatpanoramas? Nick Mason gives us thestep-by-step lowdown to the technique

PerfectPanoramas

Snowdonia or the Lake District.“I always think that the difference

between a good photographer anda bad photographer is that the badphotographer will see the same scene- and probably have a very similaremotional reaction to it - but will just want to capture everything. Theirpictures will be very busy, with lotsgoing on - but a good photographercan look at a scene and ask: ‘What

3“When you take a panoramic image,

the camera needs to sit on the tripodat the nodal point – the nodal pointis the point at which you minimiseparallax. You can see parallax veryeasily – if you put your finger in frontof you, close one eye and line it up with an object on the other side of theroom – when you close your right eyeand open your left eye, the relationshipbetween your finger and that point youlined it up with has moved. The totalnumber of pictures I take for eachscene depends on the focal length of

the lens, and the nodal point changesfor every focal length. I’ve got a plasticcard that I carry with me that shows thenodal point for every focal length.”

4“By rotating the camera around the

nodal point, you reduce parallax tothe absolute minimum. If you didn’tdo that, then - let’s say, in my case I’vegot a boulder in a lake with a mountainin the background – as I rotate thecamera, that boulder will probablyappear in two of my images. If I’m noton the nodal point, that relationshipbetween the boulder and the mountain will change between shots. If I do rotatearound the nodal point, the images will stitch together nigh on perfectly- and if not, you end up with a sort of

‘scalloped’ appearance, like someone’staken big scoops out of the pictures. If you do it properly, you get a perfectlyrectangular image.”



BRECON BEACONS 31


is the very essence of that scene?’I always liken it, when I’m beingpretentious, to it being like one of those Japanese Haiku poems - reallystrip it back, paring it down to thevery basic essence of what it was thatproduced that emotional response inyou - and that’s quite hard to do inthe Beacons.”

Nick’s theory about the formis that viewers ‘read’ panoramas,

whereas simple photographs aremore like Haikus. “A panoramashould be a bit like a book that youread,” the photographer explained,“and you can keep going back to itand getting new things out of it. Itstruck me that panoramas would bea good way of photographing theBeacons because it’s a very widelandscape, with big escarpments andlong, wide valleys - so they really lend

themselves to the form. Panoramasare great for all mountains: I’ve gotsome great panoramas of the Alps as well - they’re a very useful techniqueto use in the mountains because it’scapturing the whole of a scene.”

STEP BY STEP

5“I’ll use manual exposure and

spot meter off what looks like thebrightest point so it doesn’t blow the highlights. You have to shootpanoramas in manual because if you’reshooting anything else, as you go fromone side to the other it’s likely that thecamera will choose a different exposureor change the aperture.

“If the light’s changing across the width of the panorama, I’ ll go into LiveView, put the real time histogram onand scan across the whole panorama.

“Then I’ll go back to the beginning

of the panorama - and I don’t lookthrough the viewfinder at this point,because I know how many degrees torotate it by to create the overlap that’ll

stitch together - and I’ll swing it round,

taking the right number of images.”

6“I’ll review the image very quickly, just to check the histogram and the

information about the image - and thenI’ll come back and stitch it together inPhotoshop using a piece of softwarecalled Photomerge. When it’s shot withthe panoramic head, it yields the mostperfect panoramas - almost seamless.”



32BLUR WATER


This section is dedicated to advice, interesting tips and new ideas for getting the most from your Olympus camera Technique

WORDS & PICTURES: TIM GARTSIDE

Moving stillsYou might think that capturing movement in a still frame isimpossible, but Tim Gartside proves with his technique thatit’s simpler to achieve than you might imagine

WATER is such an interesting anddiverse subject to photograph. Youcan shoot reflections in a pond,freeze water drops using high speedflash, capture it in different stateslike water vapour (aka fog!), liquid oreven frozen. It is certainly a versatilesubject, and it’s one that can lookabsolutely magical when we startgetting creative with our shutterspeeds.

