Some two years ago I sold all my Canon gear and went all out with Olympus. I got the MK II, and all the pro lenses. Last year Olympus came out with the MK III - with all kinds of neat features the MK 10 had without the added weight of the battery clip. I like doing Milky Way photography and also using ND filters from time to time. Olympus MK III is the only camera on the market that can auto-focus on the stars at night. It has the built in ND filters. So I traded my MK II in for the MK III. I love my Olympus gear and all the features it offers.

I find it interesting that some never use the histogram and state that they make exposure adjustments in post processing. If you have overexposed the image or underexposed the image all the post processing in the world is not going to bring back the the blowout elements of the photo. I use my on-camera or live-view histogram to get the best exposure I can. I do tend to shoot ETTR.

Mike
How did you get the black background on these great flower shots?

What program did you use to focus stack this image? I see that B&H has Hilicon Soft Helicon Focus Pro for $200 for a life time license. Not sure if it is worth it. Does Photoshop do a good job?

Can we keep the politics out of this forum.

I have been using Carbonite for 12 years. I have 4 internal hardrives that it backs up every day. No limit. I have over 70,000 photos and tons of video files it backs up. At first it didn't back up video, but it does now.
As far as backing up Lightroom, it does the catalog and all my images. I use Acronis to back up my C drive operating system. Acronis even has an off-site cloud version also. Your's smart if backing everything up off site.

Yes - John Greengo is the best there is. And you can find the video's on sale from time to time. You can't go wrong with John.

Here is a 2.35 min video by Mike Moats a macro photogrpher showing the tripod and ball head he uses. I got it and love it. Love the ball head movement and really like the lock, unlock feature of the legs. Much better than the snap lock system and full turn system. 1/4 turn your locked or unlocked. Not cheap, but hay you get what you pay for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTzvJw1_WN8

I don't know how much correction you expect to get with a light pollution filter. I have one, was very costly. I used it one time doing a Milky Way photo shoot. It did not improve things that much. I recently viewed a You Tube video Milky Way Masterclass with Alyn Wallace. His response to the question about light pollution filters was "don't expect miracles". I have one for sale if you want to buy it.

Really good work here. You are on our way to doing great stuff. Take a look at Harold Ross's stuff.
https://www.haroldrossfineart.com/ I think you will enjoy it. I have seen his work at the Mike Moats Macro Workshops. He even has workshops you can attend.

I had all Canon cameras and lenses before Canon added some Mirroless cameras. I went with Olympus OM-D-M1-MKII was my first Olympus Camera. Then Olympus came out with the MKIII- so I sold my MKII and got the MKIII. I love both of them. They have in-camera 5x stabilization. Then Canon came out with mirroless cameras, but they kept the stabilization in the lenses - what is with that. I'm so totally glad I went with Olympus. Just my 2 Cents.

You might contact Kevin Adams. He lives in NC near the Smoky Mts and does firefly trips. Although he may not be doing one this year. But I'm sure he would be glad to share what setting to use.

Kevin Adams Photography | 336-870-4283 | kevin@kadamsphoto.com
www.kadamsphoto.com
283 Inman Branch Road
Waynesville, NC 28786

Yes - I fully agree. Why some people on this forum have to put others down is beyond me. A little help and kindness goes a long way. Remember from where you came. No one needs sarcasm or smart arse remarks when they are trying to learn something. Treat others the way you would like to be treated. I see a lot of uncalled for remarks on this forum. What gives. For those that are doing it, you think you are better then others, well your not. So get over yourself and treat others with respect.

Go to the Lensbaby site and check out the tutorials on the Lensbaby University tab. Gives lots of good advise. They don't have anything listed just yet on the 28 as it is a new lens. But the other Velvet lenses will translate to the 28. The trick with the Lensbaby lenses is to take shots at the different f-stops and see what works best for you. Also - this is a manual focus lens so you have to take a number of shots to get the result you want. They do work with focus peaking if your camera has that capability. I have a number of Lensbaby lenses and like them. They make for great MACRO flower photography. I really like my Velvet lens. Just go the SOL for my Olympus micro 4/3rds camera.

What do you recommend as a good source - video tutorials to learn how to use the Wacom tablet. It does seem to have a bit of a learning curve.