Don't Look Down
This easily ranks as one of the most awkward photos I have ever taken, and I thought it would be straightforward! Needed to get right on to doing this, as I wanted to get out into the garden and the weather was forecast to deteriorate for the next few days. I intended to photograph a fuchsia flower from directly underneath so had to make use of two pieces of kit I don't often use - the centre column of my tripod can adjust to horizontal (so getting the camera to point straight up was easy) and also the back live-view screen can flip out and rotate (so I could see the subject without being behind the camera). But the camera had to be quite close to the ground where there was less breeze, and I was fussing with frustration as I struggled to use the camera controls when I couldn't see them, and my long-sightedness gave problems focusing using the live-view screen. Even getting the camera into a suitable position was problematic. I played with various fuchsia flowers taking several dozen shots, and all I produced were some 'interesting' (to put it kindly) abstracts that I wasn't happy with - so I decided to give up...
Then I found myself wondering what would happen if I tried this with a snail (things couldn't get any worse) even though that had not been my original intention. I spent quite a while getting the camera in the best possible position under a suitable flower before finding a very tiny Brian to try. Because of the poor light under the fuchsia bush, I had to resort to f3.5 at ISO800, settings I would never normally use with a snail. After just a few attempts, I got the resulting shot - although I generally want the eyes in focus, I didn't think I could do any better.
For Macro Mondays theme 'Look Up'. This turned out to be an excellent challenge, and I had so much 'fun' I may want to try it again (just not right away). The image has not been cropped and spans just under 3 cm.
No snails were harmed in the making of this photograph.
Don't Look Down
This easily ranks as one of the most awkward photos I have ever taken, and I thought it would be straightforward! Needed to get right on to doing this, as I wanted to get out into the garden and the weather was forecast to deteriorate for the next few days. I intended to photograph a fuchsia flower from directly underneath so had to make use of two pieces of kit I don't often use - the centre column of my tripod can adjust to horizontal (so getting the camera to point straight up was easy) and also the back live-view screen can flip out and rotate (so I could see the subject without being behind the camera). But the camera had to be quite close to the ground where there was less breeze, and I was fussing with frustration as I struggled to use the camera controls when I couldn't see them, and my long-sightedness gave problems focusing using the live-view screen. Even getting the camera into a suitable position was problematic. I played with various fuchsia flowers taking several dozen shots, and all I produced were some 'interesting' (to put it kindly) abstracts that I wasn't happy with - so I decided to give up...
Then I found myself wondering what would happen if I tried this with a snail (things couldn't get any worse) even though that had not been my original intention. I spent quite a while getting the camera in the best possible position under a suitable flower before finding a very tiny Brian to try. Because of the poor light under the fuchsia bush, I had to resort to f3.5 at ISO800, settings I would never normally use with a snail. After just a few attempts, I got the resulting shot - although I generally want the eyes in focus, I didn't think I could do any better.
For Macro Mondays theme 'Look Up'. This turned out to be an excellent challenge, and I had so much 'fun' I may want to try it again (just not right away). The image has not been cropped and spans just under 3 cm.
No snails were harmed in the making of this photograph.