Laser Snow

OK, so maybe this is a little weird. But when it's snowing at night, how do you know how much it's snowing?

You shine a laser pointer out into your back yard, of course, so every flake passing through makes the beam show.

(No airplanes or rock stars were targeted.)

Ice Storm Photos

Today was the aftermath of a big ice storm in much of the Great Plains.

This guy was perched in a tree near the road as I drove home, camera and 300 mm zoom lens always ready.

It was the first nice weather in about three days, so no doubt he was keeping his eyes open for a meal.

Macro Photography

I really like macro photography, but I don't have a macro lens.

In photography, "macro" means close-up.  You get in close, as close as your camera can focus.  Then you crop, and maybe a little sharpening in Photoshop, to produce a final shot that reveals detail we usually miss.

Depth of field often plays a big part in macro work.  Because you are focusing so close to the lens, only a narrow slice of distance is in good focus.

Carefully controlling your point of focus can bring even more attention to in-focus elements of your composition.

This can make the final photo even more dramatic.

To do this kind of photography right, you need a special macro lens, especially designed for close-up work. Because of it's design and construction, it can focus very close and portray very small things quite large.

There are a lot of lenses that have reasonable macro capability, but thre are also some designed for exclusive use in macro work.

As I said, I don't have such a lens.  My more versatile lenses, such as my 18-105 zoom, do pretty well close-up.

WilI I get a true macro lens some day? I would like to, but there are a lot of camera-related things I would like that I don't  have.  Only time and the budget will tell.