I stopped by my parents' house this afternoon, and had a request for fewer bug shots. I have a stack of bug shots to share, so this will be a quick break (sorry, mom).

These shots are of a poppy blossom. Though the perspective and the lighting and the end result are kind of interesting.

First, the view is a macro view down inside the blossom of the pollen stamens. While that isn't necessarily unique, the lighting is kind of interesting. I used my flash to shine up through the petals of the flower to illuminate the shot.

The result is that the light is diffused through the petals and picked up the reddish-orange color. So while the pollen stamens were black, they appear red in the shot.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode and wireless control. Image Stabilization on. ISO 160. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

The shots were challenging to get because I hand-held the whole thing. With one hand, I was holding the camera with the 100mm macro (not a light setup) trying to keep it at the minimum focusing distance, and with the other hand I was reaching below the flower to illuminate the shot. I probably should have been using at least one tripod (possibly two) to do all of this, but i simply couldn't be bothered... as usual.

I really like how the shots become an abstract view, and almost have the feel of an electron microscope view.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode and wireless control. Image Stabilization on. ISO 160. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Interesting, no? Drop me a comment and let me know what you think. Sorry - tomorrow, we go back to the bugs.

- Bill