Posts for: rsworden
Nov 27, 2022 01:14:25 #
Nice. I'm guessing that at 1/200, the wings were sharply stopped only when fully forward or fully back? I generally have to go with a much faster shutter.
Nov 26, 2022 21:42:57 #
Very nice. Did you freeze them with flash or shutter?
Nov 26, 2022 21:38:13 #
Reddish Egret at the Bolsa Chica reserve, Huntington Beach, California, USA
I had never seen one of these before.
Olympus E-M5 II, M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II
@ 246mm, 118 feet away
I had never seen one of these before.
Olympus E-M5 II, M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II
@ 246mm, 118 feet away
Jul 4, 2022 22:10:42 #
San Joaquin Marsh in Irvine, California is a big complex of ponds, streams and woods. This GBH took flight from a platform in a pond and flew in a big arc, keeping his distance from me pretty constant, so fixed focus worked pretty well.
Olympus E-M5 II, M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II
Olympus E-M5 II, M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II
Jun 4, 2022 13:39:48 #
Out of 942 images of the Tau Herculid shower, I did capture one meteor. Orange, California, USA.
Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II, 7Artisans 25mm f/1.8, ISO 100, 6 seconds.
STC Astro MS light pollution filter
Enhanced with Adobe Super Resolution
I mount my camera on my Meade reflecting telescope to use the tracking motors. I started out tracking the radiant, but the scope tube kept hitting a tripod leg, so I just had to fudge it back a few degrees several times. So orientation was basically straight up at this point. That's the edge of my roof on the right... the dark curve at the bottom is the end of my telescope that I used just for tracking. The meteor track is roughly aligned northwest-southeast.
I also saw one that wasn't photographed, much shorter and bright orange.
Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II, 7Artisans 25mm f/1.8, ISO 100, 6 seconds.
STC Astro MS light pollution filter
Enhanced with Adobe Super Resolution
I mount my camera on my Meade reflecting telescope to use the tracking motors. I started out tracking the radiant, but the scope tube kept hitting a tripod leg, so I just had to fudge it back a few degrees several times. So orientation was basically straight up at this point. That's the edge of my roof on the right... the dark curve at the bottom is the end of my telescope that I used just for tracking. The meteor track is roughly aligned northwest-southeast.
I also saw one that wasn't photographed, much shorter and bright orange.
May 30, 2022 20:27:00 #
I had never used flash in any wildlife photos, figuring it would scare them away. An article in the Journal of Wildlife Photography (and other sources) recently addressed the ethics and safety of flash with wildlife and basically said it's a non-issue except maybe for baby animals and bats in caves. (I know bat photographers have used flash for years, and that's the one area of safety they mentioned: you don't want to blind a bat at night and cause it to collide with something.)
So I decided to try my new Godox flash in some shady forested areas. It made a big difference in the image quality, and the birds didn't seem to mind.
The first, of a Great Blue Heron, was a little too intense and you can see shadows. It was pretty close. It moved on to continue hunting, so I didn't get too many chances to test and adjust.
The next two were much further away, maybe 50 feet, and didn't have anything immediately behind them to show shadows. The egret was very patient and I got to experiment with the flash intensity. I'm really pleased with how the flash enabled the fine features of the white egret feathers to show up and not be blown out. In the future I'd like to get the flash off the camera to reduce red-eye.
Any advice and/or comments on using flash with wildlife?
So I decided to try my new Godox flash in some shady forested areas. It made a big difference in the image quality, and the birds didn't seem to mind.
The first, of a Great Blue Heron, was a little too intense and you can see shadows. It was pretty close. It moved on to continue hunting, so I didn't get too many chances to test and adjust.
The next two were much further away, maybe 50 feet, and didn't have anything immediately behind them to show shadows. The egret was very patient and I got to experiment with the flash intensity. I'm really pleased with how the flash enabled the fine features of the white egret feathers to show up and not be blown out. In the future I'd like to get the flash off the camera to reduce red-eye.
Any advice and/or comments on using flash with wildlife?
May 30, 2022 20:12:01 #
May 28, 2022 01:52:57 #
kenArchi wrote:
Do you Oly guys go to a forum for 4/3.
On Facebook, I like https://www.facebook.com/groups/OMD.education/
Olympus & OM System Education Group
May 26, 2022 00:15:27 #
When I was ready to switch from a DSLR (Nikon D50) nearly three years ago and looked to mirrorless, Olympus was the clear technology leader of that class of camera. To me, more important than the great features you listed, Olympus had industry-leading image stabilization. It's a real game-changer: not having to lug a tripod around on wildlife photo hikes, the ability to shoot long exposures and HDR hand-held.
Once they had that 5-axis machine, they layered on other features such as hi-res mode to make roughly 20-MP images with a 16-MP sensor, and the Supersonic Wave Filter that vibrates dust off the sensor every time you turn the camera on.
Now, maybe other makers have implemented these same features, but Olympus seems to innovate them and stay ahead with new ideas. I'm continually going back to the book and finding features I can use. Built-in intervalometer. Time-lapse video. Live Composite which enables light painting for situations where flash isn't the answer. Focus stacking. The list goes on and on.
