Spider in Macro

Let me start this post by saying that I am TERRIFIED of spiders!  They completely creep me out.  Especially spiders like this one.  So how did these photos come about?  Here's how:

I'm cleaning up after dinner...Hubby is balancing our hot tub...

Hubby: "Honey come quick and grab your camera!"

Me:  "Why?"

"Just grab your camera...there's a spider I want you to take a picture of."

"A spider?!?"

"Yeah, it's so cool!  It's got big body!"  

"I hate spiders!"

"Just grab your camera..."

"Fine..."

Me:  "How's this?

Hubby: "That's not close enough.  I want to see the spider."

Me:  "Fine, go get my macro lens then."

Me:  "Are these better?"

Hubby: "Yeah, can you get his face?"

"His face?!?"

Me shuddering, me freaking out, me panicking...Mind you, I'm still as far away as the first picture, but when the macro lens makes the spider look like this...

...despite being a little over a foot away...a girl gets a bit jumpy!

In fact, most of my photos of the spider look like...

...yeah.  The spider would move a tiny little bit, and I'd freak out!  I did, however, manage to get the photo Hubby wanted:

"Perfect" according to Hubby.  What we're going to do with the photo, I have no clue...

It felt good to get my macro lens back out.  I just wish my first photos weren't of a terrifying spider!

Wordless Wednesday--My New Motto

Macro Friday--Bug

I am so glad I checked my Facebook and saw Laura's Macro Friday Post this evening!  It was a reminder to me that I needed to link up!

I had a bit of fun a few days ago out in the back yard snapping photos of flowers.  I know that I say bugs and flowers are overdone in macro and I try to avoid them, but sometimes you just can't help yourself...



This is what I call a lucky shot!  I wasn't really aiming to get a bug at all but this guy happened to crawl into my shot at just the right moment!  I moved my focus over a hair and this is what I got!  I love that you can see the pollen on his face and legs.  What do you think?

Macro Friday--Russian Sage

I brought out my camera and macro lens a few days ago to take some pictures of the spring buds on plants around my yard.  This one ended up to be my favorite, though I don't really know why.

It's my Russian Sage beginning to bud.  I actually think the fuzziness of the buds look a bit like frost!  I added some textures to the photo to make it a bit more interesting because the background was totally plain.

This post is inspired by:

Macro Friday--Torn Paper

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I saw a piece of paper sitting on the table and I got out my macro lens to photograph it.  I don't even know why I really thought of photographing it in the first place.  Something about it just caught my eye.  I must say, I'm quite impressed with the result I got!




Are you as impressed as I am?

Macro Friday--Hairbrush

I can't seem to put my new macro lens down!  I have taken so many macro photos since Christmas it's not even funny.  No, seriously, I'm a macro addict now!

Unfortunately, since I'm now working every Friday and am usually super busy after work, it's been hard to participate in Macro Fridays.  This one is better late than never!




This is my hairbrush (if you couldn't figure it out).  No, that is NOT gross stuff on my bristles!  My hairbursh is old and that's the coating coming off!

For more Macro Friday fun, click the button below!

Macro Friday--MY NEW LENS!

Small edit: This post was not suppose to be published until tomorrow am (Friday)!  I must have set the date wrong when I set the auto publish.  Since half the world has probably seen this post already, I will leave it up.  Kinda bummed that it published early though :( 

Happy Friday to you all! More importantly, Happy Macro Friday! I've been not so patiently waiting all week for this post! 
Guess what I got for Christmas??  A macro lens for my camera!!!  I'm so excited and I've never been more in love with macro photography since I got this lens!  It's a Raynox DCR250 lens and it clips to the end of my camera barrel.  It's one of the few lenses you can attach to my camera (Canon SX20 IS) because it's light weight enough not to ruin it.




(Source for this picture here.  I obviously couldn't take a picture of my own camera.  I have an SX20 and this is an SX10 but it's virtually the same camera)

Here's my official Macro Friday photo:



Confused as to what it is? Its a burning candle wick.  See the flame around the wick?  I would have never been able to get this shot without my new lens! 





Now, let's really show what this lens can do!  Keep in mind these things when looking at my photos though:
1)  All of these are SOOC (straight out of the camera).  I did not edit any of them.
2)  I did NOT use a tripod so the photos are not as clear as they could be.  I got a little camera shake because my camera was hand-held.
3)  I'm still very much getting used to this lens.  It's kinda touchy!




This is the photo that really made me realize how great this lens is.  On the left is my camera on macro setting without the lens.  It simply looks like a patch of carpet.  On the right is my new lens.  You can see individual carpet fibers!  How cool is that?!




On the left, camera without the lens, on the right, my new lens.  Notice on the left, in order to get that close I got a shadow from my camera.  With my new lens, closer and no shadow!

Two more cool examples:








Last, but not least, remember this Macro Friday post? Check it out with my new lens!



Now that's what I call macro!

Christmas in Macro

I am so exited to be able to participate in another Macro Friday and to join in a few new memes this week! It's been a while since I've joined Macro Friday because now I work every weekend. I made it a point to come straight home and post before I lost the time to do it!

I had some fun playing with the Christmas tree ornaments yesterday...

