From the Garden...

To quote a line from Mr Lennon... "Life is what happens while your busy making other plans..." And this year it's 'screwing up' my photography. Still, I've been pottering in the garden and taken a few with the XZ-1. Just to prove I still know how to pick up a camera - (good therapy too).

















Hope you enjoy these macros... I think the XZ-1 does a good job

Pete.
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http://captureme.webplus.net/index.html

Hi Pete,

Wonderfull macros. Can you tell me if these were shot with your xz-1 using a tripod or handheld? And also you did use the Macro SCN mode on th camera? Just trying to learn some techniques in using this camera for macro photography. Thanks in advance.

OlyShooter said:

Hi Pete,

Wonderfull macros. Can you tell me if these were shot with your xz-1 using a tripod or handheld? And also you did use the Macro SCN mode on th camera? Just trying to learn some techniques in using this camera for macro photography. Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

Glad you enjoyed them. These were all handheld. You have to get very close and very lucky so as not to disturb the beasties.... All shot in macro mode and cropped as required. The image stabilisation is thankfully, very good. The main think is to ensure the light isn't interupted too much by the closeness of the lens barrel. in the past I would have used a Sigma 150mm F2.8 macro mounted on a tripod with my old D300s to get pictures that were better than these. I would have had to work at it too! So to get these from wandering around the garden with a compact is, in my opinion, fabulous.

Pete.
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http://captureme.webplus.net/index.html

Pete,

These are really beautiful images - shows what this little XZ-1 is capable of in the right hands! You have a great eye - the composition is perfect.

Are these done in RAW or jpg?

Thanks for sharing. It is really a pleasure viewing great work such as shown here.

Maria

Pete,

These are, indeed, nice macros of the weeds and critters in your garden. I hope the camera meets your expectations.
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Sharon

http://www.pbase.com/slengst/galleries
E-3;
Lenses: 11-22, 14-54, 50-200, EC-20 and Canon 500D
Lee GND filter set.

Marla said:

Pete,

These are really beautiful images - shows what this little XZ-1 is capable of in the right hands! You have a great eye - the composition is perfect.

Are these done in RAW or jpg?

Thanks for sharing. It is really a pleasure viewing great work such as shown here.

Maria

Click to expand...

Thank you Maria... these were all shot RAW.

Pete.
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http://captureme.webplus.net/index.html

Sharon Engstrom said:

Pete,

These are, indeed, nice macros of the weeds and critters in your garden. I hope the camera meets your expectations.
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Sharon

Click to expand...

I am pleased with the XZ-1. It may not be as capable as the SLR and lenses I used to own but as a compact it can produce some great work. Super convenience... I may never go back to 'large' cameras again.

Pete

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http://captureme.webplus.net/index.html

I saw your shots and felt inspired - this one a super macro using the MAL-1 macro light...





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Julian Kirkness

http://web.mac.com/jkirkness/Photo_Site/Welcome.html

I would have put money on you having used a tripod for this one! Did you do any sharpening or other PP secrets?

Pete Delaney said:

Click to expand...

Good to see your images.
Keep clicking.
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KimR

Nice macros! Thanks for sharing.
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http://www.pbase.com/tsbok

Those are nice pictures. I like your colorful insects.

davidaj2003 said:

I would have put money on you having used a tripod for this one! Did you do any sharpening or other PP secrets?

davidaj2003 said:

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Without decent image stabilisation in the camera this would be a lot harder. I cropped the image and did my processing in Lightroom3. The sharpening tools in Lightroom are very good, but you need to understand how to use them well and there are plenty of tutorial vids on youtube. It's always worth playing with colour/saturation a little and I do like contrasty pictures. Shooting in RAW allows me to get as much as possible from the image. To me this is particularly important as the XZ-1 sensor doesn't capture as much range as a bigger slr sensor. I then normally export to CS4 where I resize and add a visible (albeit subtle) watermark for the web and do a final slight sharpen using 'Smart Sharpen' tool.

Glad you like it. It's great knowing you can get a photo within 3 feet of your back door!

Pete
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http://captureme.webplus.net/index.html