When I was a lad just starting onmy photographic journey I rememberseeing these beautiful shots of thesea with what looked like a mistinstead of the waves you wouldnormally expect. The shots were bothbeautiful and eerie at the same time.I just could not understand how suchshots had been created, but of courseonce you pick up a little techniqueand go out and try to create the

effect yourself you realise that it isactually quite easy to do.

I decided to set out to a local

formal garden to find a picturesqueman-made waterfall that I could trythis technique out on, and I took withme my Olympus E-30 plus 9-18mmf/4-5.6 wide angle zoom and asturdy tripod. Although I was usinga high-end DSLR you’ll find that anyOlympus camera that allows youcontrol over your shutter speeds willbe suitable to allow you to get resultssimilar to the ones you see here.

Great subjects include the sea,waterfalls, rivers, fountains:anywhere in fact where water canbe found that is naturally moving.This beautiful water feature wasa perfect subject, and it just goes

to show that you don’t necessarilyhave to hike out into the middleof nowhere to find what you arelooking for.

To make sure the flowing wateris going to have the impact youwant within the final image youmay need to crop in tight so that itfills a substantial part of the frame.Take a few test shots to see what

you’re getting and you’ll soon beable to determine whether yourframing is going to give you theshot you were after.

FINDING YOUR SUBJECT

“It was quite dark soan aperture of f/11gave a nice long 8second exposure toblur the water. A tripod was essentialto keep things sharp”



BLUR WATER 33


SEQUENCING WHAT’S ON THE MENU?

Capture the actionwith this guid toshooting sequences

pg36

We explore the lesser known areas of your camera’s menu system

pg40

Don’t be afraid to experiment with the shutterspeed. The secret to getting water to look milkyand ultra smooth is the creative use of a slowshutter speed. Normally when we shoot we wanta fast shutter speed of, say, 1/500sec to freezethe action and to keep everything looking niceand sharp. For blurred water shots we need to goin the opposite direction, and to look at settingthe slowest possible shutter speeds, and theslower you go, the more ethereal the water willstart to look in your frame.

The second element that will determine howblurred your water will look is the speed that thewater itself is moving at. A fast flowing river willblur nicely at relatively short shutter speeds whilea slow moving sea might need to be capturedover several seconds before it looks right. A goodstarting point is around 1/4sec or slower and, asan experiment, try shooting at different shutterspeeds and then analyse the shots at home tocheck the effect each shutter speed has givenyou and to see how different speeds will createquite varied results.

Experimentation is the key

When you are on location it is often best to try outseveral different slow shutter speeds since thiswill affect the way the water moves. You may, forexample, prefer the water to only partially blur, sothat you record a wave crashing and yet still retainits overall shape. As you extend the shutter speed

the blur will become more pronounced and theresult you achieve will change in appearance andfeel and becomemore abstract. AsI was shooting thesequence of thewaterfall overleaf Ichecked the resultsthat I was achievingby magnifying theimage on my E-30’sexcellent pull outLCD screen: it gave

me instant feedbackand allowed meto see when I wasgetting the resultthat I wanted.

MAGICAL SHUTTER SPEEDS

U s in g IS OUse the ISO button to choose theslowest ISO available, which on my E-30was 100 but might be 200 on othermodels. A slow ISO will help yield slowershutter speeds even without a filter.Don’t be tempted to leave the camera onautomatic since it will adjust the ISO tomatch the dull conditions and you could

find yourself working at ISO 800 or higherwithout realising, gaining you a full threestops of blur-reducing shutter speed that,on this occasion, you don’t need.



36BACK TO BASICS


TECHNIQUE

SequencesWith a pair of Olympus cameras in hand, Matt Kimberley sets out to get some exercise,shoot a couple of sequences and have a bundle of fun at the same time

SHOOTING SEQUENCES can be loads of funand it can really help deliver the right shot. Thereare two reasons why you might use sequences:either you’re taking a fast series of shots to giveyourself the best chance of getting the perfectpicture, or you’re telling a story. I wanted to do both!

