The harder I try not to take any Macro shots, the more I seem to end up with – Was out for a walk yesterday along the banks of the River Blackwater in Essex. Was looking to try and take an uncluttered panorama of the river and spotted a grass seed head that looked a bit odd (as in the wrong colour). Only had the 70-200 F2.8 Sigma on me, and was quite pleased with the end result here.
Was sat out in the garden having a fag and a coffee when this chap hopped up onto the table. I didn’t expect it to still be there by the time I’d gone indoors and attached the kenko tubes to the 70-200 but he didn’t seem to be in any great rush to get back into the grass.
Grass would have made a better background but I’m not complaining too much. Took a few shots at a variety of settings, finding that f9 -f11 almost gave me enough DOF to keep it relatively sharp. Had to up the ISO to 800 to be able to hand hold and shoot. If I’d had the tripod handy I may have been able to take more shots and stack them all together but wasn’t sure how long it’d hang around for !!
Don’t think this was the same one from the weekend as that one never had the coloured armour behind it’s head. Somehow it seems that the garden at Canvey Castle here is becoming a bit of a nature reserve. If anyone could Identify what make and model of grasshopper this is I’d be quite interested to hear from you.
Right,
Whoever invented the phrases “the bees knees” and “make a bee-line for” was on drugs at the time. Bees knees are pretty damn ugly, and the little bastards rarely fly in straight line, or anywhere predictable come to think of it. Spent 20 minutes aiming the 70-200 at a ratherpleasant bush, swarming with bees. Unfortunately, none of them were where I was aiming. Had plenty of macro shots of the bush,, the leaves and the flowers but hardly any bees in focus (including this one).
This needs to be re-visited with a flash, a tripod and a lot more patience. Who would have thought that bees would be so hard to shoot……
and finally a reasonably sharp one !!!
It’s that time of year again, where the roadsides, edges of fields and in this case a riverbank are blooming with these beautiful flowers.
OK, I know it’s a weed, and follows the other recent weeds, but for some reason, this is just depressing……..
