A little nature macro. These were shot over the weekend while walking around my sister's yard. Both were shot using ambient light with a D200, 55mm 2.8 Micro, PK-13 extension ring which makes them 1:1. The spider was shot using ISO 100, F16@1/30, and a tripod. He was completely scared and just froze making for a great subject. The slug was shot using ISO 100, F11@1/60, and handheld.

This is the filament of a Speedotron strobe which was on modeling light setting. Shot with D200, 60mm Macro Nikkor 2.8 at 1:1. I used another modeling light to find a composition and focus that I liked, cut it off, turned on the other, and shot it at F32@1/8000. Then took it into Photoshop and tweaked the color for a little fun.

This image is of the letter 'e' on the side of a bottle of Newcastle. This was shot with a D200, Nikon PB-6 bellows, PK-13 extension, and 6omm Nikkor Macro 2.8 extended fully to put me around a 4-3:1. Shot with two Speedotron strobes with one directed towards mat board directly behind the bottle which gives the image the almost clay look. The other strobe was directed towards the ground coming from the bottom and slight left. Shot at F16@1/250.

Here is some more macro. The images are of a serenity prayer charm which was handed down from my grandfather to my father and then to me. The front is the praying hands and the back is the prayer. I'm not a religious man, but I love the prayer, and the charm is of great importance to me. I actually remembered to shoot my setup this time which has a stunt camera and lens which haphazardly has my strap in front of one of the bounce boards. The setup is the one used for the image with words. In the setup there are two Speedotron strobes with snoots directed at bounce cards on either side of the charm metered at F11.5. I then placed fill cards on the top and bottom to highlight all edges of the lettering. Both images were shot with D200, 60 mm Macro at 1:1, Iso 100 with Speedotron strobes. The image with words was shot at F11@1/250. The praying hands was shot at F16.5@1/250 with left bounce board metering F22 and fill on bottom right to accentuate the hands.

This is my new wallet I got for Christmas; thanks Ma or Kindra or both of you. Yes, I'm pretty spoiled. I was actually shooting the sunset at Badin Lake and was just sittin' and waitin' for the sun to keep sinkin' when I pulled out my wallet to write some notes. The sun hit the leather just right and had a nice rock background to rest the wallet on. Shot with Nikon D200, 55mm Nikkor Micro with extension ring, ISO200, F11@1/60 at 1:1

Some nature macro shots from this past week. The top image is a mum which was shot 1:1 with a Nikon D100, ISO 200, F16@1/125, 55mm Nikkor Micro with extension ring, and an SB 800 speedlight on TTL. The second image is of mum pedals shot with the same camera, lens, and ISo, but lit with window light and shot at F2.8@1/60 for aesthetic purposes. The bottom image is a mushroom (sorry don't know what type) shot while I was on a hike. The mushroom was hiding under a fallen tree and lit by the late evening sun. I laid on my belly with my Nikon 65, 55mm Nikkor with extension ring, Fuji Provia 100 and shot this at F8@1/30 handheld.

A small series of macro shots of a burnt cigarette and its labeled ash. Just doin' a little messin' around to get used to equipment and playing with the depth of field. Shot with window light and fill card. D200 55mm Nikkor Micro 3.5 with extension. They range from 1:2 to 1:1 with 1:1 being life-size. Much more macro to come.