Fast sequences

Fast sequences are useful in loads of ways.Wherever there’s lots of movement you can usefast frame rates to capture the action, be it asports event, a day at the races or speedboats atthe seaside. My brother Steven’s Cavalier KingCharles Spaniel, Alfie, is a wonderful little animal.He’s cheeky and full of character so I wanted to

BELOW

This is the shot I pickedout of the bunch. It reallygets across Alfie’s cheekycharacter, especially with hisears flailing around like that.The flattened grassy track he’s running along acted asa nice frame for his legs andbody, as well as giving thecamera a clear view.

as a stack of frames with the letter H alongside.Then I pressed the AF button on the back of thecamera body, which gave me a list of the camera’sfocus mode options, from which I chose C-AF, forcontinuous autofocus. I also put the camera into

aperture-priority mode, labelled ‘A’ on the maincontrol dial. That would give me a consistent depthof field in each shot but my shutter speed couldhave been at risk of dropping too low, so I pre-empted camera shake by raising the ISO to 400,giving me consistently higher shutter speeds. TheE-620 was now set up to focus on and shoot Alfie’santics as effectively as possible, so we headed outinto the sunshine under the pretence of ‘walkies’ toset up the sequence of pictures that I wanted.

Focusing

At first I tried letting the camera work with all its

seven autofocus points but that was a bit unfairon it. It had too many options to think about andbecame much more accurate and consistentwhen I manually selected the central focus pointand kept it pointed directly at Alfie throughout

shoot a sequence of him running through fieldswhere he loves to chase rabbits, even though he’snever come close to catching one. I picked outan Olympus E-620 and a 40-150mm telephotozoom lens so that I could frame my shots tightly onthe sprinting pooch, while the camera’s maximumshooting speed of four frames per second (fps)would let me capture Alfie’s little legs carrying himalong as fast as he can go.

But first, I needed to set the camera up properly,selecting the right shooting and focus modes forthe task in hand. Pushing the shooting rate buttonto the left of the viewfinder and using the maincontrol wheel with my right thumb, I selected thecontinuous high-speed option, which appears

WORDS & PICTURES MATT KIMBERLEY

“It can be a difficult techniqueto pull off while you’re trying tokeep the camera pointed right ata moving target...”



BACK TO BASICS 37


TECHNIQUE

Try and keep the camera as steady as possible to avoidyour subject moving around the frame, which will also

cause the autofocus to struggle.

Select the C-AF mode to make sure that your

autofocus can keep up with the action

By selecting the Aperture Priority metering mode you’llmake sure that your depth of field is consistent

FAST SEQUENCING TOP TIPS

the sequence. Accuracy is crucial here becauseslipping away from your target when you’ve pre-determined a focus point might make the camerare-focus on the surroundings and leave your

subject an indistinct blur.

Hunting the shot

Alfie isn’t the biggest dog and I wanted to tryshooting him running through long grass, sort of likea smaller-scale version of when the Velociraptorsrun through the grass in Jurassic Park. The shotsthat worked were actually quite funny, but theproblem was that as poor Alfie wrestled his waythrough the grass, his head was bobbing in and outof sight. With the intended point of focus constantlydisappearing and reappearing the autofocus(understandably) struggled and it was impossible to

get a full, accurately focused sequence.

Composition

I found a track within the long grass that providedan ideal channel for Alfie to run down, as well

as forming a handy ‘leading line’ that helped mycomposition. Steven and I let him run on andexplore a little, then called him back. We repeatedthis technique nine or 10 times along different

tracks, Steven shouting himself hoarse, Alfierunning himself ragged and me refining my camerawork until the sequence was just how I wanted it,but I still thought my furry model was getting toolarge for the frame too soon in the sequence, so Ineeded to use the zoom as well.

