BACKYARD MACROS

I took these two macros in my backyard yesterday to experiment with adding textures.  I used the same "Flypaper" texture on both ("Dangerous Liasons"), and these photos are the results.

BUMBLE BEE

Here's a shot from the Baytown Nature Center a few weeks ago.

MAGNOLIA BLOSSOM HONEY BEE

I took this shot of a honey bee on a Magnolia blossom at the Baytown Nature Center this past weekend.

BACKYARD MUSHROOMS

After the big rain we had on Saturday a bunch of these little 2" tall delicate little mushrooms showed up in our backyard flower bed.

BEE IS FOR "BOKEH"

This was one of the two shots I did end up using for the assignment of "Bokeh" on Thursday night.  I liked this one for the assignment as soon as I took it and it worked out to be a "gold" shot.

GUITAR LIGHT

Our November photo assignment for the Bay Area Photo Club of Clear Lake Honor's Night program is Bokeh, which roughly refers to the quality of the out of focus background in an image.  I had my choice narrowed down to five shots and, while I like this shot, it is one that I will not be using on Thursday night.  You never know how the images you chose will be received by the judging panel so the best way to approach your selections is go with your gut!

SEED POD

This flower and seed pod was photographed one afternoon in my front yard.  I shot it with my 60mm Olympus macro lens handheld at f18 ISO400 1/125 and an EV of -2.7.

BUSY BEE

This shot was taken at the Baytown Nature Center and was recently awarded "Gold" by the judges at June's Bay Area Photo Club in the "Open" category.  This shot was taken with my Olympus OM-D camera fitted with a 60MM macro lens.

HIGH KEY TOAD

I shot this macro of a toad Dianne spotted in the backyard with my 60MM macro lens.  The toad was swimming a an aluminum bucket and was perched on a quartz rock giving the scene a distinctively "high key" look.

FLOWER BUD MACRO

I'm still breaking in my new 60MM macro lens, mostly by shoot what's available in my back yard.  I thought this one looked pretty good - look out Steve Schuenke! :)

FEATHER IN HAND

In the past I've used my 50-200 lens and a 1" extension tube to shoot macros but I finally broke down and bought my first macro lens, an Olympus M.Zuiko ED 60mm f2.8.  On my E-M1 camera the lens functions as a 120mm [35mm equivalent] focal length and should make a nice portrait lens as well.  I've just taken a few test shots with it and so far I'm pretty happy with it.

BLUE AND ORANGE

This was my second BAPC Honor's Night entry under the assignment of "Complementary Colors".

FRONT YARD MACRO

This is a photo I entered in last Thursday's Bay Area Photo Club Honors Night program under the assignment "MACRO".

BUSY BEE

This shot is of a bee collecting pollen from a Crepe Myrtle in our backyard.

LADY IN PINK AND YELLOW

Macro shot at the Baytown Nature Center a couple of weeks ago.  Shot with my E-5 and a 50-200 lens and 1" extension tube.  I used an LED ring light to light the subject.

FLORAL MACRO #1

Taken this past weekend at the Baytown Nature Center using 50-200 zoom @ 200 with a 1" extension tube and LED ring light.

RANDOM FLOWER

I took this shot in my backyard over the weekend to see how a new ring light I purchased would work, in conjunction with an extension tube, for shooting macros.

Mighty Mushroom Macro

Mushroom shot from Discovery Green on Saturday morning.

Backyard Grasshopper

a My wife spotted this grasshopper in the yard this evening so I took the opportunity to photograph it - duh! The background was a little plain so I added in a blurry moon taken yesterday morning.

Alien Bloom

Some sort of floral bloom lying on a granite surface near Buffalo Bayou a couple of weekends ago.