I aint no nature photographer . . .

. . . that's for sure. I just realized that I don't have the patience for it (plus I have no idea how they get the animals, bugs or pests to stay so still so they can set up and shoot - it may go back to the fact that I have no patience for it)

Anyway, I have never played with my 70-300 as a macro lens and so when I noticed a busy bee beside my chair while drinking my afternoon tea this afternoon, I grabbed my E-3 and 70-300 and rattled off a dozen shots or so. First few were at f5.6 and focus was virtually impossible to nail on his/her tiny head. I cranked the aperture closed a little - better - but still too shallow. Anyway I could only focus so close with the lens fully extended, and so have to crop heavily to get close enough for a half interesting shot. My question is how in the heck does one get close enough to shoot only the eyes of these things (I kinda know the answer and don't really care - I don't have the patience for it)?

The Olympus 70-300 does admirably as a close focus lens in a pinch and allowed a working distance fully extended, of a few feet so I didn't get stung:

Olympus E-3 : 70-300mm lens : f9 @ 1/250'th : 800 ISO

Hope you don't mind, Robert, but as the primary subject of your post and comments is more in the Macro category, I moved this post here. If you think otherwise, it wouldn't be a problem to move back to Wildlife.

In any case, for an "inexperienced" "quick-grab" shot, this is a great shot. Plenty of detail, soft and pleasingly colored background.

Getting more magnification in a given shot is basically a function of focal length and shorter working distance. To keep the same working distance, you'll need more focal length; to get more magnification by decreasing working distance, you can use Extension Tubes on your current lens and camera. This will decrease the minimum focusing distance of any lens (with some loss of light, and lack of infinity focus being the cost). And most manufactuers offer dedicated macro lenses (often 100 or 180 mm, sometimes 50 mm focal length) which are specifically designed to have a short focusing distance.

And as you point out, patience is the most important requirement! I'm sure there are a number of other "tricks" that can be used to increase your chances of success, which other posters may contribute.

No problem with the move - Macro/Closeup is what it is. Thanks for the comments also.