Early Summer with E-M10 and Zuiko 14 - 54mm F2.8 - 3.5 Zoom Lens

[VidThreeNorth]

Lately I have been busy with, well, lots of stuff. As I write this I am trying to clear off disc space to make room for work on a video. I am trying to find things to store off, and that always takes time.

Anyway, on June 30, I took a short break on a rare sunny day and tried a few ideas resulting in a few pictures, some of which worked. This was using my now favorite Zuiko 14 - 54mm F2.8 - 3.5 zoom and my Optex TM50 monopod.

The main thing I was playing with was stretching the Gamma a bit. Unfortunately, I got side-tracked when I got home and did not get around to recording what I did, and eventually I forgot exactly what settings I tried. As I have said before, and I think others have also said, I would really like a voice recording function on this camera and other cameras. That way, it would be convenient for me to document such settings that are not included in EXIF.

It was not a complete wasted effort. I got a couple of pictures I liked out of it, though I ended up with a lot of failed pictures too. I am posting my favorite picture in a resized version and also a "detail crop", both of which I like as "final" versions.

I am also posting another HDR experiment. I was taking pictures of a flowerbed (I don't know the type of flower but it is very common). As I was taking them, I was thinking that due to the very strong shadows, I was going to have problems with reducing contrast, and it occurred to me that I could try the HDR setting. I had doubts about it working because with a monopod, I always have a bit of movement unless I can brace myself or the pod against something, and in this case I was standing straight up to gain camera height, which was the worst case. Also there was a fairly constant breeze to move everything in front of the camera around randomly. But the HDR1 setting turned out surprisingly well. I am only posting reduced versions, and on some there are visible movement of various leaves or petals. But on the HDR1 picture I am posting, I did not see any. It is a bit soft, which could be sharpened, but I could not find any telltale signs of movement.


"P6300039.JPG" [Not posted]
- Echinacea, aka "Cone Flower"
Date taken: 2019-06-30 16:10:46
Size: 7,932,101 Bytes [JPEG]

I don't remember exactly what changes I made in the camera, but I stretched the gamma to increase the mid-range contrast. Usually for flowers I am decreasing exposure to improve saturation of the petals. For echinacea, in this case I lightened to bring out detail of the "cone" (more like a "lump" in this case) in the middle.

Partial EXIF:
Program name: Version 1.4
Dimensions 4608 x 3456
Bit depth 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
F-stop f/5.6
Exposure time 1/250 sec.
ISO speed ISO-200
Exposure bias +0.3 step
Focal length 54mm
Max aperture 2.97265625
Metering mode Center Weighted Average
35mm Focal Length: 108 mm


"P6300039b-rsz1640-C1.JPG"
- resized, no other changes

"P6300039c-Crop01-C1.JPG"
- detail crop
- no other changes

"P6300072a-rsz1640-C2.JPG"
- regular exposure
- resized, no other changes
- I decided not to bother trying to "improve" this version because the HDR1 version came fairly out nicely.

Date taken: Jun 30, 2019, 16:24:56
Size: 7,726,549 Bytes [JPEG]

Partial EXIF
Program name: Version 1.4
Dimensions 4608 x 3456
Bit depth: 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
F-stop f/4.5
Exposure time 1/200 sec.
ISO speed: ISO-200
Focal length 49 mm
Max aperture: 2.9765625
Metering mode: Center Weighted Average
35mm Focal Length: 98 mm

"P6300073a-rsz1640-C2.JPG"
- HDR1 version
- resized, no other change

Date Taken: Jun 30, 2019, 16:25:16
Size: 7,628,864 Bytes

Partial EXIF
Program name: Version 1.4
Dimensions 4608 x 3456
Bit depth: 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
F-stop f/4.5
Exposure time 1/200 sec.
ISO speed: ISO-200
Focal length 49 mm
Max aperture: 2.9765625
Metering mode: Center Weighted Average
35mm Focal Length: 98 mm