One of the the things I am really enjoying about photography is the learning. It’s a sense of wonder and awe at the myriad ways you can capture an image in any given circumstance.
I tend to get very single-minded sometimes. I find a facet and I explore it and develop it with an almost tunnel vision like approach. That’s pretty well evidenced in my concert photography which is really just an extension of my love of nighttime and low-light photography.
What’s cool to me is that I can be browsing the web and reading a friend’s blog or maybe just stumble across some photography site and see something that catches my interest.
Case in point
I saw a post from from fellow shutterbug Satyr on his blog that was showing off some pictures he had just taken with his new 70mm 2.8 macro lens. The shot that caught my eye was a macro of a fly.
Now I had a rudimentary knowledge of what macro photography was, but I had not really explored it. Also known as life-size magnification, macro photography requires a lens that will allow you to get very close to your subject and still be able to attain focus. The more zoom the lens has, the more the subject is magnified.
What struck me is that he was shooting with a 2.8 70mm lens and I happen to have a 28-75mm 2.8 lens. It’s a Tamron AF 28-75mm f2.8 XR Di and right there on the lens it says “Macro” so I figured I should have the ability to shoot macro without much problem and with similar results.
I had originally bought the lens for low-light photography but I was now having a moment of enlightenment. Exactly the kind of thing that makes this hobby so much fun for me.
I dug out the lens and attached it to my camera and went into the backyard looking for a bug. I didn’t find any interesting enough so I settled on the trumpet flowers that are now blooming quite enthusiastically in the garden.
Click for full size (it’s well worth it)
So thanks to Satyr for the inspiration and the information. He’s also the one who offered the most useful tips regarding concert photography so that’s two I owe him.