aha moment: noun

an instant at which the solution to a problem becomes clear

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Sometimes it clicks....

This little bee had a chilly morning and he was trying to warm up on my railing so I thought since I had such a willing subject I would practice some macro shots.

I'm not good at macro....just sayin'

So I got my camera out, which was conveniently on my tripod and set it up on my balcony. Put the camera in macro mode and zoomed in.

Blurry bee, great background..... humph....

me mumbling something about bad camera for macro...then I remember my instructor Tony telling me that when in auto, my camera is trying to focus on everything at one time, this being the grass way down below and the bee and the railing way up close, one had to give and my camera was trying to focus in on the grass.

my aha moment....

I put the camera in aperture setting, as low as it would go, this case being f4.5, so it would only focus on what was up close:  then put it in macro mode, then zoomed in....and look at my grass in the background, it looks like a sheet of green paper behind the bee, this is the first time I have achieved this! woo hoo!

 ( And for a size reference, this little bee is about the size of your thumb nail. I also took about 15 pictures, playing around with my exposure setting too, and I only got one decent shot out of the bunch.)

Well, as you read this post I will be out and about with my photography friends trying to hunt, photograph the elusive white squirrel down in Brevard, and then we are heading off to the White Squirrel festival afterwards. I can't wait, this should be a fun day! And while I am there I am going to be working on my photo scavenger hunt hosted by Ashley over at Ramblings and Photos. So if you want to play along, here is your list:

1. Beneath Your Feet
2. Capturing Movement
3. Texture
4. Face Your Fears
5. Currently

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and a few other guys made it in the view of my camera today...first off a woodchuck who is always found scooting across the yard from one patch of woods to the next:

and a picture of an American Redstart:

I love the variety of wildlife we have back here! I've heard we have deer and bear that occasionally visit but none sighted yet!

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