Wick Flower Meadow

[brian1208]

The weather cleared after lunch so I too Pam and the EM-1 + 50-200 down to our local riverside nature reserve within which is a managed flower meadow.

It was still a few weeks early for the best display but it gave me a chance to try out the 50-200 with and without the EC-14 now that I have dialled in +10 focus adjustment with the EC-14

I'd be interested to hear what you think of the results which are in the main un-resized crops with minimal processing in LR5.4 from the raw files

A couple of nice "spots" my first Blue of the year and a Banded Demoiselle (also my first of the year)

Common Blue on Cornflower showing under-wing detail 283mm f5.6

common blue at 283mm EC-14 by BrianWadie, on Flickr

showing the upper wing detail also at 283mm f5.6

common blue at 263mm EC-14 top wing by BrianWadie, on Flickr

Blue at 200mm,f4.5 no EC-14 (big crop as it was a fair distance off in an inaccessible area of the meadow)

common blue 200mm by BrianWadie, on Flickr

Demoiselle at 200mm f4.5, another that sat in an inaccessible part of the meadow (how do they know the focal length of the lens in use? )

banded demoiselle by BrianWadie, on Flickr

A white-tailed Bumblebee on a flower which neither of us could identify, any clues gratefully received 200mm f5

white tailed bumble bee at 200mm unknown flower by BrianWadie, on Flickr

[Zuiko]

Re: Wick Flower Meadow

A superb set and a joy to view. That Demoiselle really leaps off the screen!

[Mrs T]

Re: Wick Flower Meadow

A lovely set of shots.

[brian1208]

Re: Wick Flower Meadow

thanks both, looking at the first one again I'm wondering if I may need to "Tweak" the focus adjustment as it looks slightly soft and out of focus to me (in the second the point of focus looks to be on the left wing rather than the head)

[OlyPaul]

Re: Wick Flower Meadow

As John said a superb set and little else to add.

[brian1208]

Re: Wick Flower Meadow

thanks Paul

Looking at the first image again and processing another shot of the same butterfly I think the focus adjust is fine, it was my decision to use such a wide aperture resulting in very shallow DOF and just missing the critical focus point

In this shot the flower petal in front of the Blue's head is sharp as is the tongue but the rest of the subject is just OOF

common blue 283mm by BrianWadie, on Flickr

More work needed by me to get used to shooting long with shallow DOF again

[Bikie John]

Re: Wick Flower Meadow

A lovely set Brian. As for your concern about focus adjustment, could it be that the focus point is not the one you were expecting? I believe you use 9-point quite often so it might have chosen a nearby one. I think the focus point is recorded in the EXIF but I don't know how you dig it out. If you used single-point and recomposed then the margins are so small that it may have made it look off.

Not a criticism of your photos or technique at all, just trying to understand how it all works

John

[brian1208]

Re: Wick Flower Meadow

thanks John no, in this case I was down to the smallest central focus point so the error was mine (not that unusual )

I thought we should be able to see the focus point too but I believe that may just be in Olympus Viewer, must have a look

[Guest]

Re: Wick Flower Meadow

Great series - makes one love macros.

[brian1208]

Re: Wick Flower Meadow

Thanks Terry, the joy of using the 50-200 + EC-14 was that it got me the shots I couldn't have got with my macro lens.

Even thought the images would have been better with the 60mm macro I would not have been able to get close enough as its not possible to enter the meadow to chase down the subjects.

Its great that the system captures enough information that a crop like this is possible

[brian1208]

Re: Wick Flower Meadow

The meadow is located on the banks of the River Stour, just across from Christchurch Priory

priory view by BrianWadie, on Flickr

and this bit of the river is home to our local rowing club

rowing pair at 283 f5.6 by BrianWadie, on Flickr

so there is always plenty to photograph in addition to the flowers and bugs

Ladybird poppy by BrianWadie, on Flickr