Zooming while shooting

The solution to my problem was to zoom from the150mm end of the lens towards the 40mm end asAlfie ran towards me, which kept him in the shot forlonger and gave me a more effective sequence. Itcan be a difficult technique to pull off while you’re

trying to keep the camera pointed right at a movingtarget, but the light zoom action of the 40-150mmf/4-5.6 lens made it easy, while the E-620 keptpace with my alterations, holding on to sharp focusthroughout. Fabulous stuff!

“Te light zoomaction of the 40-150mm f/4-5.6made it easy”



42 THROUGH THE LENS


BUY A macro lens for your Olympus DSLRand you’ve bought yourself a ticket to a worldof possibilities, a place where you can look ateverything in a new light. Suddenly you are free tomove in on the subjects around you and to extractthe detail that is hidden there, and it’s a fascinating

journey. Fill your frame with the head of a dragonflyfor example, or focus tightly on the intricate patterncreated by a flower or a leaf. Be inspired byminiature landscapes and learn to see the potentialin the most everyday of subjects. Macro can giveyou all this and more, and you’ll love exploringthe world around you with one of these specialistlenses on the front of your camera.

There are other ways to get close up to asubject, such as close-up filters, extension tubes,bellows and lens reversal rings, but nothing is

as straightforward to use as a dedicated macrolens, and the 35mm f/3.5 example producedby Olympus is a great introduction to this areaof photography. Competitively priced, it’s small,lightweight – it’s said to be the world’s lightestmacro lens - and relatively fast, and it will alsowork as a conventional 35mm (70mm in 35mmterms) lens when used on more distant subjects.Its slightly telephoto attributes means that it canmake a great portrait lens, while if you are lookingto hone in on tiny, fast-moving insects then it alsomeans that you don’t have to get quite so close,so you have more chance of getting your pictureswithout disturbing your subject.

Fit the lens to your camera, take a look throughthe viewfinder and initially you’ll be wonderingwhat the fuss is all about. Everything looks quite

“Pull theimage up onyour monitorand you’ll beable to seeunbelievabledetail in your

pictures”

A JOURNEY INTO A NEW WORLD

Buy a macro lens such as the35mm f/3.5 and you’ll haveaccess to a world of close-upthat will give you a multitudeof new subjects to picture

Olympus 35mmf/3.5 MacroThe world of macro photography is full of possibilities, and the keenly priced Zuiko 35mmenables you to dive in and to look for pictures that are like no others you have ever shot WORDS & PICTURES TERRY HOPE

GEAR



THROUGH THE LENS 43


normal, and it’s only when you start to movein for a close-up that you’ll really start to

see what this lens has to offer you. Whilea conventional lens might be able to focusdown to a few inches or so, the macro lenshas the ability to focus in much tighter: rightdown to 14.6cm in this case, which is closeenough to give you a 1:1 life size image onyour Four Thirds sensor.

While this might sound impressive, it’sonly when you pull the image up on yourmonitor later on that you realise just howspectacular that can be. That life-size imagewill now be many times bigger than theoriginal subject, and you’ll be able to see

unbelievable detail in your picture. That’sthe beauty of a great macro shot: this issomething that we can’t see with the nakedeye, and it’s like having a doorway into astrange new world.

Using a macro

By the same token that a macro lens is

unique in what it offers, it will also comewith a set discipline in terms of how you canuse it. For a start, as you move closer in toyour subject you’ll find that the depth of fieldyou achieve will start to disappear. Onceyou’re working anywhere near your closestfocusing distance the amount of image thatwill be in focus will be measured in fractionsof a millimetre, and the challenge is to getthe parts of the image in focus that areimportant to the overall picture. It’s incrediblyeasy for the immediate foreground to be softand for the area just behind to be pin sharp,

and it can get quite frustrating at times, sothe key if you can is to shoot plenty of backup images so you don’t come away with agreat shot that just slightly misses out.

