I have a love-hate relationship with winter. I won't get into why I hate winter (too cold, short days, high heating bills, driving sucks... okay, so I got into it a bit). For photography however, I love winter. Once the autumn leaves hit the ground and everything looks dull and grey, I find myself dreaming of winter. There's nothing like a fresh blanket of snow to brighten up a landscape scene. And that same landscape can look quite different from day to day considering how variable the weather and lighting can be during the winter. 

Is winter photography really any different from that of other seasons? Yes, and no. The basics of landscape photograph apply regardless of the season, but my approach and preparedness can be different in the winter. Here are some tips that might help you improve your winter compositions;

One of the most common questions that I get as a photographer is how to properly shoot the moon. That question seems to pop up quite regularly - once per month in fact, when the moon is full. People love photographing the full moon, but once the event is over there seems to be far less interest in capturing our closest neighbour. I certainly understand this thinking. The full moon, especially when it is rising, can be an impressive (and somewhat challenging) subject to photograph. 

As a landscape photographer I am always looking for interesting ways to present a scene. And like most, I work primarily during the two bookends of the day - the golden hours. But, as someone who also enjoys astrophotography, I have discovered that I can extend my landscape opportunities by shooting under the light of the moon.
​The following tips might help with your own 'after-hours' landscape photography.

 The Story Behind the Photo
In the back corner of my photographic brain there's a room called the Idea Factory. It's right beside the CEO's office, where ideas are accepted or rejected, and down the hall from Shipping and Receiving, where ideas wait to be executed (that's executed as in 'carried out', not 'shot in front of a firing squad'). The idea for this photograph was born three years ago and just sat on the shelf. The Logistics and Design division needed to fully develop the idea, but the real delay came from the brain cells in the Motivation Department. They sat around working on easier concepts. Lazy bums! 
About a year before this idea was created I became interested in astrophotography, something that I had no previous experience with. It didn't take long before I developed a real love and comfort level with it. Most people spend very little time looking at the night sky or, because of the urban environment in which they live, can't see much of it anyway. Living in a dark sky region of the country, I have always been fascinated by the night sky. I wanted to create a concept photograph that showed my comfort level, and how much our modern society is oblivious to the natural beauty of the night sky. 

An Amazing Photo Walk
As an Olympus Visionary I regularly have the opportunity of meeting like-minded photographers in order to explore new areas as part of a photo walk. Usually the walks last for a couple of hours and are relatively close to the store that is hosting the event. On July 8th I had the pleasure of being part of an incredible event in Banff National Park in Alberta. 
Sponsored by The Camera Store and Olympus America we departed Calgary at 1 p.m. and visited numerous scenic locations with the 14 participants. Later in the day we also had an amazing meal in the heart of Banff. 

Photo walks can be a great way to explore an area, socialize with other photographers and engage in some two-way learning. On June 22 and 23, I had the opportunity to lead two photo walks sponsored by Olympus and Henry's Cameras. The first was through the historic Distillery District in Downtown Toronto, while the second was at beautiful Riverwood Park in Mississauga. They each had about a dozen photographers in attendance, and one person decided to attend both. 

Olympus recently provided a major firmware update to the E-M1 Mark II, their flagship camera. As part of that update they have included built-in fisheye compensation for the m.Zuiko 8mm f/1.8 PRO. I'm a real fan of this lens, using it quite regularly for landscape and astrophotography. Whenever I pick it up I recognize that I am going to have to deal with the obvious distortion that comes with a fisheye lens. Well, now I don't have to. 
The new compensation feature helps turn the 8mm lens from a typical fisheye lens into a rectilinear one. When engaged, the fisheye compensation generates a full resolution jpeg image that emulates a rectilinear lens. As such, two images are recorded, the corrected jpeg, and the original, uncorrected RAW file. 

The m.Zuiko 12-100mm f/4 PRO

Disclosure: I am an Olympus Visionary and as such, receive compensation from Olympus America. However, no compensation was paid for this review. I endorse their products because I truly believe in the quality of their gear. ​

No matter how many lenses you own, chances are that you have one or two that you end up reaching for more than the others in your bag. As a long time Olympus shooter I own most of the micro 4/3 lenses on the market today, and I use many of them quite regularly depending on the situation. That being said, I am finding that the new m.Zuiko 12-100mm f/4 PRO is spending a lot more time attached to my camera than any other lens. It has become my workhorse lens, for a number of important reasons.

