photoartflightPainted Lady Butterflies
Posted on June 23, 2020
Here is a Correction on the ID of the Butterflies. Sorry about that! Thanks to those who brought it to my attention!! More Butterfly images. I am using the same post processing as some previous posts for smoother backgrounds. Again all these are shot with an Olympus m43 Camera with a Panasonic 14-140mm lens @ 140mm. This (sort of) gives you the field of view of 280mm on a full frame camera. Many times when we are just going for a walk, I take an m43 Olympus or Panasonic camera instead of my standard larger Canons. A lot easier to carry for a walk. They do seem to have more noise than the Canons, but easy to remove.
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.
Macro Sampler
Posted on April 11, 2020
WARNING _ LONG POST!!
Being we are not supposed to be out and about, especially here in NJ, I thought these images would give some an inspiration to see what you can find interesting to photograph in their own yards or close to home. You can post yours so we can see what is happening in others areas. They closed all the Parks and other outdoor spaces here and limit travel basically only for food & essentials. They are even limiting the amount of people in the stores. So here are some macro images I have taken in my own yards over the years with different types of cameras and lenses. I tend to use a variety of cameras, lenses & different types of m43 and Canon Cameras. Many times for macro images I adapt older Canon FD manual focus lenses on my m43 Panasonic or Olympus Cameras. Doing this I get an approximate FOV of 2X on these manual focus lenses plus get a longer working distance to my subjects and with increased depth of field (in simple terms). It is fun to see what you can come up with. The featured Damselfly image is taken with a Canon FD 200mm f/4 macro lens on a m43 camera. My most used FD macro is the 200mm because it gives me a longer working distance to my subjects. The following sampler of macro images are with both m43 Cameras and Full Frame Canon Cameras for an interesting Macro Mix.
Blue Dasher Head Shot – 200mm Canon FD Macro on m43 Camera (Full Frame Equivalent View – FOV ~400mm)
Praying Mantis Portrait – 150mm Macro Canon R
Eastern Pondhawk – 200mm Canon FD lens on m43 Camera (Full Frame FOV ~400mm)
Blue Dasher, Male – 300mm Canon EF lens with 1.4X Teleconverter
Water Drop Panorama – 2 images, 200mm Canon f/4 FD Lens, m43 Camera
Water Drops After Rain – 3 image Panorama, 200mm Canon FD lens – Panasonic m43 body
6 image Focus Stack & Pano – 200mm f/4 FD Canon Lens on Panasonic m43 Body
Dandelion 7 image Pano & Image Stack, 200mm Canon FD lens, Panasonic m43 body
Dandelion 5 image Image Stack for more Depth of Field, 200mm Canon FD lens, Panasonic m43 body
6 image, 200mm Canon FD macro, Panasonic m43 Body
1 shot, Canon FD 200mm Macro, Water Drop, Panasonic m43 Body
200mm, Single Image – Aligned camera so I was shooting straight in to subject eliminating the need for stacking multiple images.