(Official Macro Friday photo)

More ornament (and light) fun...



 

Macro Friday--Raspberries!

Alas, it's another Friday and I had some time to play in macro this week...here's my favorite shot:

Program AE, super macro mode, f 2.8, 1/25, ISO 800

Mmmmm....those raspberries were good!

Speaking of macro...I think I found what I want for Christmas!  It a Raynox DCR 250 macro conversion lens!  According to all my research, it is compatible with my Canon SX20 and it seems like a good lens.  Anyone know anything about it?

For more Macro Friday fun, or to participate yourself, click on the button below:

Macro Friday--Spider Web

I took this shot on Monday and had to wait all week for Macro Friday!  It was torture!  (You may have to click on it and make it larger to get the full effect of the photo).

Program AE with Macro Mode, f 4, 1/60, ISO 80

I admit, I cheated a bit when I took this picture.  I tried and tried to get the web but I couldn't see it in the photos because it was too bright outside and there wasn't enough contrast.  I finally got a water bottle with a fine mist sprayer and misted the spider web to make it show up a little more.  I was then able to get some shots of the web.

I tried to get some shots of the spider in the web at night but my lighting was all off and I couldn't stand to be that close to the spider to get it correct.  I HATE spiders!

For more Macro Friday fun, click on the button below:

Macro Friday--Freshly Stained Deck

Yahoo!  I actually have time to participate in Macro Friday this week.  I'm so excited!  See yesterday's post to know why I'm so busy lately. 

Hubby stained the back deck this week and it's been raining ever since.  I just loved the way the water beaded up on the fresh stain.

For more Macro Friday fun, or to enter yourself, click on the button below:

Macro Friday--Glass Stones

These glass stones were sitting on a friend's table just waiting to be photographed...

Program Mode in Super Macro, 1/6, f2.8, ISO 800

 Backlight added and white balance adjusted using Photoscape, Color Curves adjusted to make colors pop using Gimp.

For more Macro Friday Fun, click the button below:

 At the request of one of my readers, I will now try to put the camera settings and photo editing info with all of my pictures.

Macro Friday--Cookies

I'm really enjoying macro photography since I got my new camera.  I'm also having a ton of fun participating in Macro Fridays!

These guys were sitting on a plate on my kitchen counter waiting for my daughter to eat them.  They were also screaming for me to take a macro picture of them.  I just had to see if I could capture their texture!

 

Macro Friday--A Lesson on Bees

I'm excited to join Macro Friday this week and give you a lesson on "bees" all in one!  We've got these tree/bushes outside our front door.  I have no idea what they are, but they attract all kinds of bees, flies, butterflies, and other flying insects.   I grabbed my camera and began to shoot whatever would sit still long enough for me to grab a quick macro shot.

***The photo below is my official Macro Friday photo. The rest are just for fun :)***

When reviewing my photos, I realized that I took pictures of 5 different kinds of "bees"!  Me being the curious type (and because of my friend Lindsi's suggestion) I looked up what they were.  In doing so, I learned that not all "bees" are bees!

The above is in fact, not a bee at all!  It's a Syrphid Fly (otherwise known as a Hover Fly).  They mimic wasp coloring to ward off preditors.  These are good guys--their larve eat pest insects such as aphids.

Next is your typical honey bee.  Mmmm...is there fresh honey somewhere near my house?!?

Then we have the Bald Faced Hornet.  It's a close relative of the wasp (see below).  These guys are mean.  They will sting you repeatedly when trying to defend their nest.

Yep, above is a Bumblebee.  There are tons of different kinds of Bumblebees.  This one is a Common Eastern Bumblebee.  It is only fuzzy on it's top half.

Last is a Yellow Jacket.  Contrary to popular mistake, these are not bees.  They are wasps.  Closely related to the hornet above, these guys are agressive too.  They often build their nests underground and are the "bees" that sting you when you mow your lawn.

There you have it, Macro Friday and a lesson on "bees" all in one! 

Try Something New Tuesdays--Macro Photography

Ok, so I'm a week and one day late on the Try Something New Tuesday post.  Blame my husband!  He had better things for me to do than blog yesterday and last Tuesday (like look for a new computer which we have not bought yet).





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If you are new to Try Something New Tuesdays, it's super easy!  Simply grab your camera or photo editing software and try something new--anything!  Use a different mode on your camera, a photo editing technique you’ve always wanted to try, a new texture you found, or even something as simple as using a different angle while shooting. Anything goes, as long as it’s something new you’ve done this week. “Failures” are welcome! After all, we’re trying something new!

This post I did last Friday inspired me to get out of the normal modes on my camera and start to see my world in macro.  For an entire day, I went around and tried to shoot things in macro.  I stayed away from flowers and bugs and things like that because that's what everyone uses macro for.  I wanted to do something different.  Here's some of my favorite shots....

 Ok, I have no clue what happened with the editing on this photo! I edited it last night (in the middle of the night) when I got home from work and I must have been half asleep. Something's off...oh well, you get the point of the picture :)

Try Something New Tuesdays will run from the FIRST Tuesday of the month until the second Tuesday of the month (except this month because I'm a week late).  You can join in at any time during the week.  Grab the button up top to link back to my blog then link your blog up in the MckLinky below.