Friday, July 9, 2010

Macro

I have owned my present camera [ a Canon Power Shot A2000IS] for about a year.  In that time I have done little other than to use the "auto" mode or the setting for night shots, experimenting with the zoom feature.
Two booklets came with the camera, but I have small patience or skill in fiddling with "tech-y" stuff.
To be honest, I like things to work "perfectly" without a lot of practice.
I have been increasingly unhappy with attempted close-ups which missed the beautiful details of flowers or insects.  The camera manual turned up in one of the boxes I rootled through this week.
This being a day of weather unfit for woman, man or beast to attempt strenuous labor, I decided to play with the camera settings.
The flower garden is languishing in the heat, but I have hoped to let seed heads ripen and self-sow.  I've noticed that the hummingbirds and butterflies don't care that the flowers are shabby, so that has been another reason to leave them in over-blown and untidily flopping dis-array.

Two of the spicebush [Eastern Swallowtail] butterflies were damaged and clearly near the end of their short lives. This one was dull and ragged but still gamely flitting from flower to flower.
The monarda is going to seed but still appealing to the butterflies and humingbirds.

Still not as sharp a photo as I would like.  Butterflies don't oblige by "holding still."

A gold-spangled fritillary on a red zinnia.

This tiger swallowtail was huge--and very busy. 
I remember a summer when I was about 12 and decided I should acquire a butterfly collection.
I fashioned a "net" from a piece of my mother's old nightgown fastened to the wooden dowel from a windowshade and I was off for hours, trailing butterflies through the pasture.
Today I tripped over cucumber vines, ran around the edge of the flower garden, trying to get a good shot of this creature.

Today's hibiscus. A thank you to Chris J, for suggesting the color "Chinese Pink."

I tried repeatedly for a shot of this opening bronze sunflower.  The bloom is above my head and the wind was blowing just enough to make the photo blur.
I took this shot in the evening with the overcast sky darkening into dusk.

Another of the "dwarf" sunflowers with an insect visitor.

Detail of a dark sunflower in bud.

A bud of the tall golden sunflower.

Buds on the pink hibiscus.

My proficiency in photography has a long way to go.
I will always be an amateur with an inexpensive camera.
Still, the quest for photos to share is yet another interest and a continuing joy.
For as many remaining years as I can be out and about to explore the intricacies of Creation, I will never be bored.

9 comments:

  1. Some really good photos here. I have a Canon PowerShot SX120 and though it does take excellent photos in zoom and macro, I have to be sure the squares encompass exactly what I want to take and worse than that I have to keep the camera still -- that is almost impossible for me.

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  2. I've never been able to take good macro shots with my Canon Powershot A480. The good ones are all with my Olympus which admittedly did cost a couple of hundred pounds more:) I can never judge the distance properly with the Canon - you've done pretty well, that tiger swallowtail is gorgeous. It's annoying when the wind blows when you're trying to take close-ups isn't it ?!

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  3. Your shots are beautiful to me! I have never been a photographer, can't compose, but I sure can enjoy a good photo!

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  4. I so love the shots of the buds ...an interestingly unusual subject. The butterflies are gorgeous too. I have had great close ups ruined by a breeze but I rarely get a good close up with macro setting.... I am better at 'point and shoot' or 'zoom in' lol

    Blogger is driving me mad at the moment ..takes 3 or more goes to do anything Grrrrrr. xx

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  5. Very good close-ups. I have my manual on a CD-ROM so of course don't get to grips with all the nitty gritty of my camera as I can never be bothered to put the CD in the computer . . .

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  6. another one here never happy with her close up shots! I really need a week off without distractions to really study my camera and how to get the very best from it!

    Like you though, I enjoy taking my pics immensely, Nature provides so much fabulous material, and I WONT GIVE UP TRYING!

    lEANNE X

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  7. Oh my, wonderful!!! I especially love the hibiscus, the detail of a dark sunflower, the bud of the tall golden sunflower, and the hibiscus buds. Whew! Really great shots. And I think they are particularly appealing with that lovely green background. It's funny because I've been going on and on about my camera - that I am not a techie, and that I really have no idea what I'm doing and that my camera is too heavy. :<)

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  8. These look great and remind me of some of my pictures of plants. They so often look like alien beings from another world - strange, beautiful and occasionally slightly menacing!

    The best butterfly collection is one of images. That way they don't get hurt and you still get to look at them.

    Btw, your cats are glorious! :)

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  9. GREAT pics! You could frame several of them easily!!

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