This is not that begonia shot

I just loved the begonia shot from late July. But I tweaked the settings and what do you know? I like this one even better! The light was similar, but this image has a bit more light to dark contrast, and you can see the texture of the blossom. The other one was a much softer image.

I just love the lilies. This one makes me think of a predator leaping out of a pink sea, ready to open it's blossom jaws and nab its prey. Sorry if I'm giving some of my suggestible readers nightmare fodder.

One last cheerful pair of day lilies to brighten your day.

The sunset boat shot from yesterday has been getting lots of play on Facebook and Instagram, thank you very much!  A few people liked the macro shots as well, how nice.

In blog news I'm a few months out from the blog's 10th birthday on Oct 27, and it will go past 2500 posts shortly before that at current production. Any reader ideas on what they'd like to see for a celebration?

Macro Monday 1

If you're one of my regular readers and not interested in the guts of macro photography, today's blog is here. Or you could scroll down and look at what I hope are interesting or pretty photos.

Today marks the beginning of what I hope will be regular updates devoted to macro photography. Up until a few days ago I was barely into macro territory, using a 100 mm lens with some Kenko extension tubes (12 mm, 20 mm, 36 mm). Now, if you review this and this from the last couple of days you'll be essentially caught up, and you'll understand what I'm shooting with now.

This is all a learning experience for me, and I'm hoping to gather a group of macro enthusiasts. Feel free to comment down below, or on Facebook or Instagram. I'm still working out the format here. For today, anyways, I'm going to show you the macro shot, and a more normal view of the shot, and burble about what the tech details are.

Starting with some clover in the front garden. Those little buds are about 1 mm across. I'm not convinced the ones in this shot are the identical ones in the macro shot.

ISO 800, f8.0, 1/200 about 5x. My general rule is going to be to not crop the macro photos to enhance the size. I've always been amazed at the tiny little hairs on plants.

Our mint plant in the front garden. This little whatever it is, is about 3mm across.

ISO 800, f8.0, 1/200. about 3x. Here I really see the shallow depth of field. If something like this held still longer, it would be a nice candidate for focus stacking. The plan is to walk before I run.

Both the macro shots were done with the camera mounted on the macro rails, but the rails were resting on the ground. My tripod's centre mount restricts how low the camera can go, unless I want to mount it upside down. I'm still thinking about the best way of mounting the whole works on some kind of a mechanism that lets me move the camera around to the best angle, lets me use the macro rails, and is sufficiently steady for focus stacking shots.

Resting on the ground is ok, but there's lots going on. I use the live view, but I still need to tweak the settings for how long it stays on. Right now it's really short, maybe 5 seconds. So my right hand is holding the camera, with a finger half pressing the shutter button to keep the live view working. (Yes, for tripod shots I'd use remote release cable.) The left hand is stabilizing the whole setup, moving the camera as needed, tweaking the magnification, and the macro rail knob to get an in focus image on screen. It was a calm day, with just the slightest gusts of breeze, but that's all it takes. Once a bee landed nearby and shook the little branch a lot.

As I mentioned, I'm not going to crop the macro photos, but I will use Lightroom to tweak the settings, mainly to optimize exposure, and bring up colour and texture to make a nice photo.

And now for something different

Yeah, I know, you guys are sick of flowers. You can only take so much flowery blossom beauty. What else have you done, you ask.

So here's some other stuff from the last little while that didn't make it into the blog. I was thinking of moonrise last night. It's nearly full, but I dithered about a good place to shoot from and then it was too late, but that's ok, it wasn't anything special. Then I saw the sunset happening and hustled over to Glenmore reservoir and got there just in time.

Moonrise tonight (here in Calgary) is at 9:14 pm. Maybe I'll put some more thought into a good place to shoot from.

You will be happy to know that Curtis is as photogenic as ever.

Celina isn't quite as photogenic, but she is very pretty, and I know she has her fans here as well.

Fish Creek Bridge 3

One of our smoky sunsets.

During our lunch on the steam train at Heritage Park (Google River Forth dining car, it's really good.) I looked over my shoulder and saw this guy. I loved the rich lighting, and him patiently standing there. I think he's the conductor, and does stuff at the stations, but meanwhile, around and around he goes.

It got me thinking about some of John Varley's work, set on the moon, where they create huge caverns and build what are call Disneylands. These are essentially theme parks, where people either visit, or try to live a simpler life in a bubble within a much more technologically complex society. We see a faint hint of this in Heritage Park, and other re-creation villages.

