I was in a funk recently, not really being motivated to shoot. Natalie saw a moth the other day and wanted to get a picture of it, so that started an evening of us taking pictures. I used my Olympus ZD 50mm f2 Macro lens and got the images below. I’ll send a free 8×10″ of your choice (from my online gallery) to the first person that can correctly identify this mystery bug. Just leave the name in the comments below.
Over the weekend I had the pleasure of doing a senior photo session for Victoria, from Lakewood High School. She chose Red Rocks Park for her shooting location, and we could not of had a better day. Blue skies, mild temps and little wind made for a fun time. We captured some great images of her that her family and friends will treasure for years to come. Thank you Victoria, and good luck to you.
Going to be 75° here today, chance of snow tomorrow. Spring in Colorado is always exciting.
Except for a brief spring snowstorm last week, spring is really here in Colorado. That means it is time for me to start shooting flowers again. The photo above is my first serious attempt at taking a macro with my new Olympus 50mm f2 macro lens, mounted on my new Olympus E-30. I was playing with different f stops and focus points, so I wasn’t expecting any “good” shots. Really just wanted to play with things a bit. On top of that, it was really windy, and the flower kept moving. After all was said and done though, the above is one of the quality images I got. I look forward to playing with this lens more as different varieties of flowers come into bloom. My neighbor has a great columbine patch, I hope that comes in well this year.
As for my E-30 and new lenses, I am definitely loving them. The camera is fantastic, giving me good action shots and good macros. Looking forward to using it on some portraits in the coming weeks. So far I am very happy that I made the upgrades I did.
Photos for the Lakewood Level II team coached by Mr. Gonzalez are now online and available for purchase. It was a good game for Lakewood, the score was 11-4 after the first inning.
Be sure to contact me if you are interested in having team sports photos taken in the Lakewood/ Littleton/ Golden/ Wheat Ridge areas.
Photos from the Sunday JCJBL age 12, flight 2 game between Lakewood (Souther) and Broomfield are now online for review and purchase.
On 03.25.10, In Gear, By Chester
Been ordering some new gear, and yesterday my new Olympus Zuiko 50mm f2 lens arrived. I didn’t have much time to play with it yesterday, but I did take a couple of photos. This is not by any means an exhaustive writeup or review, I need to use it more first. Immediate reaction though: WOW. This thing is crazy fast. Can’t wait to try it on my E-30 when it arrives next week. And I especially can’t wait to try it with my EX-25 for some serious macro work. I love this thing already.
And of course, I had to try a candid portrait with it. I need to work on this a little more, but I like it alot.
On 03.18.10, In Commentary, By Chester
In the DSLR world, most people think that there are just two brands – Canon and Nikon. They find it quite easy to forget about the other players in the market – Sony, Pentax, Olympus and others. I have never really understood why it is so easy to dismiss these other manufacturers. In fact, the Zuiko lenses from Olympus have long been regarded as some of the finest glass around.
I don’t know that I would say I take offense to this dismissiveness, but I guess I do. Back when I started shopping for a DSLR to move up from my Canon G5 point and shoot (a VERY capable camera I might add), I looked at Canon and Nikon. And then I participated in a test drive event Olympus sponsored. I took home an E-500 for a weekend and was hooked. Shortly thereafter, I bought an E-510 kit that included 2 lenses. Since then, I have created some stunning images that get rave reviews. I even put them up for sale, that’s how confident I am of the work. I have done headshots, portraits, landscapes, product photos, all with my E-510. None of my clients have complained in the least.
Why then is it time to upgrade? More importantly, why do I want an Olympus E-30? Well, it’s time. As noted before, I am looking to ramp up how much I shoot. In that respect, having a second body is always a good idea. Once I start my schedule of team photos, there is no way I can be out of commission if something goes wrong with my only camera. So this is indeed a primary driver.
My photography is continuing to evolve though, and this is really why I am looking to upgrade my camera. I love taking HDR pictures. Sadly, Olympus elected to not update the 510 firmware to allow for the kind of EV bracketing that is ideal for HDR captures. The E-30 is well suited to this, allowing a 5 frame, 1 sec burst that will be perfect for HDR. Overall, the upgrade in frames per second from 3 on the 510 to 5 on the E-30 should help with taking pictures of my daughter, as well as the various sports I take pics of during the summer (baseball, softball) here in Colorado.
The increased megapixels will be nice, but not necessary. The ability to interact with the Olympus Radio system for flashes would be nice too, but I already make do with Cactus triggers (and manufacturer flashes in general are way too expensive). Simply put, I am taking my photography far more seriously, and I want a camera that can keep up. Sure, I could switch systems to Canon or Nikon, but right now I don’t see the point. I think the Olympus E-30 will work just fine for me.
What’s in a crop?
When I first started working on this image, I did basic things like cropping it down to get a good focus on the bee. I liked the colors and everything else (Olympus really does a great job with color), so I called it done after the crop. The result is above.
But then I kept looking at it and something was bothering me, but I couldn’t quite place it. I posted it to an online forum and asked some friends for their thoughts. Then it hit me. It is way too heavy on the left. The image seems so busy over there, and it was just bothering me. So then I thought about a couple things. I could reduce how tight the crop was:
Nope, that won’t work. Darn stray petal.
So then I decided to try something else entirely. As far as photo etiquette goes, I don’t know if this is proper or not, but I reversed the image. Just flipped it horizontally, loading everything to the right.
I think it works a lot better this way. Your eyes ease into the image instead of being overwhelmed right away. Or maybe it’s because I am left-handed, I don’t know. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.
And for those interested in the technical bits, this was shot with an Olympus E-30, on a tripod (only used two of the legs though), with an Olympus Digital Zuiko 50mm f2 macro lens. I really love that lens.