Often we can find macro treasures to photograph while exploring the flower beds in the yards around our own homes. This article features a selection of images captured using handheld in-camera focus stacking in combination with the M.Zuiko 90 mm f/3.5 PRO IS Macro lens and M.Zuiko MC-14 teleconverter.

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This combination provides a focal length of 126 mm (efov 252 mm) which can come in handy when potential subjects are a bit further away from a photographer’s shooting position. I almost always use a short stool when doing macro photography which can distance me slightly from a potential subject.

Over time I’ve come to rely on the handheld in-camera focus stacking capability resident in my E-M1X for much of my macro photography.

The output of the in-camera focus stacking function is a jpeg file… which I find is acceptable for my purposes. Other photographers may want to use the corresponding RAW files from the focus stacking function, and combine them in post.

Macro treasures seem to pop up all around me whenever I’m out doing this genre of photography. Small details that may not be of much interest normally, call out to me.

Finding a clean shooting angle helps to create good subject separation.

My eye is frequently drawn to the repeating patterns that are so often found in nature.

I find the order and symmetry in these repeating patterns very appealing visually.

Contrasting colours also catch my eye.

My preference is to create my images as full frame captures whenever possible… so I can avoid cropping in post.

There are times when a dead or dying flower bud can be of visual interest to me. In these situations I use equidistant composition technique to help create balance with the resulting image.

Finding some insects in my yard is always a bonus. They can add some additional challenge if their legs or antennae are moving as I have to time my shutter release when they are as still as possible. Taking a stack of 12 images to be combined in-camera makes shutter release timing critical.

The spider image above was one of my favourite macro treasures captured that day. It was on a web spanning across several Hosta leaves. Even in the slightest breeze it would bob back and forth… so I had to be very patient with my shutter release timing.

I love finding opportunities to really push myself and my camera gear. When I spotted a tiny fly perched motionless on a leaf I knew this would be a great opportunity to use the S-Macro (i.e. 2X native magnification) setting with the M.Zuiko 90 mm f/3.5 PRO IS lens.

I moved in very slowly as not to spook the fly. I was able to get in very close (225 mm) and used a stack of 12 images with a Focus Differential of 4. The resulting HHFS image more than filled my composition. I’ll have to use this technique more in the future.

Macro treasures are available to all of us. All we need to do is open ourselves up to experience the small details around us.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured handheld using camera equipment  noted in the EXIF data. All images were created from out-of-camera jpeg. I used a stack of 12 images with a Focus Differential of 4. This is the 1,466 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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