For the past 4 years I have been using my Google + account as a macro photography blog. With Google announcing the discontinuation of the platform in August of 2019 I will start directing my efforts to this site. I will still post to Google but initial content will be done here. I will also be migrating posts from my G+ account here to provide them a more permanent home. Let’s get the ball rolling with a post from August 05, 2015:
I was at the community garden on Saturday. I like to go there when I expect it to be blistering hot. Plenty of spots to park one’s butt in the shade should the need arise. There is a diversity of beds available. Ranging from heavily shaded areas with rich greens and dark purples. The shaded areas spills into a water garden complete with lilies and other flowering aquatic plants. Dragonflies and damsels populate the sparse reeds while minnows and wild sailfin mollies swim below. The gardens round into an open area filled with blooms, shrubs, and trees that thrive in the Texas sun. Just a bit yonder there are vegetable gardens with standard garden fare, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, hot peppers and the like. At the far end of the gardens are small groves of fruit and nut trees interspersed between grape trellises. It’s a great place to photograph insects and small critters. Throughout the morning, a master gardener or two will stop by and chat me up. Surrounding the garden is a cow pasture and before I leave I always make it a point to walk the cattle fence. Interesting things happen on the steel cable and at the very least dragonflies perch on it so I practice approaching and photographing them. I was finished walking the fence and about to head to the house but decided to sit in the shade garden, drink some water, and cool off. Eyes scanning the cables for critters, I noticed atop the ~6 foot fence pole a brown blob. The more I focused in, the more I became convinced it was a frog. Indeed it was a frog sound asleep atop the pole. It was too high for me to shoot from the ground so I stacked two 6” high pavers from the garden edge into a makeshift foot stool. Here’s a picture of the little character, no more than 1.5” (40mm long), nestled high above.
Image specs: Single Shot Handheld - Canon 5D-III, Sigma 105mm with 72mm of Extension Tubes @ ~1:2, - f/16 - SS 1/80 - ISO100 - 430EX with DIY Diffuser (Modified Circular Cross Stitch Frame with Rag Velum) - compositional crop.