A photograph showing a freediver examining the aftermath of whaling has led to Alex Dawson from Sweden being crowned as Underwater Photographer of the Year 2024.

Dawson’s photograph Whale Bones triumphed over 6,500 pictures entered from around the world.

“Whale Bones was photographed in the toughest conditions as a breath-hold diver descends below the Greenland ice sheet to bear witness to the carcasses,” Alex Mustard, the chairman of the judging panel, said.

“The composition invites us to consider our impact on the great creatures of this planet. Since the rise of humans, wild animals have declined by 85 per cent. Our way needs to change to find a balance with nature.”

Whales dominated the winning pictures this year with Rafael Fernandez Caballero, a Spanish

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Most people have pictures documenting their memories and how they have changed over the years.

Photos such as these are simple, everyday luxuries children in the care of Children’s Home of Lubbock don’t always get. Community volunteers have taken this into their own hands to ensure these kids have a picture day they will never forget.

“For us to be able to take pictures for them, to have those when they leave the children’s home just to cherish. It is something I hope that they always have with them,” said Amanda Wise of Wise Design Photography.

For the last six years, Wise has been behind the lens, giving children who often come from abusive and neglectful homes a confidence boost and a photo that otherwise may have never been taken.

“These kids get to their senior year, and they don’t have a picture to put in their yearbook, or even a picture with their siblings,” Wise said.

The event is not a typical picture day; it is a community effort to give kids from Children’s Home of Lubbock an experience they will never forget.

Eberley Brooks provides the venue, Dillard’s donates clothing, cosmetologists from Petra Hair Design, Designer Group Salon, Hair and Makeup by Adriana and Caviar Academy provide hair and makeup services.

“We contacted people in the community and asked them if they would be willing to donate stuff for food, hair and makeup, and clothing,” Wise said. “Just to make the day really special for these kids.”

After the kids pull an outfit from the rack, get hair and makeup touch-ups, and are “picture perfect,” it is Wise’s turn to capture a moment that will last a lifetime.

“Just to see the smiles on their faces and how happy they are, to feel spoiled, to have everyone just love on them. It is something you can’t really put into words,” Wise said.

Copyright 2024 KCBD. All rights reserved.

There are many small, simple steps, that you can take to drastically improve your portrait photography today. 

As a portrait photographer, I have developed many techniques over the years that I use on a daily basis with my clients to create images that are dynamic, dramatic, and have interest for the viewer. In my latest YouTube video, I discuss five tips that work both in and out of the studio, and that anyone, no matter where they are in their journey as a portrait artist, can do. For instance, part of my discussion centers around what focal length to use, and my choices for portrait lenses sometimes defy what people generally accept as the “correct” choice. I also discuss something that seems simple, but that can have a tremendous impact on your portraits – simply having your subject look away from the camera. This might seem simple at first, but the direction and angle of their face, as well as their eye placement, can result in portraits with a wide array of moods. I also discuss cropping, more specifically, cropping in close. There are more tips plus a bonus tip relating to camera settings at the end. I hope you enjoy the video!

Think Micro Four-Thirds and you probably think about OM System, formerly called Olympus.

The brand has a strong pedigree in the crop sensor camera game and in 2022 introduced the OM-1, the brand’s all-singing flagship camera that offered blistering frame rates and a truckload of computational features.

The OM-1 attracted praise for its pro-build and ease of use, reinvigorating interest in the Micro Four-Thirds sector, and it was a camera we really enjoyed using as well.

Fast forward nearly two years and the replacement has arrived, but rather than a whole new camera, the Mark II is more of a refinement. Let’s take a look at this facelift model, which has an RRP of $3,799, to see what’s been improved.

The build

First up, let’s talk about the design, which is almost exactly the same as the original OM-1.

The only differences found on the Mark II are a new name plate (OM System instead of Olympus), and there’s a change in design to the dials – gone are the plastic versions and in their place or much nicer ‘rubbery-style’ dials, which will make it much easier to change settings if you are using gloves.

