Whether you’re looking for photography & equipment tips, event write-ups, inspirational articles featuring our Ambassadors & Visionaries, or just a good read, this is the place for you. Make sure to check back regularly for the latest posts!
FOUND FEATHERS: STUDIO STILL LIFE IN HIGH RES
By Marcus Clackson
I’ve been collecting found bird feathers on walks over the last couple of years and recently decided to create a project photographing some of them. The results are an interesting eclectic set of photos with a strong graphic style.
MACRO ICE WORLD: FIVE TIPS FOR SNOWFLAKE AND ICE PHOTOGRAPHY
By Joanna Noble
Photographer Joanna shares five tips for getting started with creative snowflake and ice photos: the perfect winter project for anyone staying #HomeWithOlympus
WILDLIFE ON THE CHALK STREAMS
By Dick Hawkes
Over the last couple of years, I have been taking photographs with an OM-D E-M1 for my book Chalk Streams – A Unique Environment Worth Conserving. As well as showing the beauty of the landscape, an important theme of the book is to highlight the rich variety of wildlife supported by the chalk streams.
MY OLYMPUS JOURNEY : DISCOVERING TINY THINGS THROUGH A MACRO LENS
By Jamie Rosencrans
We tracked down Jamie, AKA @this_forest_floor on Instagram, to find out more about the incredible structures and scenes found in front of their 60mm F2.8 Macro…
CHALLENGE YOURSELF BY GOING SMALL
By Andrew Turpin
Like a lot of photographers, I tend to fall into the trap of searching for that epic shot. I’ll trek for miles in the hope of finding a unique view, some rare wildlife, or that magical moment when the light just seems to come alive. All of that is fantastic, of course, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but sometimes it’s better to think small.
TOP TIPS: FOCUS STACKING WITH AN OLYMPUS OM-D
By David Osborn
Having spent a great deal of his working life in aviation, firstly as an air traffic controller and then as an airport manager, David Osborn FRPS is now a UK based professional wildlife photographer. He joins us to share his experiences of in-camera Focus Stacking with Olympus kit.
SURVIVING LOCKDOWN: LEARNING WITH OLYMPUS
By Amanda Threlfall
My last visit to the swimming pool was 4th March. My happy place. How would I survive lockdown without it? A long list of DIY, decorating and gardening is all well and good, but it doesn’t quite have the “feel good factor”. Like a Knight in shining armour, Olympus came to the rescue!
MY OLYMPUS JOURNEY
By Carsten Krieger
Ireland-based professional photographer and author Carsten Krieger has had his work published in magazines and calendars and he exhibits on a regular basis. Read on to find out how the Olympus OM-D system has played a part in his own personal photography journey.
PAPER SHAPES & SHADOWS WITH GAVIN HOEY
By Gavin Hoey
If you missed out on the live session you can now catch up on this fantastic Facebook Live with Olympus Ambassador Gavin Hoey! Even in our digital world, paper is an essential part of our lives. From books to printers, paper is everywhere and that’s exactly what Gavin uses in this Facebook live session.
PENCIL PATTERN PHOTOGRAPHY WITH GAVIN HOEY
By Gavin Hoey
If you missed out on the live session you can now catch up on this fantastic Facebook Live with Olympus Ambassador Gavin Hoey! In this session he covers his essential photography tips to help you make amazing close up photos of colouring pencils at home.
HOW THE E-M1 MARK III OPENED MY EYES TO BIRDS
By Andy Wasley
Already a long-time E-M1 Mark II user, Andy Wasley took his downtime as an opportunity to upgrade to the E-M1 Mark III. But he was left with a challenge: what to shoot?
MACRO AT HOME WITH GERAINT RADFORD
By Geraint Radford
Discover wonderful macro photo opportunities in your own back garden with our Nature Photography Olympus Ambassador, Geraint Radford.
VIS MIG IN LOCKDOWN WITH THE OLYMPUS 8×42 PRO BINOCULARS
By David Tipling
Photographer David Tipling talks about overcoming the lockdown by using his Olympus Pro Binoculars for Bird Watching while at home.
POND PHOTOGRAPHY AT HOME
By Richard Brown
Photographer Richard Brown shares his approach for capturing underwater creatures on his Olympus camera …while still staying firmly on dry land.
FROM MACRO TO MICRO
Chiswick Cameras owner and professional photographer Andy Sands has been using Olympus kit for over a year now. Specialising in British Wildlife and Macro Photography has led him to experiment with photographing various forms of spores which are so small they require extra close up lenses.
GARDEN TAKEOVER WITH GERAINT RADFORD
By Geraint Radford
Hi friends, Geraint here stopping by with a few tips and tricks on how to photograph macro subjects in your garden.
A VERY LITTLE LOCKDOWN CHALLENGE
Photographer Joanna Noble has been delighting Twitter with her creative approach to keep taking pictures while she stays at home – here’s Joanna’s idea for a brilliant lockdown photography project…
Q & A: ANDREW FUSEK PETERS
Here’s the first of a new Image Space series where we ask Olympus photographers to answer our questions: we’re kicking off with Andrew Fusek Peters, who’s been brightening up social media and British newspapers with extraordinary back garden bird action shots and superb star trails…
TIME TO REFLECT AND REFOCUS
By Marcus Clackson
One of the few positives we can take from the current situation and the disruption to our normal working lives has been the extra time it has gifted us…so much time!
MACRO FOCUS STACKING
by Geraint Radford
Howdy! Geraint here, Olympus Ambassador and biscuit addict. Here’s a little blog post to discuss my favourite feature on my E-M1 Mark II and E-M1X – inbuilt Focus Stacking. I use this feature to capture handheld images of the macro world.
