Showing posts with label Camera Features. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camera Features. Show all posts
In some Olympus cameras, there is a hidden feature called HandHeld Starlight, which technically is a multishot noise reducton composite technique that can effectively get rid of high ISO noise, producing clean low light images. I tested the Handheld Starlight mode of my Olympus PEN E-PL7, shooting images ranging from ISO1600-12800, and the results are very impressive - though JPEG only, the images retain very good amount of details, yet suppressing high ISO noise. I went out to test this around the streets of Kuala Lumpur, and made a video (you can watch it here) to explain the mechanics behind the Handheld Starlight mode. I am sharing the images in this blog entry. I wish OM System includes this feature in their higher level flagship camera, like the OM-1 series. 

OM Digital Solutions may have made some questionable decisions in their product strategy and marketing activities lately, but one thing for sure that never went wrong since the days of Olympus - the weather-sealing capabilities of their cameras and lenses. I have to say, the reliability of the camera's sealing against harsh environment - splash, dust and freeze, is second to none. Almost all cameras that I have reviewed from Olympus and more recently OM System, I have run them through vigorous running water test. The OM System OM-3 was no exception, and as expected, no surprise here really, the camera survived and had no issues after the water splash. I even made a video to show the water running onto the camera and lens, OM System 25mm F1.8 II, which was also weather-resistant. You can watch the shorts here (click). The confidence of having such robustly built camera is something that I do appreciate a lot. 

I am revisiting the ISO200 challenge which I did a while ago, but this time with the OM System OM-1 paired with the excellent Panasonic Leica 9mm F1.7 lens. I was attacking the central area in Kuala Lumpur, capturing the vibrant highway with streaks of lights from the passing traffic with the backdrop of the metropolitan city. I stayed at ISO200 throughout the entire session, trusting the 5-Axis Image Stabilization in camera to steady my hand-held shots without using the tripod. The advantage of this technique - I get completely clean results free of high ISO noise, and the best possible image quality that I can squeeze out of the 20MP Micro Four Thirds sensor, as ISO200 is the native, base ISO. Many people wrongly assumed that to shoot in low light you need either to use a tripod or to bump up the ISO numbers much higher. In this case, if you do not intend to freeze motion, or have fast moving subjects, then you can lower you ISO number to get better results. If you have not done the ISO200 challenge before, I highly recommend you to try it, it is very fun, I promise, and you will be surprised by the results you can get hand-held with your Olympus or OM System camera, at low ISO shooting in low light. I also made a video about this topic here (click). 

Everyone is raving about how great the deep learning intelligent subject detection for birds in OM System OM-1 camera, so I thought it would be fun to give it a try. I brought the OM-1 and M.Zuiko 40-150mm R lens to the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park, and I intended to do a POV video demonstrating my experience using the bird detection AF. However, the external HDMI recorder failed on me during shoot. Not giving up, I decided to do things the hard way, holding the camera and lens with one hand shooting the bird, while the smartphone on another hand to film the LCD screen of the OM-1 in action. Trust me, this was no easy feat, I was struggling so much most of the time, and missed a lot of shots. I will poke your eye out if you dare to suggest me to do bird in flight in such challenging condition. Nevertheless, I think the results are good enough to show the point of the video - how well the bird detection on OM-1 works. And I personally think it is impressive. I discuss this and more in my latest video here (click). 

About half a year ago I was stuck in my tiny room during the lockdown and there was only so much I could do or shoot to create content. I saw the bright, round moon outside my window, and I decided to grab some shots. I then realized I have not made any videos or shared any tips on shooting high res moon shots, so I made a video demonstrating step by step on how to achieve a 50MP moon image. The video was never published until now, because I was not so keen on sharing content talking about a rock floating aimlessly in the sky, as honestly that is not my usual photography as well. I decided to start the ROBINSPEAKS podcast series which was short-lived, but I enjoyed making tremendously. Now revisitng this old content of the high res moon shot, I guess it would be a waste if I never put it out there. So here goes!

