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October 06, 2011

Finally got something good with my macro extension tubes. This was the biggest praying mantis I've ever seen, and she was on our screen door all morning that day. I took the time to set it up correctly, which involved a stool, a tripod, my macro extension tubes, and a remote trigger. No matter how many times I disturbed her, she just stayed on the front door.

Trying out a new technique for editing pictures that I just read about. It gives the image an almost painted quality without being too obvious or cheap. Before I applied these changes, the trees in the background were so dark they were almost pure black.

September 10, 2011

Yesterday we headed out to the Bluemont Fair despite cool, rainy conditions. The forecast said it was going to be partly clear skies by 11am, and even though these same forecasters had the current conditions wrong, we just forged ahead. We arrived at 10am to probably the worst rain of the day as we got everything/everyone out of our car and ready to walk around the fair. Henry was completely sheltered from the rain/wind in his stroller and Stephen had a jacket and a hat. I felt kind of foolish as we pushed the stroller through mud to get to the fair entrance, but everything started to clear up within ten minutes. The rain held off enough that your clothes would get dry between the little rain showers. It was pretty good weather, all-in-all and Stephen did a lot of fun stuff. He got an airbrush stenciled "tattoo," he rode a pony, he got balloons, we all got lunch. We were there about three hours and everyone had fun. Here is a video of the second lap of Stephen's pony ride. He held on by himself and seemed to enjoy it.

Another test shot with my new macro extension tubes. I took the highchair outside and hosed it down, which left a lot of scraps of food on our back patio. It wasn't long before the ants swarmed and consumed all of the cheerios, bananas, and granola that was left. I grabbed my camera and took some handheld shots. Still nothing too spectacular, but I'm getting a feel for it. I have a feeling these would have been very sharp if I had used a tripod. It's hard to set up a tripod when the camera lens has to be ½" away from your subject. This preview image is very small because the picture kind of creeps my wife out, and she's probably not the only one. If you'd like to see the large version, just click the preview image below.

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August 26, 2011