Art I'm Making: Macro Photography

I've recently become interested in local insects more than in the past because of a couple of gigs doing bird surveys on private property in the county where, in both cases, the people asking me to catalog the birds present are interested in everything—birds, wildflowers, insects. 

Photographing insects with the same long telephoto lens I use to photograph birds actually works quite well, but I thought it time to get a dedicated macro lens. Olympus makes a very highly rated macro lens (60mm, f2.8) that I was able to find fairly inexpensively used. I've only been able to go on a few outings with this new lens, but, so far, it's proved hit or miss. The extremely shallow depth of field makes it a challenge to get anything in focus—particularly critters that don't hold still. 

So far, I've had the best luck (and a great deal of luck seems to be required) with the most common of insects—honeybees and house flies. I'm hoping to capture something a little more exotic before too long. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

Miscellaneous: Lunar Eclipse of January 20, 2019

We got to see only about half of the eclipse tonight because of clouds and rain, but we got to enjoy the climax at least. Here's my best shot of the action. Shot with an Olympus OMD EM-1 Mark II and a 420mm-equivalent lens (80-300mm zoom lens at 300mm plus 1.4x teleconverter) at f4 for 1/3 of a second at ISO 6400. Camera on tripod, in-camera image stabilization off. Exposed using a remote shutter release. Anti-vibration setting not used. Recorded from Santa Rosa, CA at 9:20PM Pacific Standard Time.