My Macro Photography Excursion

On Saturday I went to a state park along Lake Michigan for a macro photography excursion with my local camera club. My favorite macro instructor Lou was there to guide us and I was eager to soak up even more of his macro wisdom. It was unseasonably cool on Saturday morning and it was overcast which actually made for the perfect conditions to shoot macro in. The dew stayed on the plants the entire time we were there which made for some great shooting. As you can probably tell, I was stoked about shooting macro but then the evil camera shake thanks to my hunk of junk tripod ruined my day. I took about 250 pictures and only a handful are something I would share with you. While showing my husband my downloads, he said "did you get any that turned out?!" - thanks honey, that's going to cost you a new tripod and ballhead! Seriously, if you don't have a good tripod you are fighting a losing battle and let's just say that I lost. The shoot wasn't a complete loss, I learned a lot and got a few good shots. Here's a few that I haven't already shared with you. Be gentle with me, remember I went to battle with my tripod....

The photo above is out of focus (thanks camera shake) but I like the composition so I decided to share it anyways.  

 In addition to the beautiful wildflowers, we had two deer that decided to pay us visit.

This one I honestly heard growl at me...yes a deer, I honestly heard a growl.

I also couldn't resist the opportunity to take a photo of the group while they were working their magic.

There is a whole lot of kneeling going on and next time someone says "bring knee pads", I'm going to listen to them and throw fashion out the window for the time being. I thought I wasn't ever going to feel my poor knee caps again. I am heading to the Home Depot this weekend to get a pair and while my hubby is away for the weekend, I'm going to order that new tripod and ballhead. He'll never say "did you get any good shots" again...LOL

Over the Moon for the Supermoon

I've always wanted to attempt to get pictures of the the moon and last night I knew that getting a shot of the "Supermoon" was my opportunity. Scientists called the moon last night the "Supermoon" because it's the biggest, brightest moon that has been seen in almost 2 decades. The moon was the closest to the Earth since March 1993. It was 14% bigger, 30% brighter, despite being 221,000 miles away!

So before I pulled out the camera and the tripod I knew I needed to google "how to shoot a picture of the moon" so I had some idea of the best settings so I didn't ruin this opportunity. Here's some of the recommendations: ISO 100, f/8 to f/16, tripod, timer, mirror lock-up and that should do it.

Well then I got all set up and went outside to discover there were tons of clouds. I was able to get a few decent shots with the clouds and here are a few of my favorites.

 But then the clouds parted and at around 1:00 am I was able to get a much clearer picture of the Supermoon, 221,000 miles away. It was breathtaking but I learned that taking pictures in the pitch black is trickier than you think - I couldn't see my camera and some of the buttons/functions (like spot metering) that I don't normally use were hard to find. I ran back inside and got a flashlight and we were back in business. I hope you enjoy these shots as much as I did taking them.

Did anyone else capture shots of the Supermoon - do share!