Posts in Category: macro
3/25/2012: Closer to the Crocus, The Yard, Kennebunk ME. Happy Sunday
While I admit I was impatient for the Crocus this year, I checked back, at my wife’s suggestion, to see when I took my Crocus shots in past years. The earliest are from April 2nd, and they are mostly from the second week in April! So our crocus are, in fact, way early this year…tempted out by those three record-setting 80 degree March days. Yesterday with the temperatures in the more seasonable 40s, the crocus looked like they might be reconsidering the rush. They remained tightly furled all day. Even the most mature blooms, from the first day of the heat-wave, were only open just enough at the top to see the orange fans at the center. They are not going to have much fun in the next few days either, as we are expecting temperatures in the 30s and 40s with rain.
Still, yesterday’s more subdued afternoon light gave me a chance to try some really close shots, using the digital tel-extender function with macro on the Canon SX40HS. At the 24mm end of the zoom, in macro, the camera can focus on an object touching the outer surface of the lens…so I set the DTE to 1.5x or 2x and pushed in as close as I could, while not getting into my own shadow.
This close in, the orange fan of the feathery stigmas dominates the image. The crocus in our yard are a variety with short stamens and elaborate stigmas. (As an interesting note, discovered in my bit of research into the crocus this am on wiki, the spice saffron comes from the stigmas of one of the autumn flowering crocus. Who knew?) The purple striped petals of our crocus form a interesting backdrop for the real drama of the stigmas.
Canon SX40HS at 24mm and macro, with 2x digital tel-extender for the equivalent field of view of 48mm lens on a full frame DSLR. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. Special attention was required to balance the exposure to bring out all the color and detail of the stigmas.
And for the Sunday thought. I love macros. I love to look really closely at the details of the common things around us. Moss. Lichen. The stigmas of flowers. The little lacy network of veins in a leaf…or the almost identical network in the wings of a dragonfly. It seems as though the structure of living things, and non-living things for that matter, becomes more intricate and more elegant the closer you look…to the point where pattern dominates…to the point where pattern is all there is. And I am not aware that it ever stops…that there is any degree of closeness…any magnification where the structure breaks down. Even at the atomic level, especially at the atomic level, the structure maintains its patterns.
Scientists tell us that under that pattern and structure events are random, unpredictable…that indeed the apparent pattern that is our reality arises out of unpredictable interactions beyond our perceptions. And I am naïve enough to not believe them. I see no reason to doubt that the intricate and elegant structure goes as deep as deep is. Our perception may fail, our ability to understand and to predict may fail, but the structure, the elegance, the beauty, I see no matter how close I look, I choose to believe extends to the root of being…is inherent in reality.
In fact, it just may be the ability to perceive structure and pattern that is the most human thing about us. The ability to appreciate the elegance and beauty of patterns defines us, and defines our reality…no matter how closely we look! I believe it is part of our inheritance. I believe it is, in fact, the defining nature of the Creator to bring order out of chaos, to create structure and beauty, and that one of the strongest evidences of that we are of the family of creation is that we see that beauty and structure everywhere we look, no matter how closely we look.
And every macro I take reminds me of that. Happy Sunday.
3/24/2012: Cure for the Common Crocus, Kennebunk ME
Seems like it was only a few days ago, on the first day of spring in fact, that I was lamenting the state of the crocus (croci?) in our yard. Being the the tidal zone of a river, where the cold air from the ocean comes inland on every high tide, our spring is delayed when compared to our neighbors less than a mile inland, so I am always sensitive to the bloom of the crocus. Since the first day of spring, however, we have had three days of faux-summer here in Maine, with record setting temperatures in the 80s, and the crocus just leaped up.
Looking back through my The Yard gallery on WideEyedInWonder, I see that I have been faithful for at least the past 4 years to document the first bloom of the crocus with a series of close-ups. This year I am still learning to get the best out of my new Canon SX40HS. When I went back to the Canon, after a brief flirtation with the Nikon P500, the only thing I missed from the Nikon was the superior macro function. The Nikon, in Macro Mode, set the lens to 34mm equivalent and focused down to 2cm. It was wonderful. The Canon, on the other hand, only focuses really close (0 cm…touching the lens) at 24mm, which is, in reality, a less impressive macro effect.
