What the gear CAN do. the 40-150 f2.8 and EM5.2

Constantly reading what the gear CAN'T do and what it is suitable for, and what people WOULD do if they had more demanding conditions... Well I thought I would start sharing what this equipment CAN do and some tips on getting there.
All of these shots were taken with the 40-150 f2.8 A lens well worth buying into the m43rds system for. Between it's close focus, fast focus and wide range, paired with incredible sharpness it is a real gem, and a solid workhorse.

Please share your shots with the 40-150. I would love to see how you have made a use of the lenses many properties!

This was a surprisingly warm April day and we took out two boys to the beach. The water was still freezing and the boys were running up and down the beach, and in and out of the water.Sand, like snow, makes a wonderful reflector, even with the sun high in the sky, place it over the subjects shoulder and let the sand act as a fill light. I have a personal preference for traditional portraits with less big grins and more calm looking... I have always felt a greater connection. So if you want to get a more serious look, talk to your kids. and while they listen (and brush sand of their leg ) take the photo.

Food often looks better with one source of light. In this case a gridded beauty dish acts as the main light while a large soft octabox fill sits up and beside the camera. Placing the fill light next to the camera position prevents secondary shadows and an unrealistic look. The food should look as un "staged" as possible... we don't like our food looking handled :)Clean neutral or warm light looks best, blueish or greenish casts and even magenta casts especially make food look almost spoiled.

While this shot had 3 lights on the sitter, and 2 on the background, you still need to make sure the second and third lights don't draw too much attention to themselves.I consider this a "rembrandt" beauty light. A large octabox with double diffusion sits slightly forward of the model and higher, allowing the light to wrap around. A gridded beauty dish behind the photographer and high enough to add definition to the chin, and open up the shadows, while a gridded stripbox acts as the "kicker" on the shadow side adding some highlight to the hair and definition to the far shoulder and collarbone.Always make sure that kicker doesn't hit the nose, or light up the temple too much.Again, instead of a beauty shot with the model looking far to happy to be here, in this case I was after an ssured and confident look with hints of pleasantness.

All of these

Thank you for taking the positive track, as those negative ones are a dime a dozen and much more reflective of the poster than the gear. These came out well, and the descriptions are most informative as well.

And you are right, the 40-150 f/2.8 has a great deal of capability....I need to use my copy more often and go through the images I have.  I needed another project.  

Wonderful Ab ... it is a great system .. your photographs are testament to that ... i love using my 4/3 system ...

Robert