dav.d photography

Posts Tagged ‘macro photography’

30th August 2010

Spiders & Bumble Bees – Day 361 of 365

written by dav.d

Bumble bees and spiders – such cuddly creatures! I was wondering what I would be photographing today and when I stopped by my sister’s house there were some gorgeous flowers outside, however, it was the insects on the flowers that became the story. Now, I did crop these quite a bit – I didn’t want to get too close. And the spider is extremely small!

So it helps to have a 100mm macro lens and a 21 megapixel camera so I have plenty of room to crop the photo to feature the spider and the bumble bee. And then I had to show my nephew and nieces where I saw the insects – they wanted to check out the bees.

Spider on an orange flower

Spider on an orange flower

Bumble bee with macro

Bumble bee with macro

Bumble bee

Bumble bee

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14th July 2010

Flowers Having Sex

written by dav.d

I want to know when Utah’s legislators are going to start censoring all the flower genitalia we have flapping in the wind? Flowers are the “private parts” and used for reproduction – and as you know we can’t have that out in the public. Here is a macro photography of the pollen and pollination of flowers. I am loving my Canon 100mm macro.

Pollen & Flowers

Pollen & Flowers

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I have a new lens! As if I don’t have enough lenses…

The new lens is the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro IS lens. I had rented this lens several months ago from borrowlenses.com and was somewhat impressed and just from today’s test shots I am more impressed. It is sharp and it has great color and I love the image stabilization (IS). At lunch I photographed some flowers, Star Wars action figures, and iPhone 4 retina display.

This lens could be considered a specialty lens – specifically for macro photographs – but this lens can also be an excellent portrait lens. And since I have been using a full frame sensor – ever lens feels like a wide screen photograph. So it is nice to have a macro lens where I can get close to a subject and get some sharp and amazing detail. Yay!

I am sure I will keep this lens on my camera for several days. And it is an L series lens – which means it comes with a lens hood! Granted almost every Nikon lens comes with a lens hood.

Macro Flower Photography

Macro Flower Photography

Macro Flower Photography

Macro Flower Photography

iPhone 4 Macro Photograph

iPhone 4 Macro Photograph

Star Wars Action Figure in Macro Photography

Star Wars Action Figure in Macro Photography

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My day job is a web designer for Nu Skin. I have been working there for 10 years as of July 11th. It is surreal to think that it has already been 10 years! I was 27 at the time – and now I am so old! However, I still have somewhat of a youthful look since I use Nu Skin products daily. I haven’t bought a bottle of shampoo in those ten years. As a benefit to employees we get a certain allotment of points to use on products from the company. I know it works as long as I look younger than my brothers (I am the oldest of 7 kids – 5 of them are boys).

As recognition of 10 years of work Nu Skin gives employees a pin – as you see below. We also get a very generous bonus! Woo hoo! It really is a great company to work for with great benefits, bonuses and products. And I like/tolerate my co-workers ;)

10 Year Pin from Nu Skin

10 Year Pin from Nu Skin

With my bonus I will be buying a macro lens for my Canon 5D Mark II. The Nu Skin pin above was photographed with my 50mm f/1.2 lens – and it is cropped because that is as close as I can get with my Canon lenses. To get any closer will require a macro lens. So hooray! I will be purchasing the Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS lens. I have rented that lens before and it works great. And this way, I won’t always have to carry my Nikon camera and lenses just to shoot macro.

Here is the original photograph below – you can definitely see why I need a macro. Mmmmmmm, macro!

Why I need a Canon macro lens

Why I need a Canon macro lens

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25th May 2010

Macro Flowers – Day 264 of 365

written by dav.d

After yesterday’s snow fall I thought photographing some flowers during lunch would be a perfect way to remind me that it is supposed to be spring right now. Photographing flowers with a macro lens rocks – I try to get the blurry and ethereal look to my flower photos. Really shallow depth of field and the flowers begin to look painterly.

White flowers

White flowers

Ethereal flower

Ethereal flower

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3rd May 2010

Flowers in Macro – Day 242 of 365

written by dav.d

Wow, I escaped the cubical at lunch! I am shocked! I usually eat lunch at my cube and check the internet to make sure things are going smoothly in the world. Today I grabbed my Canon 5DII and the rented 100mm macro lens to go practice.

Practice makes perfect and I have a LOT of practicing to do. (But my mom still loves me, allegedly). And what better thing to practice some macro photography than some flower photography around the downtown Provo area. The Courthouse had a number of flowers ready for their cameo.

Pink flowers with a macro lens

Pink flowers with a macro lens

Macro photography gives you very little room for error. The depth of field can be quite narrow and I wasn’t using a tripod cause I want to try out the IS (Image Stabilization). And it doesn’t keep the wind from getting in the way, however, so you have to be a bit patient and try a number of shots.

Red flower bud in macro

Red flower bud in macro

And I thought it would be fun to photograph a dandelion, they could be a very beautiful flower – so I put a number of their seed in a neighbor’s lawn to see what it looks like. (Dear neighbor, you deserved it.)

Dandelion, underrated flower

Dandelion, underrated flower

And this is a crop of the photograph from above. This is why 21 megapixels is a good thing – a lot of room to crop so you can see all this detail.

Let's look at the dandelion a big closer

Let's look at the dandelion a big closer

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2nd May 2010

Photographing through a leaf – Day 241 of 365

written by dav.d

I have been testing the Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS lens and I am thinking that I like my Nikon 105mm a little bit better. I posted a small comparisons of the lenses on my dav.d photography tips website.

Light shines through a leaf for this macro photograph

Light shines through a leaf for this macro photograph

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1st March 2010

Macro Shot of Moisturizer – Day 179 of 365

written by dav.d

I thought I would play around with stacking lenses again – last time I stacked lenses to photograph a penny – this time it is moisturizing gel that I use to try and imitate the look of youth. I know that my facial regimen works if I look younger than my brothers (I’m the oldest).

This photograph is cropped – the second photograph is another shot without cropping. Stacking lenses isn’t easy – I am sure there is a huge science and collection of equipment designed to get these super macro shots – besides just using a microscope – a microscope is cheating ;)

The amount of gel would fit on my fingernail of my index finger – and being that I have short girly fingers that isn’t much.

Macro photograph of moisturizer

Macro photograph of moisturizer

Macro photograph of moisturizer

Macro photograph of moisturizer

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