Olympus Vs The Suburban Jungle

Flower enthusiasts and botanists - and fungus people - are all experts in their fields. No, really they are. They know what looks good and right and how to grow it or find it. As a result their photos can be wonderful art - provided they can do the technical steps necessary to capture what they can see onto the digital memory. I approach the thing from the other end - I know how to make the picture look good but have no way of getting the garden to support me in the endeavour. I have succeeded in killing artificial plants… All this said, here are a few test shots taken in our front-yard flower cemetery and back-yard weed factory. The items were selected with an eye to test out the Olympus OM-D E-M10 hand-held as if the user was a complete fool in the garden. As if… Note that the camera and lens are perfectly balanced for hand-held macro shots. You support the lens with the left hand and poke the shutter button with the right thumb. Your third and fourth arms are used to swat ants off the pants legs and try to unwind the rose stems from your jumper. It is a suburban jungle out there. The neighbours derive some amusement from it all, I am sure. The camera is noisy when the IS is in operation. Not frighten-the-horses noisy, but you can hear the whish-whirr of the IS mechanism in operation when you take first pressure on the shutter button. You can also see the world in the viewfinder or LCD screen slow down and smooth out, and this is marvellous. You can aim far more easily when it is in slow motion. These are aphids doing what aphids do - killing roses. I am all in favour of this. This is a rose bush lying in wait for me. It hates me and I hate it, and we are both fully justified in our sentiments. This is a jolly cactus. It has enough spikes to bid defiance to anyone and I, for one, wish it all the best. A bug. Possibly an aphid - possibly a member of federal parliament. I did not stop to ask questions. The Last Rose Of Summer. Cue sentimental music. If I had a D-9 Cat with a ripper tooth it would be the last rose of our front yard.