macro superhero attempt

For today's adventure I found myself at the Volunteer Park Conservatory. I wanted to test the macro features of my new lens and figured this place would be juuuuust right. It did have plenty of gorgeous flowers AND the seasonal display featured some especially lovely gardenias that reminded me of my house in Tonga. I forgot though, how cramped it is in there... no room for a tripod! I tried to steady my camera on random poles to avoid blur, but still ended up using a high ISO.... resulting in some unfortunately rather grainy shots.

I've just posted the flowers & plants here without any details... they were all in the high ISO range, low f-stop at around 300mm using the "macro" feature on the sigma. enjoy.

... after my hour or so of macro work I headed out to take a spin around the rest of the park. I found a couple of ducks in a very tiny fountain... this is my first attempt at "wildlife" photography with the 300mm. I kinda like this pic. btw, the other 9 shots were blurry. very blurry.

I drove home the long way. Partly because I needed some time to think and partly because hey, why not, I had the day off! I ended up on Martin Luther King, Jr., Way and figured I would look for a cool shot from there, as a tribute to MLK's b-day. I found a dog park that overlooked the city (kinda) and an old school building that has been converted to a museum. None of these really inspired me, so I looked toward the hillside and looked for a pic that would help me understand "compressing spatial relationships." I still need to google this term & learn more about it, but I think this pic is a good example... the houses look so smooshed together.

that is all I have for today! I am looking forward to trying out my new lens at the Tulip Festival this year... should be able to get some great shots... they'll be in crisp because I'll be able to use a tripod, and will have excellent bokah (because, well, that's how i roll).