Tag: Nik Silver Efex Pro

Learning the Olympus System

Ever since ordering the Olympus OM-D E-M5 over a month ago, I’ve been waiting rather impatiently for it to ship. Unfortunately, that probably won’t be for another couple of weeks.

So in the meantime, I decided to get an Olympus PEN E-PL1 ($289 on Amazon w/lens) and begin to get familiar with Olympus’ menu system and general camera functions. In reading about both cameras, it appeared that they had similar menu setups and would make for an easy transition to the E-M5.

I’m thoroughly enjoying the E-PL1 and have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of images that can be coaxed from this little “PEN”. These images reflect a few of my favorites, so far, and have various amounts of post processing applied, from just a crop to some fairly aggressive black and white work.

All images are from the Olympus PEN E-PL1 with the 14-42mm kit lens.

ISO 1000, f/5.3, 1/40s, 37mm

ISO 200, f/8, 10 seconds, 42mm (light painting)

ISO 200, f/8, 1/1250s, 39mm, B&W processing in Nik Silver Efex Pro

ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/1500s, 42mm, cropped only

ISO 200, f/8, 10 seconds, 42mm, (light painting)

Old Ford Truck – HDR

Near my home, is this old abandoned Ford truck sitting forlornly by the road. It looked pretty sad with no headlights, bullet riddled windshield, and paint so oxidized it was barely still red.

Luckily, the light was literally spot-lighting it at that time, so I took 3 quick bracketed shots with my Nikon D7000 (2-EV spacing).

Later, I combined the 3 images into an HDR using Nik HDR Efex Pro. Then, with another Nik program, Silver Efex Pro, I converted it to a black and white, tweaked the micro contrast and was done…well, except for some minor sharpening and noise reduction in Lightroom.