Guess what I got . . .

a)  A very bad

b)  rash

c)  or just a flower

They look the same, just a different crop.  There is a difference in the DOF, though.

Shallow DOF         .             Deep DOF

Same pictures below:

As stated last week, this here wraps up my feather shoot.  And unfortunately I didn't get the camera out this weekend.  Had a birthday party on Saturday (a certain favorite model turned 5 this year) and I was doing chores on Sunday.  Maybe one day this week I'll try out some of my new ideas for shooting these things :-)

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Thanks for all the feedback... i know one subject can be monotonous, but hopefully the next set will be different and intriguing.

I really hit my stride (or at least I like these best) when I started shooting a smaller feather Pat had sent me (pat, help me out if you remember what you sent me...).  There was something about the pattern on the feather and the way it curved as soon as I started focusing it in my viewfinder I was inspired.  I had a hard time editing these so I'm going to split the post between color and b&w.  That way you guys don't have to compare those two things. 

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I'm definitely thinking of putting on an extra extension tube with this feather and get some tighter shots.  That's one of the things I'm going to try this weekend (along with a few other ideas I've had while brainstorming with George).  If you guys have any suggestions, let me know and I'll try it.  Thanks for looking and for all the comments!

Well, I've been picking up random feathers in the yard while walking around and I also got a nice shipment of feathers from Pat (thanks!) so after roaming through the garden I went to the back steps and sat down for some one-on-one time with the feathers and my extension tubes.  Any suggestions would be great.  I don't think I've hit my stride with these yet...

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Along with our vegetables in the garden, I've integrated some pops of color.  I've got marigolds and zinnias that haven't started blooming yet, but my larkspur were planted back in the beginning of April.  They're slow at budding, but I finally had a few to open within the past week.  So while I was out documenting our vegetables I brought along my extension tubes and took a few of our Larkspur.  So far we've had white blooms and one pink (But you know me, I can't resist a good b&w conversion :-)

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Thanks for looking and for any and all comments!

Mr. Q and I are on the same page this week.  Other than dogwoods, the garden was just buzzing with life.  Literally.  But I don't have any pictures of bees.  Just some pretty peony tree blooms!

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Thanks for looking!

I decided to catch the dogwoods while they were still blooming and it was pretty out.  So last week thursday, I grabbed the camera and after work I went to the Botanical Gardens and had some fun.  I got quite a few shots I like, but I'm still making my way through editing them all.  I figured I'd take a break and share a few.

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Thanks for looking and for all comments.

Who's the fairest Lady.... Bug of them all :-D

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Taken with my nikkor 50mm lens + 20mm extension tube.  Comments, critiques, anything of the written word taken and appreciated.
Thanks for looking!

There are some still here who remember when I joined there was an excellent young photographer.  He had an AMAZING eye for photography.  And much like candice inspired my love of leaves, this one inspired a sense of wonder in feathers.  I don't come across feathers that often, but everytime I do I think of his wonderful portrayals of these delicate items.  I got lucky a couple of weekends ago and found a Raven's feather in my yard and I happened to have been out with the camera.  So I picked it up and took a few shots.  I've still got the feather and plan to play with it some more... maybe after our Vacation I'll have time to revisit it.  But for now, this is what I have:

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Thanks for looking.  Any kind of critique is helpful since I do plan to revisit the subject.

Still working through macro pictures and had too much fun editing these.  Haven't gotten so many dandy pictures I like in a while.

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Thanks for looking!

To celebrate this holiday of green, I have some clover shots I took with the new macro last weekend.

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Thanks for looking!

This weekend while playing with the work toys, we went over to Michael's parents house.  The best part about being over there is Daisy, Michael's dog.  Or at least that's what he says when his mother's not around.  She would fight us tooth and nail for that dog.  She's a sweet heart, and after it was too dark to be outside I came in and got some pictures of a pooped out pup.

Please excuse the amount... I normally wouldn't post this many but they're the best shots I've ever gotten of her.

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Thanks for looking and for all comments

I had fun that weekend laying in the grass with my extension tubes and 50mm lens.  But then, most of the time I do.  Which is why I'm so excited I was told to purchase a macro lens for the work camera.  I get to test that baby out this weekend and I'm going to LOVE having an actual macro again (love my tubes... but sometimes I wish it was just a macro lens).

Without further ado, some dandelion shots... or at least dandelion is what I've always called them (maybe because the Dandy-Lion from the Alice and wonderland looked like this weed).

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Thanks for looking and for the comments (also sorry I haven't been around much.  I'm going to try and motivate myself to comment more...)

Not only did I do some birding in my back yard, but I've done some weeding.  And by weeding, I mean i got my extension tubes out and played with the pretty clover flowers before I mowed them all down the next day.  I think a few came out kind a spiffy, but I suppose I can let you be the judge

W E E D S

Thanks for looking

Last Saturday when I baked that beautiful cheesecake I had the notion to play around with my camera.  Mostly because I bought a new canister of colorful toothpicks and they intrigued me.  After shooting for about 30 minutes I got a few shots I like.  Not sure anyone else will.  But if you would please, please help me out.  I always feel like I flounder with macros of anything but flowers and leaves.  I try to make the shot interesting... not necessarily a shot of an/the object. 

So... let me know what you think.

The wave

Flower (looks like a dahlia or carnation to me... I may be seeing things though :-)

On Point

In the crowd

In the crowd II

Thanks for looking and for any and all comments!

They're a little late (O.K.  A lot late but at least I got my camera out this weekend!) but I have some flowers for the previous quacky challenge. 

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If anyone knows what these are, I'd like to know.  All I know is they were in the small walkway garden when we bought the house and they looked like a kind of fancy grass.  We didn't even know they were bulbs until we dug them up.  We weren't going to replant them but then as they sat with their roots exposed for a few days they started blooming with these pretty pink flowers.  We were convinced.  We replanted them and boy was it a good idea.  These bulbs shoot out blooms from March - October.

Sorry it is late but I just got the Canon ---> bellows adapter and managed to capture a couple of usable shots before the battery was drained.  

I could have titled this post as "First Shots Out of the Project Camera".  You may recall over in the Forum I mentioned I picked up a broken Canon xTi that I was going to try to fix and use pretty much as a dedicated macro camera.  I have to learn a bit about the adjustments in the camera (with the bellows it is pretty much all manual).  

Sunflower with minimum bellows

Sunflower with about 75% of full bellows.  

This one lost a little in translation but was also very underexposed (exposed at f9 and with the lens at f22.)  I will get that figured out next time.

I appreciate any comments and advice.

.....different views

 tiny beauties 

 mirror image 

Hope y'all enjoy!

Earlier this week some nice macro shots were shared with the group. They inspired me to present a selection on mine as well.

My favorite of a recent table top session  Onion I thionk you'll find I'm partial to saturated colors and black backgrounds that are used to isolate the subject.

These flowers from the yard lasted for a few days. Happy I was home to see and capture them.  Orange 1  Orange 2 

Today after the wind settled a bit and the sun dropped enough to put these flowers in the shade I made a series of photos that turned out pretty well.  White 1  White 2  White 3 

I am curious to hear what y'all think.