Useful Ways You Can Use the Olympus Live Composite Feature for Long Exposures

By: Mark C Hughes  

Olympus has a number of unusual features for longer exposure photography. Aside from the classic bulb style photography, there are two other specific long exposure features available with Olympus cameras: Live Time and Live Composite. These two functions, although related, treat longer exposures quite differently and can produce quite interesting results. Both are really fascinating tools for photographers looking to experiment. Both use computational features of your camera to allow you to get an image in a different way. Although we will briefly discuss Live Time, this article primarily focuses on the Olympus Live Composite feature.

The Live Composite feature on Olympus Cameras lets you mix light sources for long exposure

Live Time

Live Time is like the bulb function on old film cameras that held the shutter open as long as the bulb was depressed but with a twist. With modern cameras, you open the shutter by pressing once and then close it by pressing it a second time. As with any bulb function, you end up holding the shutter open for as long as you want but without a set time on the camera.
In the film days, you would just guess how long you wanted (or use a light meter and a stopwatch). With most digital cameras, there is a function to allow you to hold the shutter open for an extended time. However, for many makes of cameras, you won’t see the image until the camera has closed the shutter, taken a noise reduction image, and then processed the image.
Live Time in Olympus cameras is a little different. It allows you to see the image on your display developing during the process while the shutter remains open. As the exposure lengthens, you see the image form as more and more light gets added to the entire image. The image gets brighter on the back panel, and it is really cool to see the image created live.
This process allows you to decide when you have held the shutter open long enough. Like the old bulb settings, you decide how long the image progresses. You press to start the exposure and press to stop.

Long Exposure images simply mean that light sources get brighter

Fundamentally, Live Time is just a manually extended exposure time that allows you to watch the image develop as you take it. It is still a pretty cool feature.

Problems with long exposure photography

The trouble with Live Time (and any long exposure image with any camera for that matter), is that bright things get brighter faster than the dark areas.
This means that dim, infrequent events in lower light environments with some point sources of light will be overwhelmed by the point sources. When you have enough light to expose the dark areas properly, this usually means that the lit areas have far too much accumulated light. Everything in the frame gets treated the same.

A still Image of a fire provides lots of detail and freezes the action of the flames.

Long Exposures tend to smear the light as the light sources persist.

Enter Live Composite

Live Composite is a particularly unique feature present in Olympus cameras that is not currently offered by other camera makers at this time.
Live Composite is similar to Live Time, in that you are taking a longer exposure image, but Live Composite is just light additive for new sources of light, not existing sources. What this means is that Live Composite takes a base image and then only adds new light to the image that was not present in the original base image. This means that light sources seen in the original reference image do not get brighter. Only new lighting or new light sources that move in the frame will appear in the final image.

Live Composite of a campfire shows that the entire image is not getting brighter

The mechanics of Live Composite

Using Live Composite is a two-step process; first, it requires you to take a base or reference image exposure. This image forms the base layer of the composite image. Then you take subsequent additional images at intervals with only new light in the field of view added.
This allows you to take a static image of a colorful background under low light conditions and add only new light sources.
Just like Live Time, you get to watch the image develop right before your eyes.

After the base image is taken, only new light sources (such as a lightning bolt) show up

How to use It

Turning on Live Composite on your Olympus camera is not the most prominent process. It is a bit hidden. Live Composite is a type of manual mode setting, so that is where you find it on the camera.
However, before you use Live Composite, you need to decide a few key parameters for your base composite image – specifically initial shutter duration, ISO and aperture.
You set the shutter time duration in the menu (out of the function itself) before setting the camera to shoot. However, you set the ISO and aperture as you go.

