A Macro Kinda Weekend!

Uh Oh, slipped again. Not surprising is it??!!  I always have such great intentions and then I so badly fail. I think blogging is a habit that you establish and just like any habit it takes repetitive action to making that habit become a regular part of your life. About the only habit I am actually quite good at is crawling into bed at night. Not so good at crawling back out in the morning, but I usually manage to get up between 7:00 and 8:00 AM and then coffee making is an absolute must, Drinking at least 2 cups prior to starting my day, whatever that may bring, is a habit.

But I did have to rise and get moving this past weekend. I enrolled in Mike Moat's Macro Photography class months ago and this past weekend I enjoyed 2 days of listening to him and practicing macro photography. Mike is a down to earth kind of guy, t-shirt, casual pants, comfy shoes, stubble on his face, and usually a baseball cap on his head. He is self-taught, and has truly made a success of himself. Appears regularly in photography magazines, won awards, sells many of his prints, and makes a living with this and teaching workshops both in person and on the web. He doesn't use fancy equipment, in fact I have a more recent camera than he does, he still uses NIC software and Photoshop Elements to edit his photos. So he is a proven example that you don't have to have the fanciest and best of everything to be a good photographer. And he shoots strictly JPEG instead of RAW.

Look at all those little specs, I am assuming they are dust. I could go in and clone all of those out, but no, I am not doing it. I am not placing this image in a competition. Just an example of how clear and precise you can get with a tripod and your F stop set at the highest level or closed,(which always confuses the heck out of me) depending on your lens.

The thing is.....you absolutely must use a tripod to take these close-up photos with everything clear and sharp. Now I don't have a good relationship with my tripod(s). You notice that tripod was plural which means I obviously have purchased more than one on my photography journey as well as ball-heads.  I have purchased multiples of those as well. But I heard this past weekend that this happens to many photographers, so it made me feel a little less guilty over my legion of tripods. I would like to become "as one" with my tripod, but I'm afraid that's not gonna happen until my hands become so shaky that all of my shots are total blurs. I feel so restricted using a tripod, and for some reason it's difficult for me to compose a shot using a tripod. I know, call me crazy, but I'm afraid I will still only use a tripod when the circumstances are such that there is no other option.  IE; this weekend, when we were shooting at 32 and 40 F stops to have everything in focus. No way can you hand hold a camera at those settings and get a clear shot.

However with an F-stop at F/5 or F/ 8 I can get clear shots of my subject with a nice soft background without a tripod.

Most of my photography is accomplished with natural light, outdoors usually and I honestly don't want everything in focus for the kind of photography I enjoy. Night photography is a must for a tripod, so I will definitely use my "current" tripod for any night photography that I might encounter. Sunrise - sunset are also easier accomplished with a tripod.

These last few images are what's happening now in our neck of the woods. The dogwoods are in full bloom, the wildflowers are peeking out and my lilacs which bloom later than the old fashioned kind are still in tight buds. We have had a lovely Spring, more than enough rain (4 inches last weekend), some warm days, some cooler, but all in all one fine Spring season.

Have a great week.

Until next time.....

Do the Things I Love to Do....

Well it's been over 2 months since I have posted. No excuses, probably not much to report, but in the last month I have had some very sad news that has put me in a melancholy mood. And again realizing that life is short and each day should have some beauty, a little joy, and a lot of gratitude. So many that I love have lost their beloved pet, their mother, their father, their husband, a friend gone way too soon. So much sadness that I just wanted to crawl into a ball and bury my head in my pillow. And again realizing that there is a way to relieve this sadness, to do the things I love to do.

This blog was my "get out of jail" card when my life was surrounded by my husband's illness, my mother's needs, and the daily gradations as both were failing in front of my eyes. In the evening, after settling my sweetie into bed, I would grab my laptop and write a blog post. I began this journey in May of 2011 and have written 960 posts since that time. Writing a post was part of my daily routine, what the heck happened that I got so far off of that path?? I still have a passion for photography, altho I must admit in the winter that passion goes pretty barren much like the landscape. This winter in particular with no snow and mild temps has produced nothing desirable to photograph. You can only photograph bare branches so many times.

Just as Spring was making it's first appearance with warm temps, blue skies, and sunshine and a chance to get out and photograph the emerging of early flowers, the temps plummeted and we are back to "same ol, same ol".  It sure was enjoyable while it lasted. This time last week I was at a photo conference, listening to speakers and having fun photographing indoors and relishing in the sunshine as we ate lunch outdoors, without coats.

I played around with the Lensbaby Velvet 56 during the conference and did get some fairly decent images, but I had just purchased the new Tamron 90mm 2.8 Macro lens and felt that I could probably duplicate the same look with the 90mm and not spend any more money on another lens.

The 2 wood-pecker images above were taken right from my front window with a 150-600mm lens. I finally filled the bird feeder after being empty for almost a week, and purchased a Wild Berry Suet square and the woodpeckers LOVE it.  It's like candy to a kid. Today alone, I saw juncos, cardinals, downy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, chickadees, white breasted nut hatch, and ofcourse, sparrows, all right in my front yard. Now that brings me a lotta joy.

Tomorrow night the Oscars will light up TV's all over the world as we wait and watch to see who the big winners are this year. I have seen many of the movies that are nominated this year and I have my favorites. We'll see who walks away with that golden statue this year, but honestly come this time next year I probably won't remember who won what. But it's still a tradition in my house to watch, wait and cheer the winners. (and also see what the stars are wearing on the red carpet)

Take care, have a good week and spread a little joy.

Until next time....