14 April 2016

Macro and zoom

Most of the photos I took that first day (last Monday), after I received the new old camera, were macro shots. That means close-ups, with the camera set in what is called macro mode. One definition of macrophotography is "extreme close-up photography, usually of very small subjects, in which the size of the subject in the photograph is greater than life size."


That applies to at least some of my photos, including the one above. Click on it to see it at a larger size. The insects in it are harmless little creatures called firebugs, or gendarmes in French. They're about the size of a ladybug, they don't fly, and they feed on plant debris, cleaning up your yard for you as they enrich the soil.


The one above of some some purple flowers in the neighbors' flower garden is zoomed in. The TZ18 handles both kind of photos well. The photo below is also a zoomed shot. The cameras has a 16x optical zoom, and an optical zoom range of 24 (wide angle) to 384 (telephoto) millimeters, if that means anything to you.


The houses above are on the other side of the Cher River from our house, and maybe 3 km (nearly 2 miles) from where I was standing when I took the picture. I didn't have any kind of support for the camera, which I was just holding in my hands. And no, there's no viewfinder, just the LCD screen on the back of the camera.


As you can see in the two photos above, irises are starting to bloom in our yard. It's early yet, but a bed of iris bulbs I planted two or three years ago and which was nearly overtaken by weeds for a while has now crowded those weeds out. There are only two or three flowers right now but there will soon be many more. I took the first photo on Monday, and the second on Tuesday after it had rained.




Finally, here's a branch of one of the plum trees out on the edge of the vineyard, taken against a clear blue sky. Unless the weather turns really cold, it looks like we'll have a good year for both red and yellow plums.

7 comments:

  1. Thank you for the bearded iris pictures. They are beautiful with the drops of water. Rich colors. The macro shots of the succulents are great too.

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  2. Lovely photos! Personally, I'd rather use the viewfinder. I hate LCD screens. The glare--I just see a black square.

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    1. I'm so used to the LCD screens now that I find the viewfinder awkward to use. But my TZ60 has a viewfinder and I do use it sometimes, especially when the sun is behind me and all I can see in the LCD is reflection of my own face.

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  3. I second what Diogenes just said. Like him, iris is my favorite flower, with many other. Waiting for the peonies.

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  4. Off subject: The company that sent me the mystery iPhone never did post a credit (un avoir) to my account with them. Chez eux, the left hand finally realized what the right hand was doing, I guess.

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    1. These people are completely unreliable. If I were you, I'd stop doing business with them altogether, and close my account with them. Probably, the "credit" went to the same recipient as the iPhone! Do you have to give it back too?

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