Category: Photography

I recently came across the channel of Gerald Undone who has very succinct but detailed explanations of complex technical issues in photography. If you don’t understand them after watching his videos, you are probably beyond salvation.

I have selected some, and there are probably more in his channel.

I was particularly intrigued by the depth of field explanation, which says that it is the same regardless of focal length, but the bokeh looks more pleasing in high focal length lenses because they also magnify the out of focus area in the photo, along with the subject.

I spent some time collecting some of my nicer photos into a portfolio, organised by theme.

Have a look.

The promise of the micro four thirds format (micro43), about which I have written before, is good quality in a portable package.

Here is an asterisk on quality: great photographs are mostly not about technical quality, which is a matter of fashion, opinion, conditioning and procrastination from things that matter. Quality is mostly a distraction, especially in a world where mobile phones compete for quality with pocket cameras of a few years back.

Asterisk two on quality: Unfortunately knowledge that quality for which one used to pay a premium for is now the standard does not make people happy with what is currently available. The expensive option will always have demand some of which is just a consequence of having two options.

Time lapse photography of the sun during the May 20th Eclipse.

I recently gave up a proper dSLR (digital SLR - one of those big cameras where lenses change) for something that promised to be smaller but not compromise much in photographic experience - the Olympus Pen EP3. It is a micro4/3 camera, i.e. its sensor is almost as big as dSLRs leading to comparable image quality, but slightly smaller so that the whole camera and lenses can be much smaller. It is supposed to combine the advantages of point and shoot cameras (small size) with those of dSLRs (lens choices, higher quality pictures, add- ons, etc). See more on the class of camera the Olympus EP3 represents.

After 3 months of getting to know the new system, it is a good time to write about it. My aim is to distill the information that ended up mattering the most to me and write the post that I would have liked to have read before making the decision to switch.

Overall, it is a compromise in terms of image quality and portability. This I knew beforehand. The quality is still very good and usually I prefer the balance between portability and quality that the small camera gives. One unexpected outcome has been that for many things the micro4/3 camera is better.

Get an ancient photo of yourself in an environment that has not changed much. Find the same or similar clothes. And take the same pose as in the past.

The result is back to the future.

I should definitely do something like that.