It’s Christmas Eve – and the weather is absurdly warm! No chance of delicate fragments of crystallised water falling from the sky. I just thought the colour and texture of this white pelargonium might be a little bit suitably seasonal! I love using macro photography to see the wonder of plant life, though – at any time of year!
Some situations, as we all know, are easier to get into than out of. This ant evidently found out too late. If you’ve seen those pictures of insects encased in amber (or even the real thing) then you can imagine how such things occurred, a very long time ago.
I found this scene on the side of a pine tree in my garden. The resin is seeping from a small side branch that was recently cut off. There were, in fact, many more ants running about, and they seemed to keep well clear of the resin!
I was just taking a breather yesterday afternoon (11 June) and having a go at a spot of macro flower photography (as one does) when this little insect came by and dropped in of a few moments. I’d be most grateful for help in identifying both the flower and the insect!
The continuing mild weather just keeps plant life sprouting and growing. Viewing this in detail never loses its fascination, somehow! Sights that are ‘nothing special’ turn special when you notice them properly. Oh, how easy it is to walk around blind!
Lately, I’ve had little opportunity for photography during the day. This shot of a pelargonium flower was taken one evening, after work. Some of you know my obsession with flowers and macro photography! This is about as ‘up close’ as it gets, for me!
For my last Sunday Photo of 2015, I found this tiny bud on a fuchsia plant. After all the recent bad news of all kinds, it just seemed like a message of hope.
We cannot foretell what 2016 will bring, but I am often grateful for the mental uplift that living things can give us.
Best wishes for the coming year to all my readers.
Around this time of year, when not many garden flowers are in bloom, these tiny flowers, often sold as pot plants, can bring welcome colour to a window-sill. They also make a great subject for macro photography – each individual flower is barely 10 mm in size!
This post is part of my continued participation in the Alphabet Photography Project.
Well… I mean… It’s obvious, isn’t it? Bees are fascinating and highly photogenic little creatures, and we should all be in a bad way without them. Their contribution to pollination of flowering trees and plants that give us fruit is highly significant!
From time to time, I’ve been asked about how to achieve shots like this, so I shall add a few words on this, here. This shot was taken using an ordinary ‘kit’ lens on my DSLR and the resulting image has been cropped down somewhat. A true ‘macro’ lens, which can focus much closer, would give a potentially better result. However, in either case, the most important issues are to do with focussing and depth of field.
A DSLR, and, indeed many other cameras, will allow you to select the focussing mode. Either select ‘centre spot only’ and aim the focus point at the bee’s eye, or alternatively, switch over to manual focussing, set a close distance (for this lens, the closest possible setting is around 0.25 of a metre) and focus by moving the camera towards or away from the bee (or other small subject) to obtain a sharp focus.
Now, a certain zone, from a little closer to a little further away than the focus point, will give acceptable sharpness. This zone is known as the depth of field. The larger the aperture setting (i.e. the smaller the f number) the more light you will capture, enabling in turn a faster shutter speed to be used. The trade-off, however, is that the depth of field reduces – and in macro photography, the depth of field gets very small, so that only part of the subject is in focus!
We are now tempted to get round this problem by increasing the sensitivity (ISO) setting. The downside here is that this results in a reduction in image quality. Now, here is where the latest models score: they can give very good results at high sensitivity settings (typically ISO 3200) unlike my older model, which starts to show significant degradation of the image above ISO 400. Fortunately, I was blessed with good sunlight on the day this shot was taken!
This picture continues my response to the ‘Alphabet Challenge’.
Edit by the author, 13 October 2015: today is…
Thursday saw the brief return of summer. In the sensory garden at Wollaton Park, Nottingham, bees of all kinds were taking advantage of this. I’m sorry that I can’t give you the scent of all the flowers and plants: buddleia, rosemary, lavender, box, many more…
Today, my Sunday photo is really a question for you: Can a mistake make art? This is a highly over-exposed shot of the centre of a flower, taken while experimenting with the power of the flashgun!
What do you think?
It's kind to share!