The video can be found here (click). 

Image shot with Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III and M.Zuiko 100-400mm F5-6.3
Of course this image was heavily cropped

Exact same image as the one above, but this was uncropped

LEFT: High Res Shot
RIGHT: Normal Shot

I used the hand-held high res shot to get the 50MP output. With just one click of the shutter button, the camera takes 16 images and then merges them all into a high res 50MP file, resulting in a highly detailed and sharp final output. The processing does take a bit of time but it is so worth the wait. And the fact that this can all the done hand-held without the aid of any support (tripod, monopod, etc), I find it quite amazing. This is one situation where resolution does matter, and the fact that Olympus has the lens that is powerful enough to resolve the details, is also quite an accomplishment on its own. 

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Finally, after many attempts, I have a lightning photograph that I am somewhat satisfied with. Not perfectly happy yet, but good enough to share here. I did a blog article and an accompanying video (go see if you have not) sharing how to capture lightning with Olympus Live Composite mode just before this post, and I kinda wish I have this particular photograph as the final example of what can be accomplished. The image examples in that previous post was good enough to demonstrate how Live Composite works but definitely not something I was proud of. This time, the lightning striked much closer to where I was shooting from and the streaks captured were more dramatic. I finally got some vertical bolts!

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III and M.Zuiko 25mm F1.8
Live Composite used, F6.3, ISO200, shutter speed 2 seconds, shooting duration about 5 minutes in total. Camera on tripod of course. 

Don't ask me why the sky was purple. My science teacher would have answered it has something to do with ion particles in the air when the lightning happens that generates certain colors. I don't have the exact science explanation behind this, and I certainly do not have that much time to Wikipedia/Google it up. 

As I have mentioned in my previous article, shooting lightning also largely depends on luck. Now that I am still under lockdown in Malaysia and cannot move around freely to reposition myself, the view from my balcony will have to suffice. 

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One fine evening I got distracted by the lightning flashing in the sky repeatedly outside my window view from my workstation, and I decided to pay closer attention. I have tried shooting lightning before, not actively chasing lightning, but when there was a storm I would see if I can position myself to get a decent lightning strike, but to no avail as the lightning was always not within the framing possibility. This time, it was within reach and I decided to set up my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III on the tripod at my balcony (overlooking the same direction where the lightning was actively flashing in the sky) and I managed to capture a few decent shots. I thought, why not make an article on how to capture lightning using Olympus cameras?

Of course I did a video on how to shoot lightning with Olympus Live Composite, if you prefer to watch me ramble on YouTube you can see the video here (CLICK HERE). 

The main problem with shooting lightning is the unpredictability of where and when the lightning is going to strike. There are a few solutions to this problem, the most practical one using a lightning detector/trigger system, a device that detects the change of ion charge in the air just before the lightning is about to strike and it trips the shutter release just in time to capture the shot. I don't intend to become a full time lightning chaser and whenever there is a thunderstorm I honestly prefer to just hide inside my house and maybe curl up into a ball on my bed, not living life dangerously going outside and be crazy. So this method is a no no for me, as I would probably use it once or twice and forget about ever having purchased a specialist equipment. 

The second solution is to leave the shutter open for a long duration of time to capture any lightning that will strike within the long exposure. This is quite effective, but depending on the lightning condition, if the sky was not completely dark and you leave the shutter open for too long, this will lead to overexposure, ruining the shot. The third solution which I did not discuss in the video was to use time lapse setting, having the camera to continuously capture a sequence of images non-stop and when the lightning strikes the camera will surely have successfully grabbed the shot. I believe many serious lightning chasers are using time lapse method and the cool thing about using time lapse is that you can then merge the many shots into an interesting time lapse movie that can be really dramatic. 

