macros

[JimB]

Hello to all.

I'm a beekeeper and a hobbyist grower of carnivorous plants. I'm active in both industries (small time scale) but want dearly to improve my macro shots. I hope to be posting lots here, and would be very grateful for any advice.

Here is a rare flower that I just took (I recently got a Canon G3)

http://images.dpchallenge.com/images_portfolio/10128/medium/38861.jpg

and a bee

http://images.dpchallenge.com/images_portfolio/10128/medium/38386.jpg

Thanks!

[JimB]

And another rare plant

http://images.dpchallenge.com/images_portfolio/10128/medium/38225.jpg

[iwatkins]

Jim,

I like all the shots, but there again I'm a sucker for nature macro work. :)

Only thing I would say is shot one is a little tightly cropped, I prefer to see the whole subject and if possible, fully in focus.

Shot 3 is the best. And what a weird plant, what is it ?

Cheers

Ian

[Ikinaa]

JimB wrote:
And another rare plant

http://images.dpchallenge.com/images_portfolio/10128/medium/38225.jpg

Hi, that's a Droseraceae ? ( sorry, don't know the english name, only the german one : Sonnentau, found the latin via google)

[JimB]

Sonnentau is the same in English, Sundew. The problem with smaller images is you can't see the detail, which is needed in identifying species. This is Drosera indica, the first picture is it's flower. Thanks for the comments.

[Mark Kemp]

these look good, the magnification is very high especially the bee.

I like the sundew - it looks very alien and quite unusual.

The conventional wisdom for flower shots is that it is bad to clip the edges of the petals off - you are usually advised to show the whole flower and not to have any part touch the edge of the frame. I guess its really a matter of taste, but this is the advice others have given me on many occasions

[stopbath]

The sun dew plant is a great close up. Are there different species of this plant? I thought the sticky stuff was on a flexable pad similar to the Venus Fly trap. A bug would touch a trigger and the whole pad would wrap up the bug with all the triggers facing in.

This shot seems to be of a stem. The pods look like little green stuffed olives on toothpicks bathed in sweet (martini?) juice. A tempting treat :)

[JimB]

"The conventional wisdom for flower shots is that it is bad to clip the edges of the petals off - you are usually advised to show the whole flower and not to have any part touch the edge of the frame. I guess its really a matter of taste, but this is the advice others have given me on many occasions "

Thanks, Mark, that is good advice.

[RedShoesGirl]

I don't agree with that advice. Here are a couple of shots that break that rule completely. I don't think they suffer from not following the rules. :) The amount one crops is individual in taste. But I do agree that the flower above should not have the petal only slightly cropped off.

The rare flower is beautiful!

http://www.fredmiranda.com/hosting/data//3349/17774rose_dew_drop4.jpg


http://www.fredmiranda.com/hosting/data//3349/17774cosmos_Japan.jpg