Stuart Ord
August 2026 - Where have all the Insects gone?
About the Image(s)
This was taken in a local nature reserve recently. There was some insect life, but disappointingly little. Where have all the insects gone?? It’s very different now to when I was a kid.
OM Systems OM-1, 1/250 sec, f5.6, ISO 2500. Olympus 40-150 Pro lens with extension tube and MC-14 converter (a tele converter x1.4), set to 150mm (210mm with the converter). Natural light. Single frame. Processed in Affinity 3 and Topaz Denoise.
6 comments posted
Interesting plant and love the detail. I might have tried a higher f-stop to get the very front focused. Personally I would use less of a vignette but very nice photo! Posted: 08/01/2026 12:59:02
Yes, you are right, the furthest away buds are a little soft. Perhaps I should have taken several with different settings, or a bracket. It's a pity our camera screens are not good enough to see this level of detail.
Posted: 08/01/2026 21:19:50
Posted: 08/01/2026 21:19:50
What worked really well here are the leading lines, those beautiful curves pieces that lead right into the center from all directions. I agree with Margaret on the vignette and on the front focus--it is minimal but there is a softness that was probably impossible to see on the LCD without blowing it up or using focus peaking. The colors also are really lovely together. Posted: 08/17/2026 01:31:52
I like the plant and interesting patterns that it gives. Looks like it is coming out of the screen. Picking the right f-stop for that kind of subject is hard because you want to blur the background but preserve subject focus at the same time. A good candidate for focus stacking. If for some reason I can't focus stack I prefer to get the front in focus and let it fall off towards the back. My eye doesn't like things out of focus in the front so moving the focus point forward a little would have helped here. Posted: 08/20/2026 13:26:04
Stuart, I really like the composition and the textures. The out of focus flower on the front does catch my eye so I agree that maybe a higher f-stop would have helped with the focus in the foreground. Posted: 08/21/2026 19:12:23
Thanks, Gloria. Yes, everyone says the same thing on the DoF issue.
I was using a lens combination that I don't often use, and as I was with non-photographer friends, I didn't really have time to experiment. The camera would definitely have done a focus stack with this lens, so I should have done this, really.
A smaller aperture might have been a blurring problem, given it's a heavy (for micro 4/3) lens combination in not-very-strong light. Having said that, image stabilisation is so good, I should have tried 1/60 at f11, or 1/30 at f16. But it might not have succeeded in bringing the DoF front limit forwards enough. Still, I should have tried! Friends have to wait sometimes! Posted: 08/21/2026 19:47:52
I was using a lens combination that I don't often use, and as I was with non-photographer friends, I didn't really have time to experiment. The camera would definitely have done a focus stack with this lens, so I should have done this, really.
A smaller aperture might have been a blurring problem, given it's a heavy (for micro 4/3) lens combination in not-very-strong light. Having said that, image stabilisation is so good, I should have tried 1/60 at f11, or 1/30 at f16. But it might not have succeeded in bringing the DoF front limit forwards enough. Still, I should have tried! Friends have to wait sometimes! Posted: 08/21/2026 19:47:52