Macro: Prickly Pear

I was surprised to find this prickly pear cactus growing and blooming here in Indiana one summer. (My research tells me it's the only cactus that can survive here.) I was even more pleasantly surprised to see what happened to the fragile, yellow flower when it was converted to black and white last night.




Posted for I Heart Macro Week 30 and for Macro Monday 2

Abstract: Bullet Time

Posted for NF Abstract on Wednesday

Razor

Confession time: I have a toy box. Several, actually. Plastic bins full of interesting junk that might come in handy for photography someday. There's the liner from a cereal box, several dozen egg shells, string, pressed leaves, buttons, broken tools...you get the picture. So to speak.
 


Included in the pile are the salvaged head components of a discarded electric shaver. This is one of three  blade covers, photographed on a Fisher Price tracing toy (back-lighting box) I held onto from when my kids were little.

Hoarding. It's a Good Thing.




Posted late for I Heart Macro and early for Nature Footstep Memes: Abstract.

52 Photos Gallery 31: My Work

Work: Physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something. - The Free Online Dictionary

This one stumped me for a while. I'm retired, you see. But I am directing quite a lot of physical and mental effort and activity toward producing interesting images and becoming a decent photographer. So here ya go: This is me, exploring the macro potential of a cheese grater.

That counts...right?

Posted for the 52 Photos Project
And linking to NatureFootstep Memes: Abstract

Macro: Suds

Posted for I Heart Macro

Macro Monday: Incandescent

The prompt for 52 Photos Project this week is "Crop it: a before and after view". Since this is the way I produce most of my macros these days, it seemed a perfect match for both memes.

I don't have a macro lens, but I can get about two to three feet away from the subject with my 50mm fixed. It takes very sharp photos, if I can get the focus just right. My little Canon G9 point and shoot lets me get very close, but it's hard to get a decent depth of field from inches away. So ... I take a wider shot with the T2i and crop the daylights out of it.

Here we have a burned out decorative lightbulb with rippled, iridescent glass, before and after the crop. My husband always shakes his head when I hoard stuff like this for its photo potential. Wait until he sees the six dozen broken egg shells I've been saving up.

Here's the "before" straight out of the camera:




Posted for Macro Monday and for 52 Photos Project.

Shadow Shots: Bloodroot

I was hoping to spend a little more time photographing these newly discovered bloodroots at the edge of the woods, but the deer have eaten every single one right down to the ground. (Bambi has a dark side.)

Posted for Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Macro Monday: Thirsty

This is the above-ground part of a plant growing in a botanical garden greenhouse. The whole thing looked like a half sphere the size of a volley ball, and it looked like something green probably shoots up out of it from time to time. I have no idea what it is (there wasn't a tag) but the texture fascinated me.



Stop by at Lisa's Chaos to see the world up-close and personal.

Shadow Shots: Signs

What do you suppose it means when a grown woman can amuse herself for hours with a feather and a rock?

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