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Other Lessons

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Basic Portrait Indoors

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Basic Product Shot

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Basic Product Up-Close

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Glamour Shot
with the HalfDome2

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Olympus C-740:
Depth of Field Portrait

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Olympus C-750:
Basic Start-Up

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Olympus D-560:
White Balance Indoors

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Olympus E-1:
Basic Start-Up

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Olympus E-1:
A Closer Look

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Panoramic

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Resolution

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Shooting a Basic Headshot

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Techniques for Shooting Jewelry

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Two-Dimensional Artwork

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Simple Tricks for Consistent Portrait Lighting

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Soft Lights for Dramatic Results

Recently, we decided to take some afternoon shots of this lighthouse at Fort Williams State Park in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. While photographs of lighthouses tend to fall into the "popular among tourists" category of photography and are often associated with being "cliché" (particularly in New England), it is still possible to create unique-looking images from such highly photographed scenes. By taking the time to figure out the shot you want and knowing what methods to use to get it, you will invariably create results that stand apart from those of the "point-and-click" crowd.

This lesson examines some special techniques used with an Olympus C-5050 Zoom digital camera, a Manfrotto tripod, a Tele Conversion lens attachment, and Camedia software to create both close-up and panoramic images.

(Click on any image below for an enlarged view.)

THE SHOOT

One of the key elements to be aware of when shooting outdoors is the condition of the sky. An overcast day can be great for minimizing contrast in highlights and shadows, but it can also make for a rather bland sky. And while a cloudless, sunny day can render vibrant colors and sharp detail in high contrast, its clear, continuously toned skies can also be relatively boring in many photographic situations. On this particular day, the sky was filled with large, cumulus rain clouds, which typically make for more interesting backdrops in situations like these. Photographers tend to keep an eye out for days like these.

Once we arrived at the lighthouse, we brought the camera bag and tripod to a patch of ground just south of the lighthouse. We mounted an Olympus C- 5050 Zoom digital camera to a Manfrotto tripod and positioned the camera vertically to frame the lighthouse. Since we were a fair distance away, we zoomed all the way in to fill as much of the lighthouse in the shot as possible. First, we disabled the All Reset function of the camera, then we set the Exposure mode to Program, set the ISO to 64 (its lowest), set the Resolution to SHQ, set the White Balance to Daylight and took a shot (figures 1 & 2).

As you can see from the result, the exposure rendered from this automatic shooting mode was dead-on. The Program Exposure mode in this camera is particularly adept at rendering good exposures in normal lighting situations. Keep in mind though that there are times, as in shooting in backlit situations, when you will want to control your exposure manually. The simplest way to adjust your aperture and shutter speed settings is within the Manual Exposure shooting mode.

After reviewing the shot in the LCD of the camera, we realized we wanted to be able to come in a little tighter on the lighthouse. But since we were already at the end of our zoom setting, and the fact that there was a fence and body of water between the lighthouse and us, we were hard pressed to increase the size of the lighthouse with this set-up. Fortunately, we had our Olympus Tele Conversion lens attachment with us! Within thirty seconds, we attached the lens, reframed the shot and took another exposure (figures 3 & 4).

Now the lighthouse fills the frame and you can even make out the details of its upper walkway. As you can see, this accessory lens is invaluable for location shots like these. And since it's so lightweight, it's easy to carry along with the rest of your camera gear.

Next, we wanted to create a simple panoramic image to include the lighthouse, the rocky shore and the ocean. The C-5050 Zoom actually has a Panoramic shooting mode and comes bundled with Camedia software, which allows you to automatically stitch these images together.

Regardless of the technique you use to stitch images together, it is crucial to first capture images in such a way that they will line up evenly next to each other. And the best tool for ensuring this is a tripod. For these types of shots, we recommend using a tripod that has a level both on the base of the tripod and on the head of the tripod. By adjusting both of these levels, you will be able to keep the horizon line even throughout each image.

Here, we first made minor adjustments to the tripod legs. While checking the top air bubble, we adjusted the legs of the tripod until the base was precisely level. Once the legs were set, we used the tripod head to position the camera back to a horizontal position and set the tripod head so that it too was level (figures 5 & 6).

We then loosened the knob that controls the base rotation and set the rotation point to 0 degrees. This would be the starting point for the first of three shots. We made sure the camera was set to Panorama mode and then took our first shot (figures 7 & 8).

(NOTE: Panorama mode will only work in the Program shooting mode with Olympus brand SmartMedia and xD-Picture cards.)

When you are shooting in the Panorama mode, you will see gridlines on either side of the frame indicating where you should line up the next shot. We then spun the camera to that point, which happened to be about 30 degrees to the left of our original position and took another shot (figures 9 & 10).

Finally, we spun the camera another 30 degrees and took a final shot (figures 11 & 12).

POST PRODUCTION

Once we were back at the studio, we transferred the images from the SmartMedia card to a computer via an Olympus USB dual slot media reader and started up the Camedia Master software that came with the camera.

Here is how to create panoramic images automatically. Once the main menu appears, select the AUTO PANORAMA menu (figure 13).

This will bring you to a page with an icon column on the left and black filmstrip in the center of the window. Press the BROWSE button to locate the folder of images you wish to use, and they will appear in the icon column to the left. Next, drag and drop each image you want to appear in the panoramic composite onto the black filmstrip and press the STITCH button at the bottom of the window (figures 14 & 15).

After a few moments, the result will appear in the main window. That's all there is to it! To save the composite, press the SAVE button at the bottom of the window (figure 16).

Since the Camedia software uses some perspective algorithms to effectively merge the images together, the edges of the final result will be somewhat curved. In order to eliminate these curved edges, you will need to crop the image slightly. In order to do this, first return to the main menu and press the PHOTO menu (figure 17).

This will bring up a window similar to the Panorama window. Once you have the saved panoramic thumbnail in the left-hand column, select the thumbnail and press the ADD button at the bottom of the column (figure 18).

This will bring up a larger version of the image in the main window and you will be able to see the curved edges more clearly. To crop the image, select IMAGE from the top menu and then scroll down to CROP (figure 19).

Uncheck the MAINTAIN ASPECT RATIO button and draw a selection over the image. You can make adjustments to the selection by clicking and dragging the center points of each side. Once you are satisfied with the selection, press the APPLY button at the bottom of the window to see the result (figures 20 & 21).

After you've cropped the image, you can then save it, print it, prepare it for email or the web, all within the Camedia application.

Making panoramic images this way is very quick and easy and the results are very good considering it is all done automatically. However, if you look closely, you may notice some slight discrepancies where the images come together (figure 22).

Most people will not notice these discrepancies, but if you really want to create a seamless result like the image below, you'll need to use a more advanced photo-editing program to do it (figure 23).