That said, the original OM-1 was a pretty comprehensive body to begin with, offering an extreme level of weather protection to keep moisture and dust at bay, while delivering an ergonomic build and a sensible layout of buttons.

Tipping the scales at just 599g, the body was lightweight, but robust enough to take the knocks of everyday use.

On the inside

So, if the body is pretty much the same, what else is new? Well, it’s inside the camera where things have really changed and perhaps the biggest new feature is the introduction of a Live Graduated ND filter. That’s right, you may well be able to finally ditch those expensive and awkward glass filters as the Mark II now offers this feature in-camera.

The feature works well and users can use the LCD to drag a horizon line over the area of the scene where they want the ND grad effect to work. The angle of the horizon can be adjusted using the dials so that you can fine-tune it in and there’s more settings too.

For example, you can change the type of graduations, choosing between Soft, Medium or Hard, and the strength of ND grad can be adjusted too, with photographers selecting from GND2, GND4 and GND8.

From my testing, these different levels of filtration should be enough for most photographers, but if you are greeted with an extremely high-contrast lighting scene – such as a strong sunset or sunrise where the sky is much, much brighter than the foreground – then you may still need some physical grad filtration.

That said, the feature works incredibly well and is certainly an adequate safety net for those photographers who have ventured out without packing any glass filters.

It is computational features like the Live GND mode that OM System does very well and one of the other computational features has also been improved.

The Live ND, which can artificially extend the shutter speed so users can capture long exposures has been improved and now offers ND128 – that’s 7-stops of exposure you are buying back without needing to add a physical ND filter in front of your lens and that’s pretty damn impressive.

Autofocus

The new Mark II offers the same blistering frame rates, enabling wildlife and sports photographers to shoot 50 frames per second with full AF/AE or up to a whopping 120 frames per second with locked autofocus.

While the original OM-1 had a buffer of 90 frames, this Mark II increases this dramatically to over 200 frames in one go.

But it’s the autofocus system that sees a major improvement, with the AF far better at picking up fast moving subjects in the frame and now identifies humans, even if they are facing away from the camera.

I shoot a lot of bird photography and can confirm the Mark II is way, way better at locking onto feathered subjects, even if they are partially obscured by branches or other objects that could flummox regular AF systems.

Image quality

Although the 20-megapixel MFT sensor is the same as the original OM-1 – which will be somewhat of a disappointment to some photographers – the image quality does receive a bump, both in general photography and even more so when the High Res Shot mode is engaged.

As a reminder; the High Res mode enables photographers to capture a single high res file (50-megapixel handheld or 80-megapixel when used on a tripod) and the Mark II enables users to capture these files in 14-bit RAW format, up from 12-bit RAW; and while that may sound like an inconsequential upgrade, it’s the equivalent of three times the tonal range.

Another incremental but important improvement is the In Body Image Stabilisation (IBIS), which has seen a boost from 7.5 to 8.5 stops to help banish camera shake.

In the hands, the Mark II is an engaging camera to take out into the field. Many will look past the OM System cameras in favour of APS-C or full-frame options, but Micro Four-Thirds does bring certain benefits, particularly the 2x crop factor, which will appeal to wildlife photographers looking to capture subjects from a distance that would be scared away if you got too close.

The small and lightweight dimensions of OM System gear is also a big plus and there aren’t many photographers out there who would choose to carry heavier gear when given the choice.

Also launched alongside the OM-1 Mark II was the 150-600mm F5-6.3 IS lens, which is the perfect optic to explain the benefits of the Micro Four-Thirds system.

With an equivalent focal length of 300-1200mm, the creative opportunities this lens and camera combo can bring are incredible and despite the new lens weighing around 2kg, the full-frame versions would be ginormous in comparison.

What’s more, the lens works with OM Systems 1.4x and 2x teleconverters, extending the maximum focal length to a mind-blowing 2400mm.