Overview
The 12-100mm is a constant aperture f/4 lens that measures 116.5mm long by 77.5mm in diameter with a 72mm filter thread. Like all Olympus PRO lenses it has a programmable lens function button, a manual focus clutch and is weather-sealed, meaning it is splash proof, dust proof, and freeze proof.  It has 17 elements in 11 groups with high quality construction and the Z nano coating to reduce glare. Perhaps most impressive is the 5-axis Sync image stabilization that works in tandem with the in-body image stabilization of the OM-D E-M1 Mark II to produce up to 6.5 stops of IS. 

At any time of the year, it is not uncommon to look into a clear night sky and see the occasional meteor streaking through the heavens. However, with each orbit around the sun, our little blue planet passes through several meteoroid streams that can produce upwards of one hundred meteors per hour - a meteor shower. These streams are created by orbiting comets that shed cosmic particles as they approach the sun. Photographing these celestial events can be a challenge, but with a bit of knowledge you can improve your chances of success.    

Knowing where and when a meteor shower will occur is the first step to a successful night shoot. These particles generally run parallel to the comet from which they came, and as such will appear to spread out from a single point in the sky. They are named for the nearest constellation or bright star from which they radiate. This 'fixed point' will track across the sky over the course of the night similar to the way that the stars do. 

In late 2016 Olympus announced the 25mm f/1.2 PRO - an incredibly fast and sharp lens with beautiful feathered bokeh. For the past year that lens has been pacing the waiting room anticipating the delivery of two promised siblings - the 17mm and 45mm f/1.2 lenses. The wait is now over. 

​As an Olympus Visionary I was recently provided the opportunity to work with both the 17 and 45mm lenses at a press event in Charleston, SC alongside respected journalists and reviewers in the industry. After a few days of shooting I walked away (actually flew away) with a thoroughly positive impression of both lenses. They meet or exceed all of the claims made by Olympus. So what are those claims?

• Depictive performance that delivers feathered bokeh and outstanding resolution when shooting at f/1.2. This provides a 3-dimensional impression of your main subject, isolating it from the overall softened background due to the smooth transition from the sharp to the defocused areas of the image. 
• Fast, high precision auto-focusing. Both lenses provide virtually silent and smooth high-speed focusing performance, even when using the maximum aperture of f/1.2 and work incredibly well with the Face Priority or Eye Priority AF modes. 
• Lightweight, yet rugged construction. Each lens provides dust proof, splash proof and freeze-proof performance. 
• Excellent close-up shooting. The 17mm f/1.2 PRO has a minimum working distance of 20cm while the 45mm f/1.2 PRO has a minimum working distance of 50mm. 
• Premium design. All three lenses in the f/1.2 family are designed with the professional photographer in mind with a large focusing ring that allows for easy switching between auto and manual focusing by simply pulling back on the MF clutch. A  programmable Lens Function button is also included.

HDR, or high dynamic range images were all the rage a few years ago. Generally speaking, I see far fewer photographers posting images with that distinctive (and in my opinion, overly processed) look. For those not familiar with it (and there can't be many), the concept is a fairly simple one. Take several photos of the same subject at different exposures and let photo-editing software merge them together so that details can be seen in both the darker and lighter regions of the photo. Like many, I also experimented with creating that style of imagery. I don't anymore, and here's why...

• modern digital cameras have increased dynamic range compared to their earlier cousins;
• it's relatively easy to lighten shadows or darken highlights in most post-processing apps;
• as mentioned, I don't really like the overly processed look that seems to be the default setting of most HDR programs;
• and, if I want to improve the dynamic range in a scene, I've found a better way (better, but not easier, so be warned) and that's by using exposure bracketing.

Let's start by looking at the end result first. For the scene below I knew it would be a challenge to capture  the colourful morning sky while maintaining the details in the the old barn and the tree. Normally for a sunrise or sunset shot I would attach a GND filter in order to balance the exposure between sky and ground. It wouldn't work for this image because it would darken the top half of the tree, making it quite obvious that a filter had been used. Instead, I opted for exposure bracketing.