A week ago, while shooting a few macros in NJ, it occurred to me to try using the digital tel-extender function with macro at the 24mm end of the zoom. I have gotten some impressive macros at the long end of the zoom at 1680mm equivalent using the DTE function, but you have to be 4.5 feet away. That is very useful with bugs, but not so handy with flowers.
These crocus are my first real experiments with extended macro on the Canon SX40HS. I’d say it works. The 1.5x and 2x DTE function allows you to shoot at 36 and 48mm equivalents, while still focusing to 0 cm. You can use the extra magnification for more impressive macro effect, or to back away from the subject to a more comfortable working distance (1 to 4 inches). And the image quality is just fine for my uses (whether seen at reasonable sizes on a computer monitor, or blown up to wall size on and LCD projector).
For comparison (and just for more crocus fun) here are two shots of the same flower…the first is at the wide end of the zoom, using macro and the 1.5x DTE for a 36mm equivalent field of view. The second is at the long end of the zoom, using macro and the 2x DTE for a 1680mm equivalent. The first is from an inch. The second is from 4.5 feet.
And to finish up, a low angle shot…just peaking over the petals to the orange fans at the center.
The addition of the DTE to the macro on the Canon SX40HS has cured my Nikon envy. And, of course, the crocus helped!
3/2/2012: Bird of Paradise, San Diego CA
I have only ever been to San Diego in February or March so I can’t testify to anything beyond a very narrow window in the spring, but for me San Diego will always mean Bird of Paradise flowers. A quick look at wiki tells me they are native to South Africa, but here on Mission Bay, and I suspect everywhere in San Diego, they burst out of their big banana like leaves…bold, brash, beautiful and abundant. They are colorful in any light, but with low sun behind them, they simply glow. They burn almost too bright to effectively capture.
I photograph them every visit. These were literally at the foot of the hotel stairs I go down every morning, on a little island between the hotel and the parking lot. My room faces east and my first morning in San Diego, the early sun was full on the flowers on my way out to the car and some errands. A common planting for Bird of Paradise is up against a building, so this isolated stand with access to every side provided a unique opportunity. It took me a half hour to get by this plant 🙂 and I took way too many pictures, from full on portraits, to abstract macros where the light captured in the petals (or bracts or whatever they are) becomes the subject.
All shots with the Canon SX40HS either at full telephoto or full wide and macro. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and vibrance (though they would not take a lot of added vibrance before the orange blocked up).
And I am certain that next year, come my March visit to San Diego, I will photograph them again!
2/24/2012: Crab Apples in Bloom, Virginia
I arrived in Virginia in a mini-blizzard, and spent my first morning trying to keep my feet dry and still get out to see a bit of the snow shrouded landscape. Of course the snow was mostly gone by the end of the day, and by Thursday, yesterday, the temperatures were in the more seasonable upper 60s. When I left work at the sun was still a half hour from setting, birds were calling, and the pansies in the industrial park plantings were bright. I had to take a little photo-prowl.
I am pretty sure these are ornamental Crab Apple blossoms. There are many of these trees in the industrial park, and, since the park is about 30 years old now, the trees are well grown and put on a brave show every spring. This is one of those industrial parks with landscaping. There are lawns and hedges, pine groves, a whole series of catchment ponds with fountains, rock walls, gazebos, ornamental reed beds, etc. And I would love to have the pansy concession! Here is another view of the Crab Apple blooms.
The difference between the shots is that the first was taken at the long end of the zoom, at 840mm equivalent from about 4.5 feet, for a telephoto macro effect…with the subject well isolated against a soft background. The second shot is a wide-angle macro, taken from less than a quarter inch, and I had to find a clump of flowers that I could catch sharp against the mass of flowers above and behind.
Canon SX40HS in Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) f5.8 @ 1/125th @ ISO 800. As you see, the light had already about gone by the time I got to the trees. 2) f4 @ 1/50th @ ISO 200.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
11/7/2011: Female Green Darner (green variety)
It is Macro Monday on Google+ so I will return to Irvine California for another dragonfly shot. This is a female Green Darner of the green variety (most common…there is a blue variety which I also photographed, but I will save that for another Macro Monday 🙂 This was taken with the Canon SX40HS at full optical zoom plus 2x digital tel-converter for the equivalent field of view of a 1680mm lens…from about 6 feet, handheld. This is a fun camera!
