Poppy appeal

The social media photographic pages are currently awash with pictures of poppy fields, all vying for attention. However, instead of photographing vistas of red carpeted meadows sweeping off into the distance (I don't know the whereabouts of such locations, anyway), I have to make do with a single flower by the roadside.


Olympus OM-D EM-10 Mk III with 14-42mm f/3.5 - 5.6 Pancake lens. 1/1000 second at f/5.6. ESP metering. - 1⅔ EV compensation. ISO 100



© 2019

Pastoral bliss

Although I am becoming more relaxed about shooting around mid-day in the summer, I still have it in the back of my mind that all I'm doing is photographing picture postcard material. However, if conditions - and the subject - are just right, then I can come up with something pleasing.

I arrive at this bucolic scene whilst on my location-finding travels, and to my mind it is the quintessential image of the English countryside.



24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor. 1/320 second at f/5.6. Matrix metering. ISO 80



© 2019

Weather window

Perfect timing between bouts of heavy rain results in the image of Chapman's Pool and Houns-tout on the Dorset coast. It's mid afternoon and high summer - not ideal for landscape photography - but the cloud makes all the difference as far as lighting of the landscape goes. Having found the composition it's just a case of waiting until it produces the right shadows.



12-24mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 1/80 second at f/11. Matrix metering. - ⅓ EV compensation. 0.9 Lee grey grad on the sky. ISO 50



© 2019

Risky, but all in fun

The old photographic adage: 'never use new gear when the chips are down' applies today when I venture into the field armed solely with a camera I'm not entirely familiar with. I've had the Olympus M4/3 camera for a week, yet the sheer scope of what it is capable of still eludes me.

On more than one occasion I'm struggling to figure out how I've changed or moved the auto focus point(s) in the viewfinder from where I want them, and when it comes down to wanting to auto bracket a number of frames for an interior shot, I'm at a total loss. Just as well I wasn't shooting something important.

On the bright side I do get some decent images, as with this view of Dorset's Jurassic Coast, looking west from St Aldehelm's Head.



Olympus OM-D EM-10 Mk III with 14-42mm f/3.5 - 5.6 Zuiko Pancake lens. 1/125 second at f/11. ESP metering. ISO 100



© 2019

Idle snapping

Still in the process of familiarising myself with the Olympus Four Thirds camera, I'm spending part of the afternoon running through the camera menus. During this electronic ramble I look up and am immediately attracted by the sun's oblique rays raking across my resonator guitar on the other side of the room, and instinctively fire off a few shots.

What strikes me most is the ability to add exposure compensation and see - in real time - the precise effect that it is having on the subject in the viewfinder. Sweet.

At a stroke this eliminates "chimping" the rear screen to check the histogram to see if I'm getting what I'm after since I already know before the shot is taken. I think I'm going to like this.




Olympus OM-D EM-10Mk III with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Pancake lens. 1/200 second at f/5.6. ESP metering.    - 2⅔ Stop EV compensation. ISO 200



© 2019