Turning on Live Composite varies a little between cameras (the EM1X does it slightly differently), but for most Olympus cameras, you simply set the mode selector dial to Manual (M) and adjust the time to beyond the 60-second shutter duration. At that point, you get a Bulb, LiveTime, and then LiveComp setting. LiveComp is the one you want for Live Composite. On the EM1X, you set the mode selector dial to B (bulb) and then turn to LiveComp. Everything else is the same.
At this point in time, you set your ISO and Aperture. This, combined with the shutter time duration you set in the menu system for cycling the images, will be used to set your base composite image. For instance, if you set the shutter timing to 4 seconds, plan on using an aperture of f/4 and ISO of 800. You will use those values for the base reference composite image.
To activate Live Composite, set up your composition, focus your lens, and then press the shutter for the reference image. The composite is now ready to start.
Next, when you press your shutter button again, the image creating process begins! The camera will open the shutter and add to the image as each time period compares to the base image. Any new light gets added to the composite at the end of each cycle. The image changes and grows on your display as Live Composite progresses.
It is very cool to watch as your image develops.

Does Live Composite mean you can take images that you couldn’t before?

Lightning storms work incredibly well with Live Composite, especially if there is a lot of nearby 

light sources (such as streetlights)

Yes and no. You could take the images separately and combine them as a composite, but as a single image, you would not have been able to do it. Also, there are certain types of images that are way easier to take with the Live Composite function than would be possible to achieve in a single image.
Live Composite also forces you to change your approach to certain images. As part of that change, it may actually take longer to take some images (because you need to create a base/reference every time), but you get the benefit of seeing if it is doing what you want.

What kind of image works well with Live Composite?

Several specific types of images can get the full benefit of Live Composite. These include star trails, lightning flashes, fireworks, night photography with bright lights present, and light painting.
You can take all of these in other ways, but using live composite allows you to see if the image is turning out how you want.
Most of these images all require manual focus and manual settings for your exposures. All require some trial and error and pretty much all benefit from the use of a tripod. In theory, you might be able to take these images without one, but in reality, the requirement to be steady really limits those cases.

Star Trails

In astrophotography, taking an image of stars can be particularly daunting. This is because the earth is rotating and the stars are relatively dim. What this means is that you need a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the motion of the star but also need to leave the shutter open long enough for the start to appear on your image. If you leave the shutter open too long, you will see a streak or smear instead of a star. If you leave the shutter open even longer, the stars leave even longer trails that are circular. In the northern hemisphere, these star trails appear to rotate around the North Star.

Star trails occur when you take astrophotography shots and leave the shutter open for an extended 

period of time. The stars create a trail. This image was taken with the shutter open for 27 minutes

With conventional digital cameras (or film cameras for that matter), working at night can be a challenge. The shutter duration required to create star trails are long, and you can’t see what your image is like until you’ve completed the entire exposure duration. In addition, if you have made an error in focus or composition, you won’t see it until the entire process is complete. There are ways to combine star trails together in post-processing, but the Live Composite allows you to do it in a single exposure.
With Live Composite, you can see the image develop. Particularly with star trails, this allows you to quickly figure out if you want to have your image in a different setup or use a different point of interest so that the star trails work with your composition.
You also have the ability to have star trails show up when there is an illuminated object in the foreground.

Lightning

Another significant challenge for photography is capturing images of lightning, particularly in areas where there are light sources. As anyone who has attempted to take lightning images knows all too well, this is a difficult type of photography.

Lightning strike captured using the Olympus Live Composite Feature.

The main difficulties of capturing lightning images are fourfold. Lightning is difficult to schedule, so you have to wait to find a storm to photograph. Depending upon your position relative to the storm, you need to find a vantage point to capture images that are reasonably clear (you need to be able to see the lightning from a distance) and have a perspective that forms a reasonable composition. More common vantage points are across a field, across a valley or from highrise building.
Next, you need to hope the lightning is not blocked or shrouded by rain (a common companion to lightning). This will interfere with your sightlines. Lighting is often at leading and trailing edges of storms, but if you are at the wrong end, the lightning will simply light up the sky.
Finally, taking images at night always presents a problem for trying to achieve focus. Focusing in the dark means that you can’t see what you are focusing on and the light from the lightning hasn’t lit up your subject yet.
If you have the right conditions, you can take the base image and wait for the lightning strike and the image to develop. You just wait until lightning strikes in the field of view.
For a detailed guide on photographing lightning, see this Ultimate Guide to Photographing Lightning.

