So I was out fox hunting when I found this cutie, full story to follow soon. I do recommend clicking through to Flickr so you can zoom in on them.
Below is one of the first photos I took of him and I focused on the feathers between his eyes. Because I was so close the DoF was super shallow, which put his eyes just out of it. I did some sharpening of the eyes, but they are still soft enough that I notice it even without zooming in.
Boreal Owl 001 by Phocal Art, on Flickr
In this next photograph I put the focus point on his eye and it really is a noticeable difference. You can see that his eye is much sharper and the feathers between his eyes are blurred.
Boreal Owl 002 by Phocal Art, on Flickr
I am way to experienced to make the mistake I did in the first photograph and blow the DoF. Yes, I know there is a stick in front of him which ruins the image and makes the mistake moot (I got plenty of clear images later). But I hate when I make a mistake like this since I am so use to getting close and shooting with such narrow DoF. But, I will admit to being completely surprised to not only see this guy but that he let me get so close to him.......still no excuse.
If you click through to Flickr there are also other images of the owl that are much better and they made me realize just how much I love my Olympus gear. The first image was shot at 1/60 and the second at 1/80 but it was also with the MC-14. The ability to shoot handheld that slow at those focal lengths and get perfectly sharp images really is crazy to someone who started photography before IS was around. I really did think Dual IS was more a gimmick until I really started to test it's limits. Most of the images in this owl album were shot from positions that were not necessarily the most comfortable or stable and at slow shutter speeds, shows just how good it really is.
The 300/4 really is an amazing lens. Click through and zoom in on this next image to see all the detail that lens can capture. That lens just keeps making me so happy.
Boreal Owl 006 by Phocal Art, on Flickr
Guess I should mention the EM1X as well. That camera really does continue to impress me. I have noticed that the field sensor for temperature, reads significantly warmer. But I am really loving how you have two independent focus points for horizontal and vertical orientation. With my old EM1 I hardly ever shot in portrait because it was such a pain in the ass to move the focus point around. The one thing I really missed from Canon was how both orientations had different focus points and now my EM1X is that way. My photos today show that I am getting use to switching to portrait for some photographs, something I probably wouldn't' have done with my old EM1's. When I do need to move the focus point while in portrait I have the joystick in the exact same position as when in landscape. They really did lay out this camera very well.
Phocal
Below is one of the first photos I took of him and I focused on the feathers between his eyes. Because I was so close the DoF was super shallow, which put his eyes just out of it. I did some sharpening of the eyes, but they are still soft enough that I notice it even without zooming in.
In this next photograph I put the focus point on his eye and it really is a noticeable difference. You can see that his eye is much sharper and the feathers between his eyes are blurred.
I am way to experienced to make the mistake I did in the first photograph and blow the DoF. Yes, I know there is a stick in front of him which ruins the image and makes the mistake moot (I got plenty of clear images later). But I hate when I make a mistake like this since I am so use to getting close and shooting with such narrow DoF. But, I will admit to being completely surprised to not only see this guy but that he let me get so close to him.......still no excuse.
If you click through to Flickr there are also other images of the owl that are much better and they made me realize just how much I love my Olympus gear. The first image was shot at 1/60 and the second at 1/80 but it was also with the MC-14. The ability to shoot handheld that slow at those focal lengths and get perfectly sharp images really is crazy to someone who started photography before IS was around. I really did think Dual IS was more a gimmick until I really started to test it's limits. Most of the images in this owl album were shot from positions that were not necessarily the most comfortable or stable and at slow shutter speeds, shows just how good it really is.
The 300/4 really is an amazing lens. Click through and zoom in on this next image to see all the detail that lens can capture. That lens just keeps making me so happy.
Guess I should mention the EM1X as well. That camera really does continue to impress me. I have noticed that the field sensor for temperature, reads significantly warmer. But I am really loving how you have two independent focus points for horizontal and vertical orientation. With my old EM1 I hardly ever shot in portrait because it was such a pain in the ass to move the focus point around. The one thing I really missed from Canon was how both orientations had different focus points and now my EM1X is that way. My photos today show that I am getting use to switching to portrait for some photographs, something I probably wouldn't' have done with my old EM1's. When I do need to move the focus point while in portrait I have the joystick in the exact same position as when in landscape. They really did lay out this camera very well.
Phocal