This could widen the appeal of the system to travel or astrophotographers, all looking to take advantage of the extraordinary focal length to capture new images.

The wrap-up

The OM-1 Mark II is definitely an evolution rather than a revolution, and OM System has spent a lot of time improving the most important areas that made the original OM-1 such a big hit.

Have they gone far enough, and could they have done more? Maybe. At the same time, the lower resolution offered by this camera will still draw complaints, but then again, if resolution is the biggest factor in your decision to buy a camera, then Micro Four-Thirds likely isn’t the right format for you anyway.

No, this system is squarely aimed at wildlife and nature photographers seeking a lightweight system that can offer lightning quick burst mode, impressive autofocus and some clever computational features – all while not weighing you down, both physically and financially.

Remember, the OM-1 Mark II remains incredible value for money given the professional build, weather protection and high level of features.

A massive leap forward? Not quite, but a good step forward that will certainly please existing OM system users and may well convert others to the Micro Four-Thirds gang. ❂

The results

Handling  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Features ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Image quality ★ ★ ★ ★

Value for Money: ★ ★ ★ ★

More expensive than the original OM-1, the Mark II still offers decent value for money, especially when compared to APS-C sensor alternatives. 

Final word

An improvement over the original OM-1? Undoubtedly, and the new computational features will certainly turn heads.

Some existing MFT users will have hoped for more, but OM System has built on a solid foundation and refined an already special camera to be even more special. Expect wildlife (especially bird photographers) to find a perfect companion in the OM-1 Mark II.

More images

According to Powell River Orphaned Wildlife Society (PROWLS): “Beginning in November every year, residents in the qathet region are treated to the sight of trumpeter swans arriving from their summer nesting grounds in the Arctic.”

Photogenic trumpeters

For the past few days, folks who are a part of an online photography group have been busy photographing the young swans molting, preening, flapping, and flying around the Cranberry Lake area.

Resident catches swan napping

Jody Coomber Turner said she took a photo of a trumpeter swan napping while she was at Lindsay Park, near Cranberry Lake, this morning, Monday, February 19, 2024; also Family Day in BC, and rest day for many.

Turner took up photography a few years back after she bought a second-hand camera from a friend. She said she takes many of the photographs from her car and from her outside-deck on the lake. 

Distance flyers

“When they [trumpeters] arrive, they have flown thousands of kilometres without stopping and are the heaviest flying birds in North America,” according to PROWLS.

What folks are seeing now on Cranberry Lake are adolescent swans who only hatched three to four months prior to beginning their migration in November.

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June Sharpe has won the overall prize in the annual International Garden Photographer of the Year contest, which is now in its 17th year. Her inventive image, was of a conifer trees shot in a Kent, England – but transformed into an abstract, wallpaper-like pattern.

“The layered branches of this conifer reminded me of the dancing cranes often featured in Japanese woodcuts,” she tells us. But the effect, which also won her the 7iM Abstract Views category was achieved in Photoshop. “I added a fill layer and used exclusion blending mode to alter the colors and enhance the feeling of movement and sense of the ‘birds’ dancing in a fantasy woodland”. 

The image itself was shot with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III with Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM lens, using an exposure of 1/350sec at f/5.6, ISO 800.

The separate RPS Portfolio category prize was won by Annaick Guitteny with a sequence of six square images of close-ups of plants, covered in water droplets.

The eight other category winners are pictured below…

See the IGPOTY website for the full rundown of the winners and runners-up – and for details of this year’s contest, which is now open for entries. 

A selection of the current winners is currently on display at Kew Gardens in London until March 10, before moving on to Cambridge University Botanic Garden, where the exhibition will be on display from March 20 until May 7.

Why are photographers obsessed with shallow depth of field? And why I think it can ruin your photography as it almost did with mine. Read on about how it started to affect my photography and what I did about it. 

