Sparkle Flowers || Canon40D/EF100 Macro | 1/400s | f2.8 | ISO100 | Tripod

Another image from the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in New Jersey. I used off camera flash with a snoot to provide the narrow beam of light down the middle of the photo, I like how it made the flowers sparkle.

Visitor || Canon40D/EF100 Macro | 1/400s | f2.8 | ISO100 | Handheld

This was one of the images that I submitted in the assigned category “Out of Place” in the competition this month. And I confess, this was not really a picture I loved, but it was the only one I could find that fit in the assigned category.

This one was I took this one in New Jersey at the winery last fall. This critter was hidden back under some leaves, and so I used off camera flash to try and brighten it up, unfortunately because of the angle it looks like on camera flash (which I don’t care for). It was pretty hard to get the right shot since he moved around a lot.

Night Crawler || Canon40D/EF100 Macro | 1/250s | f8 | ISO400 | Handheld

Another submission for competition that didn’t place. But this was a very interesting spider. One night at my parent’s house, we found this spider out in the front that put up a huge web. My dad and I took some pictures, trying to figure out how close I could get and trying different flash angles, it was a fun experiment.

The next morning I went out to take pictures of the spider with some early morning light and it was gone, web and all. Oh well.

Sunning Bumblebee || Canon40D/EF100mm Macro | 1/400s | f5.6 | ISO100 | Handheld

This is another one from my trip to New Jersey. Our final day we visited the Frelinghuysen Arboretum and the sun was out in full force. I did manage to get a few shots I was pleased with, this was one of them.  This bumblebee really was huge (about the size of a quarter), I followed him for a while, then had to wait for the flower to stop moving (from his landing).

Bolt || Canon EOS 40D/EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM | 1/250 | f/2.8 | ISO 100 | Handheld

Part of my trip to New Jersey included a trip to a winery, this huge cask was out front.  I like the texture that came out and the way the macro lens provided a nice narrow depth of field.

I also used off camera flash (580EXII with ST-E2) with a snoot (http://www.lumiquest.com/lq891.htm) to provide the beam of light across the bolt.