Water Drops – Single Image
Female Blue Dasher Head Shot – 100mm Canon FD macro lens
Damselfly – 200mm FD Canon Macro lens
Flower detail – 200mm Macro lens, Panasonic m43 Camera
Day Lily After Rain – FD 200mm, m43 Camera
4-images stacked in CC Photoshop, 150mm macro @ f/8
Starburst on bud, 200mm FD on m43 Panasonic Camera
Milkweed bug eggs on leaf – Panasonic m43
Day Lily Stamen v1 – Short Stack (2 images) for softer background
Water Drops after the Rain – 10 images @200mm m43 Olympus Camera
3 image Short Stack – @200mm m43 Olympus Camera
Single Shot – 200mm @ f/4 for Softer Background
Water Drop On Leaf – 50mm, Panasonic m43 Camera
Lady Bug – 100mm macro
Echinacea Multi-image Pano, 200mm FD Macro lens, Panasonic m43 Camera
Korean Dogwood – 200mm, m43 Camera
TreeHopper (?) 200mm, Panasonic m43 Camera
200mm macro, RainDrops on Feather (looks like a fish) Panasonic GH2
Multi-Image Zinnia Image, 200mm m43
Teneral Eastern Forktail Damselfly, 200mm Canon FD lens, Panasonic m43 Camera
Eastern Carpenter Bee, 200mm FD Lens, Panasonic GH2
Jagged Ambush bug, 200mm FD lens on Panasonic GH2
Rain Drops, Multi-Image Stack, 100mm, Panasonic m43
Lichen on Wood, 200mm, Panasonic m43 Camera
Damselfly, 200mm FD Macro lens, Panasonic GH2
Closer View – Damselfly, 200mm Canon FD macro, Panasonic m43 body
Water Drops on Flower Stamen, 50mm FD macro, Panasonic m43
Brigantine Cloud Panoramas
Posted on July 26, 2019
I finally had a chance to work on some panoramas I shot last month at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Brigantine Division in Oceanville NJ. The cloud formations on this day were amazing. So I had a lot of choices for working with series panoramas while we were there. Lately I have been using an Olympus m43 Camera with a 14mm – 140mm zoom for landscapes or general info shots and the Canon R with a 400mm DO lens or the Tamron 150-600mm for Wildlife. It is a lot easier to carry a smaller m43 camera with a wide zoom range along with the heavier full frame camera with longer lenses, instead of 2 large camera bodies. The m43 format with a 14-140mm zoom seems a little harder to do multi-image panoramas @14mm but after working with it for quite a while I am getting more usable & predictable panoramas. Sort of a learning curve I guess. Basically I overlap the images more. At 14mm with m43 format it is sort of the equivalent (field of view) of 28mm on a full frame DSLR. All the images here are shot at 14mm but go from 2 to 8 images for each photo panorama. Some were vertical images and some were horizontal images for each image.
2 – 14mm Horizontal images panorama
Panorama- 4 Vertical Images @14mm
Panorama – 3 vertical images stacked @ 14mm
3 horizontal images stacked @14mm
Panorama – 4 horizontal images @14mm
2 horizontal images stacked @ 14mm
2 Horizontal images @14mm Stacked
2 Horizontal images – Atlantic City on left @14mm
2 Horizontal Images Stacked @ 14mm
2 Horizontal Images Stacked – Osprey Platform @ 14mm
2 Horizontal images Stacked @14mm
2 -Horizontal Images @14mm
3 – Horizontal Images Stacked @14mm
2 – 14mm Horizontal Images Stacked
7 – 14mm Images stacked
Two Trees – 3 Images Vertical Stacked
Brigantine Landscape- 3 Horizontal Images Stacked @14mm
Brigantine Landscape w/ Clouds – 2 Horizontal Images @14mm
Brigantine 3 Vertical Images @14mm
Brigantine – 2 Horizontal Images @ 14mm
Brigantine NWR 2 Image panorama
Brigantine NWR – 3 Image panorama @14mm
7 image panorama – 7 – 12mm vertical images combined in Photoshop
2 Vertical Images @14mm
Distant Landscape In Setting Sunlight
Posted on December 24, 2018
When we were walking out of Longwood Gardens after photographing Christmas displays, I noticed in the distance, the setting sun casting interesting sun rays in the clouds on some homes. I liked the “warm” light and the opening in the clouds for the sun to cast the rays. Because my subject was quite distant, I shot at 95mm with my 14-140mm m43 lens for 2 images to combine in a panorama. If I just zoomed out I would have too much dark clouds above and too much foreground below so it would have lost some of the highlighted sun rays impact on the image. Using Adobe Camera Raw enabled me to pull even more detail and tones from the raw digital file.
Christmas Lights At Longwood Gardens
Posted on December 23, 2018
We went to Longwood Gardens, in Kennett Square, PA, for their annual Christmas light displays. These are just a few of the outdoor displays at night. There are also many other displays throughout the Conservatory and other buildings. One of the other very interesting displays was a room full of decorations with amazing ornaments made from books and other paper pages. They must have been cut/fabricated maybe by laser cutting. But it was amazing to see the intricate cutting & fabrication. I will post some of them next. Most of the images I shot with an Olympus OMD-1 mk I with a 14-140mm Panasonic lens (with the lens stabilization turned off). I was also using a Canon body with a 12-24mm lens, but was relying more on the OMD for in-body stabilization. Much lighter to carry and with the stabilized body worked well for the images in early evening. I found the Olympus in-body stabilization worked better than the Panasonic lens stabilization. Plus if you stop down to f/22 you can get some really cool motion blurs or spins with the Olympus OM-D. I saw a few tripods being used, but you usually have to get a free permit for them and cannot use tripods after 2:00. Plus it was so crowded it would have been in the way, so they probably would not allow it for this time.