Fireworks

Fireworks is an interesting subject for live composite. It actually isn’t faster to take images, but I think it takes better images. Fireworks requires you to manually focus where you think the images are, set the time, aperture, and ISO for a darker setting than your camera will want, then wait.

Fireworks also work well, although it is a two-step process for every image.

Without Live Composite, you simply open the shutter and wait. The image gets brighter, and the duration is based upon a little trial and error.
With Live Composite, you take the reference image and then wait. When the fireworks start, you hold the shutter and watch the screen. You press the shutter when you have the image you want.
Unfortunately, you need to take a new reference image each time, so you end up with additional steps. However, the results are at least as good (and often better) as simply guessing an exposure time.

Night photography with bright lights and light painting

Capturing car tail lights and headlights will appear but the street lights don’t get overly bright

Night photography featuring bright lights, such as carnivals or street performers using fire at night, can turn out really well with Live Composite. So can images where lights are moving, but you don’t want the background to get brighter.
You can also use Live Composite for light painting. This is particularly useful if you have someone helping you when you are taking a light painting image.
Light painting is a technique for taking an image under low light conditions with a long exposure and lighting up the object with controlled use of flashes or light sources. The neat thing about using Live Composite for light painting is that you can have light in the image when you are taking the image with the light painting because only new light gets added. It also means that dark objects won’t show up, and the bright surfaces behind them will remain illuminated.

Live composite allows you to do light painting with light sources present in the image (not the 

greatest light painting image!)

Live Composite is a unique feature in Olympus cameras that allow you to make composite images in-camera that previously would only be able to be created with two separate images and a bunch of post-processing. It is another useful tool for your photography kit.

The Olympus Live Composite feature is a unique tool to allow you to be creative with low light images.

Have you used Olympus Live Composite Feature before? What are your thoughts? Share with us in the comments!

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7 Tips for Stunning Black and White Photography (Comprehensive Guide)

By: Jaymes Dempsey 

How do you achieve stunning black and white photography?

Black and white photography is one of the most intimidating genres out there, mostly because it’s associated with lots of established names, as well as the “fine art photography” label.
But here’s the thing:
Black and white photography isn’t actually difficult. In fact, it’s just like any other genre of photography: There are a few tips and tricks that, once you apply them to your shooting process, will instantly improve your black and white photos.
And that’s what this article is all about. I’m going to share with you seven tips for stunning black and white photography. And you’ll come away with the ability to take masterful black and white photos wherever you go.
Sound good?
Let’s dive right in:

1. Shoot in high-contrast light for the most impactful photos

Here is the number one thing you need to remember about black and white photography:
It’s all about the contrast.
In fact, if that’s all you take away from this article then you’ll have profited enormously, because contrast is the lifeblood of black and white photography.

Now, there are a number of ways to create contrast in your photos. And I’ll explore these different techniques below.
So let’s start at the very beginning:
With light.
If you can’t make the light work for you, your black and white photos are just going to look like a muddy mess. Instead, you need to recognize the type of light you’re working with, and you need to try to use that light to achieve as much contrast as possible.
The best light for black and white photography is (no surprise!) high-contrast light. More specifically, light on sunny days.
If you’ve explored other genres of photography, you’ll know that light on sunny days is harsh, it’s unpleasant, and it just doesn’t look good.
Unless you’re a black and white photographer.

Because bright, sunny light enhances dark tones and creates intense light tones. This looks amazing in black and white photos, and it’ll really take your black and white images to the next level.
If you want to do some shooting but end up with softer golden tones from later in the afternoon or early in the morning, you can try using heavy backlighting to create additional contrast.

2. Find contrast-heavy tones and put them together

You already know about the importance of contrast in black and white photography. And you know about the importance of using contrast-heavy light.
But even once you’ve got the best light, you still have to make sure that the tones of your photo lend themselves to the overall black and white look.

