Macro Photography
My first camera was an Olympus OM1 with a 50mm 1.4 lens back in the early 70s. While I eventually purchased some additional lens, the 50mm got a lot of use. I couldn't afford anything actually intended for "macro" photography, so I purchased a set of three filter "diopters" +1, +2 and +3. I quickly learned that - while they could be "stacked" - the quality started to suffer. I spent many an afternoon chasing butterflies and other insects through the fields taking pictures as close as I could get.
Fast forward to today some forty years later and - I'm still using an Olympus camera but these days it's an E-620. And I have both the 50mm macro lens and the 35mm macro lens from Olympus (with the 4/3rds system the 50mm is closer to what a 100mm lens would provide in focal length using my old OM1). While I have occasionally used the lens to photograph something particularly small, most of the time it's used for more standard photographs where the quality of the lens helped provide some sharpness.
Recently, however, my wife forwarded a link to a video of Thomas Shahan and it brought back memories of those days chasing insects in the field. It was already late October at the time and - even in California - far too late to find any butterflies or other insects. But it got me thinking and I decided to revisit the entire subject of macro photography. That resulted in my following some links to an amazing piece of software called Zerene Stacker that uses multiple images - each focused on a different point in a close up - and combines them into one image to maximize the depth of field.
I've only just started to explore this software and have determined some additional hardware will better support the need to move the camera in and out to take the photographs needed (as opposed to refocusing - which is what I'm doing now). Still, while the process is somewhat labor intensive, I'm encouraged by the results and intend to explore this more.
Read MoreFast forward to today some forty years later and - I'm still using an Olympus camera but these days it's an E-620. And I have both the 50mm macro lens and the 35mm macro lens from Olympus (with the 4/3rds system the 50mm is closer to what a 100mm lens would provide in focal length using my old OM1). While I have occasionally used the lens to photograph something particularly small, most of the time it's used for more standard photographs where the quality of the lens helped provide some sharpness.
Recently, however, my wife forwarded a link to a video of Thomas Shahan and it brought back memories of those days chasing insects in the field. It was already late October at the time and - even in California - far too late to find any butterflies or other insects. But it got me thinking and I decided to revisit the entire subject of macro photography. That resulted in my following some links to an amazing piece of software called Zerene Stacker that uses multiple images - each focused on a different point in a close up - and combines them into one image to maximize the depth of field.
I've only just started to explore this software and have determined some additional hardware will better support the need to move the camera in and out to take the photographs needed (as opposed to refocusing - which is what I'm doing now). Still, while the process is somewhat labor intensive, I'm encouraged by the results and intend to explore this more.
Mushrooms on an old redwood trunk - Big Basin State Park
This photograph was made using an LED light ring attached to the front of the lens. The device is relatively inexpensive but I'm not sure I like the effect it brings. For this subject, however, trying to bring any other sort of light source into the park would have been a lot of work. As it was, just setting up the tripod and taking multiple shots required a good twenty minutes.
