Posted by Mel Ladewig on April 21, 2010 at 9:25 AM
A couple weekends ago we stopped in to the Denver Botanic Gardens to get a little taste of spring. Denver always greens up a bit earlier than Colorado Springs and its nice to have a break from the brown. This set was all shot on my LX3. This one in macro mode at 5.1mm (24mm equivalent), which entails the lens basically touching the bee.
Posted by Mel Ladewig on April 21, 2010 at 9:26 AM
The japanese gardens under some nice diffused light.
Posted by Mel Ladewig on April 21, 2010 at 9:26 AM
Apricot blooms
Posted by Mel Ladewig on April 21, 2010 at 9:27 AM
Koi in the Japanese garden pond.
Posted by Mel Ladewig on April 21, 2010 at 9:32 AM
Flowers that would probably just be deer food where I live now. That's the biggest thing I miss about my old house in Denver. I could grow anything, just had to pull the bindweed off. Here there is no bindweed... because the deer eat just about everything except thistle. They've even eaten my relatively poisonous foxglove.
Posted by Jack Garrett on April 21, 2010 at 9:41 AM
Very nice series Mel. I love the detail in number 1 but you weren't "beehaving" very well if your lens was almost touching that little guy! Number 4 is my favorite.
Posted by Mel Ladewig on April 21, 2010 at 9:52 AM
Thanks for the comment Jack.
Just had to move slow and watch that I wasn't agitating the little guy. It was pretty focused on the meal and ignored what I was doing. They don't stick around a flower long, so it was a bit of a challenge to move in before they move on to the next flower.
I thought the wide angle macro afforded an unusual perspective. Kinda the bee's eye view.
I love that place! Really nice work from there. I like 1 and 5.
Posted by Kalin Wilson on April 21, 2010 at 8:40 PM
Nice macros - handheld? I'd like to get to the gardens sometime too. thanks for the nice set.
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on April 21, 2010 at 9:00 PM
Nice bee macro. That wide angle sure provides great DOF.
I've been wanting to get out there to see the Henry Moore exhibit. There's an area in Bisti that has been informaly named after him beacuse the hoodoos look so much like his sculptures.
Posted by Mel Ladewig on April 21, 2010 at 11:09 PM
Thanks all for the comments.
The macros are handheld. The IS on the LX3 is good to about 1/15 on distant objects and helps alot at decent speeds with macro, though the bee was at f5.6 1/250.
I didn't include any work from the Moore exhibit, but I found it extremely enjoyable in that setting. I've even considered heading over the Chatfield to see the rest of the work.
Posted by Paul Wegemann on April 22, 2010 at 8:24 AM
Nice work, Mel. Hard to believe these are hand-held, but IS is something isn't it?
Discussion
15 repliesJust had to move slow and watch that I wasn't agitating the little guy. It was pretty focused on the meal and ignored what I was doing. They don't stick around a flower long, so it was a bit of a challenge to move in before they move on to the next flower.
I thought the wide angle macro afforded an unusual perspective. Kinda the bee's eye view.
Bill Brennan
I've been wanting to get out there to see the Henry Moore exhibit. There's an area in Bisti that has been informaly named after him beacuse the hoodoos look so much like his sculptures.
The macros are handheld. The IS on the LX3 is good to about 1/15 on distant objects and helps alot at decent speeds with macro, though the bee was at f5.6 1/250.
I didn't include any work from the Moore exhibit, but I found it extremely enjoyable in that setting. I've even considered heading over the Chatfield to see the rest of the work.