Now, the best black and white tones are very dark and very light. For instance, a great black and white might include a white sky and a dark house, or a bright character standing in front of a black building.
So when you’re out and about, look for tones that contrast. Try not to think in terms of colors, because the colors will just distract you. Instead, think about the relative brightness of tones.
And look for blacks and whites that go together.

Once you’ve found them, however, you’re going to need to follow a piece of compositional advice:

3. Simplify your black and white photos as much as possible

All photography, for the most part, benefits from a simple composition.
However, black and white images benefit from a simple composition the most. This is because black and white photography is meant to be simple. It has no complex colors. No chaotic color-contrasts.
Instead, it’s just…black and white.

So whenever you go to take your black and white shots, stop and think. Consider whether there are ways to simplify the shot.
Could you remove something distracting in the background? Could you use a wide aperture to make the background blur more? Could you change your angle so as to create a more non-distracting option!
Do anything you can to make your shot simple.
Simpler is better, all else being equal.

4. Try to capture raw emotion for compelling black and white photography

Here’s one of the great things about black and white photography:
It’s a genre that loves to capture emotion.
The smile of a person on the street. The laugh of a person crossing the road. The frown of a sad child.

These are all very photographable moments, moments that you shouldn’t miss out on. And black and white is the perfect way to record it.
In fact, I recommend you try to capture emotion with black and white photography. The somber look of a high-contrast black and white will take emotion and make it even more powerful in a photo. It might even give you a three-dimensional effect.

5. Use minimalism to make your compositions stand out

What is minimalism?
Minimalism is a compositional technique that emphasizes intense simplicity. And not the simplicity as I explained above, but a true, deep simplicity – one that’s built into the composition.
Let me explain:
Minimalism uses lots of white space to draw attention to your main subject. White space is just empty space in a photo. (It doesn’t have to be white – it can just easily be gray or black, as long as there’s nothing going on in that part of the image).
This is a minimalistic photo:

Minimalistic photography uses the weight of negative space to emphasize your subject. So you don’t have to be afraid of photos that are extremely minimalistic. And they’re pretty easy to pull off.
To create minimalist black and white photos, I recommend you find a background that’s smooth and pure, such as a white sky. Then place your main subject small in the frame, along one of the rule of thirds power points (or even just above or below the power point).
If all goes according to plan, then you should have a beautiful minimalistic photo! Don’t be afraid to play with the placement of your subject.

6. Shoot against the sky to achieve a silhouetted look

In the previous tip, I mentioned that a white sky makes for a nice minimalistic background.
And it’s true. A bright white sky can be used in a black and white photo to emphasize a darker subject, which is exactly what you want to do! When the sky’s especially bright, you might even produce a partial silhouette, where the main subject has no detail but stands out against a white background.
So here’s how it works:
Find the main subject. It can be any color, but darker tones work best.

Then get down low, so that the main subject is framed by the sky. If you’re shooting on a cloudy day, you’ll have plenty of bright light behind your subject (even if it doesn’t seem like it). If you’re shooting on a sunny day, a bright part of a blue sky should do the trick.
Experiment with different possible angles, while making sure that your main subject doesn’t overlap with anything around it or behind it.

Then experiment with different exposures. Take a few shots that are drastically underexposed, a few shots that are nicely exposed for the subject, and a few shots that are overexposed.
Eventually, you’ll find a technique you’ll like!

7. Shoot in color, then use post-processing to convert your photos

I’ve been talking all about capturing amazing black and white photos in-camera.
But a big part of the black and white photography process is the post-processing. After all, this is where you should be converting your color images to black and white shots!
When you first open your photos in an editing program, they may look bland. They might even look a little bad.

But don’t worry. Because here’s what you do:
First, you drop the saturation all the way down, until it’s completely gone. This should give you a photo that’s full of grays.
Then you lift the contrast so that contrast shines through, and makes the photo pop off the page.
I also recommend boosting the Whites and lowering the shadows. This will add further contrast to the photo. It also ensures a greater tonal range overall, which looks quite good!