I wonder what he's thinking, if he's imagining himself as an old time train conductor, or if he's a retiree wondering if he can pay his bills, or any number of other modern day concerns.

Remember the dragonfly that was a runner up for July image of the month? There was another shot of it before it landed on my knee.

We've had a lovely summer, lots of clear sunny days that are hot for Calgary. But there's been a bit of rain too.

That bee was giving me the stink eye

There it was, hanging out on the mint plant. Maybe having a nice post lunch nap or something. There I was, hanging a big lens in it's face, flashing bright lights. This is hand held, at about 2x. Embiggen it and you'll see the little hexagon facets it uses for eyes.

And a couple other shots from this morning. Tripod, about 3x and 5 x respectively.

So far, I'm just happy to get a shot at a particular magnification that is in focus, and those are pretty interesting. Next will be getting shots that are nice photographs, that just happen to be macro.

This is fun, in a patient sort of way. One thing is counter intuitive though. I was trying to keep the tripod still, gradually zooming in and tweaking the slider rails for focus. I found it worked better to have the slider rails all the way forward, get focused in somewhere around one or 2x, then gradually work up to higher magnifications, while moving the slider rails back to focus. There isn't much room for error.

Out of 75 shots this morning, most were obvious rejects. 20 got a star, being generous, and only the 3 above actually saved. There are a few more that are similar to these, so no use developing them.

I'm thinking that the tool I need instead of just a tripod with the slider rails mounted on it, is to have some kind of arm like a desk lamp between the tripod and slider rails. Then mount the camera and flash on the slider rails. It probably needs a counter balance of some kind. Then the camera can go up and down, move in and out as necessary, with the slider rails for fine adjustment. The trick will be to have it snug enough that it doesn't move once it's where it's wanted, and yet one can still move it. If you know of such a thing, feel free to tell me.

I'm not sure how much the whole rig weighs, but it's at least 5 pounds. Here's a photo of the whole thing. Imagine you're a bee, getting that in your face.

The great macro 5x inauguation

Most of you know I like shooting things close up. I like to take the 100 mm lens and get right up in the flower's little face. Then I got some extension tubes and got even closer. I've gained a whole new appreciation for the beauty of flowers, and the detail that is beyond my vision.

The next step is a specialized macro lens. I'd looked at reviews for the Canon MP-E 65mm f2.8 Macro lens and while I won't say I was spooked, all the reviews say this isn't a lens for beginners. That there's a learning curve. I decided to hold off for a while and have fun with the extension tubes.

Then a buddy contacted me and offered to sell the lens and flash system to go with it. Such a deal for both of us. He doesn't have the time to use it, and I save some $ over buying new.

Here's the first shots. All of these are straight out of the camera, absolutely zero processing in Lightroom.

My 100 mm says it's 1:1, and I'm not sure that's exactly true, or if it is, it's just barely and only under absolutely optimum shooting conditions. The 65 mm starts at 1:1 and goes up to 5x magnification. So  imagine that you want a photo of something, say, 4 mm long. A flower part, or a cooperative insect. For my American readers, 4 mm is .1575 of an inch, or about 155/1000. If it holds still and I get the focus right, at 5x it will take up 20 mm of my sensor that is 22.2 mm wide. It will fill the screen, and if I've nailed the focus, and the depth of field, and the lighting, the results will be breathtaking.

I'm at the point where I can just see the beads of pollen on the plants. At 5x they're going to look like small rocks. Can't wait!

Here's my first shots with the lens, just experimenting.

This is with the 100 mm lens, aiming at that dimple in the middle of the red patch.

Now with the macro lens. This is 2x kind of aiming at that same dimple, hand held.

This is 3x, hand held, getting lucky with focus.

My tripod isn't quite flexible enough to reproduce that shooting angle, so I picked something else. The intent was to slowly dial in and stay focussed on a particular spot, but I had to move the tripod slightly between shots, even with the slide rails. I found that the flash units project out beyond the front of the lens a bit, and this is a large flat surface. Again, there is zero processing in Lightroom.

This is 1x.

2x

3x

4x

5x

I admit to being encouraged by these first shots. 5 acceptable shots out of 9 (nine!) on the tripod. Admittedly, this isn't moving, so that's half the battle. I think I'll work a bit more on other stationary objects before trying flowers. Stay tuned!