TOUGH TG-6 FIRST IMPRESSIONS: PETE BULLEN
Award-winning photographer, Pete Bullen, lives and works in Gozo, the sister island to Malta. Pete offers guiding and coaching for photographers tired of being hurried around a guided circuit, coaching in all aspects of underwater and land based photography and spends hours in the water every year capturing the memory for divers learning to dive and setting out on their new adventure.
TOUGH TG-6 LAUNCH EVENT
We took a trip down to SEA LIFE Brighton (AKA the oldest operating aquarium in the world) for the launch of the new flagship member of the Tough family; the TG-6.
PROJECTS WITH MARCUS CLACKSON
Macro photography can open up an amazing world of wonderful details, changing the everyday into exciting, stunning images. Here are three simple projects to try!
BUG BUDDIES
Geraint Radford has a deep love for the natural world and capturing some of its smallest creatures. We discover marvellous macro photography with this Olympus Ambassador
5 OF THE BEST – KIT FOR MAGNIFICENT MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY
Opportunities for macro photos are all around us, whether it’s shooting close-up shots of textures or fruit in your home, insects and nature, or maybe even something a little more creative. Be prepared with the right kit to take magnificent macro shots.
KENT COOKERY SCHOOL
What could be better than a day photographing mouthwatering food prepared by two top chefs….Oh yes eating it too! That’s what 20 keen photographers got to do on the recent Olympus Food Photography event at Kent Cookery School, where an eclectic array of fresh dishes were cooked up using delicious seasonal ingredients.
FOOD & DRINK PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASS
Picture the scene: 10 keen photographers grouped in a stylish restaurant in St. Margarets, hungry to learn all about the ins-and-outs of Food & Drink Photography. Enter Olympus Ambassador Marcus Clackson, ready to teach exactly that!
VINTAGE PORTRAITS AT SANDFORD LIDO
Built in 1935 Sandford Parks Lido is located near the centre of Cheltenham and retains many of it’s original 1930’s architectural features. It provided an ideal backdrop for our vintage portrait workshop hosted by the inimitable Gavin Hoey, ably supported by the Olympus team and our two models for the day Erin and Roger.
GIFFORDS CIRCUS – MY BEAUTIFUL OM-D E-M1 MARK II
On a fine summer’s afternoon, in the grounds of the majestic Blenheim Palace, with Giffords’ 2018 production ‘My Beautiful Circus’, 60 lucky photographers gathered for the circus themed photography workshop.
GET CREATIVE WITH YOUR MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY
Macro photography reveals the world’s hidden detail in all its glory, turning subjects once mundane, into the truly magnificent. Here are three projects for you to try…
BEHIND THE SHOT
How can you photograph a small subject and capture all the detail? Photographer and Chiswick Camera Centre owner Andy Sands talks through his focus stacking technique…
GLORIOUS COLOURS AT KEW GARDENS
GUEST POST BY NEILL TAYLOR
Last weekend I enjoyed a day shooting at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was an event organised by Olympus UK, and provided by them as a free benefit of having recently purchased an OM-D E-M1 Mark II (to replace my trusty Mark I).
‘SPEED DATING’ WITH THE OM-D E-M1 Mark II
Love was most certainly in the air for the latest Olympus event at Soho’s vibrant Graphic Bar, with a group of lucky photographers assembling for a ‘Speed Dating’ workshop like no other! The group was split into smaller groups, each starting off by taking part in one of three sessions hosted by the Olympus Ambassadors and experts.
GIFFORDS CIRCUS – A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH THE OM-D E-M1 Mark II
With temperatures peaking at over 30˚C this was always going to be a hot ticket – so it was a fortunate 60 photographers who joined our OLYMPUS experts and Ambassadors for a day of E-M1 Mark II inspired fun at Oxford University Parks with the fabulous Giffords Circus.
MACRO IN FOCUS
Depth of field can be a tricky thing to get your head around. It can be adjusted in either direction by changing your lens’ aperture, or by twisting the zoom ring. Or by moving closer to or further away from your subject. What we’re saying is: depth of field is a bit of a movable feast. Most of the time this isn’t too big a deal, until you hit macro focusing…If you’re set on shooting macro, here’s what you need to get focusing right.
CAPTURING STUNNING FLOWERS & SUMMER PLANTS
BY MARCUS CLACKSON
This is a great time of year to get out with your camera and enjoy photographing the huge and varied amount of garden shows, events and seasonal displays of flowers to be found in the UK’s parks, woodland and private houses. Every week you’ll find new bursts of colour created by different plants and flowers coming into season – so it’s worth doing a bit of homework to ensure you’re in the right place at the right time, and ready to capture the best photography possible. Here’s my advice for getting ahead of the pack and making the most of the summer season.
DIY MACRO
Trying your hand at Macro photography means you don’t need to be standing on top of a mountain or leaning perilously over the edge of a building to get a great shot. It takes a little time and effort, though – simply having a decent macro lens isn’t going to cut it. Picking the right subject, finding a good background and – crucially – lighting everything properly will make an enormous difference. Here are a few tips to get you started.
WHERE ARE THE WILD THINGS IN SPRING?
Wildlife photographers in the UK have a tough beat. Much of our wildlife – when it’s not making itself scarce for winter – is either shy, nocturnal, small or, often, the holy un-photographable trinity. But with winter over, you can start thinking about busting your cameras out again, and although British wildlife might not be keen to do you many favours, there’s still plenty of it about. Here’s how to find wildlife to photograph during the spring months.