If you’re looking to create stunning black and white photography, then you’ve come to the right place.
You hopefully now know all about black and white photography.
All that’s left…
…is to get out and start doing some shooting of your own. Amazing photos await!




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How to Sell a Travel Story to a Magazine and Help Fund Your Travels

By: Kav Dadfar 

There is nothing quite like when you sell a travel story to a magazine. Seeing all your hard work in print gives you a great sense of satisfaction. Editorial work has changed a lot over the past few years, and you must prepare yourself for some rejection. However, if you follow this simple process of selling a story, and don’t give up, you will reap the rewards.
Also note, once you have built up a few relationships with editors, things get simpler. Once editors know and trust you, they will be far more receptive to your pitch for a story.

Publication research

Once you have an article idea, it’s always a good idea to research the type of magazines that may be interested in printing your story. Magazines differ significantly from one another. To give your story the best possible chance of publication, aim to pitch it to the right place.
For example, if your story is about walking, then pitch it to magazines that specialize in hiking or outdoor activities. Go to your local shop and flick through the magazine you intend to pitch to and see if it would be the right fit.
Also, research their submission process. Many publications have clear guidelines on how to submit work.

An example of a travel article in 360ºMagazine by Jennifer Bell.

Find a fresh angle

When you have your list of possible publications, ensure your story is fresh and unique. You don’t want to pitch ideas that are the same or similar to articles already recently published.
Most publications publish their articles on their website too, so check that what you are pitching is different. Also, remember to check upcoming articles as well. It may be that your article idea is set to feature in the next few issues.
The publication’s media pack is usually a good place to search for this sort of thing.

Destination research

Now that you have your angle and a list of preferred publications, it is time to research your topic. Researching your topic is one of the most important aspects of any shoot, and one rarely mentioned when discussing selling a story to a magazine. Many photographers will have you believe everything just comes together out in the field. But the reality is very different.
If your story is on the best museums in a certain city, then make sure you have a list of the museums you plan to visit. Write down everything from the best times to be there to the most important exhibits. If your angle is about hiking, then plan your walk to factor in the best times at viewpoints for photography.
The more you research, the better your shoot will be.

Prepare for rejection

If you want to be successful in any industry, you have to accept rejection along the way. Even as a pro with years of experience behind you, not every pitch will be successful. If only it was…
The key is not to take rejection personally. Don’t let it discourage you from pitching a different story to the same publication. If you are lucky and the editor gives you some feedback, take note of their suggestions, and work on these areas. Never get angry or burn your bridges with anyone as you will have an impossible task to win them round again.

Shoot plan

Once you’ve got your angle and completed your research, its time to start putting a shoot plan together. Your shoot plan should be more than just a list of locations – think of your shoot plan like an encyclopedia of your shoot. Include anything relevant like opening times, best times to shoot (sunset/sunrise), and logistics of getting to your required shoot locations.
Make a note of other potential locations you can visit. It’s also worth putting together some contingency ideas in the case of bad weather or unforeseen closures. The key to a good shoot plan is to make it as easy as possible to capture the shots you want to take.
The last thing that you want to be doing is rushing around, wasting valuable shooting time.

Image variation

The reason that a shot list is so important is it ensures you cover the shots that you need to capture, and will also give you variety. Your images should include a range of details, people, buildings, landscapes, cityscapes, food, and anything else that would be relevant to your story.
The more variation and options you can provide an editor, the more chance you will have of selling your story.

Tell a story

The big difference between a story and just documenting a place is the story you are trying to tell. You want to try to make sure your piece isn’t just a photographic list of places. The key is to take the viewer on a journey with you. It is also important to take notes of all the necessary information that accompanies your story. People’s names, places, names of food dishes – you never know what might be needed.
The final piece should be a coherent story that has a variety in the shots.

