• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About Us
  • Our Websites
  • Contact Us
  • Donations
  • Privacy Policy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube

MirrorLessons

Mirrorless camera reviews right at your virtual doorstep!

  • Home
  • Camera reviews
  • Lens reviews
  • Accessory reviews
  • Galleries
  • IN-DEPTH
    • Mirrorless on the job
    • Tutorials, Tips & Tricks
    • Essays
    • Musings
  • GUEST POSTS
You are here: Home / Galleries / A Black & White Walk in the Mountains with the Olympus OM-D E-M1

A Black & White Walk in the Mountains with the Olympus OM-D E-M1

08/04/2014 By Mathieu 7 Comments

Last weekend we spent Sunday afternoon in Mont Avic in the Valle d’Aosta region for our first “spring walk” in the Alps. It was my first real break after more than a month of non-stop work. That bit of fresh air and silence was exactly what I needed.

It was a little bit too early for coloured landscapes and nature shots. Snow was still present and the sky was cloudy for most of the day. As such I thought it would be an interesting opportunity to shoot in black and white and try the E-M1 JPGs in monochrome.

All the shots were taken with the M.Zuiko 9-18mm f/3.5-5.6

E-M1, 1/5, f/ 16/1, ISO 100
E-M1, 1/5, f/ 16, ISO 100
E-M1, 1/640, f/ 8/1, ISO 100
E-M1, 1/640, f/ 8, ISO 100

I set the appropriate picture profile and chose the red filter as it gives more contrast to the image, especially for the skies and clouds. I kept a warmer white balance in order to have more brightness while setting the gradation of the picture profile to “low key” for a darker result. Then I played with the highlight/shadow settings that you can access with the Fn2 button. I wanted to see how well and how quickly I could shoot B&W OOC JPGs without the need to post-process them back home.

E-M1, 1/400, f/ 8/1, ISO 200
E-M1, 1/400, f/ 8, ISO 200

I also tried the creative colour mode, where you can alter saturation and tint with the two main dials of the camera. I desaturated the image completely and then played with the tint but the differences were minimal so I chose to use the shadow/highlight function instead.

E-M1, 1/250, f/ 8/1, ISO 200
E-M1, 1/250, f/ 8, ISO 200

One of the nice things with electronic viewfinders is that you can see all your adjustments right away while taking the shots. The E-M1 EVF is among the best on the market so I could see the contrast in my frame very well and adjust it accordingly.

The best pictures were those with a great amount of contrast in the scene. Especially with a cloudy sky, a basic shot in the woods will give you a flat image and if you try to go too far with the shadows and contrast adjustments on camera, the resulting JPGs will lose some detail as well.

E-M1, 1/200, f/ 11/1, ISO 100
E-M1, 1/200, f/ 11, ISO 100

Changing the gradation setting between low, high or normal key would probably have been better but that would have meant digging in the menu all the time. That’s why there is an Auto function that I usually leave to ‘on’ but in this case I wanted to have control over everything.

When we were heading back at around 4 p.m., some sunlight came through the clouds and some scenes became more interesting. In the end, light is always the most important thing.

When there is less light, we can try different settings on the camera but a good shot with a nice 4 p.m. light is probably worth ten times all the “cloudy” shots taken before it.

E-M1, 1/500, f/ 8/1, ISO 200
E-M1, 1/500, f/ 8, ISO 200
E-M1, 1/30, f/ 11/1, ISO 100
E-M1, 1/30, f/ 11, ISO 100

Of course, you might be wondering why I didn’t just shoot RAW and then convert to monochrome back home with my favourite software. Well I actually shot both (RAW + JPG) so that I could compare. Certainly the RAW format gives you more versatility and as good as the Olympus JPG engine is, it remains a compressed format. I am satisfied with the JPG results but some are a little bit darker than I’d like because I paid attention to not blowing out the highlights. Post-processing the RAW format will give more “punch” to the final image.

E-M1, 1/320, f/ 11/1, ISO 100
E-M1, 1/320, f/ 11, ISO 100 – OOC JPG
E-M1, 1/320, f/ 11, ISO 100 - from RAW
E-M1, 1/320, f/ 11, ISO 100 – from RAW

Of course the real exercise here wasn’t only to test the monochrome JPGs that the E-M1 was capable of generating, but it was also an opportunity to see things with a different perspective. When you shoot black and white and see your actual shot in monochrome, you usually have a different approach. While walking you might look for different types of scenes or lines that you wouldn’t pay attention to if you were shooting in colour.

E-M1, 1/50, f/ 8/1, ISO 100
E-M1, 1/50, f/ 8, ISO 100

Of course the advantage of digital is that you can reset everything after. Now that I think about it, next time I should shoot in black and white film. That would be an even more interesting exercise.

E-P5, 1/400, f/ 4/1, ISO 800
E-P5, 1/400, f/ 4, ISO 800
E-M1, 1/500, f/ 8/1, ISO 200
E-M1, 1/500, f/ 8, ISO 200
E-M1, 1/320, f/ 8/1, ISO 200
E-M1, 1/320, f/ 8, ISO 200
E-M1, 1/640, f/ 8/1, ISO 100
E-M1, 1/640, f/ 8, ISO 100
E-M1, 1/1250, f/ 8/1, ISO 100
E-M1, 1/1250, f/ 8, ISO 100

Filed Under: Galleries, Olympus Gallery Tagged With: color creator, landscape black and white, m.zuiko 9-18mm, olympus 9-18mm, olympus color creator, olympus monochrome, olympus omd em1, omd em1, omd em1 black and white, omd em1 landscape, omd em1 monochrome

About Mathieu

Mathieu Gasquet is a professional photographer with French and Italian origins. Besides running his own video and photography studio 3Dit Lab, he is also the official photographer for the National Cinema Museum in Turin. You can follow him on Google+, Twitter or Facebook!

Primary Sidebar

Reminder

We have moved! Our latest reviews can be found on Mirrorless Comparison and YouTube.

DISCLAIMER & COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Heather Broster is participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Heather Broster is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.

Heather Broster and Mathieu Gasquet are also participants in the following affiliate programs: B&H Photo Affiliate Program, Ebay Partner Network, Skylum (Impact Radius), Expert Shield, The Inspired Eye, and Mediterranean Photo Tours.

To read more information, visit our full Disclaimer page. Thank you!


© HEATHER BROSTER/MATHIEU GASQUET AND MIRRORLESSONS, 2013-2020

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Heather Broster/Mathieu Gasquet and Mirrorless Comparison with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.