• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

I’m Addicted to Live Composite

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Anne and I headed to Central Park tonight to enjoy a night out on the town. In a couple of weeks we will be heading back to Canada for a visit with family and friends - and then moving on to our next destination. So we want to enjoy a few special things about our experience in Quetzaltenango, for the last time.

One of the coolest features Olympus provides in their camera bodies, is what is called Live Composite. I don’t know what magic they use, but it is amazing - and I am addicted. Initially I just intended to set up the tripod and try to grab a few light streaks from the traffic.

Anne pulls out her smart phone and turns on the torch to read something. Then I remembered seeing photographers light sources to write in the image. In fact I have done light writing the odd time with long exposures.

But this mode is different. It was amazing that my big 250 lb frame dressed in a light coloured coat, was standing in this scene writing the words Rob loves Anne, for several minutes. I could take my time walking into the scene and then back out and I am not registered in the frame. To stop each letter, I simply turned the camera to my body and then spun it to trace the next letter. I even moved in between words. This was the first and only take.

Now my mind is going as to how I can make use of this feature with portraits when I get home.



C1182F85-45DC-4D9A-8569-4309398B6DE6.jpg
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I have some rough idea of what you did to write the letters, but am amazed that you can write so neatly!

Essentially “Composite Mode” is what I would call on film “Dual Exposure”.

Asher
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
I did not understand how "live composite" worked, but I found this site:
https://camerajabber.com/how-to-use-olympus-live-composite-mode/

which explains it in the following way:

In Live Composite mode the camera shoots a series of images continuously with the same exposure time. The camera combines all the images together into a single composite, however, only the first image is used to record the ambient exposure of the background or foreground. After that, only the brighter pixels in any following images are used. This means that while the sky or an illuminated building won’t change, the bright lights from traffic will be written onto the composite image.
As the camera uses the electronic shutter there’s only the briefest interval between shots and moving lights appear as a continuous streak.
As with Live Bulb and Live Time mode, you can watch the image build up on the camera screen and close the shutter when you’re happy with the exposure. Exposures can be up to 3 hours in total and the screen refreshes every time a new image is captured.
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
I have some rough idea of what you did to write the letters, but am amazed that you can write so neatly!

Essentially “Composite Mode” is what I would call on film “Dual Exposure”.

Asher

Yes I surprised myself - even with the spacing of the letters and words - I had no idea or visual reference as I was standing 20 feet away from the camera.
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
I did not understand how "live composite" worked, but I found this site:
https://camerajabber.com/how-to-use-olympus-live-composite-mode/

which explains it in the following way:

In Live Composite mode the camera shoots a series of images continuously with the same exposure time. The camera combines all the images together into a single composite, however, only the first image is used to record the ambient exposure of the background or foreground. After that, only the brighter pixels in any following images are used. This means that while the sky or an illuminated building won’t change, the bright lights from traffic will be written onto the composite image.
As the camera uses the electronic shutter there’s only the briefest interval between shots and moving lights appear as a continuous streak.
As with Live Bulb and Live Time mode, you can watch the image build up on the camera screen and close the shutter when you’re happy with the exposure. Exposures can be up to 3 hours in total and the screen refreshes every time a new image is captured.


Yes Live Composite is quite different than Live Bulb and Live Time. Essentially the difference between the two latter, is in the way that you trigger the exposure. They both are simply Long Exposure, with the difference being that you can watch the build up of light on the screen and stop the exposure at the perfect time - unlike the guesswork with holding down the shutter release for a predetermined amount of time. Very handy.

With Live Composite, you determine a proper exposure (I do that by take a test pic in another mode) - and then that exposure is controlled once Live Composite is engaged, by setting the aperture with dial, and the timing of each exposure starting at 1/2 second and going up to 60 seconds, on a dedicated screen when you push the Menu button.

As was referred to, the image is a composite of many frames where only values from bright lights are added. The interesting thing is that the bright areas don’t blow out regardless of how long the total exposure is (unlike the other two modes), and you cannot build less bright lights upon bright lights. Each exposure only records new bright pixels. So whatever you want exposed in a certain area, you try to get that down first. Or in the case of the writing, it would not show on areas that already have brightness captured. Apparently this adding only the bright pixels is accomplished in camera, by applying something similar to a Lighten Blend Mode in Photoshop to each additional exposure being composited.

That is also why the building in behind remained so dark - there were no bright areas to build on from the base exposure. That building would have been bright with a long exposure capture, or using Live Time or Live Bulb. Sometimes the build up of brightness from time exposure, would be more desirable.
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Do you face the camera and have to write mirror letters or what?

Asher


Yes. The little light from Anne’s phone had to be directed at the camera. To stop writing each letter, I just turned it toward me, got my starting position for the next letter, and turned to phone around to start writing it. The only letter I wasn’t sure I was writing properly were the N’s. I asked Anne if I was correct as I began moving my arm, and she said yes.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Now it all makes sense.

Next,

......to creative scene stacking or building: have you ventured to create art with this methodology, building on bright areas and adding new features?

Asher
 
Top