Dragonfly hunting

Just recently I've done two walks through Fish Creek. The through part is quite literal, I wore shoes I didn't care about, and walked in the water quite a bit. The first couple days I wasn't looking for anything in particular, just on the hunt for nice photos.

Along the way I got these two dragonflies, but the 70-200 mm zoom lens wasn't the right one. I had the 100 mm lens with me, but didn't think they'd stick around while I changed lenses.

I'd never seen a red dragonfly before, and was lucky to get two shots before it zoomed off.

Today I rode my bike down, and decided to hang out near the bridges and see if I could catch any of them on camera. While I was waiting I saw this bee. We've never had these guys in our garden. I like the interesting shapes on the stripes.

I'm shooting almost straight up about 10 feet above my head. This is cropped quite a bit to get this. This would be the time to have the 200 mm lens.

This little one was quite cooperative as I slowly moved in, clicking quickly.

I was just fascinated watching them fly around. Everywhere I stopped there were dozens flying around. There are several different species, some big, some small. The trick will be to catch them when they're not flying. Getting one in flight will be sheer luck they are so quick.

Did you miss the July image of the month? There's a dragonfly in that post as well. While I'm on about insects, here's a few more bees in our garden. This one was huge. They love the mint!

Normally the run after a massage just sucks, but not today. 5K, 34:30 nice and easy. Legs feeling happy, and my cadence is gradually increasing. Off for an open water swim tonight. A run, bike, and swim today! Not often I get all three in the same day.

July Image of the Month

July was a great photo month! It started with a photo of a rose bud just opening, with a few drops of water on it. That ended up being one of my finalists, and it just got better and better. On the 4th I got the backlit white peony shot that became the bar other photos had to aim for. By the end of the month I had a list of about 2 dozen to take another look at and think about.

This month turns out to be a case where the parameters I set for myself determine the outcome. For example, just the other day I got a shot of a deer with all 4 legs off the ground. If I thought of myself as a wildlife photographer, that would be a no brainer image of the month given the other choices.

Then there was the dragonfly. If I thought of myself as an insect photographer, that would be an obvious choice, though some of the bees might put up some stiff competition.

If I was a macro photographer, one of the hens and chicks would be it, though which one might be a tough choice. Then again, the bees might show up here as well.

If I were solely a flower photographer, I'm spoiled for choice.

No landscapes to speak of this month. A few sunsets, but with the smokey haze I haven't been in the right place at the right time for anything spectacular.

So what kind of photographer am I? When I bought the camera I thought I'd be doing landscapes, sunrise/set, and flowers. I've done lots of those, but mainly flowers lately. The macro shots are all kinds of fun, and doing cats is a professional challenge. Now that I'm retired I should be out doing more night photography but it's nice to do it with a buddy. (hint, call me!) I didn't think I'd be doing sport photography, but there's more than 2000 of those, and it's surprisingly fun.

There's still lots of things I want to try, and there's all kinds of room to grow. But mainly I want to take photographs that aren't just a photo of a person, place, or thing. As best I can, I want to elevate those into being an art photo, something that someone would want to hang on their wall nice and big. I've succeeded in a few cases, and there are a couple more potential sales in the works.

That said, I can only choose between the photos I actually take, and there can be only one. So here we go with the runners up.

I love this little dragonfly. It landed on my leg while I was shooting flowers, and hung out while I changed settings and focussed in. Before this afternoon I would have said this is a once in a lifetime shot. However during the shoot in Fish Creek, I've got several of different dragonflies, though it's a pity I had the wrong lens on the camera. I haven't edited them yet so I don't know what I've got. One of them is bright red. I'm seriously thinking of taking the macro lens and extension tubes back there and cultivate patience.

As I mentioned the other day, I just held the button down as he started walking, and one of them is this. Ka-boink! It's been suggested there's still room to crop in a bit more, and I might play with that.

I love this begonia blossom in this light. From an art perspective it's a bit monochromatic and not that much contrast, but the subtle variations in colour and texture just do it for me. It would be so cool to see as a wall print, instead of just painting a wall that colour.

And the winner! I wasn't quite sure how the light would filter through the blossom of this white peony, and was thrilled. The light comes through, but doesn't wash out the texture of the blossom. The light yellow brings up the warmth of the sun in contrast to the delicate shades of white, with a bit of pink showing at the heart. Seeing this opens my eyes to looking for different angles to shoot from.