The time for excuses is over. Excuses about why I haven’t posted any stories for a while. Quite a while. Not since September 13th in fact.
But at least I haven’t given up on my latest shoot-JPEGs-only project. This time is a little bit different from the last effort though. This time I’m shooting JPEG only with no backup.
No backup. No fallback option. No safety net. Meaning no RAW option at all.
My OM5 Mark II settings are: JPEG, Large Superfine. Full resolution. Minimum compression. Theoretically the best quality out of the camera. And Picture Mode on Vivid.
White Balance set to AUTO. Mistake number one! At least I leaned that one quickly. Adjusting WB manually can give better colour accuracy.
Mistake number two – not paying attention to the Histogram. I never have in the past. But checking the histogram and making adjustments accordingly can be very helpful.
Mistake number three – closely related to number two. Not finding the highlights (and shadows) warning and turning it on. Having said that the OM5 seems to handle the highlights well with very little evidence of “blow-outs” in the resulting JPEGs.
But at least I’m out there doing it. And learning. From my mistakes. And from the User Manual now. Who said guys never read manuals?
In my last story I said I wasn’t going to be a snooty SOOC camera sort of photographer. But in this story all the JPEGs here are straight-out-of-camera. While I come to grips with all the OM5s features.
No edits applied. No horizon straightening. No colour tweaking. No cropping. WSIWYG. Warts and all!
shooting jpeg only with no backup with an OM5
I like numbers. So let’s start with Number 47. Because I can.
I often just stop and take photographs that contain numbers. Last story the numbers were 45 and 112. A speed sign and a letterbox number.
What is it about rusty stuff that always seems to attract photographers? I am always on the lookout for rusty stuff like the Rusty gate chain and hook lock above. I think it’s the combination of the colours and the textures of rust that appeal to me. And the fact that it’s the sort of thing that most non-photographers would walk by without a glance. It is just there – so why not take a photo.
When I decided to buy the OM5 Mark II, I had a browse through some of my older photos and discovered that I mostly used the 18-55mm Nikon kit lens on the D7500. And on previous Nikons I had owned. So I decided that the OM Systems 12-45mm f4 PRO weather sealed lens would be my day-to-day glass. To back it up I bought the much less expensive, all-plastic (apart from the glass), non-weather sealed 40-150mm zoom. Over the back fence is the first “trial” shot I took with the OM Systems 40-150, f4-5.6 lens. And I have to say I am quite impressed. I have used it for other shots since, and my first impressions were correct. It is good! For something so cheap. No – not cheap – inexpensive.
Just across the road from our new home is a wetland reserve. Right on the edge of the Jacobs Estuary – a tidal logoon at the confluence of the Pourakino and Aparima Rivers. At the end of what has been a very wet spring, the reserve is often muddy and sloshy underfoot but nevertheless it is a great place to wander with camera in-hand. Where the Aparima River meets Jacobs Estuary is a low tide shot looking roughly westward.
In conclusion…a few more photos – JPEGs straight from the OM5.
I intend to continue my JPEGs only project for a little longer, but I do miss the post-processing phase. So look out for some mildly – not wildly – tweaked images in my next story.
And I promise I won’t keep you waiting a month for the next one.
Are you shooting JPEG with no backup? Or are youshooting with an OM5 Mark II?
As always I welcome your comments/feedback/stories about your experiences, either in the LEAVE A REPLY section below, or via my Contact page.