The Olympus Pen for beginners

I recently bought my first ever 'proper' camera, an Olympus Pen, despite being a complete novice when it comes to photography. However I found it quite difficult to get my head around the technical side of things, so six months on I thought I'd share what I've learnt so far, including some quick and easy tips on how to take great pictures, a beginners guide to some of the more technical settings, and how to get the most out of your camera. Obviously, whilst I've focused on the Olympus Pen in this post, all these tips and hints can be applied to any DSLR camera.

After doing a lot of research, I went for the E-PL7. I was looking for something compact, yet would take high-quality photographs - and, I'm not going to lie, was pretty to look at, which this camera definitely is! Not only that, but it has a really cool wi-fi feature, meaning you can easily send pictures directly from the camera to your phone to easily edit or upload to social media - this has proven to be an absolute lifesaver, and also cuts out the need for a laptop, should you not have one.

You can also get a huge range of lenses to fit this camera, which will enable you to take different types of picture, depending on what you're looking for. I haven't delved into this as yet, as I've found the lens that comes with this camera has been great for what I've wanted so far.

What all those settings mean

It's very easy just to shoot on Automatic mode, as the other settings can appear to be quite confusing to start with, however these other settings can add different dimensions to your photos depending on what you're looking for - so its worth spending a little time learning about your camera.

Automatic mode - This is the standard setting, and good for when you're getting to know the camera, as it will detect the appropriate settings for your subject. The other good thing about this setting is the fact that you can edit a number of aspects within this setting such as colour, brightness and background blurring. I used this option a lot to start with, as it gives you a great chance to get your head around the settings, and learn what makes a good image. However, if you want to take your photography to the next step, its a great idea to delve into the more advanced settings.

Programme mode - With this setting, the camera selects the aperture and shutter speed for you depending on how bright the subject is.

Aperture - This setting allows you to manually set the Aperture, and the camera will then select the relevant shutter speed. A larger Aperture = lower F-number, which gives an image a decreased depth of field, creating a blurred background affect. F5.6 is the standard F-number.

Shutter Speed - This setting allows you to automatically set the shutter speed, determining how much light enters the lens. The camera will then automatically set the appropriate aperture. A fast shutter speed (anything above 60) is good for capturing movement without blur. A low shutter speed (below 60) is good for blurring a fast speed, should you want to capture some action and drama.

Custom modes  - These allow you to save settings so you can return to them easily - a really handy little feature!

Manual - This mode allows you to set both the Aperture and Shutter Speed, and is a good next step once you've mastered using the settings individually.

Set the ISO first, as this will determine how sensitive the camera is to light. A good guide I stick to is 200 for a decently-lit room. You'll then need to set the F-Stop, (determining the depth of field - how much of the photo is in focus, and how much is blurred). The larger the number, the more of the room will be in focus.

Tip: If you're shooting a full room set the F-Stop to somewhere between 8 & 11, and everything will be in focus. If you're shooting something close up then dial the F-number down, making the Aperture larger. You can then set your Aperture and Shutter Speed as required.

Another setting that I absolutely love is the touch screen option, which allows you to take a photo by touching the screen instead of pressing the shutter button. I've found this allows you to focus in on certain aspects of an image really easily, particularly good if you're shooting smaller details rather than a full room. For example, this photo below I used the touch screen option to focus on one of the individual petals.

Phone vs. Camera 

Phone cameras are getting better and better with every update - so is the investment into a digital camera really worth it? To try and answer that, I thought it might be helpful to compare pictures I've taken with my phone and my camera side by side. Obviously I've taken these at different times of day, and (as is very clear!) I've learnt a lot about taking better pictures since I've been using my camera - I've blogged my tips for taking interior pictures here - however I think you can totally see a difference in quality, with images being so much sharper (particularly visible in this first example, with the flames on the candle being so much clearer in the version taken with the camera)

Hope this has been helpful! Do you have any other photography tips to add?

Thanks for reading,
Sam Xx

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