Olympus EM1II Crash Course

Use angle of attack to change how your camera views the subject, not just eye level; shoot from high, sky cam, or ground angles to produce dramatically different results.

Learn how sense of depth arises from the surrounding environment, using leading lines projecting into the background and subtle position changes to create a three-dimensional feel in photography.

Always scan your background before you shoot, watching for distractions in the frame. Reposition your subject or change your angle to cover distractions; Photoshop is the last resort.

Identify textures around you and use repeating patterns as on-location backdrops for portraits. Recognize ground and sky textures, such as carpet, dirt, brick, blinds, or blue sky, to enhance photography.

Change distance to alter the subject’s size and composition, using walking toward or away or a zoom lens, starting far away and moving closer until the face fills the frame.

Use the perspective shot to control the relative sizes of two subjects by adjusting their distances from the camera, emphasizing the bride and groom in wedding imagery.

Learn how contrast defines subject shapes by brightness differences against backgrounds, such as black shirt on white and white dress on dark, to reveal or hide form.

Master the Dutch tilt by rotating between landscape and portrait orientations and tilting diagonally to alter the look for portraits, landscapes, and products.

Combine more compositional elements to strengthen images and increase your chances in photography contests by using the rule of thirds, shapes, texture, and depth in the Olympus EM1II crash course.

Explore how JPEGs use 8-bit depth to represent 256 shades from black to white, and how RAW files use 14-bit depth for more tonal range.

Explore how digital color emerges: a Bayer filter captures red, green, and blue channel data, and the processor assembles these sensels to render each pixel.

Explore histograms as a tool that shows the distribution of pixel brightness from black to white, revealing exposure levels and the relative count of pixels at each shade.

Explore how compression merges similar adjacent pixels to reduce file size, and examine how overcompression creates visible artifacts, including blocky color chunks or noise that degrade image quality.

Explore the Olympus em1ii external buttons and ports, learn every control—from shutter, dials, and function button to live view and menu navigation—and how to customize them.

Explain how the mode dial controls camera automation, focusing on p s a n m creative modes, and show when to use program, aperture priority, shutter priority, and manual modes.

Explore the Olympus em1ii lcd icons, overlays, and touch controls; learn battery-saving sensor behavior, exposure, video, and focus settings on the fly.

master exposure control by using aperture priority, shutter priority, program, and manual modes, and adjust brightness with exposure compensation to balance light and detail.

Master the Olympus em1ii focusing: six modes (single af, continuous af, manual, hybrid, tracking, preset manual) and focus clusters, plus back-button focusing, af lock, and peaking for stills and video.

Explore em1ii release modes from single and sequential shots to pro capture with 12–14 frame pre-buffer and silent bursts up to 18 fps; learn anti-shake and silent shooting.

Master white balance on the Olympus EM1II in this crash course, focusing on achieving accurate color capture.

Discover how to use metering modes on the Olympus em1ii, including spot metering, center-weighted, and evaluative modes, and how exposure lock, aperture priority, and exposure compensation shape your exposure.

Increase light with a faster lens (1.4 vs 2.8) for a wider aperture. Use slower shutter speeds with stabilization or a tripod, raise ISO, and add light with sun.

Master portrait lighting by distinguishing hard and soft light, shooting in complete shade, using the hand technique to locate the best light direction, and leveraging golden hour shadows.

Explore on-location portrait techniques, from scouting complete shade and clean textures to composing at 70mm, using safe one-third, full-body, from on high, with lighting and communication tips.

Master landscape photography basics with practical tips: use a sturdy tripod, a 15–30 mm wide-angle lens, shoot at f/8 with manual focus, and apply timer and the rule of thirds.

Master the Olympus em1ii deep menu system, including bracketing, picture modes, raw and jpeg formats, custom modes, autofocus options, and comprehensive video settings for precise shooting.

Discover how Edward Marbridge, hired by Leland Stanford, used 24 cameras and tripwires to prove sequential images create motion, and explore fps, interlaced vs progressive scan, and non-linear editing.

Discover why the Maven mini Mike is a budget-friendly, compact onboard microphone that outperforms internal camera audio, offering 20 Hz to 16 kHz range, and camera-bag portability.

learn how shutter speed relates to frame rate to achieve a film-like look, including rotary 180-degree shutter and examples like 24fps at 1/50, 30fps at 1/60, and 60fps at 1/125.

Learn to shoot a sunset by composing with sand, rocks, water, and sky, using manual focus, exposure control, and a gradated filter to balance sky and foreground.

Use nd filters to control light in bright days and keep 180-degree shutter with wide apertures. Stack 6-stop to 16-stop nd filters for long exposures and landscapes, avoiding color casts.

Master the five steps of video workflow—shoot, transfer, edit, output, and archiving—emphasizing two copies on external drives and editing native files in Adobe Premiere Pro.

connect your camera to a smartphone using the olympus image share app and built-in wifi, scanning a QR code to enable the remote control and live preview.

Master sport shooting with aperture-priority mode that lets the camera set shutter speed in bright light, use continuous autofocus with predictive focus, and enable simulated optical viewfinder while monitoring buffer.

Apply the lessons and techniques to shoot with confidence and see dramatic improvement for beginner and intermediate photographers; explore chapter markers at michaelmavin.com for reviews, gear tests, and tailored lessons.