IT'S SPRING!

SELF | March 20, 09 | swampsniper

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I haven't done much the past few days. I was riding down a narrow residential street the other day and saw a little front yard surrounded by these lillies. The yard was shady but the flowers were glowing like hot coals. I shot these through the car window.

[ThreePuttinDude]

George look at the url again. You'll see it was hosted on Photobucket.
The botanical or what ever you mentioned, is the name of the folder
Swamp decided to use. No phony bologna going on here.

Stop trying to make trouble where there isnt’ any

TPD

[Richard Kimball]

I use an extension tube on a 70-200 lens on a digital SLR frame. I don't do a ton of macro shots, and the tubes are fairly inexpensive, as camera stuff goes. However, I like the shallow depth of field, and don't do enough macro work to justify a full macro lens. The biggest trick with an extension tube is that you have to manually focus, and with the short DOF it can get tricky. My first couple of shots of the caterpillar had the middle of the body in focus instead of the head, and looked lousy.

I'm firmly in the Canon camp for their SLR bodies, as well as the lenses. However, the Nikon, IMHO, is superior in the small point and shoots, particularly for macro.

[Richard Kimball]

That’s pretty cool. It looks like a Jackson Pollock.

[Richard Kimball]

Instead of going for full bore Photoshop, Photoshop Elements is under $100, and should do just about everything you need. You can move up to Photoshop later if you wish. The biggest thing the full Photoshop has over Elements is the ability to batch process and work with large numbers of files. I'm processing something like 2000 photos this weekend, so I use the full version.

The only lens I don't see you using a lot on your list is the 28-135. The 24-70 2.8L covers much of the same range and has a lot better glass. You'll be able to see the difference in your photos. The 28-135 was the first lens I bought, and it's a good lens if you're only going to have one. The biggest problem for me with it is that it doesn't photograph in low light.

I don't know what your passions are in photography, but I'd suggest this for a start out. Don't try to master all the equipment at once. Photography is like juggling. We start out with bean bags and work our way up to chain saws. Take the body, one lens (either the 70-200 or 24-70 (depends on your subject), the flash and the monopod. Select one type of photography. Immerse yourself in that. If people are interested in flowers, I suggest starting with them. They offer a wide range of compositional options, and unlike people, they don't blink or get bored while you're trying to figure stuff out. If you have a window in your house that gets good afternoon/early evening sunlight, get a vase of flowers and take shots. Do some shots just with the available light, then try some with flash and check the difference. Remember, photography is about painting with light. Watch your backgrounds. If you look at swampsniper's shot that started this thread, there's nothing to distract from the flowers. No trash cans or chain link fences in the background. On my baseball shots, I couldn't do much about the background, so I made my depth of field shallow enough that only the subject matter was in focus. That helps draw attention to the subject, while keeping the background from intruding.

[rustbucket]

Here is a closeup of one of the webs. Perhaps the spider stays under the dome or tent part of the web. The dome looks like it might shed rain and provide some protection from the weather. Insects could be trapped on sticky threads above and below the dome.

Where is Spiderman when you need him?

[PurpleMan]

Since it’s in the 30’s, I’m more partial to this one

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/orl-photosoftheday-pg,0,4672667.photogallery?index=orl-pd_druids_celebr220090320065252

[gorush]

[smokingfrog]

cool!

[rustbucket]

Nice woodpeckers. Here's a golden fronted woodpecker (male) and a green jay.

[gorush]

Very nice, we don't get those around here (Wisc.)

[rustbucket]

A blowup of the single spider web photo can be found here: http://i40.tinypic.com/307mebt.jpg

[gorush]

[George Smiley]

He and I are cool. I tracked him down by way of his signature on the photo.

He’s VERY accomplished, BTW.

[Logic n' Reason]

Spring my Aunt Tilly's garters!

Up here we've got at least four more weeks of winter!

We just love algore up here too. Thank heaven's for his global warming!

[okimhere]

What a spectacular picture! The glowing red almost hurts yer eyeballs....: )

[gorush]

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Lookin’ good!

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I practice a lot, but the Panasonic FZ series cameras are good rigs. they aren’t DSLR level but they do OK. BTW, I keep the FZ30 set for 5MP 90%of the time, no need for 8MP or more unless you’re printing posters.

[TnGOP]

Thanks for the info. I googled the Panasonic FZ30, and it’s very similar to the Sony we have. That answered my question. Now, I guess it’s time to get off of “auto everything” settings and learn how to work with the aperture and speed settings, and get lots of practice!

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Set aside some time with no distractions, pay attention to what you do and the results of each action. It sll becomes instinct after a while, just takes practice.