06 October 2010

hairy is beautiful





I've had a brilliant day... I discovered the macro option on my little Canon point and shoot. Oh my!!! How excited am I... happy days indeed. I would dearly love the real thing on a brand new DSLR, but this will certainly do for the moment. It all started while I was sitting on the nature strip (such an odd name for the bit of grass between the footpath and the road - it's like society's token gesture) while my partner changed a flat tyre. Good lad. It's been super windy, so there's a lot of foliage on the ground and flying through the air. I picked up a seed pod next to me, and was amazed, I mean truly AMAZED at how hairy it was... infact it looked like a tiny animal pelt! I picked up a few more and took them inside to place them next to the beautiful bunch of native Australian flowers I bought for the birthday boy. I thought I'd take a few happy snaps, which is something I don't do much. Then... then... there it was... the macro setting. Why had I not spied this before?! I wish I had discovered it when I was staying at the lighthouse on the Shetland Islands (yes... it was incredible) because I wanted to document this really fabulous plant growing amongst the rocks that looked like little strawberry tops. So I had a play, and it was when I zoomed in on the flowers that I realised that they were really hairy too! I just couldn't resist posting this little suite of hairiness.

11 comments:

Hazel Terry said...

Super hairy, they look like fox paws. x

helicopter6 said...

And the ends of the flowers look like spidey paws!

Hazel Terry said...

They do, it's amazing how the world changes when you are at a different scale.

holly aka golly said...

A closer look always reveals the most interesting details which would otherwise be invisible. Have fun exploring!

helicopter6 said...

So very true.

Paz López said...

I can't believe the two first photos are not some kind of animal tails!
And the fourth photo is just amazing. Such a beautiful flower! Looks like it had feathers on it.
Cheers from Spain!

helicopter6 said...

They do look like animal tales. They're about the size of a small finger nail, so very small critters! Thanks so much for popping by Paz.

posie blogs Jennie McClelland said...

Great you had the camera with you. We had a road side incident recently, my children took the camera & disappeared into the bush & came back with tadpoles?? I have those kind of children.
That shot is so textural, just lovely, love Posie

helicopter6 said...

Thank you so much Posie. Ahh tadpoles... sweet memories. My brother is 12 years older and was studying zoology when I was growing up. I remember going to cath tadpoles (and dealing with leeches!)... unfortunately his ended up in the lab (sorry everyone), and mine ended up in the fishtank where they weren't very welcome (probably more devastating). One did manage to mature, and I think it jumped out overnight, never to be seen again! I love that you have those kind of children!

inaluxe said...

That's so awesome! I wish I wish I KNEW where the macro setting is on my camera... so inept here! I think I might just have to get a DSLR too, one day. LOL. Love your furry close ups! Hope the birthday boy had a great one. Cheers, K.

helicopter6 said...

K, if you have a point and shoot digital camera, have a look at the settings (either apparent on the buttons or through the menu). The macro setting is the flower. There'll often be a mountain for landscape, a face for portraiture and a flower for close up. If you do have this option, select it, but don't zoom in (if you have that), it will make everthing blurry. I found that if you focus, by half pushing the button, then you can move in a little closer. Fingers crossed that it's possible!!