The pitch

Some people prefer to pitch their idea before embarking on their journey. While this is a safe option in regards to knowing you wouldn’t be wasting money unnecessarily unless you already have a relationship with an editor, it can be difficult. Even if an editor does like your idea, it is very unlikely they will offer you a commission straightaway. Any agreement will usually be on a speculative basis so they will not be under any obligation to buy your article afterward.
I personally believe you are best to pitch a finished piece that’s ready to go to press. Whatever approach you decide to take, the pitch is the most crucial part of the process. You’ve put in all that hard work and investment, so it’s important to get your pitch just right so you make a great first impression.
Your email should be direct and well thought out, showing off your knowledge of your subject. It should be backed up with the credibility required to give the editor confidence in you and your work. Take your time composing your pitch email and run it by friends and family for feedback. It’s okay to send a follow-up email a couple of weeks later but don’t keep pestering the editor. If you haven’t heard back after a couple of emails, assume it hasn’t been successful.

Submission

If you do get that great bit of news that your story has been accepted, make sure to follow all submission guidelines. Otherwise, your piece will more than likely be rejected. Your text should be proofread to avoid any spelling or grammatical mistakes. Even if you are just providing images, typos make you look unprofessional.
The majority of publications will also have strict guidelines for images, so be sure to follow these. It’s a good idea to read these before you start your edit as there will usually be guidelines on color space, sharpening and even cropping. Many publications prefer to do this in-house.

What next?

So you’ve sent your pitch and nothing even after the follow-up. You can either try another publication or go back to the drawing board with a different story. However, even if your story has been successful, be sure to go back with other ideas. Even if it takes time, going back to the same editor might be a little easier now that they have seen your work.

Publications have limited space for freelance photographers to pitch stories. Inevitably there is also a huge amount of competition for any available space. The best way to give yourself a chance is to really research the publication and pitch something that would be too good for them to turn down.
Do you have any other tips about how to sell a travel story to a magazine? If so, share with us in the comments below!

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4 Things You Should Know About Focal Length and Composition

By: Andrew S. Gibson

Lenses are the eye of your camera. The focal length of a lens (and your point of view) determine how much of the subject your camera sees.
You may already be familiar with the basics, and understand the difference between, say, wide-angle and telephoto lenses, but let’s dive into the the topic a little deeper to see what’s really going on.

There are four fundamental things to know and understand about the focal length and composition.

1. Focal length is not as important as field-of-view

There are two factors that determine the field-of-view of a lens:

1. The focal length.
2. The digital sensor or film size

Field-of-view (sometimes called angle-of-view) is far more important than focal length, because it tells you how much of the scene the lens sees. However, as field-of-view changes according to sensor size, manufacturers tell us the focal length instead. Focal length is a fixed measurement that doesn’t change (it is literally the distance from the middle of the lens to the focal plane, which is the sensor).
Here are some practical examples.

Example #1 – 50mm prime lens

A 50mm prime lens has a field-of-view of 47 degrees on a full-frame camera. This field-of-view approximates what we see with our own eyes. But what happens when you put the 50mm lens on an APS-C camera (crop factor of 1.6x)? The crop factor of the smaller sensor means that the lens now has a field-of-view of around 30 degrees, making it a short telephoto lens.
This change in field-of-view means that you have to move further away from your subject in order to fit it in the frame, which also changes the perspective (giving the compressed effect that characterizes short telephoto lenses).
If you want the equivalent of a 50mm lens on an APS-C camera you need to use a focal length of around 31mm, as it has the same field-of-view (47 degrees).
A prime lens with that focal length doesn’t exist (you could choose between a 28mm or a 35mm depending on whether you wanted a slightly wider or a tighter field-of-view), but you can set that focal length if you have a zoom.

50mm lens, full-frame camera. The lens has a field-of-view of 47 degrees.

50mm lens, APS-C camera. The same lens has a field of view of 30 degrees with this camera.

Example #2 – 21mm lens

The same applies to wide-angle lenses. A 21mm prime lens has a field-of-view of around 92 degrees. That’s a nice wide field-of-view ideal for landscape photography, or creating images with dramatic perspective.
But put it on an APS-C camera the field of view narrows to around 65 degrees. It’s still a wide-angle, but the effect is much more moderate. It now has nearly the same field-of-view as a 35mm lens does on a full-frame camera
To get the same field-of-view as the 21mm lens (on a full frame) you would use a 14mm lens (on an APS-C camera).