Pulling back a bit to see the whole bug, we have a second shot from the same distance using only the optical zoom for 840mm equivalent.
The Green Darner is one of the largest North American dragonflies and, in my opinion, a stunning bug!
1) f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100 and 2) f5.8 @ 1/500th @ ISO 100. Program with iContrast. –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed for Intensity and Sharpness in Lightroom.
10/24/2011: Another Green Darner Tel-macro
Like I said a few days ago, the Green Darners are out in force in Orange County California. Here is another telephoto macro. This individual female had green where the previous female was mostly turquoise. I do not yet know enough about dragonflies yet to know what makes the difference.
Canon SX40HS at 840mm optical equivalent field of view plus 2x digital tel-extender for 1680mm equivalent. f5.8 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160. Program with iContrast.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
10/22/2011: Female Green Darner, Irvine CA
I believe this is a female Green Darner Dragonfly. Green Darners were patrolling the pond edges and paths at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine California in great numbers…and unlike the Green Darners I tried to photograph in Ohio and Maine, these were actually lighting on occasion and still long enough for me to get some shots.
This shot is pretty amazing to me. It is the Canon SX40HS at 840mm equivalent with 2x digital tel-extender engaged, for the equivalent field of view of a 1680mm lens on a full frame DSLR…handheld at about 4.5 feet. f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 400. Talk about your telephoto macro! Totally impressive!
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
10/3/2011: Still life with fungi
Another shot from Saco Heath, along the boardwalk on the way out through the forest. There was a great variety of fungi along the path. This little grouping in the moss caught my eye both going in and coming out. Coming out it was in a little patch of sun. Bonus!
Nikon Coolpix P500 in close up mode. 32mm equivalent field of view, f3.7 @ 1/60th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
9/22/2011: Everybody’s got one, this is mine. (sunflower)
Take one giant sunflower, add camera toting human being, give it about a minute, and you will have one pic of a sunflower. Everybody’s got one. This is mine.
I like the way the backlight on this allows the full play of the various textures and more subtitle colors. And I like it that, even in its own shade, it just looks so cheerful! That’s sunflowers for you.
Meadowbrook Marsh Sanctuary between Port Clinton and Marblehead OH.
Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up mode. 32mm equivalent field of view (CU default), f3.7 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
7/31/2011: Yucca with Pearls On
Happy Sunday.
I am not sure how, but this image, from our yard in Kennebunk, seems right for Sunday. We are in Southern Maine, but we lived in New Mexico many years, where Yucca is quite at home. It was somewhat surprising to find a Yucca planted in one corner of the tiny front garden of the home we bought when we moved to Maine, but there it was. Over the years it has gown to good size, and now produces an amazing show of flower stalks and blossoms every summer. This shot is from the morning after a day of rain. The rain had only cleared off at first light, and the yard, and all it plants, were still very wet…but for some reason the water had beaded spectacularly on the Yucca blooms.
Here is a second perspective.
Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up mode (macro), 32mm equivalent field of view, f3.7 @ 1/160th and 1/320th @ ISO 160.
Processed for Clarity and Sharpness in Lightroom. As the blooms are so white, the shadows on them showed a lot of reflected green, and I had to deal with that with the selective saturation control. Our eye/brain in real time view auto adjusts for colored shadows…the camera does not.
And for a Sunday thought. I don’t know how a plant of the desert southwest ended up in our garden in Maine, but brings enough of the desert with it to remind me of how biblical the blessing of rain is. The psalms, written in a desert land, are full of rain imagery, as is the whole old testament. It is easy to forget that rain is a blessing in Southern Maine in the summer, when a rainy week means less beach time, and a rainy weekend means lost tourist dollars, but, of course, even here it is. We are green and lush because of the rain, not rain forest lush, but vibrant and alive in way desert dwellers can only dream of. Water beading on the Yucca blossoms brings that sense of blessing even here. Grace and grace abounding. We live by grace.