How did I capture lightning with Olympus camera? I used Live Composite setting of course, and it is closely related to the second solution - leaving the shutter open for a very long duration of time - instead of worrying about the risk of getting an overblown image, the Live Composite does it's trick to maintain balanced exposure, no matter how long the duration of shoot is.

This was the one shot that I was happy with.

I was hoping for a vertical lightning bolt to strike somewhere in the middle, but I had no such luck. But hey, there is always a next time. 


I probably should have used a wider framing for this shot. Oh well, maybe I will get luckier next time. 

I have blogged about what Olympus Live Composite is, how it functions, and the steps required to activate and shoot with Live Composite. In that article (click here), I was sharing about how to shoot Star Trail, but the explanations and how to step by step guide are every bit similar and applicable for shooting lightning, so I will just refer you to that article if you want to find out more about Live Composite. 

Olympus Live Composite is technically an advanced bulb mode. Instead of a single 15 minutes exposure image, which will most likely gather too much light even in the evening, the Live Composite allows the image to be taken at much shorter exposure duration - say 30 seconds each image. The camera will seamlessly and continuously capture image after image consecutively for 15 minutes, in total shooting about 30 shots of 30 seconds exposure each image (30 shots x 30 seconds = 15 minutes duration). The camera employs additive brightness blending in the composite mode, when merging the images together, the camera will compare the base image (first) against subsequent images, and any part of the other images that has brighter region than the base will be added into the first image. This works very well if you are shooting fireworks, light trails on the highway, star trail in the sky or in this blog, lightning in the sky. The brighter part of the sky due to lightning strike will be blended additively onto the 30 seconds image, successfully preventing the overall image to be overexposed. 

The cool part about Live Composite? The compositing of the images, and the effect of the light additive blending happens live and can be previewed in real time from the LCD camera screen, while the Live Composite process is still running. When the lightning strikes and that lightning bolt was captured and merged into the composite image, you can literally see this happen while the camera is still shooting. So far, this neat feature is only available in Olympus cameras, and some newer Panasonic bodies, but I am unsure if the Panasonic variants have the same full functionality as Olympus Live Composite. 

If you use Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III, E-M1 Mark III and E-M1X, there is a B mode (Bulb) on the mode dial, turn to B and find the Live Composite mode (there are only 3 modes, Bulb, Live Time and Live Composite). 

If you use Olympus E-PL9 or E-M10 Mark III, turn the mode dial to AP mode (Advanced Photo) and find the Live Composite setting by navigating through the menu. 

If you are using any older Olympus camera bodies, such as E-M1 Mark II, E-M10 Mark II, E-M5 Mark II, PEN-F, E-PL8, then you need to go to the M mode on the mode dial (Manual), then adjust the shutter speed (typically rear command dial), slow it down until it reaches 60 seconds, then keep going you will find, Bulb, Live Time and finally Live Composite. 

As the compositing process is happening, images being merged, you can see the results and effects live, during the shooting process, as previewed on the LCD screen.  

I know this particular shot is not really that special, but I managed to capture quite a few motion elements all at once. The lighting, air plane flying by, traffic on the highway (bottom left) and also a short burst of fireworks!

Here is my shooting process in short:
1. Mount Camera on tripod
2. Activate Live Composite mode
3. ISO200, F-number almost widest, Shutter Speed 1 second (adjust accordingly to your situation)
4. 3 presses of shutter button - first to capture a base shot, second to start the live composite process, and third to end the shooting
5. Repeat until the desired effect is achieved. Luck is important. 

I know that my lightning shots from this session were not really that great, nothing to shout about, and honestly there are many better shots out there, but hey, I am doing this to share as much as I can about using Olympus cameras in different shooting scenarios. Shooting lighting can be fun, and I genuinely believe Olympus Live Composite is such a wonderful feature that can push the boundaries of creative photography processes. 

If you have not used Olympus Live Composite, you have no idea what you are missing out. Go find some beautiful stars to shoot star trail, or go up high on a bridge to capture light trails on the highway, shoot beautiful fireworks shots, or if there is a thunderstorm, capture the lightning!

