Sweeping…

I think I can officially it's winter now with the first shower of rain coming down last Friday. That was some good thunder to hear like music to my ears (even though scary I have to say). But it's not cold yet and after the rains, it was somewhat dull, stuffy and warm. Yes, warm; In almost mid November.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to find out more chances to shoot with my camera, mostly in macro mode at least as, well, I can't go out freely and take pictures around, can I? Also I can't get far off from home with sch eyes anyway. I'm also thinking of creating one post for my Arabic blog (finally!) which might take some time to do so I'm not sure if I can post in 2 weeks time already but we'll see.
As for this post, and for going in chronological order, I'll be talking about another macro venture, in the yard again just like the previous post, but with somewhat greater zoom. Not much to be expected here really but rather a quick post, sort of, but I hope you'll like the photos in here.

Sweeping

So, as stated, I'm going to follow a chronological order and won't be jumping to my recent macro shots without going through the early attempts after some period of dormancy during most of September and part of October. After that period, I've started to grease the engine a bit with my camera with simple shots from the yard (the subject of my previous post).

Green Sweep

Still in the yard, I've decided to pick the camera and my Vello Macrofier fitted with Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 lens; This has been one of my favorite compound for easy extreme macro by reversing the lens. With such setting, I can achieve about 3.2X ratio (or 3.2:1) with a relatively light carry-on. In comparison, using 36mm extension tube with the same lens, could yield about 1.8X ratio, and probably the focusing range would be well, theoretically, behind the front element of the lens. If I add my full set of extension tubes which mounts to 68mm to this 20mm lens, the ratio theoretically should be 3.4X, but again it would way cumbersome to handle (if any focus can be achieved this way)!

Vello Macrofier

It did sound a bit crazy to just go out in the yard and shoot macro images at 3.2X without a speedlite and not using a macro rail, but I was, well, lazy. I've literally dragged myself to do this outside with the last rays of sun hitting around the yard (but not on the plants). It's a miracle already that I've dragged a tripod with me. To compensate, I've cranked the ISO up to about 320 which was about enough. My first aim was a bougainvillea leaf (the most natural target for me nowadays) but this time instead of focusing on the blooms that started to show up with the weather change right now (and shall be more in winter hopefully) but this time I've focused simply on one of the leaves which to my surprise did have details more than I could have anticipated. Luckily there was not much breeze and using a timer was about enough to take the shot without any shake (or maybe there was a little but not drastic effects were seen).

Green Sweep 2

Working with these shots, it was clear that they needed extra sharpening; an excessive one, to show the fine details of the leaf and whatever is that on the leaf. I sorted things out with "selective" sharpening, and made a round of noise reduction to the background only. Worth noting though that these shots were taken at f/20 and probably this is an added factor in the softness of the image (I believe the sweet spot for this lens is between f/8 and f/11, made a test for it long time ago).

Green Sweep 3

Things were relatively good but still, it would have been better with a speedlite to control the light and shadow and create more dramatic shot, but here I can't complain anyway; It's my fault for being lazy. I would have considered uploading these images as well to the stocks (something which I really need to do any time now) but with such high ISO (320 is something to re-consider for APS-C sensors specially when it comes to the stocks). Honestly, I doubt that they would be any good or even accepted, specifically at the original size.

Crimson Valley

Finishing with green, I've headed to the petals of the bougainvillea (but on another pot) and here it was a struggle to shoot the petal for various factors, including the slight breeze that started at that moment. The branches were also hard to sort out to get a better stand for the tripod and the camera (made harder by the fact that I wasn't using a macro rail). Actually this shot, Crimson Valley, made me decide that next time, I do need to shoot this flower in a more stable environment; Which unfortunately meant, that I would need to pick it up. I do hate picking flowers really, but I had to for this. Anyway, this won't be the subject of this blog post right now, as I'll keep it for the next one some weeks afterward.

Finale

This is it for now, in hope that I will post the continuation of this macro trend in 2 weeks time, given that I do finish my Arabic blog post in time. Meanwhile, I'm also trying to come up with new ideas to shoot. I do miss making panoramas but unfortunately this is not quite feasible at the moment, for the lack of places, lack of capabilities, lack of permits, and lack of dedication probably. With the weather change though I might start again with my strolls around the block, trying to find interesting stuff to shoot (without getting into trouble).

So, as I'm trying to grease my engines and start working with my camera again here, and in the same time I'm trying to collect my thoughts and realize where do I stand in this life. Traveling has long been due but yet it's just out of reach, and I'm not sure for how long.