Olympus has always had Art Filters built into their camera firmware. I don’t know when they started, but I became aware of them when I purchased my first µ4:3rds camera, the E-P2.

I played with them a bit, then let them be. When I got my second µ4:3rds camera, the E-PL2, it had more filters, especially the Dramatic filter. This filter dramatically darkened the shadows and brought out detail, especially in clouds. I worked with that a bit on a number of photos, then slowly drifted away from that.

The E-M5 added further art filters as well as refinements to the existing filter set. The one new filter that I’ve been going back to over and over is Key Line. That filter above all others appeals to the line drawing side of my brain. Once upon a time I thought I’d be an artist so I studied art during the same period I was trying to make a go of it as a commercial photographer. I had the idea I’d combine fine art and photography into something unique, so unique that people would be willing to buy it the moment they saw it. We all know how that turned out…

This is not a pure Key Line JPEG out of the E-M5. I also twiddled with it a bit in Light room, in particular vibrance, saturation, shadows and blacks.

Taken at the very late afternoon in my front yard, the oaks were bathed in a gold afternoon sunlight. I also liked the abstract limbs and foliage, and the bark itself.

I’m having a bit of fun these days.