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I made a short introductory video (WATCH HERE) with simplified explanation of photography fundamentals - the exposure trinity of Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO. In the video, I explained what they were, how they worked, what photography effects they individually produce and how to control them using Olympus OM-D cameras. This is a quick, dumbed down version of photography basics for beginners, designed for newcomers to Olympus system and this is not a complete beginner's guide or how to use a camera. I made it as straight to the point as possible, cutting out all unnecessary bloat, with the aim of getting you to go out to shoot as soon as possible, because photography happens when you click the shutter button. 

For newcomers to photography, there are many simple and basic questions, such as how do I blur the background, how do I get motion blur, or how do make sure the moving subject is perfectly sharp? There questions are common, and can be easily controlled if the photography spent some time studying the very basics of how the camera operates, There is no shortcut to photography, if you want to take photography seriously, then you must master the fundamentals - shutter speed, aperture and ISO. Knowing how these settings work, and what they can do, you probably can do almost everything with your camera! 

I acknowledge that the video may be oversimplifying some topics, but it was never meant to be a comprehensive step by step tutorial. There are thousands of such videos out there, with articles and you can also by reference books if you want to explore anything further and in depth. The purpose of this video was to get you off your feet and start taking some pictures. Learn as you go, and you must allow yourself to make some mistakes along the way. You learn faster as you shoot more and more. I am a practical person, you can only learn something fully by actually doing it yourself. The problem with a lot of photographers (especially newcomers) these days? They talk too much and don't shoot enough. 

To freeze fast action, use fast shutter speed

To capture motion blur, slow down the shutter speed

To blur off the background, use large aperture (small F-number)

Shooting in very dark environment, ISO needs to be raised. 

Use large aperture for blur background "bokeh" efefct

Sports shooting require very fast shutter speed

This moment would have been lost if shutter speed was too slow. Prioritize shutter speed in fast action shoots

For light trails, you need very slow shutter speeds, such as this shot, taken at 4 seconds long. 

If you have a friend starting out photography, share this video, hopefully they will take Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO seriously! Because, they cannot advance too much further without properly understanding and mastering all these basics first. Tell them what I said - there is no shortcut in photography! Learn your basics. 


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Olympus added a new feature - USB RAW Data Edit in the latest update to Olympus Workspace (Version 1.1), their proprietary post-processing software. USB RAW Data Edit is activated by connecting the camera to the PC/Laptop via USB cable, and the Truepic VIII Engine in the camera will be utilized to boost the Raw files processing while running Olympus Workspace on the PC/Laptop. This feature is currently only available for Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II and E-M1X, and only applicable for RAW images shot with the connected same camera.

I have done a quick video (WATCH HERE) to briefly explain what USB RAW Data Edit is, demonstrate how it works and also show my real life usage of the feature to deliver a set of photographs in my recent shoot.


Here is the step by step guide to enable USB RAW Data Edit

WHAT YOU NEED
1) Olympus Workspace - latest version 1.1 (as of writing) installed on your PC/Laptop
2) E-M1 Mark II (firmware version 3.0 and newer) or E-M1X (firmware version 1.1 and newer)
3) USB cable to connect the camera to your PC/Laptop - use the one supplied in the box

HOW TO ENABLE USB RAW DATA EDIT
1) Start the Olympus Workspace on your laptop/PC
2) Connect the USB cable from camera to the laptop/PC. 
3) Turn on the camera
4) Select the option "PC-RAW"
5) Once connection is established, there is a pop-up notification on Olympus Workspace. Follow the instructions
6) Select the folder where your images are at. You may also choose to edit the RAW files inside the SD card in the camera, and export it out to the laptop/PC. 
7) Select the images you want to edit, do your post-processing, and export to the desired location

Bear in mind that when USB RAW Data Edit is used, some features in Olympus Workspace are unavailable. Features such as Color Edit, Dehaze and Clarity are not applicable anymore. All the crucial and basic adjustments (Exposure Compensation, White Balance, Crop, Highlight/Shadow, Sharpness, Contrast, Gradation, Keystone Compensation, Picture Mode, Art Filters, etc) remained unchanged. 

I have done some tests with the USB RAW Data Edit, and I am very impressed. 

Olympus Workspace, while being a huge step up from the predecessor Olympus Viewer 3, is still sluggish when it comes to exporting images. On my home workstation desktop PC which is running on quite a decent specification (AMD FX-8350 8-core processor, 16GB RAM, SSD and Radeon RX580) , it takes about 3-5 seconds or longer to export a single RAW file to JPEG. On my portable laptop (Lenovo Miix 510, running on Intel Core i3, 4GB RAM and SSD), it is even worse, it takes about more than 10 seconds to export just one RAW file. The improvements on previewing speed, overall smoother operations were fantastic but the exporting process was still a pain. I am shooting events and wedding photography commercially, and I need to deal with hundreds, sometimes thousands of photographs, so you can imagine the nightmare when it comes to exporting the final images. 

This is the main reason I am currently using Capture One Pro for most of my post-processing work, it takes about 2 seconds or less to export a single RAW file. 

With the new USB RAW Data Edit enabled for Olympus Workspace, the boost of speed was incredible. I could export a single RAW file in merely one second or less. You heard that right, instead of my workstation PC speed of 3-5 seconds, or my portable laptop's speed of more than 10 seconds, using the USB RAW Data Edit on my laptop which I have tested, it took me less than 1 second to export a single RAW file. Even with multiple RAW files selected, the speed remained the same, 1 RAW file per second. 

This is a massive jump in terms of productivity!

Honestly this was not really a surprise, considering how fast the Truepic VIII Engine in the camera is. 

The Truepic VIII allows the camera to shoot up to 60 frames per second! Surely processing a single RAW file per second is probably not even maximizing the full potential of the processor. 

What does all this mean and how can this benefit me as a commercial photographer?

Most commercial photographers will carry a laptop or portable device for quick edits on location. I prefer to work with a more portable solution, meaning I want my laptop to be as slim, small and light as possible so i can carry it around without worrying about it weighing me down or slowing me. That also means I have to compromise some performance. I acknowledge that there are powerful and high performing small form factor laptops out there, more suitable for handling heavy image processing tasks, but these laptops are also incredibly overpriced. I have a decently powerful PC workstation at home to handle a bulk of my heavy load when it comes to post-processing. The laptop is for quick edits and previews for clients, when necessary. 

Even with my underpowered Intel Core i3 (6th Gen) processor and minimal 4GB of RAM, a coming to 3 years old laptop now, with the USB RAW Data Edit, I bypass the laptop's weaker processing capability and utilize the camera's superior Truepic VIII Engine, maximizing processing speed to even faster than any other commercially available post-processing software! The blazing speed cuts down my operation time significantly, say a task that requires me maybe about 20-30 minutes, I could probably get done within 5 minutes!

I fully understand that Olympus Workspace is not the most powerful software for post-processing, not allowing use of layers or radial filters for higher level processing. Nonetheless, if speed is your priority, nothing is faster than this feature at the moment, yet at the same time you can still perform extensive fine-tuning to your photograph, fixing the white balance as well as recovering a tonne of shadow and highlight details. This is still highly advantageous in comparison with shooting JPEG - once your image is overexposed or shot in bad white balance, that's it, the image is ruined beyond salvation. 

my current humble laptop - Lenovo Miix 510 which is sort of like a Microsoft Surface Clone

One more advantage I can think of while using USB RAW Data Edit, is not having to fully import the files onto your Laptop/PC before you can start editing. Most post-processing softwares require "importing" process to access the raw files, and generate previews for thumbnails and quick viewing. However, that step of transferring RAW files to the laptop can also be time consuming, depending on how many images you are dealing with, and regenerating previews can also be a redundant step. Olympus already has their own preview image included in the RAW file, using Olympus Workspace it recognizes the embedded preview JPEG, saving time for regenerating previews. Not only that, you handle the RAW files inside your SD card while the camera is connected to your Laptop/PC without needed to physically transfer them out!

