Not much going on lately. Just some photography experimentation.

This first one I call "Waves of Sunshine".
I was puttering through the garden one afternoon and I was struck by how the sunshine lit up the petals on my giant sunflowers. So, I took a bunch of shots using whatever close-up lenses I have. My 28-105 Canon zoom is a pseudo macro when set at 105mm, but it's closest focus point is 0.5 meters. Not exactly close up.

I also have a Tamron 90mm macro, which is a fantastic lens, but unfortunately doesn't get along so well with my digital SLR. It works, but only at f/2.8...and when you're using the 1:1 attachment and working within 4" of the subject, 2.8 gives you a depth of field of about half an inch. Even without the 1:1 lens the DoF isn't too hot.

So, this one was taken with the zoom as close as I could get with as small an aperture as I could get and still allow a hand held shutter speed. Could be better, but hey, I'm experimenting. Can't get a perfect shot every time...

This next one I'm calling "M-O-O-N, that spells moon." with a nod to Tom Cullen.

I had just gotten my Autoguiding set-up, and since the moon was way too much in the way to do any deep-sky photography, I thought I'd try some eyepiece projection. The result is a bit rough, mainly cause I was focusing best I could while using the XSi's stock screen, which isn't too hot for manual focusing. I was just too lazy to drag the computer out to use EOS Utility's live view to do the focusing. Not horrible for a first, and half-assed attempt...

It was taken using an Orion Short-Tube 80mm (f/5), stopped down to about 38mm aperture giving me an effective f/10. Exposures were kept above 1/30" using the XSi's mirror lockup function and a cable release.