The following photos represent my first attempt at macro photography. All photos taken with a Canon 450D and the ES 100mm f/2.8 L IS USM macro lens. A sturdy tripod was necessary as we only had about an hour of good daylight left.
Part 1. These are my better efforts taken in the Timaru Botanic Gardens.
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| Sleepy bumble bee |
Part 2: These photos were taken next day around the Pleasant Point Domain and at home.
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| Miniature rose - Mothers Love |
The photo below is cropped to show the dew still on the flower.
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| Shot details: f/9, 1/50s, ASA-200 |
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| Aphids which will have a short life! |
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| The bumble bee's back. |
I think some patience will be needed in future to get a head shot. Pushing the ISO to 400, using f/7.1 and at 1/250s has yielded a good depth of field and tack sharp focus in the bee.
The Pleasant Point Domain has hundreds of huge trees and lots of different conifers. When you are looking for insects to enhance images, one is disappointed that there are not too many around.
None of the conifer images have been cropped.
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| Note the cobweb threads glistening in the sun. |
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| Earwig on acorn, cropped. |
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| Cropped shot of an insect gathering pollen from a white rose. |
Nothing too remarkable about the naked lady, but the insect resting on the stem behind the flower was worthy a shot.
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| This is the best I could get. Cropped image. |
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| Flower on the pineapple plant. |
Walking back home through the grass, there were mushrooms growing everywhere after the recent rain from the remains of Cyclone Lusi. The morning started off with thick fog so there was still plenty of dew to add interest to the following images.
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| Mushroom group one |
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| Mushroom from group one, taken at ground level. |
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| Mushroom group 2 with dew covered cobwebs. |
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| Mushroom from third type. |
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| The gills from this upturned mushroom show that it is the edible field type. |
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| Tiny insects on field mushroom, cropped image. |
All these images are of things you see often and not even bother to take a second glance at. Through a close up lens, lots of everyday things can take on a completely different and unexpected perspective.
I hope you have enjoyed these images. They are a selection from around 250 images I took in around 18 hours.
Please feel free to leave your comments below.
