Category Archives: Macro Photography

Spider

Posted on by
Reply

For October, the Heart of Texas Professional Photographer’s Guild’s image competition subject was a black and white photograph of something in nature.  One morning while getting the newspaper, I saw there was a spider web on the front porch.  I thought maybe I could get a good macro image of it and convert that to black and white.  I tried a couple times during the day, but was never really happy with it. So, I decided to try at night.  When I went out to try, the spider was there. It was a pretty large orb-weaving spider and I started taking pictures of it.  I took several with my 90mm macro lens, but they weren’t what I was hoping for.  So, I used my 180mm macro lens and got some that were much better.  This was one of those.

Spider

I tried converting it to black and white, but I was never really happy with it. I entered another image instead and it didn’t do as well as I had hoped.  So, I wondered if I would have been better off with this one.

Goldenrods

Posted on by
Reply

I mentioned in a previous post that on the way home from Galveston, I noticed that the goldenrods were blooming, and, since I have never gotten any pictures of them, I decided to run down highway 6 and get some pictures.

SONY DSC

Of course, there were a variety of insects associated with the blossoms, like bees.

SONY DSC

and a Beetle.

SONY DSC

 

Shooting in the yard

Posted on by
Reply

It’s been kind of gloomy the last couple days.  I have found a couple things to shoot around the house.  This grasshopper was  on one of the hibiscus.

SONY DSC

This morning when I took the trash out, I saw a couple Wild Petunias next to the trash cans.

SONY DSC

Tamron 180 mm Macro Lens

Posted on by
Reply

For a very long time, I have been wanting a longer focal length true macro lens.  I finally ordered a Tamron 180mm 1:1 macro.  I was somewhat concerned because a friend said he had a similar lens and rarely used it because the long focal length meant too much movement to handhold it.  I did some shots holding it by hand, and it worked fine.

SONY DSC

Although not super close, this one is certainly sharp for a hand held photo.  I noticed a ladybug on what was left of my dill plant and took some shots of it.  When looking at them, I could see the reason it was there – aphids.

SONY DSC

Vision

Posted on by
Reply

I just came back upon Don Giannatti’s “Project 52” web site.  I had seen the site several months ago, but it slipped from my memory.  I have been a member of the flickr group for a long time, but, I can’t remember the last time I actually visited the group page.  On this site, there is a weekly photography assignment. The assignments for this year start on February 1.  So, I looked at the 2012 assignments.

The first assignment is to create a Vision Statement.  This is basically a statement describing why it is that I take pictures.  As described on the web site, “Tell us with a single paragraph what you want to be able to do with your images. Tell us what you do without telling us you are a photographer. Accompany that message with a single image taken around your home.”

To me, the reason I enjoy photography is it differs from other modes of expression, and there is something that is transcendently stimulating when I see a really great image I have taken. In 2012, my Aperture Library has over 7700 images.  Every once in a while, as the image would come up on the screen, there was a moment of awe.  Kind of, “Oh boy.  That is good!”

It is becoming easier to take technically perfect images – those with proper exposure, composition, lighting, whatever.  I can look at those and think, “That’s a good image.”  But there is the added, intangible element that is included in an image that is really great.  I take photographs because I enjoy that feeling of producing a picture that is really great.

Now, what kind of image around the house can I make that illustrates that?

Dandelion

Posted on by
Reply

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

A few days ago, there was a dandelion in the front yard.  I wanted to get a picture of it, but I saw it early in the morning, and by the time I got home from work, all the seeds had blown away.  This morning, I was pulling leaves out of the pool, and I saw this dandelion along side the pool.  I don’t use my Konica/Minolta 7D much any more, but I kind of do use it for macro photography.  So, I put the Tamron 90mm macro on it and set up the tripod.

The first shots were pretty good, but I wanted more.  So, I got the small LED light and used it to produce a little more light.

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

That produced a nice effect, reflecting off the filaments of the seeds.  I then got my flash, and used it kind of hand held with radio triggers.

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

There was more depth of field because I had to stop the lens way down to get the correct exposure, but, again, the effect was pleasing. By holding the flash low, I put much less light on the surroundings, and got a really interesting effect.

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

Now, the background was essentially unexposed.  But now you can see something else that I didn’t even notice.  There were small bugs crawling on the stem.  Finally, I wanted to add a little more.  So, using a spray bottle, I created a little “Dew.”

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA