I received a digital camera as a birthday / Christmas gift this year and now am trying to learn how to take pictures. This is not as easy as one might think, but it is proving a bit fun.
One of the lenses I already had was a Sigma 28 – 80, f/3.5 – 5.6, with a Macro function. Over the Christmas holiday I played a little bit with the macro setting. Sadly though I have seen the difference between my little Sigma, and the lens my FIL has, a Canon 100mm Macro f/2.8. That Canon macro lens just takes gorgeous pictures. The Sigma just can’t compete with the details the Canon Macro lens is able to show. Still, I had fun and believe that with some practice I can still get some good pictures from my little Sigma lens.
Here is my first attempt at shooting flowers with a macro lens:
The light spots in the top left can be a distraction, but I also find it some what intriguing to the picture.
These two pictures are the same except one was taken 1 stop under exposed and one was taken 1 stop over exposed. Even though the picture is the same, I think the two exposures create two interesting pictures.
This picture showed me I need to work on better framing of the flower. I also focused on the lower portion instead of the top. Unfortunately it’s the top that grabs the most attention.
These last two pictures are the same except the last one is cropped. I find it interesting how cropping a picture creates a “zoomed” look.
Well, there you go, my first run at taking Macro pictures. Feel free to toss me some advise, I suspect I will be needing advise for some time to come. 
Related articles
- Magnifying Glass Macros (pixiq.com)
- My best lens for flower photography is a 640mm (pixiq.com)
- Macro photography – which Aperture? (pixiq.com)
- Larger than Life – The Real Macro Realm (pixiq.com)
I’m afraid I rarely examine my blessings, at least outside of the obvious. I guess it’s just human nature. However events this Christmas caused me to take just a fraction more notice. What got me started on this path of “blessing” examination were a few events that came about on Christmas Eve. First was the news of a couple of families that basically became split up on Christmas Eve for one reason or another. The thought of children and wives/mothers suddenly and unexpectedly finding themselves alone and without a husband and a father drilled down into my soul. It’s not right and yet it happens, it happens probably a lot but since we are wrapped up in our own brief moment of bliss we fail to notice unless it’s us or someone close to us. The second opportunity for examining my blessings was a family that my work decided to take Christmas to. The employee’s provided the family with presents and one family provided groceries for the Christmas dinner. It got me to thinking about what is probably a very thin line of separation between my family and the family that was helped.
You see I have just turned 35 and find myself and my family living at my folk’s house while we get back up and on our feet. I have not thought too often about how this is more of a blessing then a frustration but truth be told God has provided. May of this year found me wearing a graduation gown with no job, no more financial aid money, and a family. Oh and did I mention we had to find a new place to live by June? Well it was pretty daunting. June arrived and we were living in a camper at the in-laws and still no job. Finally I found a job in another city and so we moved again, this time to my parents.
The city we moved to has the highest cost of living – food and housing so we still find ourselves living with my parents. But, without family we would be living on the street. I have a job and whether we like it or not, we have a place to live. We have food to eat, my family is together and like most American’s, we spent too much money on presents and candy. In truth I have many things to be thankful for and yet I have just barely scratched the surface of “blessing contemplation”.