This photo was taken with a 14mm lens on an APS-C camera. It has the same field-of-view as 

a 21mm lens does on a full-frame camera.

 

 

Professional looking photographs?

https://resources.digital-photography-school.com/ref/937/

 

Example #3 – 16mm lenses

It’s even possible to have two lenses with the same focal length, but different fields-of-view (on the same camera).
A 16mm wide-angle lens has a field-of-view of 107 degrees – but a 16mm fisheye has a field-of-view of 180 degrees.
They have the same focal length but each one is designed for a different purpose. The 16mm wide-angle is designed to keep straight lines straight. The fisheye doesn’t try to do that, and as a result has a much wider field-of-view.
This table shows the field-of-view of common focal lengths with full-frame, APS-C and micro four-thirds cameras.

The next points explore the relationship between field-of-view and composition.

2. Wide-angle lenses are lenses of inclusion

You can think of any lens with a field-of-view wider than around 63 degrees as being a wide-angle. That’s 35mm or shorter on a full-frame camera, 20mm on APS-C, and around 18mm on micro four-thirds.
Wide-angle lenses have two characteristics that affect composition:

1. The wide field-of-view means that you have to move in close to your subject to fill the frame. But, at the same time wide-angle lenses also include quite a bit of the background. The shorter the focal length, the closer you need to get, and the more background is included.
2. Wide-angle lenses also appear to have more depth-of-field at any given aperture setting than longer focal lengths (they actually don’t, it has to do with lens to subject distance which also changes with focal length).

These two factors combine to make wide-angle lenses, ones of inclusion. You can always fit more into the frame with a wide-angle lens, no matter how close you get to your subject. The background is also more likely to appear more in focus, than it is with longer focal lengths. Getting in close, creates the dramatic perspective that some photographers love. It emphasizes line, and creates a sense of depth, that images taken with longer focal lengths can lack.
The slightest change in your point of view makes a dramatic difference to the composition of the photo. The shorter the focal length, the more this applies. As wide-angle lenses include so much background it can be difficult to simplify the composition and remove all distractions. There’s no way around it, it’s just a characteristic you have to embrace.

This photo, taken with an 18mm lens (APS-C), includes the buildings, the city wall, the reflection
in the water, the city trees disappearing into the distance, and keeps everything in sharp focus.

3. Telephoto lenses are lenses of exclusion

A telephoto lens is one that has a field-of-view of around 30 degrees or less. That’s around 85mm or longer on a full-frame camera, 50mm on an APS-C camera, and 40mm on micro four-thirds.
Telephoto lenses are ones of exclusion. They have a narrow field-of-view. Fill the frame with your subject, and you won’t get much background in at all. It is also easy to throw the background out of focus by using a wide aperture, and making sure there is sufficient distance between your subject and the background.

This photo, taken with a 50-150mm lens set to 72 mm (APS-C), shows the woman’s hands and the
textiles she is selling. There is not much in the background at all.

4. Normal lenses occupy the middle ground

Normal lenses, those with a field-of-view somewhere around 55 degrees, occupy the middle ground between wide-angle and telephoto. They don’t create images with the dramatic perspective that you can obtain with a wide-angle, nor do they exclude the background to the same extent as telephotos.
If you have a normal prime lens you can open the aperture up to defocus the background, sometimes quite dramatically if you get close enough to the subject. But, you can also often stop down enough to get everything within the frame in focus.

I took this photo with a 35mm lens, a normal lens on an APS-C camera. It lacks the dramatic
perspective, and wide field-of-view of the photos taken with wide-angle lenses. But it includes
more of the background and shows less compression than the photos taken with telephoto lenses.

Your turn

Can you think of anything else that photographers ought to know about focal length, field-of-view, and composition? If so, please let us know in the comments. I’d like to hear your thoughts.

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How to Use Focal Lock

By: Darren Rowse

At a recent wedding I handed my camera over to a friend to take a shot of my little family and I. We posed for a few shots, looking forward to getting home to see how they turned out (it’s amazing how few shots we have with the three of us all in them).
I didn’t think to check how they came out on the LCD after my friend took the shots and it wasn’t until I got home and downloaded them on my computer that I realised we’d been victims to the old ‘focus between the heads on the background’ mistake. The shot was similar to the one to the left where the couple is out of focus but the lady in the background between them is pin sharp.
You can see what’s happened immediately when you look at the images – my friend quickly raised the camera to his eye – put us in the middle of the frame assuming that the camera would know where to focus and took the image.
The camera unfortunately didn’t know where to focus and decided that the it would focus upon the garden behind us. As a result we were treated as the foreground and thrown out of focus.
This is a common mistake that many digital camera owners make (I’m sure we’ve all done it). Digital Camera manufacturers are now making cameras with ‘face recognition’ technology to overcome it (where the cameras look for faces and make sure that they are the focal point) but most of us are stuck with cameras that don’t have this yet and need to learn about ‘focal lock’.
It’s a very simple technique and something that virtually every digital camera (and most film cameras) have the ability to do. Here’s what you do:

• Pose your subject.
• When framing your subject put the central point of your frame on the point that you want to focus upon (the face of a person is generally the best point).
• With the subject’s face in the centre of your image half press down on the shutter button (not fully). This will tell the camera to focus on that point.
• Without letting go of the shutter (it should still be half depressed) move your camera to frame your shot as you want it (ie the person’s face doesn’t need to be centred now).
• Once you’ve got the framing right press the shutter the rest of the way and the shot will be taken with the right focussing even though the centre of your image might not be the person’s face.

This technique is not just useful for taking photos of people when they’re not central in your shots but can also be used in many other types of photography. For example in Macro shots when you want to place the insect or flower that you’re photographing off centre (using the rule of thirds) you might want to use focal lock. Similarly if you were taking a landscape shot but wanted to focus upon a house in the foreground that was off centre rather than the horizon you’d use this technique.
This technique is one that most people know but it’s something that beginners should master in the early days of their photography as it’s something you’ll use constantly. It might take a little practice but after a while it will become second nature to you.

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Amazon’s Pricing Snafu for Sony FE 85mm f/1.8 Lens Results in Customers Receiving $20 Gift Cards Instead

By Kehl Bayern

You might recall the Amazon Prime Day debacle where the company accidentally listed some camera gear worth thousands upon thousands of dollars for little to nothing.

Sony FE 85mm f/1.8 Lens

from Sony.

Amazingly, the company honored those rock bottom prices and some photographers out there got an absolutely amazing deal. But it doesn’t look like history is going to repeat itself, even if the mistake is a $USD 300 one instead of thousands upon thousands.
The retailer recently had the Sony FE 85mm f/1.8 lens on sale for $USD 250 and people jumped on it thinking that it was either a legit sale or another mistake on Amazon’s part. Well, the latter proved to be true but, instead of giving the buyers the discounted wares, Amazon instead opted to credit customer accounts with a free $USD 20.
PetaPixel has the following letter that customers are receiving from Amazon’s Customer Service team. It reads in part:
“We recently discovered that an error caused the following item(s) to be displayed at an incorrect price:
Sony FE 85mm f/1.8 Lens (SEL85F18/2)
In this case, we’re unable to offer this item for the incorrectly posted price. Therefore, we’ve canceled your order for this item. We’re sorry about this. At any given time, despite our best efforts, a small number of the millions of items on our site may be mispriced.
To make up for any inconvenience, we’re adding a $20 Amazon.com Gift Card to your account. This balance will automatically apply to your next order at Amazon.com.”
As many people are pointing out, why would Amazon honor the massive discounts on Prime Day but not this relatively modest discount (in terms of dollars spent). Who knows.
But we’d love to know your thoughts – you can leave them in the comments below.

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