Monday, February 5, 2024

Wow, it's February already! New macro lens for iPhone!!

Greetings Friends ~ Where did January go? Time is zipping right along at a fast pace. We've had some cold temps for us down here in s.e. FL, high 40's and 50's. Today it is gloomy, with drizzle or light rain. I had wanted to work outside, but not in this weather. I decided to work on editing photos and writing up a new post. Doing this always take hours, literally.

The more I use the Gimp photo editing program, the easier it is remembering how to do what. I'm getting back into photography and posting to this blog more.

Now for some pictures from my overgrown gardens. This first one is beautiful lichen growing on a huge, old jasmine branch.

Last month I ordered a Xenvo Pro Lens Kit for my iPhone. I was having a time with my chip from Canon PowerShot camera with the new Windows 11. In that camera I had a great macro capability and the iphone's camera just doesn't do what I wanted. I googled macro lenses for the iPhone and came across this one, great reviews. I have to say that I REALLY like it and the more I use it the better I will get with taking macro pictures. The lens does make the phone heavier, and trying to hold it in place about 1/2"-1" away takes some getting used to. I love the way the background is out of focus and just what you are up close on is clear.
 

 
Below in among all sorts of things is the 'reed orchid', which grows like a weed here. This is a group of buds, only about an inch in length.

 Here is a close up, taken with new lens. What a surprise the ant was!


This sweet little plant is called 'Scorpion Tail'. (Heliotropium angiospermum) It is a Florida wildflower. It is only about an inch to 1 1/2 inches long. I got this a year or two ago. First photo is with camera lens.

This is with the macro lens.


Next is a flowering plant that spreads all over the place and takes over if you're not careful. I'm not sure what it is. My mind says wild petunia but I can't find that by googling.
 

 

 
Below is the rose by True Bloom, 'True Sincerity'. I took some Christmas $ and bought two pots of roses. Here is a gardening tip for you. I saw it on you tube a few years back. When you buy a plant, look to see how many plants are in the pot, a lot of times, there is more than one. You then take it home, take plant out of pot, spray the dirt away with water, gently separating the roots from each other repot into separate pots. Free plants for the price of one. ;-)

In this case, there were three roses in the one pot. The other pot 'Alfred Sisley' only had two in it's pot. I don't have pictures of that rose yet. 

These were all taken with the macro lens.
 

These pics were taken a couple of days later. This first one was taken outside while the rose was still on the plant, backlit by the sun.
 
 
I picked it and brought it inside to enjoy.

 



With some time & practice, I will take better pictures. 

That's it for now.

Enjoy each day our Creator God blesses you with. 
Take the time to look for the beauty in His wonderful creation. 
He made it for us to enjoy, 
to be physically, spiritually and mentally nurtured. 
To make us think of Him and to be drawn to Him.
He loves us.

Thank you for visiting ~ FlowerLady
 

5 comments:

Melanie said...

Good to see you having fun with your new macro lens! Oh, how I miss seeing beautiful flowers outside right now. I just bought a beautiful bouquet at Trader Joe's for my kitchen table.

vic said...

Those close ups are fabulous. The True Sincerity rose is really beautiful, but then aren't they all beautiful? The tip about there being more than one plant to a pot is a good one, but it must be hard to decide whether to chance spraying all that soil away and only finding one root. Although the good root system is really what you are buying and the soil will be replaced when the plant is planted. You really came out ahead with the two that you bought! The Latin name for a wild petunia is ruellia and the pics that Google came up with for that do look quite a lot like yours.

Lynn and Precious said...

Glad to see you post. Love the flower pictures. Up here we do have 50's in the day this week with sun! But 25 at night. Too soon for winter to be over so I'm waiting for the shoe to drop! Your camera does great for you.

Anne Payne said...

Ah, photography...such a great balm to the soul capturing all of God's amazing things! Love it, Rainey, especially the Scorpion Tail. That is amazing detail!!!
Flu has hit me hard this year, or oxalate dumping. Not sure which but it's miserable. But God is good and has given us lovely sunshine this week after a week of a lot of rain and cold. Looking forward to warm days to lounge on the porch, and maybe plant some flowers. Take care, sweet friend! xx

M.K. said...

Hello, Rainey! I love your photos of roses. There's something so peaceful in a rose, and it comes across in the picture. Your new lens is amazing! A friend told me about an app that is free on your phone, called Google Lens. It identifies millions of objects for you, if you put a photo into the app. It might help you in identifying any plants you can't quite figure out? There are probably better apps designed just for IDing plants too.
Spring is coming! It's too cold and windy up here in NC to do much outside the past few days, but I'm looking forward to those cool, early-spring days when burning limbs and putting in early plants is a joy!!