There’s a well-used saying that “Old Habits Die Hard” which is applicable to various areas of our lives including photography. Humans tend to be creatures of habit. We can sometimes find ourselves falling into patterns of behaviour (including some that are counterproductive) without being aware of our habitual actions. The first step in changing old photographic habits is to become aware of them.
All posts by Thomas Stirr
Cooperative Green Heron
This article shares an assortment of handheld photographs of a cooperative green heron, captured during a recent visit to Hendrie Valley.
New Zealand Memories
This article shares some New Zealand memories and various photographs which were created during a number of visits to this spectacular country.
Favourite Pro Capture Images
This article shares some of my favourite Pro Capture images that were created using an E-M1X, M.Zuiko telephoto lenses, and M.Zuiko teleconverters. All were captured handheld. Without question the more that I have used Pro Capture, the more indispensable it has become to my bird and insect photography.
Armchair Photographer
Watching videos and reading articles about photography can be helpful to develop our knowledge base… but we can risk becoming an armchair photographer. Unless we put new found knowledge into practice we risk it quickly fading from our consciousness.
Photographs and Memories
Photographs and the memories they rekindle are often etched in our minds for extended periods of time and linked to our emotions. Depending on our interests our photographs and memories could be travel related. We may have a strong attraction to specific subject matter like birds, nature or macro. Many photographers who enjoy creating images of people do so in order that their memories of friends and family can be preserved. Each of us has created images that have special meaning and memories for us.
Focus Stacked Dragonfly
This article shares a small selection of handheld in-camera focus stacked dragonfly images that were captured at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington Ontario. These photographs fall under the ‘push my gear and see what happens’ category. All were captured using an E-M1X, M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS zoom lens, and M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter. This set-up was shot fully extended which creates an equivalent field-of-view of 1600 mm. All of the photographs in this article were created during the same photo session as described in my previous article.
Dragonflies at 1600 mm
This article discusses photographing dragonflies handheld at 1600 mm equivalent field-of-view, and shares a selection of new images. All photographs were captured using an E-M1X, M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS and M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter. All images were created with my lens fully extended and fitted with the M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter. This produces a focal length of 800 mm (efov 1600 mm).
100-400 Handheld Focus Stacking
This article features a selection of photographs that illustrate M.Zuiko 100-400 mm handheld focus stacking capability with the OM-D E-M1X and the M.Zuiko MC-14 teleconverter.
After viewing Peter Baumgartner’s presentation during World Photography Day I was inspired to try out my E-M1X’s focus stacking technology again. It has been well over a year since I last used this feature.
Shallow DOF with M4/3
This article discusses some basic techniques that can be used to achieve shallow DOF (depth-of-field) with M4/3 equipment. There is quite a bit of assumptive thinking on the internet, as well as people regurgitating things they have read about shallow DOF with M4/3.
It is absolutely possible, and actually very easy, to achieve shallow depth-of-field with M4/3 camera gear. People who state that shallow depth-of-field is “impossible” with M4/3 equipment are simply misinformed.