photoartflightRaindrops after the storm
Posted on September 24, 2020
After a rainstorm it is fun to go out and see what interesting raindrop images you can find. These raindrops were on webs which added some interest and patterns to the raindrops. All images here were taken with an Olympus OM-D E-M1 with an old Canon FD manual focus 200mm macro lens. With adapters you can fit a wide variety of old lenses to m43 cameras. FOV (Field Of View) to full frame Cameras is equal to 400mm.
Dragons & Damsels Panoramas
Posted on June 19, 2020
Panoramas are not just for landscapes! I enjoy shooting panoramas for a variety of subjects. Plus they look interesting when you print them very large! Here are a series of multi-image Dragonfly & Damselfly Panoramas. I was using Canon & Panasonic Cameras, with a variety of lenses. The featured Blue Dasher Dragonfly image was 5 handheld images taken with a Canon 300mm lens, with extension tubes @ f/9, 1/250th sec. Then assembled and blended in Photoshop. When shooting panoramas handheld, I tend to overlap even more just to be safe & that I got enough overlap to blend nicely. I may not need them, but it helps if you do need more images when assembling them. The images below have some details on exposure & images shot per panorama.
Eastern Forktail Damselfly, 4 image panorama, Panasonic GH2 with adapted Canon FD 200mm Manual Focus Macro lens, blended in Photoshop.
Blue Dasher, Female – 400mm DO lens with extension tubes, Canon 1D mkIV, 3 image panorama, f/11, 1/250
Eastern Forktail Damselfly, 3 image panorama, Panasonic GH2 with adapted Canon FD 200mm Manual Focus Macro lens
Damselfly Closeups
Posted on May 22, 2020
For extreme macro or closeup photography, especially for Damselflies, I like using old Canon FD or Nikon manual focus lenses with an adapter on micro 43 Camera bodies. A quick explanation is it sort of doubles the focal length simply worded. Or a more accurate description, the field of view (FOV) since it is only using a smaller center section of the whole image circle on the smaller sensor in m43 bodies. Also because the image is cropped on the sensor the depth of field is also a little more for that f/stop since it is only using a center area of the image circle. I use both Panasonic & Olympus m43 Camera bodies with adapters, but prefer the in-body stabilization of the Olympus body. You can find old Canon or Nikon manual focus lenses for very low cost online or eBay. Or if you are like me, have a bunch laying around from the “Old” days! So with the crop factor of m43 format, it sort of doubles the focal length of the lens. Or halves the field of view of the lens. Another advantage is a macro lens that goes to 1X can now capture on a m43 camera to 2X. The images here were photographed with a Canon FD 200mm macro lens, so the FOV is like using a 400mm macro lens.
More Focus Stacked Raindrop Images
Posted on May 11, 2020
I am still going through images from past shoots. This is another series of closeup raindrops, focus stacked from front drops to further back in the bush they were on. I was using an Olympus m43 body with an old 200mm Canon FD manual focus macro lens with a m43 adapter. This gives me a FOV (field of view) equivalent to 400mm on a Full Frame Digital Camera. I usually start from the front in focus and then do a series of focus points going back to where I want to end. The featured image is 11 images @ f/8. I load all into layers in Photoshop, then let Photoshop blend all the sharpest areas into one file.
Closer up -7 Image Focus stack- concentrating on center area drops. 200mm Canon FD lens adapted to Olympus OM D camera
Damselfly Panorama
Posted on September 6, 2019
I like using a few different camera systems depending on what I am shooting. Or more likely, what I want to carry & lug around. If I am at a location working near the car, that is not usually a problem. But sometimes I just like walking around, but still want to photograph some interesting subjects that I might come across. Here I am using one of my m43 camera bodies with an adapted old style Canon FD 200mm Macro lens. On m43 cameras it is sort of equivalent (in easy terms) of using a 400mm macro an a full frame body. Instead of going to 1X magnification, because of the crop factor of the m43 system the FOV (Field Of View) is ~2X. This is a 3 image panorama. Luckily the Damsel co-operated for me.
Damselfly – Single Image
Damselfly 4img (overlapping) Focus Stack
Spider 6-Image Stack
Posted on April 21, 2018
Sometimes I just wander around the yard to see what I can find that is interesting. Here I was using a m43 Camera body with an old Manual focus Canon Lens. I like to play with the m43 bodies because I have so many old Canon and Nikon (among others!) lenses and it is fun to see what I can do with them. Sort of like when I was a kid building something with an Erector Set (for those of you that old to remember them!) They are easily adaptable to the m43 bodies. Here I am using a 200mm f/4 Canon FD Macro lens. So on a m43 body it gives a field of view equivalent sort of to a 400mm macro lens that can go to 2X. This is a series of 6 images, focus stacked and combined in Photoshop. It is not perfect, but fairly close because the spider moved before I finished the stack, so I had to stop the series. Sometimes it is just fun to go “Old School” with old manual focus lenses on newer camera bodies. It is also interesting because as you change the f/stop you see the depth of field changes as you go and remains bright in the viewfinder. Plus you also see visually if you are under or over exposed. It also makes you concentrate on what you are trying to do and see the different results in the viewfinder before you shoot. It reminds me of my old film days being on location looking through 4×5 & 8×10 view cameras seeing what is going on. Except a lot brighter, lighter weight and not upside down!
Hoverfly On Flowering Goutweed
Posted on June 23, 2017
While roaming around looking for photo subjects, I noticed this Hoverfly working around this Goutweed. Thought it was an interesting contrast to the white goutweed with the dark body and clear wings. I also liked the yellow shapes on the hoverfly. Shot with the Canon 200mm FD Macro on a m43 camera body.
Rain Drops on Leaves -8 Image Stack
Posted on June 19, 2017
After it rained again, I went out looking for rain drops. This time I used an old manual Canon FD 200mm f/4 macro with a m43 adapter on a Panasonic m43 camera body. The old FD lenses work well on the m43 cameras. Plus I have quite a few left from the film days. Makes it, sort of in easy terms, a 400mm f/4 macro in Full Frame Digital thinking on the m43 format, with the depth of field of a 200mm. There are more exacting ways to figure out the exact focal length, f/stop, and depth of field, but it is easier to just double the focal length and be close. Also unless you know the exact focal length of the lens, not what it is listed as, you are going to be wrong in the first place. Most lenses are not the focal length they are listed at, the true focal length is a little shorter usually from what they describe them as. Especially Telephoto Lenses. Also in the Electronic viewfinder, you see the depth of field you are achieving live. Stopping down the lens, you see your depth of field. There has been a lot of debates on lens conversions on m43 cameras, but it is not worth the effort to me.
First of the 8 images, showing the distortion Photoshop did to help align all the layers in the stack. When Photoshop is compressing them into 1 blended file, it will automatically fill in blank areas with what it thinks it needs. Sometimes it works Great. Other times it needs a few touchups.
Last Image (#8) in Series
The above aligned images are showing the manipulation of the areas of the start and last images using Auto-Align. Next when you choose Auto Blend, Photoshop will remove areas from each layer not used, usually the out of focus areas, selecting the areas more in focus and blending all into an image and placing it on the top layer above the other layers.
Sometimes it works very well, sometimes Photoshop just cannot handle it. Or they might need a little touchup here or there. There are other programs that might be better, but I am just doing these for fun and I am used to using PhotoShop.
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