Mode Dial - Macro Mode

Today I went out to the park to practice shooting in the macro mode.  It was a very productive day!!  Enough that I am going to save several of the photos for a later date.

Oh, and let me say that I haven't cropped any of these photos today.  I just decided to get up close and personal with the subjects!

But for now, let's look at the fun I had!

First, I turned my camera to macro mode,

And attached my macro lens.

Then I drove to the park.  I figured I'd be taking a lot of pictures of flowers (which I did) but I got a few other things as well.

I parked the car and spotted this large pile of stone.  I thought I'd look for interesting things there.  (Notice that the edges are out of focus.  That's because my camera was in the macro mode.)

As I walked toward them, I nearly stepped on this lovely little plant.

So I tried a shot from the side, which turned out nicely.

Next to that I spotted this pretty purple plant.  (anyone know what kind of flowers they are?)

So I tried a couple up close of that one.  Some of the branches were blurry because it was WINDY out today!

I thought it might be nice to have that pile of stones in the background.  It wasn't as nice as I thought it would be, but still not too bad.

Then I thought it would be cool to get the stones in focus and blur the flowers.  I don't like it as much though.

At this point, I slipped,

And realized that I didn't really dress appropriately for this outing!

Oh well!  Lesson learned.

Anyway, I decided to head over to the rock pile.  There was a random piece of a large pot among the stones.  It was a little strange, but I liked the color.

Then I heard a small noise and saw this little guy next to my foot.

I was thrilled!  So now to get closer and maybe from a different angle.  I sat on a rock next to the frog's and started to lean in.

Closer...

And closer....

And even closer!!  ( the lens was about 2 inches from the frog in the next one!)

Then I wondered if I could get around in front of him without scaring him away.

At this point, I sat up (probably too quickly) and when I looked back down, he was gone.  :(

Awwww..... too bad - that was FUN!

So I started walking back to the car and I noticed some little bees floating around those same purple flowers.

Again, I had to get pretty close, but it worked!

On the way back to the car, I passed the grill.  Sure, why not!?

Tried a couple of those.  Not too shabby!

What next!?!  This is really starting to be exciting.  I'm finding things to photograph in the macro mode that AREN'T flowers!

Here's a cool staircase that is blocked off.

Here's why it's blocked off.

Wonder what that looks like close up?

I love the way this turned out!

There were also a few boards, bricks, and of course, flowers, but those will have to wait.  This post has gotten pretty long.

Have a wonderful night everyone.  More tomorrow!