Day 139, Desert Parsley

Day 139, Desert Parsley, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

So I am driving through Moreno Valley trying to cut from the 60 west bound to the which is hammered, to the 215 south bound and I see this huge field of Desert Parsley. So I stop to try to get some pics. As I am trying to shoot Macro, which I am not very good at. Apparently it takes patience, which incidentally is not one of my strong points. Since Macro is a zoom on a tighter scale, the least little breeze can mess it up. Then add the fact that I don't own a macro lens and I think that I have some research to do. I have seen some really great images and I want to produce those. As I am trying and not finding a lot of success I notice that all of these birds are playing tag in the field and landing on top of these 4 foot tall plants. I try to get close and they want no part of me. So I go back and get my 70 - 300 mm lens. Then I am cropping in Aperture and working the image to see what I can save. This is the best of the images. I ended up throwing away about 50 images.

If you are interested, Macro photography research yield? I am going to get some macro extension tubes. I don't need to get a macro lens. I just need to be able to get a closer focusing distance. Hence the magic of extension tubes. They don't add any stops to your imaging since they have no elements themselves. They move the back of the lens further from the imaging element of the camera (film or CCD/CMOS if digital). Of course if you can do this and still have the ETTL, better still. There are a set on Adorama that I am considering. They want about $90 and are set up for the Canon EOS system. Even though they are not original Canon, they are about a third the price. So we will give them a try. The other thing that could be really helpful, and conveniently also on Adorama (they should sponsor me with this much free publicity) is a focusing sled. It attaches to your camera and tripod and gives you the ability to set your focus and then adjust it with micro precision through the knobs that allow you to move the camera closer and further rather then fiddling with the focusing ring on the lens. When you have a wide open aperture, the margin of error is pretty slim.

Well, I will post more tries at macro when I get the Macro set up put together

Thanks for looking.
EXIF Data,

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	1/3200 sec
Aperture:	f/5.6
Focal Length:	300 mm
ISO Speed:	800
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Day 138, California Poppies

Day 138, California Poppies, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

If you are not down here in Southern Cal, you have missed one of the better years for wild flowers. We had such a green period out here in the IE owing to the rains this year. The poppies have been out in mass.

I am not that great at the Macro end of photography. I have quite a few images that I have thrown out of late because it just was not clicking for me. I think these images did well though.

I must tell you, I really am liking the interface and strengths of Aperture. I know that I am an Apple fan boy and happily pine over every little thing from Cupertino, but this is really the why. Apple makes great products! I love my iMac, iPhone, iPod, MacBook, Leopard (eats Vista for lunch), and now Aperture 2.0. Their stuff works extremely well, and I can concentrate on what I want to do extremely well.

Thanks for looking.
EXIF Data,

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.001 sec (1/2000)
Aperture:	f/4
Focal Length:	50 mm
ISO Speed:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV