Micro 4/3 in the National Parks Part 2 – IN Color. By Christian Delbert

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Micro 4/3 in the National Parks Part 2 – IN Color.

By Christian Delbert – See more of his work HERE

A couple of weeks ago I submitted some photos I took in various southern Utah National Parks (See that post HERE if you missed it). As non conventional as this seems, my submissions were in B & W. I knew some viewers would appreciate my attempts at copying the grand old masters ( Adams & Weston ), but others might dismiss the photos as inappropriate for such colorful landscapes.

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Well, here are some of the color photos I had promised I would submit to satisfy those among the readers here who tend to prefer color to B & W. In the old days, when I shot film, I tended to like snappy colors. I ended up using Velvia for most of my scenics. Sadly, I couldn’t make color prints that matched the saturation of Velvia until digital came along. Now, thanks to Photoshop, I can match or surpass my beloved Velvia chromes. I have to peg myself as a surrealist when it comes to color. No realistic color in my photos. I have no desire to record exactly what is there. My photos straight out of the camera are the musical score and the final interpretation is the music ( paraphrasing Ansel Adams’s ).

When traveling, compactness is king. So all photos were hand held and shot with my two beloved Olympus cameras. IBIS is one of the primary reasons why I went with Olympus because I hate carrying tripods. I shot with both the Olympus OM-D-EM1 Mark II and the OM-D-EM1. Lenses were the 7-14mmf/2.8, 12-40mmf/2.8 and 40-150mmf/2.8, the holy triumvirate as I call them. They’re so good that I can’tt see buying another lens ( unless Olympus comes out with an equivalent 20-200mmf/2.8, as a single travel lens! ). The two cameras and three lenses are still light enough to carry all day while trekking ( especially if my wife carries my bag! ). Forgot to mention that before my trip I bought the Olympus 2X extender that made my 40-150mmf/2.8 into a compact 600mm. Took a few shots with it hand held that came out rather well!

Well, hope you enjoy the photos ( hope I did not include too many ).

Take care,

Christian

22 Comments

  1. Hi,

    These are great photos on my 2010 iMac! My question is this: Have you printed and on what printer and what size were the prints. I have a Pen-F, which I love and have printed to 16×24 and very happy. I wonder if you have gone larger?

    Thanks, Brian

    • No Brian, my printer only goes to 13″ x 19″ and that is the biggest I’ve printed ( some cropped at the bottom if I wanted to fit in that size ). Very satisfied in that size. My house doesn’t have enough wall space, too much glass!

    • Lovely shots and I also have the lenses you used. The 7-14mm is a stunning lens, some will niggle that you can’t fit filters on it, but since you can’t fit them on any other lens this wide, I’m guessing this is more a case of sour grapes from those who probably can’t get a comparable lens in any other format. I once tried the Panasonic version, but it doesn’t deliver the quality that the Zukio version does.

  2. I went back and looked at the black and white again, which I usually prefer. But I loved the color ones too. Excellent.
    I switched to Olympus about 10 months ago and gave no regrets at all.
    Thanks.

    • To top it all off Harry, when you switch or get new equipment, it invigorates you to go out and do some shooting. If you’re feeling a little stale, buy a new lens! With all the equipment Steve gets to test he’s always out there photographing……..

  3. You express my point of view precisely and far better than I could. I in fact have the exact same gear too. Only I had my M1 converted to IR. I recently purchased the new M5.3 for the same reasons you list. I love your photos and applaud your choice in processing. Well done.

  4. I really like your approach of “making pictures” and not just “taking photos”. Tho’ it’s good to do both, and I sometimes do with the same scene as starting-point. Any way this series is a feast! Thank you.

  5. Beautiful set of images. Every shot in the group justifies the use of color. And like you, I prefer the surrealist take on color. You’ve made good music here!

  6. I think you did very well. And for the most part, the colour doesn’t look exaggerated.

    The great thing about digital is that it offers progress. We don’t need very large cameras or lenses, and we don’t always need tripods. Imagine if we were stuck with behemoth DSLRs and huge lenses, stabilized with tripods. In that case, you’d have to wonder why you went digital in the first place. Where is the benefit?

    Although I’m happy enough with my old Sony kit, which I used with manual focus lenses, I think I’m going to go to Micro 4/3 when I feel that it would be justified. Like you, I will buy the wide zoom and the standard zoom, but my third lens will be the 12-100/4.

    I’m going Olympus over Panasonic mainly for the focus stacking feature. Not that simple focus bracketing is a bad thing, and both Olympus and Panasonic offer that. From what I can tell, the focus bracketed images are ready to import into a focus stacking app with no tweaks needed (e.g. alignment).

  7. To my eye these are fabulous shorts. I normally don”t like HDR, or highly boosted color but it works with this material and is so artfully done. Thanks.

  8. I don’t really care what camera you used. Whatever. However, the shots are superb; lots of rich but not over the top vibrance and saturation. Well done. Do you have regular saturation go to card slot 1 and extra saturation go to card slot 2?

    • No GD, I do nothing in camera. I want to make sure I have the original as-is. And, every photo is different. I enjoy sitting at my keyboard ( like a musician ) and creating a very different interpretation of what I photographed.
      For the most part, camera brands are not important but some viewers still like to know and after all, Steve’s site is probably 50% equipment. If I knew I had to mount an exhibition, I probably would have chosen a Nikon 850 or even the huge new Fuji. My shoulder probably would have complained!

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