Common Milkweed

Common Milkweed

One autumn activity, fun for all ages, is walking along the roadside and blowing the milkweed seeds to watch them fly.  If you have not tried it, do so this fall.

I tried starting Milkweed behind the garage.  I just planted some of the seeds.  Nothing happened for more than a year.  Some time later I looked at the place and there was a little milkweed plant.  Years later more than one plant emerged.  I have watched with interest but as of this year, though the plants look healthy they bear not fruit.  I did find out that the other way to move one is to move the corm, the root.  I suppose it must strengthen itself for years before fruiting.

Common Milkweed

Common Milkweed

Halloween Ghost Plant

Ghost Plant

This from the Kingwood Center Succulent Room in February, 2006.  It is native to Mexico and Arazona and is perennial.  It is in the genus Graptopetalum. 

Macro Photography Concept

Mount 24mm Reversed on 180mm Macro

I had been playing with Macro photography in the field for a while when one fall, I don't remember which one, George Lepp wrote in his column in Outdoor Photography about "extreme" macro photography.  He offered a 16X image of a butterfly wing as an example.

I was interested to hear about his setup for it.  He said that he had reversed a 24mm lens on a macro lens, using the reversed lens as a closeup filter.  This idea stuck in my mind and I ruminated on it.  I bought some coupler rings, male threads on both sides, and some step-up step-down rings so that I could start mounting lenses in reverse.  The above image is of the coupling between my 180mm macro and a 24mm lens reversed.  I am glad I rented the 24mm lens because I was not particularly pleased with the output.  The feeling at mindat seems to be that that would not work.

 

Sigma 24mm mounted in reverse on the Sigma 180mm and used as a closeup filter

Later, I became interested in photographing mineral samples.  I joined a website, mindat.org.  They are located in Germany and have extensive "how to" articles, and many high quality images of minerals. At first I had problems reconciling my macro photography "setup" with their descriptions and images of their "setup."  I down loaded a flow chart showing decision making data on what to use depending on the sample size, etc.  I have finally grasped the overall continuum.  We both use stack captures as described in the offering on the CamRanger.  The limits of my setup are around 8 to 10x.  Theirs go up from there to about 20X.  They use microscope objective lenses mounted on their cameras and make their stacks using rails with stepping motors.  I use CamRanger to control the camera and lens.  The images for the stack are made using the auto focus motor in the Camera/lens combination.

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