Capturing Spring with the Olympus 60mm Macro Lens

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_005

Less than 48 hours after we went on the tour of Circuit of the Americas race track here in Austin, TX, I went for my second walk around my neighborhood with my new Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 lens. I had it on my trusty little Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera. The LH-49 lens hood had finally come in to Precision Camera, and I had it on my lens for this flower hunting excursion.

Spingtime has been in full swing here for over a month now, and I really wanted to get out and photograph some of the beautiful flowers while they were still out in full force.

So, on Saturday April 27, 2013 I went for a 3 and a half hour walk before lunch.

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_013

Single

 

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_020

Double

Reminder: You can always view any photo at a larger size by just clicking on it. You will then need to use your browser’s “Back Button” to return to my story.

Fortunately, the sunlight was diffused by an overcast sky full of clouds. There was only a mild breeze when I started out, but it did get progressively stronger as I went along. Also, the clouds dissipated over the course of the morning, and by the time I got home, the direct sunlight was really making this type of photography a real challenge.

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_047

View from Above

 20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_068

Same Flower from Below

I was determined to try and do a better job of catching the flowers at a standstill this time out. Even in a mild breeze they seem to wag around continuously, and never come to a complete standstill for more than a fraction of a second. As a result, I always took multiple photos of the same flower.

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_097

About to Bloom

 

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_158

Honey Bee

 

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_185

Oleander Blossom

Even though the lens is a macro lens, it can also be used as a standard mild telephoto lens (120mm equivalent on a full frame camera).

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_227

Yard Bunnies

 

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_240

Purple Iris with Wary Insect

 

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_257

Wasp

 

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_265

Busy Bee

 

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_333

Bee in a Poppy

 

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_354

Poppy Seeds and Poppy Flower

 

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_399

Ants on an Orange Lantana Blossom

 

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_453

The size of this very small Prickly Pear bud is about 1/2 inch (1 cm) across!

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_491

This photo of a Texas Bluebonnet was cropped from a landscape orientation to this portrait orientation.

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_515

Multiple colors

 

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_555

Garden Bunny with Yellow Rose

 

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_569

This little flower had a bug on it (at the top) and several water droplets still on it from the lawn sprinkler.

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_575

This photo shows just how breezy it had become. Besides, I like our US flag!

At this point I had been gone for just over 2 and a half hours and I noticed that my low battery indicator was starting to flash. That was over 575 photos with a single battery! I didn’t wait for it to die on me, so I changed it out with the spare one I had in my pocket.

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_612

Yellow Flower

 

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_637

With light colored flowers like this, I add from +2/3 to +1 stop of exposure compensation. It is very easy to see that this is needed, due to the excellent electronic viewfinder built into this Olympus OM-D camera.

Now on the very same plant as the flowers in that previous photo, was this tiny little lizard. I don’t know who was more surprised to see the other, but he didn’t move more than 6 inches (15 cm) while he watched me take 15 photos of him!

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_651

Little Lizard

And this next photo seemed to be a fitting analogy to my morning. Just like this busy little bee was covered in pollen, he was still hard at work. Similarly, even though I had several hundred photos already on my memory card, I was still hunting intently for more of God’s beautiful creations to photograph up close!

20130427_Neighborhood_Macro_Walk_670

I had a lot of fun walking around with my new macro lens. With the breezy conditions, I was intently focused on trying to capture some sharper photos than I did on my previous outing with this lens. I believe that I accomplished that, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.

After reviewing several hundred photos from this outing, one thing that quickly becomes obvious is that I need to get the center of attention away from dead center in the frame.

I hope that you enjoyed seeing this set of macro photos, and I thank you for visiting my blog!

5 thoughts on “Capturing Spring with the Olympus 60mm Macro Lens”

  1. That bee on the white #158 is perhaps one of the prettiest I’ve seen and the detail is gorgeous.

    Yard bunnies – ha ha. Some of my backyard stuff is still asleep from winter but it will likely be hauled out next week. We’ve had a glorious weather streak, but cloudy, cool, grey here today and that will continue through the weekend.

    1. Libby, well thank you! Those bees are constantly moving, and very difficult to predict which direction they will move next. It’s a fact – “Busy as a Bee”.
      I figured that you would enjoy the yard bunnies. That one with the yellow flower is the same one I put up there for you several months ago. Even though its eye is weather damaged, it still looks like it actually has a personality to me!

      1. I remember that bunny 😉 Cool and rainy here today and probably through the weekend, so the major yardwork here will probably resume next Monday.

        If you are near the house, a simple mixture of corn syrup and water in a small spray bottle sprayed on one spot will keep them very busy in that area for a bit. Sometimes the cornsyrup is thick and doesn’t dissolve readily but a tiny bit of warming in the microwave will take care of that. You can also make a mixture in a very small paper cup and just paint it on a few flowers with a small brush. You don’t need much. They will find it -)

Comments are closed.