You do have to check gear compatibility carefully, for example some lenses support in-body focus stacking, and some don't; you can still do the stacking in Oly's software. Their teleconverters only work on some lenses. Weather sealing is pretty much standard on the OM-D bodies but only on the Pro lenses.
I have an E-M5 Mark II (they're now up to Mark III) and I think it's great. It's not as big as the E-M1 and OM1 and so I found it to be a "sweet spot" of size and features at the time.
There's a very active and helpful Olympus education group on Facebook to help with learning the features, choosing models of body and lenses, and so on.
As to why the other makers don't offer these features? I guess Olympus is happy to sell to the more technical niche instead of the mass consumer market. I do see a lot of professional wildlife and landscape photographers talking about their Olympuses.
Once they had that 5-axis machine, they layered on other features such as hi-res mode to make roughly 20-MP images with a 16-MP sensor, and the Supersonic Wave Filter that vibrates dust off the sensor every time you turn the camera on.
Now, maybe other makers have implemented these same features, but Olympus seems to innovate them and stay ahead with new ideas. I'm continually going back to the book and finding features I can use. Built-in intervalometer. Time-lapse video. Live Composite which enables light painting for situations where flash isn't the answer. Focus stacking. The list goes on and on.
You do have to check gear compatibility carefully, for example some lenses support in-body focus stacking, and some don't; you can still do the stacking in Oly's software. Their teleconverters only work on some lenses. Weather sealing is pretty much standard on the OM-D bodies but only on the Pro lenses.
I have an E-M5 Mark II (they're now up to Mark III) and I think it's great. It's not as big as the E-M1 and OM1 and so I found it to be a "sweet spot" of size and features at the time.
There's a very active and helpful Olympus education group on Facebook to help with learning the features, choosing models of body and lenses, and so on.
As to why the other makers don't offer these features? I guess Olympus is happy to sell to the more technical niche instead of the mass consumer market. I do see a lot of professional wildlife and landscape photographers talking about their Olympuses.
May 22, 2022 11:57:47 #
Nope, by the time it rose here in southern California it was nearing totality, got just a bit darker. Then it got lighter as it rose, finishing up about 23:30.
May 21, 2022 22:29:56 #
wdross wrote:
... a flash with a duration of 1/10,000 or less.
I had some good results with flash at 1/80 power, which I think works out to about 1/33,000th.
May 21, 2022 22:08:53 #
These are from southern California. By the time the moon rose here it was at near totality.
Olympus E-M5 II, M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II
Olympus E-M5 II, M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II
May 7, 2022 02:34:21 #
Let’s expand on number four, focus confirmation, in case people are not familiar with it. On my Olympus it’s called Focus Peaking and is used mainly in MF mode. It adds colored highlights to whatever part of the image is in focus (as long as there is decent contrast). So you can interactively adjust your focus and/or your depth of field and see exactly what you have in focus. A real game changer. Works with non-intelligent lenses too.
May 5, 2022 01:06:28 #
Long Beach, CA, USA.
I acquired a rubber lens hood, which when pressed against the glass eliminates all reflections. It doesn't eliminate all problems - murkiness in the water is a big one.
The other thing I learned is that shooting other than perpendicular to the glass introduces distortion, which ruined a lot of my shots.
Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II.
The frogs were taken with 7Artisans 25mm f1.8.
All others were with the M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ
Lots of post-processing: white balance adjustments because the lighting in the cages and tanks was all over the place; sharpening, noise reduction.
I acquired a rubber lens hood, which when pressed against the glass eliminates all reflections. It doesn't eliminate all problems - murkiness in the water is a big one.
The other thing I learned is that shooting other than perpendicular to the glass introduces distortion, which ruined a lot of my shots.
Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II.
The frogs were taken with 7Artisans 25mm f1.8.
All others were with the M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ
Lots of post-processing: white balance adjustments because the lighting in the cages and tanks was all over the place; sharpening, noise reduction.
Wish its head wasn't in shadow.
(Download)
Arrow poison frog
(Download)
Who's a leopard shark? (do you see it?) Off-axis distortion.
(Download)
(Download)
(Download)
(Download)
Sea Apple (I think), a variety of Sea Cucumber
(Download)
Shrimp
(Download)
Octopus was moving fast and then hid. Lucky to get any picture at all.
(Download)
Cow Nose Ray (I think)
(Download)
Apr 23, 2022 20:16:45 #
I wish the colors could be more exciting, but it was an overcast day.
Olympus E-M5 II, M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II
Olympus E-M5 II, M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II
Green-Winged Teal (male) (a first for me)
(Download)
Least Sandpipers (I think)
(Download)
Gadwall (female)
(Download)
Pair of American Wigeons
(Download)
Northern Shoveler (male) (a first for me)
(Download)
Pair of Northern Shovelers. They went around in a circle as they fed together.
(Download)
Northern Rough-Winged Swallow (a first for me)
(Download)
