For my birthday, I got a great Sigma 70-300mm APO DG zoom lens for my Canon digital SLR. With this digital camera, that lens is almost an 11x zoom! Pretty darn cool. It has a nice macro function that allows you to take these ultra closeups from four feet away. I’m having a lot of fun with it, both in macro mode and otherwise, as you can see:
Starting at the top, from left to right, these are:
- A spreading petunia I grew from cuttings taken a year ago in downtown Salt Lake City
- Anemone x hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’ – a great fall flower
- A bee on Caryopteris clandonensis – these are VERY attractive to bees and are constantly buzzing once they start to flower in August
- Zinnia ‘Profusion White’ in a closeup
- The same zinnias
- Another spreading petunia grown from last year’s cuttings – this one grows taller but still spreads out
- The view of my arbor with Pink Simplicity roses in their second wave of bloom – this wave was at its peak a few weeks ago
- Some very nice ‘Golden Vicary’ Privet shrubs (the tall ones) – these have proven to be a great plant in my yard; I didn’t appreciate them much at first, but they add a nice texture and color to the greenery