I hear the judge’s voice “How do you plead, Vojkan…” 
“It is pronounced Voy-Khan, your honor.” I mumble to myself.
“…on account of excessive use of shallow depth of field?”
“Guilty your honor.”
“I sentence you to 15 years of using lenses with aperture of f/4 or smaller. Your only lens will be a zoom. 28-200mm variable aperture. f/4.5-f/6.1!”

I wake up in a cold sweat and this thought keeps coming back to my mind — why are we (at least most photographers I know) so obsessed with shallow DOF? I am not talking about bokeh, but shallow depth of field in general. At one time I was pretty obsessed with it.

The Beginning 

My journey in photography started way back when in 2007/08. I bought my first “serious” camera, a Fuji FD6500. It was a toss-up between it and a Canon PowerShot (some pocketable model with power zoom). The Canon 350D was well out of reach and film cameras were out of the picture as well. Even back then I thought a bigger lens equals more professional results, which as we all know is defined by shallow DOF. And the Fuji had a bigger lens compared to the Canon.

Well, I was wrong. Both about the Fuji’s shallow depth of field (wonderful camera, but everything is in focus as you’d expect from a small sensor camera) and that pro photography is all about shallow depth of field.

And, there I am, shooting with my little Fuji, everything in focus. But I desperately want my images to look good. So, I start experimenting: editing, composition, reading books on photography, emulating (copying) old masters, searching for light, contrasty scenes…

Until I bought my first “real” DSLR. Canon 5D Mark I. 2009. Used. I bought one lens, the 50mm. To test the cameras I was looking at. And to have at least one lens. I was blown away. First by the image quality and second by the shallow DOF. Yes, finally! Pro photographer results!

The next lens I bought was a 35mm f/2. Not enough shallow DOF! I got myself a Sigma 35mm f/1.4 soon after. Next lens: 85mm f/1.8. Holy cow! The magic is happening at apertures below f/2. Back then, I didn’t care about zooms at f/2.8. Unless they are 70-200mm and above, then yes as it gives me a shallow depth of field; It blurs out everything into oblivion. 

After some time I settled with this combination 35/50/85. I got everything I needed in those three lenses: Light, affordable, and fast.

The Effect

After a few years, I noticed that all of the things that made me a decent photographer were slowly dying in front of my eyes. I stopped looking for light because, you know, shallow DOF will take care of everything. I stopped looking for nice scenes. I stopped looking for composition. I just stopped caring about other elements of photography, because shallow DOF will take care of everything. 

It affected my photography in the most horrible way. Something that I am struggling with to this day. Poor compositions, poor lighting, poor scene selection.

The Solution

But, I am working on it. Mindfully closing down apertures to f/2.8, f/4, etc… Slowing down the pace. Pushing myself to think about other elements constantly. I even started using a zoom lens. Something unthinkable because, you know, primes equal shallow DOF.

All of this has a very positive effect on me and my photography. First, I noticed that clients don’t really care about things I care about. Not one client ever said “Wow. I love how blurry the background is.” Second, I noticed a nice bump in good composition and using good light to my advantage. I’m not always satisfied, but it has been a gratifying process.

The Question 

And I started wondering, why am I and other people so obsessed with it? I know immensely gifted photographers who are always salivating at f/1.2 lenses. Because f/1.4, and god forbid f/1.8, are so lame. And they are pretty open about it. “It will give me more blur” or “I want the background to be completely blurry.”

So, what is it? Why?

My opinion is that we are obsessed with it because we can buy it. It is one photographic element that you can actually purchase. I mean, it has its uses, but shooting everything at f/1.4 just because you can is just lazy.

Other photography elements like composition, reading light, picking out a good scene for a shoot, or being able to see a part of of scene and use it to your advantage… it takes time, effort, failure, and grit to master those. Shallow DOF just needs a trip to your local camera dealer and buy a new lens.

What are your thoughts about it? Are you obsessed with it as I once was?