Tag: photo tips

  • Beginner Photography Mistakes.

    Beginner Photography Mistakes.

    We all make mistakes and that is nothing to be ashamed of. Without mistakes, we would not learn anything. We learn from our mistakes, but to learn we do not have to make mistakes.

    Beginners and a bit more experienced photographers make a lot of mistakes. Trying to avoid those mistakes will make your learning less steep.

    Here area few mistakes that I have noticed a lot of photographers make when they are starting out and these are the same mistakes I made when I started. (and I still make some of them…)

    There is no subject in your image.

    Try always to have something that interests the viewer’s eye. Without any places for the viewer’s eye to rest most likely the image is very boring. Having something in the foreground will lead the viewer’s eye into the image. Making a good composition is crucial. Having layers, something in the front, something in the middle, and in the back will make the image more interesting.

    Learning how to make a good composition makes a big difference.

    Learn how to make a perfect exposure

    Getting the exposure correct when making the image will give you the best possible image for editing. With modern cameras, there is no excuse to over or underexpose your images. I have plenty of videos about exposure on my YouTube channel. Watching those videos will help you to be better in your exposures.

    Check your background

    Having distracting elements in the background can ruin your image. Those distractions will draw attention to your subject. Always check around your subject that there are now elements that will steal the attention of the viewer.

    Learn more about how to avoid those mistakes that beginners make from the video below.

  • Olympus OM-system 180mm f2 lens – A Stunning lens from the 80s.

    Olympus OM-system 180mm f2 lens – A Stunning lens from the 80s.

    I had a chance to test a very rare lens. An Olympus super-telephoto lens from the early 80s. The lens is Zuiko Auto-T 180mm f2 ED-IF. Back then the OM-system bodies that Olympus had were OM-3 and OM-4. Olympus had a very nice line up of Zuiko lenses for those cameras and other OM-system bodies. The one line-up they did not have, was pro-grade fast telephoto lenses.

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    Olympus made several fast telephoto lenses. One of them was the 180mm f2 lens that I had the chance to test. Other lenses were 100mm f2.0, 250mm f2.0 and a 350mm f2.8. This way Olympus was able to offer fast telephoto lenses to pros. All these lenses are very rare and cost quite a lot of money.

    You can still find them on eBay. The prices are from several thousand all the way up to 10K. That is a lot of money for a lens. Some of them were sold in Japan. That will add up to costs.

    Olympus OM-D E-M1 MKIII, Zuiko 180mm f2, 1/2500s f2, ISO64, © Peter Forsgard
    Olympus OM-D E-M1 MKIII, Zuiko 180mm f2, 1/2500s f2, ISO64, © Peter Forsgard

    As I said on the video that I made about the 180mm f2 lens, the image quality is stunning. Not much to complain.

    OIympus M-1, Zuiko 180mm f2, film Ilford X"2© Peter Forsgard
    OIympus M-1, Zuiko 180mm f2, film Ilford X"2© Peter Forsgard

    Of course, the lenses are full manual. The lens has an aperture ring and it is manual focus. I tried with two cameras. One of them was my Olympus M-1. The first SLR from Olympus. Unfortunately, the shutter was not very consistent and the images did no come out the way I wanted.

    I was able to use it also with the E-M1 MKIII. I had an adapter from Novoflex. With that, it worked very well. The focusing was quite easy, thanks to focus peaking and magnify features that help a lot. I am not very experienced using manual focus for moving subjects so I concentrated on more easy subjects.

    Of course, I needed to try it for bird photography. That is the most likely genre that this lens would be used for.

    Olympus OM-D E-M1 MKIII, Zuiko 180mm f2, 1/1250s f2 ISO200, © Peter Forsgard
    Olympus OM-D E-M1 MKIII, Zuiko 180mm f2, 1/1250s f2 ISO200, © Peter Forsgard
    Olympus OM-D E-M1 MKIII, Zuiko 180mm f2, 1/250s f2, ISO200, © Peter Forsgard
    Olympus OM-D E-M1 MKIII, Zuiko 180mm f2, 1/250s f2, ISO200, © Peter Forsgard

    All in all, it was a very exciting experience. Thanks so much, Olympus Finland for lending the lens for this test.

    Below is the video where I share my experience on the lens.