Tulip; © Copyright Reserved, Richard Lovison, 2009

No, the tulips aren’t in bloom, not at least for a few more months in my area. My wife brought home a beautiful bunch last night that were used as a table decoration at an event where she works. The flowers brightened our home this cold, winter morning.

Tulip 2; © Copyright Reserved, Richard Lovison, 2009

And tulips, children love to stretch
Their fingers down, to feel in each
Its beauty’s sweet nearer.
–Elizabeth Barrett Browning,
A Flower in a Letter

Eastern Blue Jay 3; © Copyright Reserved, Richard Lovison, 2009

I tried again this morning to capture some images of blue jays, hoping to photograph them as they were about to take to flight using the E-3. It wasn’t an easy task with a 500mm (1000mm on the E-3) Takahashi FC-60 refractor mounted on a tripod using manual focusing and an aperture of f8. I came away empty handed though I had fun. The above image was the best I could get of a static pose.

I know the blue jay has a bad reputation, often being noisy, disruptive and on rare occasions, a nest robber though I find them interesting and intelligent. Often times the most disliked creatures are misunderstood due to fear.

Cherie; © Copyright Reserved, Richard Lovison, 2009

I just received my new Olympus E-3 yesterday and spent most of the afternoon and evening reading manuals and installing software. This morning I made my first attempts at creating some images and our cat Cherie was willing to cooperate as a model.

The auto focus is lightning fast, the live view offers many possibilities and the image stabilization is magic. The above shot was hand held shot at 1/25th of a sec, ISO 400. Overall it is a remarkable improvement over the E-1.

Initially I missed the mode dial though I’m sure I’ll get used to the added button pushing. The buttons are a little small as many have noted and I do find myself hunting for them, especially the AEL/AFL button that I have programmed for auto focus. The E-3 with the vertical grip is heavier than the E-1 though still feels comfortable to hold.

There is so much here to explore and I’m looking forward to the coming days.

WTD

I got mine and you can get yours too!

And if you have no idea why I purchased this stuffed duck, then check out this website for a bit of fun.