Experimenting with Macro

I am easily distracted. Let me just sit down at the computer, to say, look up how to remove seeds from spent marigold blossoms, and the next thing you know, I'm watching a video on Macro shooting. Truth is, the video is probably more important in the grand scheme of things to an alleged photographer than the seed gathering so maybe it wasn't all bad.

You see, although I bought the Tamron lens, I really had/have no idea how best to use it. Sure, I've had it on the Nikon D60, but how close can you get, what settings, all that stuff is mostly beyond me. So, the video helped, first and foremost because I learned that if I want to get really good shots, I need to manually focus the camera, certainly not my specialty. I'm more of an automatic girl, but don't tell that to folks who think I'm a "real" photographer. They may quit buying--oh wait, they already have! Just joking about the buying part, but it has indeed been a difficult summer.

But onward we go because rather than cleaning out my food cupboards, I got into macro mode and these photographs are the result of my distraction.

If you can imagine I even put it on manual settings with mixed results;  I'm only showing you the good stuff.

Amazingly, most of these have only been slightly cropped with not even the "I'm Feeling Lucky" treatment. So, as you can see, I went around the yard looking for small stuff.

If only bees stayed still longer we might possibly see the pollen on the legs and body even better. I still can hardly believe the ivy geranium is still blooming:

The thryallis is going plumb crazy, blooming like mad with all the recent rain around these parts.

And then there are the marigold seeds:

By now I have so many I could plant a field of marigolds next summer! I'll be happy to share if you're so inclined.

I went looking in the garage,

and back to the coffee table display,

In case you didn't notice, I'm pretty jazzed with this combo, mostly because two friends contributed, the candle is a Goodwill find, and the Frank Lloyd Wright coasters are a nod to Mr. Bruce. Isn't it great when you can decorate with feeling? So much more interesting than purchasing an already made "look."

Adjacent to the thimble I found in my sewing box is a small piece of dust which looms large when you're shooting macro!

This thimble belonged to either Bruce's Mother, or Grandmother, don't know which because I have both of their sewing boxes, but either one put it to good use as the close up makes very evident.

Even the spirals on a notebook can look interesting when viewed close up:

Finally this little scene which is on my external hard drive:

On the left is a box of candies from our visit to London--the company website is fantastic!  The little figure dates back to my time at Valencia; I'm thinking I maybe got it at Burger King which was about two blocks from the Winter Park campus? Mr. Penguin bobs if you pat his head. :)

So, there you have it. The light has been particularly dull all afternoon, which can be both good and bad for photography. Good if you know what you are doing, bad if you're a lightweight like me! You guessed it-- rain this afternoon, with more on the way.

Although I did not get to my can cupboard, I did, early this morning, clean out under the sink, which, don't hold your breath or anything, will be shown in way more detail than is necessary tomorrow.

Off to the kitchen to dream up some sort of dinner,
Gail

Good grief, it's another P. S. !!  A photographer made a pilgrimage to photograph the sites used on Twin Peaks. There are those amongst you who will find this fascinating.