Up Close and Ugly

 I was walking the dogs Saturday morning, about to leave for work when I saw this cicada in the edge of the driveway. Uusually I find the old dried shells after they are gone. This one was either just out or on his last legs, Not sure which. I refer to it as a "he" I have no idea about cicada gender traits. Just know this year they have been really loud.

Anyway, went and got my D200 with the 70-300 macro. While I was grabbing it, I thought, "Hmm, how about the fisheye?' I shot the top image with the macro, nice tight on his ugly face. Guess a girl of anything couldn't be this ugly.  Then switched to the fisheye and got really close.  Made a different image, kinda like it.

 

The next day we were outside with Gussie and I found the garden spider. Got the camera and my 2x closeup lens for this one. It was really hard to shoot. The wind was blowing the web hard enough that it would move two or three inches. I had a hard time keeping it in focus.  Positioned myself so that the backgound was a dark solid color and the backlight was bringing out the detail in the web.  Wanted a tighter image, but just could not keep a closer one in focus. Oh, well, maybe next time.

A Little Help For Photoshop

 

 I recently photographed Elena  at the old concrete plant in Fort Valley. It

has become a favorite place to shoot. Love the shapes and wonderful backgrounds available,

and seems like the late afternoon sky is always great for photos.

 

I have always done all my editing, enhancing and post production effects in Photoshop.

Tried Portrait Professional and several other programs, especially for portrait/glamour work, but

never really liked to results. Always  did the long drawn-out methods in Photoshop for smoothing skin, removing blemishes and making my subjects glow.

I have found some software that I really like. I have been playing with NIK's Color Efex Pro4 for several months now, and it just keeps getting better.  It is a pluin that will work with Photoshop, Elements and LightRoom.

 Some of the filters probably will never be used by me, but several of them get a workout every shoot.

It has caused a huge change in my work flow. 

Check it out at http://www.niksoftware.com/nikcollection/usa/index.php?view=colorefexpro

Close Ups

 

I bought a set of closeup lens a while back and have been playing with them from time to time.

Got a set of four, ranging from 1x up to 10x. I saw the water drops on this honeysuckle while walking the dog and decided to see what I could do . 

 

The top photo was shot with my 70-300 Macro. I used the 2X for the middle

photo and then the 4X for the bottom one. This was hand held, and I had a few that were out of focus.

It is best to shoot with a tripod. There is no depth of field with these things and the slightest move will throw your focus off.

 

Close up lenses are like filters, they screw onto the front of your lens. Like filters you buy them to fit the threaded rings on the front of your lens.  You can buy them individually of in sets. The lower number is less magnification, and the higher gives more.

They provide a really inexpensive way to do some close-up photography and are fun to play with.