Friday, April 09, 2021

Macro Photography

I love macro stuff. I love the little things. Especially outdoors. Maybe it is because our forest is so overwhelming when all the leaves come in and the brush is filled out. The forest looks like a green wall by mid summer. All of its secrets hide close to the ground or under prickly brush.

I discovered tiny things a long time ago. This is one of my all time favorites. The day was so hot and humid and I was frustrated. I only had a long lens with me and an old second hand camera. I crawled under some brambles and crouched. To my ultimate surprise, I got this.


And I was hooked on the little things to be found in the woods.
If it was little, I'd try and take a shot. Anything was game. I even searched for pocket cameras to carry that had a 'macro' feature.

[I am a killer on pocket cameras. I carry them in foul weather and have dropped them while riding mules. I am a pocket camera slayer. So far though, my Oly Tough TG6 has lasted over a year with me.]


My interest peaked the first time my husband took me Morel Hunting. I had a film camera that I carried with a fixed lens and getting things up close was a challenge.

Some day I'll share how I mortally wounded that camera. This is from 1999 shot with a vintage manual Canon with a fixed lens.

 


This whole Morel experience got me more interested in the Forest Floor than large landscapes. What can I say? Morels have a spell on me! 


And then I decided to try using a real macro lens. I got down in the dirt next to a log the other day and....

My intended shot was this:

What I got was this.


The hazards of having Charlie with me!

He did sit quietly while I rummaged around in the brush to find another shot of Spring Beauties.


I quit after that. It was hot, Charlie was hot. And a hen Turkey was clucking away somewhere close by.
Charlie was sure it was Godzilla.

Spring is coming on strong, so I'll be doing a lot of crawling around and searching for things like fiddleheads and other tiny things.

It is raining lightly so I challenged my hiking pal to hike in the rain with me.

Charlie says he is willing and ready.
I wonder what little things we will find?



8 comments:

  1. Great photos, love them all! What is the third dew photo of? To me it looks like a dew covered dandelion gone to seed. I thought with a macro lens one did not need to get as close, but I am obviously wrong. Bummer. It is increasingly getting harder for me to get up off the ground. Regardless, I just told Brad I deposited some of my photography $ to defer the upcoming cost of a macro lens. I would like to own one by the end of the year, so I can shoot snowflakes. Can't what to see more of the tiny things you & Charlie find!!

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    1. It is a dandelion gone to seed with dew on it. Taken with my Oly pocket camera. Smiling at the 'get off the ground comment' not laughing, just smiling. You don't always have to get low to the ground for the little things, but it is the perspective I like. AND sometimes I literally have to crawl under brush to get to something that interests me.

      For example, the lichen was about 6 inches off the ground on a dead log and I wanted to 'shoot' through the side of it. For the spring beauty I was able to lower the camera to the ground and use the screen in back.

      I often use my long lens for macro photography too. Then I don't carry but one item.
      The Tough TG6 uses a microscopic lens which has a ring light attached to it so I can literally put the camera on top of an item like a snow flake and shoot it.
      The quality is not going to be that of a nice DSLR, but it is fun.

      I just love tiny stuff. It is cool. Today we found lots of cool tiny flowers. I just mostly pointed them out to Bill so he could see them.

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    2. It's okay, you can laugh. Me getting up off the ground is pretty comical and involves doing a monkey walk of sorts or groaning because knees hurt. It isn't pretty, but I still do it. Yeah, flippy screens come in handy. I rarely carry more than one lens/camera unless my truck will be nearby. Usually my fav 70-200, which does fairly nice close-ups. It is hard to commit to one viewpoint, and the reason I am a zoom girl. I always hope my chosen lens is a good decision and/or end up doing a lot of wishing lol. Ring lights are cool! Come to think of it, I saw a full sized one used for macro on a photog field trip many moons ago. Glad you found a lot of Spring flowers!!

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    3. Please don't think I was laughing at you. Just chuckling because I get the feeling. Actually when getting out of the bed in the morning...I look like a slo motion creaky sort of bent over mini monster.
      I love my zoom and I agree, it is the bomb to carry for 99% of what I do.

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  2. Charlies paw made me smile! That is one perfect Spring beauty! I need to find some camera time soon...it seems it comes last and then the good light is done for the day. It is raining here:)

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  3. I was about to drool over he Morels! I thought you had hem popping out there already. We have had rain, but I still think it is a little early. Next week though, we might have to go out and get muddy....( BTW morels irritate me. Difficult to find, too much competition. .... But they are so Tasty!)

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    1. I would think if the weather stayed warm with the recent rain we'd have them soon. Mayapples or Mayflowers are starting to poke up all over the place. None of the plants seem to know what to do.
      I don't get a lot of competition for the morels on my land but have caught my neighbor picking them...grrr. I decided not to get upset with him as he has helped us whenever I've needed it. I may search in some of the county parks that have extreme terrain which normal folks won't try to go on.

      I just like being out there!

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