You plug in the USB cable, you start Olympus Workspace and you can immediately start working on the images. If you want the fastest workflow for fast edits, I just cannot think of anything this fast. And the best part - you don't need a powerful laptop/PC to enjoy this feature! The same performance can be enjoyed with lower spec/budget laptops, just like the one I am using. 

If you have Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II or E-M1X, the option to use USB RAW Data Edit is available to you. Why don't you give it a try? Even if you are not a professional photographer, I believe in spending less time working on your images on your laptop/PC, and spend more time going out to shoot more! The fun is being outdoor with the camera in your hand, having shutter therapy!


Live Composite is a unique and useful image stacking feature built into Olympus cameras that has been introduced since 2014 in Olympus OM-D E-M10 (first generation). Live Composite allows extremely long exposure shooting without overexposing the image. Typically, an ordinary single frame of long exposure image will capture too much light if the shutter is left open for too long. To prevent overexposure, Olympus' Live Composite basically stacks multiple images of similar exposure over a long duration of time while maintaining balanced exposure from the first frame. The exposure settings are fixed on first frame, set on a shorter exposure duration and are the same for subsequent shots. To illustrate this, instead of capturing a single 60 minutes exposure image which will certainly cause overblown outcome, Live Composite stacks 60 images (all taken at 1 minute exposure each) subsequently and continuously. The compositing process only selectively and additively blends in brighter parts of the subsequent frames onto the previous image. As a bonus, as the blending happens (for example, trailing of light due to slow shutter), you can view it occurring live on the camera's LCD screen, hence the name Live Composite.

While this Live Composite is not a new feature, I have rarely used it. Living in the metropolitan Kuala Lumpur, light pollution negated the possibility of shooting night sky. Furthermore, due to tropical weather, we typically get thunderstorms or lousy cloudy skies at night. Recently, I made a trip to Perth, Australia and did some star trail shooting with Olympus Live Composite. I thought why not do an article about this, and maybe share some tips to those who may want to explore this feature with their cameras?

All images in this entry were shot on Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II and M.Zuiko 7-14mm F2.8 PRO

5 seconds each image, total composite duration 40 minutes, ISO200, F2.8

The beauty of using Olympus' Live Composite was the convenience of having compositing feature already built into the camera, generating results at the press of just a few buttons. Traditionally, to get a star trail image, hundreds of images were taken subsequently and then composited via software processing on a computer. When shooting Live Composite, Olympus gives you not only the ease of capturing one frame with full composite result, all done in camera, but also the ability to preview the star trailing effect as it happens right in front of your eyes.

 HOW TO CAPTURE STAR TRAIL USING OLYMPUS LIVE COMPOSITE

1) TRIPOD
You will need a tripod, there is no going around this. You may think that propping the camera against the rock or your backpack will work, but trust me, if you want to get into the photography game, do yourself a favor and get a sturdy tripod.

2) START WITH FULLY CHARGED BATTERY
The last thing that you want to happen is battery dying off in the middle of an almost successful star trail shooting, losing a chunk of precious time and have to restart the process again.

 3) TURN ON LIVE VIEW BOOST 2
To enable easy framing using the LCD screen in the dark, switch on the Live View Boost 2 feature. Go to Menu --> Gear/Cogs Icon --> D tab --> Scroll down to Live View Boost --> Live Composite/Live Time --> On 2.
With this setting turned on, you may even see some visible stars in the sky, and you can clearly see the foreground (trees, structures, etc).

 4) SET TO MANUAL FOCUS
We are shooting landscape (if you are doing portrait photography then skip this step), so the focusing should be set to infinity. If you have Olympus PRO lenses (12-100mm, 12-40mm, 7-14mm, etc) pull down the focusing ring, and set the focusing mark to the infinity symbol.

 5) CAPTURE A SINGLE FRAME
To start, shoot the scene with a normal exposure. For the Crawley Edge Boatshed at Mounts Bay Road scene as shown in the opening image, I did some trial and error using Manual shooting mode, and figured out that a single frame capture of exposure settings ISO200, 5 seconds shutter speed and F2.8 aperture were needed for a balanced shot. The shot below is an example of the single frame taken before replicating the exposure settings for Live Composite.

5 seconds, ISO200, F2.8


6) ACTIVATE LIVE COMPOSITE
Having figured out the exact exposure settings for a single capture as explained in point 4), then we can now turn on the Live Composite mode. Turn the mode dial to M. Dial down (slow) the shutter speed to 60 seconds, then you keep turning it to find Bulb, Live Time, and finally, Live Composite. At this point, the LCD screen may suddenly become dimmed, do not be alarmed, that is perfectly normal as we normally use Live Composite shooting in dark environment, hence the camera intentionally dims the screen.

7) SET EXPOSURE SETTINGS FROM 4)
Based on the single capture settings from point 4), make sure all the settings are the same. You can adjust aperture via the control dial, and ISO from super control panel (or any other shortcuts you have set). However, to adjust the shutter speed, press the "MENU" button. This step is extremely crucial, and is often missed by many newcomers to Live Composite.

8) PRESS SHUTTER BUTTON ONCE TO GET READY
The camera will require capture of first frame to get ready, so just press it.

 9) PRESS SHUTTER BUTTON AGAIN TO START
Press the shutter button again the second time to start the Live Composite process. When the process started, you should be able to see capture information at the bottom right corner of the LCD screen, showing number of frames captured and total duration of capture.

Once the Live Composite process begins, you will get live feedback shown on the LCD screen. Within 5-10 minutes, you will start to see the stars trailing a little.

 10) PRESS SHUTTER BUTTON AGAIN TO STOP
Please allow about 45 minutes or more for the trails to develop. The longer duration of the capture the longer the trails will be. Once you are satisfied with the developed trails in the frame, press the shutter button to stop.

Additional tip - Live Composite can be shot in RAW, meaning the final composited result can be recorded as a RAW file. This allows better flexibility in post-processing, having full control over white balance and some detail recovery over shadow and highlight regions of the photograph.

Behind the scenes image of the E-M1 Mark II shooting the famous Blue Boathouse at Matilda Bay

30 seconds, ISO3200, F2.8

60 seconds each image, total composite duration 45m minutes, ISO1600, F2.8
Trail was not smooth due to intermittent frames with no star visibility, sky covered by cloud obviously. Trails should be smooth with clear, cloudless sky throughout the duration of shoot. 

60 seconds each image, total composite duration 45minutes ISO800, F2.8
This was taken at Tau Game Lodge at Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa. Shot from the balcony of my room. 

There are some limitations imposed by the camera while using Live Composite (hardware limit, or software processing capability) which should be taken note of:
ISO highest limit - ISO1600
Shutter Speed - 60 seconds (for single frame)
Aperture  - No limit, but typically set to widest to capture as much light as possible
Image Stabilization is disabled during Live Composite, hence sturdy tripod is necessary

Practically, I highly recommend maxing out the shutter speed, set the aperture to the widest (if you have an F1.2 lens, use F1.2!) and finally, only increase the ISO as necessary. 

If you have an Olympus camera (E-M10 or newer) and you have access to location with not too much light pollution, and the weather is not too cloudy, why not give star trail a try? There is always something magical shooting the stars in the sky. If you have any questions regarding Live Composite please ask!

Acknowledgement - Special thanks to Charmaine and Chris who brought me to awesome places to shoot night skies in Perth, Western Australia recently! 

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