Another thing to be aware of is the fact

ZUIKO DIGITAL 35MM F/3.5 MACRO

SPECIFICATIONSSTREET PRICE:

£200

LENGTH:5.3cm

DIAMETER:7.1cm

WEIGHT:165g

MINIMUM APERTURE:f/22

MIN FOCUS RANGE:14.6cm

LENS CONSTRUCTION:6 groups/6 elements

FILTER SIZE:52mm

DIAPHRAGM BLADES:7

ABOVE LEFT

A striking shot, but this was simply a frog that wassunning itself in the garden pond. A touch of fill-infrom the E-30’s built in pop-up flash added a sheento its skin and picked out yet more detail

FACING LEFT

Another simple subject, this Dandelion head cameto life when I moved in close for a true macro shot

FAR LEFTJust walking round the garden I found subjects forthe 35mm. These backlit leaves contained lovelycolours and also revealed delicate texture and detail

LEFT

IIt’s also possible to use the 35mm macro as aconventional, slightly long lens for portraiture

BELOW

The 35mm macro lens from Olympus is a portableand compact lens that is a well priced entry pointinto the world of the stunning close-up

“It’s only whenyou move in for a close-up that youstart to really see

what this lens hasto offer”

Terry Hope

GEAR



Olympus User | Autumn 2009 | www.olympususer.co.uk

46FEATURE NAME GOES HERE Send in your entries to see your photograph feature here

DEAN RICHARDS | OLYMPUS E300 | ISO 1600 | 15-35MM LE NS | APERTURE PRIORITY

Some words and pictures here please so that it all fits in would be nice and slendid would b

DEAN RICHARDS

OLYMPUS E300

ISO 1600 | 15-35MM LE NS | APERTURE

PRIORITY

Some words and pictures hereplease so that it all fits in would benice and slendid would b

“An interesting quest intothe unknown- and then it

was called Aninteresting quest into theunknown - andthen it wascalquest intounknown”

User Profiles An interesting qunknown and then it was called an interesting quest into the unknown

it iwas calle interesting quest into the unknown anWORDS & PICTURES | JAMES WINSTANLEY


46READERS’ GALLERY

Readers’ Gallery A selection of beautiful images taken by Olympus Users,complete with the story behind the photograph – sit back, relax and enjoy...

Upload your best Olympus shots to The Gallery online

“Te road tohell – not when

I took this shot but a few hours later”

M. Berna

IMAGE RIGHT

DOT HAYTER

E-520 | 500MM | F/6.3 | SPEED 1/100

I took Sitting Pretty last year just a coupleof months after getting my first camera - anOlympus E-520. It was taken on WestacreEstate in Norfolk with the camera paired witha 500mm on a tripod. I was in my portablehide, hoping to see an owl when the harewent hopping past and just stopped for amoment.

WORDS & PICTURES | OLYMPUS USERS

IMAGE ABOVE

MAXIME BERNA

E-410 | 25MM | F/5.6 | SPEED 1/500

The road to hell – not at lunchtime, whenI took the picture, but a few hours later– when the Bangkok suburbs pour onto thehighways with most of the 12 to 14 millioninhabitants’ vehicles. I took the picture ona bridge in the old airport area in Bangkok while waiting for a domestic flight back home.



www.olympususer.co.uk | Autumn 2009 | Olympus User

visit olympususer.co.uk to appear in the User Profile section FEATURE NAME GOES HERE 47

DEAN RICHARDS

OLYMPUS E300

ISO 1600 | 15-35MM LENS | APERTURE

PRIORITY

Some words and pictures hereplease so that it all fits in would be

nice and slendid would b

“Whatis the differ

ence quest intothe unknown - andthen it was that is

the mystery was thatis the mystery”

J. Watson


and your images could be included in next issue’s showcase READERS’ GALLERY 47



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