Updates and equipment overview
I'm very conscious of neglecting this blog over the last two years. I could use pressures of work as an excuse - but I'm retired so that doesn't really work. The truth is I haven't had much to say - but that's beginning to change so, time for some updates.
My Alamy experience
Alamy continues to be a reasonable part time income generator. I'm now up to 3255 licences since January 14th 2014, producing $60,104 dollars is revenue. Add in infringement and collection service payments, subtract commission, convert to UK £s and thus far I've ended up with £21,447 and 20p in my business bank account. Respectable, but not spectacular, it does allow me to upgrade equipment as needed. More on this further down.
There's been a fair few $$$ licences along the way although, in common with most Alamy contributors, the average price per licence seems to be dropping year on year. That, coupled with - in my case - declining sales has reduced my annual revenue over the last three years. Though there has been some good results such as this front cover of
Gardener's World magazine in August 2025.
From an EM-5 Mk II image
Equipment updates
This time last year the price of a good used /Olympus / OM systems OM-1 had dropped below my threshold £1000 limit and I bought one. I'm glad I did. The improvement over my
EM-1 MkII is substantial, particularly in higher ISO capability, much improved stabilisation, and far faster shooting speeds and
focus stacking performance. Add in
subject detection and I could far more easily take action shots of mine and my daughters dogs. Shots like this:
35+ mph, head on, animal eye detect on, eyes perfectly in focus, one of a sequence of shots also in focus' Pleased with that - especially when coupled with my next purchase.
By autumn 2025 I'd earned enough to buy an additional lens. With the introduction of the
OM 100-400mm MkII second hand MKI versions flooded the used market and I seriously considered buying one. Then Black Friday hit, the MKII version became available under £1000, and I bought one. Why? Because I do like to do the odd bit of
bird photography. I'd been using my 40-150mm f2.8 PRO + 1,4x teleconverter but it doesn't have the reach needed. So this, with both
syncIS and double the reach has enabled me to do some more serios bird photography.
Well that was the plan but the weather hasn't really co-operated. Dull and gloomy mostly but, occasionally, it's brightened up enough for some shooting. Early days yet - its still bird onna stick time at the moment - but the quality is there: Now for some flight shots.
Techniques and ways of working update
The advent of the OM-1 has made one big difference to my way of working in gardens. I now routinely carry the OM-1 with the 40-150mm F2,8 attached and my EM-1 MkII with the 8-25mm f4 attached. Rather than swapping lenses all the time, I simply swap between the two combos. I tend to use manual focus with peaking on for the EM- 1 MkII to give me the greatest
depth of field for the wider angle shots. With the OM-1 combo I'm increasingly using handheld focus stacking, the combination of camera IBIS and lens autofocus speed allowing 4-6 shot in camera stacks with better background separation than generated from simply stopping down the aperture. For example:
Of course, it's no good in windy conditions and I have to delete the unwanted JPEGs also generated with the RAW files but it's a technique I'm increasingly reliant on.
Website updates
I talked about my website update to begin to develop my print etc venture. As a bonus I'm also offering a free download of a PDF version of a presentation I produced for The Garden House's 80th Birthday celebrations last year. This has hundreds of my images and accompanying text to provide a comprehensive overview of the features and development of the garden as the seasons progress. From our snowdrop festival days of January into early March, to the glories of the spring garden. From the bright flowering of summer days to superb autumn colour, and including the garden wildlife, the sequence provides a visual and narrative history of the 10 acre garden over a single year.