The featured image above was at 22mm with the 4/3 Olympus OM-D mkI.
We had to get there early, before 2:00 in the afternoon, otherwise, even being members, you had to have a timed entrance because of the huge crowds that come to see the night displays. Also getting there later you have to park off site and take shuttles to the facility. But there is plenty to see before the evening lights up! It takes hours to go through the Conservatory, which is all decorated for Christmas, and you still probably will not see everything.
Late afternoon along the walkways, getting ready for the full impact of the lights at night.
Fountains set to music – when darker they would have colorful lights
Along the path to other fountains & displays starting to get dark.
3 image panorama @14mm- assembled in Photoshop
Birdhouse Display early evening before dark, 18mm, f/10 @ 1/5 sec
Bird house display in the dark, f/ 5.6 @ 0.3 sec
3 image panorama – 14mm. Also these were cascading lights, so in a way it is also an Image Stack that included the cascading lights as they “fell”. 14mm, 1/3rd of a second each exposure, handheld. Pano & stacked in Photoshop. f/8 @ 1/8 sec, handheld
2 image vertical panorama & stack. Panorama to show reflections in water and stack to include more of the cascading lights.
Single image, m43 15mm, 1/8 Sec to show green lights before changing to another color, handheld.
Christmas Tree Changing Color of Lights, 1/13th sec, handheld, m43 @ 32mm
Tree with Lights and Color Spotlights on Tree Trunk. f/ 4.5 @ 12mm Canon, 1/30th sec
Another Tree with Lights, 12mm Canon, f/ 4.5 @ 1/13 sec. handheld
3 image Panorama, 24mm Canon, f/ 5.6 @ 1/8 sec. handheld
Fall Landscape Panoramas At Davidson’s Mill Pond Park
Posted on November 6, 2018
These are a series of multi-image panorama landscapes @14mm with m43 format images. The featured image is a series of 4 images, blended and combined in Photoshop. It was a clear day, but the trees had already lost a lot of their leaves. But it was nice to see some with some bare spots. I thought it looked interesting to see spots of color here and there.
3 image panorama version of the featured image, 14mm horizontal images, m43 format
3 Image panorama, 14mm horizontal images, m43 Camera @ small pond
Wider Panorama, 4 images, more overlap on each, 14mm, m43 Camera
Dandelion Closeup Image Stack
Posted on May 8, 2018
Very closeup images of Dandelions going to seed remind me of fireworks! One of my favorite setups for this is a m43 Panasonic Camera body with an old Canon FD 200mm f/4 manual focus macro lens. So with this setup I can go to 2x macro without extension tubes, plus I have a great working distance. It is sort of equivalent to a 400mm macro on a 35mm format. This lens seems to work great on m43 bodies. Plus it gives a great working distance to your subjects. These are image stacked from 4 to 7 images at different focus points and combined in Photoshop.
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!
More Panoramas
Posted on January 16, 2018
A series of multi-image panoramas photographed at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ. Shot with a m43 camera @14mm. Featured image was 4 images, shot horizontally in sections, handheld, going from ground to the sky. Assembled in Photoshop. I find the m43 images take a little more care when assembling in Photoshop. Some need a little more “tweaking” or fine tuning than larger sensor cameras. But overall they are fun to use. A lot lighter to carry when you are wandering around looking for subjects to photograph. I still prefer my larger Canons, but sometimes it is nice to go “light”.
2 horizontal shots – stacked vertically in Photoshop. m43 format @14mm
A series of horizontal images, shot overlapping, from ground to sky. Assembled in Photoshop. m43 format @14mm
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