Easy Macro shots, Part 2

As I was taking a photo of an iris bloom one day, this little bug (later found to be a hoverfly) seemed very busy on the flower. I got a very cool macro video of it actually picking up a tiny raindrop and drinking it - amazing! Unfortunately, I haven't had time to figure out if I can post that type of video file on here or not. Meanwhile, here's a photo of the hoverfly that's what... a quarter-inch long(?). Its irridescent wings were so pretty!

Speaking of bugs, as I bent down to take a macro pic of this tiny less-than-a-quarter-inch weed bud, through the lens I discovered an itsy-bitsy spider very busily spinning a web between this and another bud. I didn't even know such small spiders existed!

Below is a tiny baltimore oriole feather stuck on the oriole feeder:

If you look at the left edge of the feeder below, you can see how tiny the feather was. There's even a fly for comparison.

Here's another fly (upper left corner) on my snow on the mountain bloom. It's not a macro shot, but....

.... this shot is (minus the fly):

In my wildflower bed, the bachelor buttons are beginning to bloom. This is a macro shot of a bud:

Here's the center of the same bud after it opened in the rain:

That's it for Easy Macro shots for now. I'll show you more another time. Hope you enjoyed them, and my apologies for the repeats to those of you who do see them on Instagram.

Easy Macro shots, Part 1

I've taken so many Easy Macro shots with my iPad lately. It's kind of addicting! If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen all these photos, but for those of you who aren't on IG, I wanted to post some here so you can see them, too.

I haven't found a way to easily transfer photos between my iPad and my computer (which is where I have to write my blog posts from). So I either email them to myself or copy them from my Instagram page. Either way is kind of a pain. I suppose I should check out storing photos in "The Cloud" so I can grab them from either device, but I'm not sure how that works... or if I really want to do that. Meanwhile, I'll do it this way... and probably get myself all confused as to what photos are where and which ones I've copied and/or whatever. Ack.

Enough of that confusion! Here are some very close-up pics.....

A clover bloom:

Part of a maple seed next to a screw for size comparison:

Thanks to the overabundance of those same seeds, there are maple seedlings sprouting everywhere. Here's a very tiny one, maybe an inch high, in my moss roses bed:

In the same bed, moss rose seedlings, about an eighth of an inch tall:

This is part of a leaf on an oriental poppy plant:

From the same plant, raindrops on a flower petal:

Can you see why I get addicted to taking these photos?!

More tomorrow.....

Mushrooms?

Do you know what's an edible mushroom and what isn't? I don't. But we often get clumps of them at the base of our hackberry tree, for some reason. Here's our first clump of the year:

Haily graciously offered to give you some size reference:

A little closer look:

And a couple of VERY close looks (via the Easy-Macro lens, of course):

Unfortunately, I didn't think to get the iPad camera out there until the next day, and they were already starting to dry up and lose their color, but they made for cool shots, anyway.

Soooo.... would YOU eat them?

This promises to be a VERY busy week for me, so the blog may get neglected some. I have a bunch of random photos, though, and may just post one a day or something, depending on how much time I have. But if I disappear entirely, don't worry... I'll be back!

Yellow violet

I've been having more fun with my Easy-Macro lens. I just can't seem to stop! Anyway, because of it I learned something new yesterday. I'd taken this photo of a tiny flower with it the day before:

Here's just a regular iPad photo to show what plant it came from:

Then yesterday morning, I was going to post them to Instagram and ask if anybody knew what that plant was. I tried looking it up as a weed, but I didn't find anything that really matched. So back outside I went to get another look (because I hadn't really paid much attention to the plants when taking the pics). Here are a couple more iPad shots (I should've taken the DSLR but wanted the pics handy for Instagram):

They are under some evergreens in our backyard. It was pretty windy then, so the leaves are blowing a lot in the picture below, but I took it for size comparison with the dandelions that you can see in the foreground:

While I was out there, it dawned on me that the plants sure looked like the purple violets I have in front of the house (the ones the woodchuck likes). I didn't know if there was such a thing as a yellow violet, but googling it found me plenty of photo proof that there certainly is! So that was the new thing I learned yesterday.

Yellow violet. Is that an oxymoron? I certainly think so! And really, why weren't they just called "yellows", if the violet ones are called violets??? ;-Þ

Easy-Macro fun

I got something new that I've been having soooo much fun with! Well, actually, I got two somethings new, and they go together. First off, Grandpa got me a new iPad Air for my birthday a few weeks ago! It was a grand surprise! My old one, which I'd had for 4+ years, just didn't quite cut it anymore. It kept crashing and kicking me out of websites, and there was a lot I couldn't do on it. It was getting to be somewhat of a pain. This new one is a dream - I love it!

So let's back up to last Christmas. In her stocking, Jess got from Santa (ahem) an Easy-Macro lens, which is for taking very, very, VERY close-up photos. (Santa bought it on a whim, I happen to know.) She's had a ton of fun taking photos using it on her iPhone. Those of you who follow her on Facebook or Instagram ("howaboutorange" on both) have probably seen some of those pics.

So, after getting this iPad, which has a camera (my old one didn't), I decided to get one of those lenses for myself... as a reward for finishing Jess's dress with a successful fit. (Any excuse will do, right?!) Here's what it looks like:

And here's how it fits over the iPad's camera lens:

Yes, it stretches out that far, but returns nicely to its original size when taken off.

I've had a blast experimenting with taking photos of tiny things. Here is my very first shot, and I think it's still my favorite, just because it's so colorful. It's of the pins in my pin cushion!

The veins on a red prayer plant leaf:

A zipper pull:

Edge of a dandelion:

The tip of a teeny-tiny barely noticeable lilac bud:

(So tell me, is that pollen on there? Is that part of the reason allergies get so bad this time of year? I found tiny specks like that on a lot of plants... even on leaves.)

Next is the covering (what would you call it?) on the new growth shoot on an evergreen tree. Those green "poles" are actually needles:

Last, but certainly not least, is the tip on a new shoot of asparagus. I think we ate it for supper last night. :)

Aren't they just such cool shots? You have to get about an inch from your subject and have a REALLY steady hand (or support yourself with something), but it's just so fun to do! I can't wait to find more little things to take pics of. Okay, I already have more pics, but this is all you get for now.

If you want to follow me on Instagram, I succumbed and opened an account there (now that I have a device with a camera and can actually have an account), so you can see Easy-Macro shots and more (maybe even some sewing project peeks!). My user name is Grandma_G415.

(P.S. It appears that Blogger has left the "specks" this time. Do you suppose they heard me??? I certainly hope so!)