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This is pretty much all about photography stuff so if you're not interested in that, the backspace key is starboard and a bit above your little finger.



A friend finally got a macro lens today and I'm all excited to see how they put it to use. I know that some people live in areas with breath-taking scenery, or like to take pictures of family and friends (ack!), but I like to take pictures of wildlife. Someday, perhaps I'll take a photograph or two rather than just pictures but that all takes time. Anyway, if you want to shoot wildlife (capture images, not puncture pelts), in this area you pretty much need to go with a good macro lens because bugs, we have -- a bounty of coyotes, wolves, bear, cougar, rabbits, squirrels, snakes, elk, javalina... not so much.



So I've taken to snapping pictures of pests. And not the kind that pull you over on the highway, call to see if you can work an extra day or ask if you have spare change as you walk out of Wal-mart. I'm talking about bugs. So as I was saying, a friend finally got their first macro lens and I'm totally excited. And for reasons I won't go into, they got the exact model I recommended! So now I need to wait and be patient. I remember from my own experiences that it's not as easy as pointing the camera at a bug and tapping the shutter release. There's a bit more to it when you often find yourself dealing with a depth-of-field about half the width of a grasshopper's eye. It's not just about focusing but where you put that focus. And since bugs rarely sit still while you photograph them, it can be quite a challenge. It will be a while before they start to grab the kind of shots they've hopefully been dreaming about.



And since I know someone closer who has the same lens, I arranged to pop it onto one of my cameras and spend a little time with it "in the field". I've played with one before but only for a few shots. Today I popped one onto my camera and spent an hour or so looking like a starved insectivore seeking out prey wherever it might try to hide. I saw grasshoppers, flies, crickets, about a thousand moths, one butterfly, some spiders, ants, beetles and roaches. But the big prize of the day came two fold in the form of a praying mantis (the first I've seen since I got a macro lens), and a robbery-fly, also the first I've seen since I got a macro lens.



I should add that the robber-fly didn't want to play. (They have gorgeous big eyes). I got about 3-feet away from him, carefully evaluated the focus and just as I snapped the shot, he was gone! So I'm left with a picture of where a robber-fly had been only a fraction of a second earlier.



The praying mantis wasn't so deft to evade the lens. I snapped shot after shot, stopping several times to take a deep breath and try to steady myself. Even your heartbeat can destroy the crisp focus necessary for good close-ups of bugs. There was no room for a tripod and the camera shake at macro ranges is terrible. I did get what I'd call one reasonably good shot of him and more to his credit than to my own. I was following him as he was moving down the trunk of a very small tree-like weed. I was watching for that tiny black point of a pupil in the eye and just as it fell into crisp focus and I pressed the plunger, he turned his head and looked right at me. Bingo!



Now that I've had a bit of experience with the 70mm macro lens, I have to say, "What a sweet little toy that is!!" After I got a few shots with the borrowed 70mm, I grabbed my other camera which was equipped with a 150mm macro and a 1.4x teleconverter and tried taking a few pictures of the same mantis. It was pretty much a no-go. Just a bit too much lens and too much magnification for even a medium size praying mantis. So I ran back, switched to the camera with the 70mm and headed back. But the mantis had taken the opportunity to vacate the area and I wasn't able to find him again.



Eventually, I decided I had all the shots I was likely to get and I turned the lens back over to its owner. I popped it off the camera and replaced it with my 70-300mm telephoto zoom and was prepared to stop taking pictures for the day. But I did happen back past where the robber-fly had been and found him resting on the underside of a 2 x 6 support beam. So I "stealthed" my way back inside to grab the camera with the 1.4x TC and 150mm macro and slipped back out without disturbing him. He was far more cooperative this time, allowing me to get several shots, though never from an optimal angle.



I'm now tempted to look into buying one of the 70mm macros for myself, but I'm not sure that's really something I need since I do have both the 150mm and a 60mm that are very good lenses. But the 70 gave me one of the best afternoons of shooting I've had in a while.



As I type this the RAW files are being converted to JPGs. It's already 2:39 in the morning but I'll likely try to crop a few, do a dab of post-processing and put 3 or 4 of the images in my portfolio if anyone wants to take a peek.



As for my friend with the new Sigma 70mm EX macro, you're in for a world of fun! (And a bit of frustration but that just makes the successes that much sweeter.)