Playing around with macro photography

My new extension tubes arrived in the mail. They were the cheap plastic variety, but I was still thrilled. I found the first sweet pea of the season also today. It made sense that I played around with both. I have only used the first one so far. Two more to play with later.

I love this shot. I tried to move the camera so that the tendril underlined the curve of the flower.

I’m also playing around with different feels to my pictures. In the shot below I experimented to see if I could get a romantic soft fuzzy feel. I used some paper around the lens to confuse the camera. It’s like looking through the fuzz to see the sweet pea. I was annoyed that I cut off just a little too much of the stem, I wanted more. Maybe if I had a fancier program I could post edit it back. No, that’s too much of a challenge just yet.

I forced myself to NOT use auto focus. That’s a whole new learning experience. I moved around the subjects, and that makes everything much more complicated.

The shot below isn’t quite right. If only I could reverse the flower into the light. Maybe one day I’ll save up and buy Lightroom.

I got carried away with this last shot. Maybe there’s too much drama with the dark surround. Sweet Peas are too delicate for such a dramatic pose. But….I have just discovered vignettes. And I learnt how to use them, even if it’s only in paint. Maybe one day I’ll have Photoshop???

I’d love to know your thoughts. Which pictures do you prefer?