Macro Hibiscus

On my way out for my walk in the woods yesterday i spotted some hibiscus blooming in the front yard. I'm not out front as much as the backyard - so I don't get as many pictures of the front.  The hibiscus are usually well over my head, so it was nice to see some down where I could get some decent angles.  The light was cooperating mostly, morning sun, but not too harsh.  I had my camera with me, since I was heading out to the wildlife refuge.

I've been experimenting with the macro settings on my camera. Hey - I'm a guy and it's a technology toy - I need to experiment.  I can't (and don't want to) get ultra close to the bees and butterflies or the birds.  So, I've been experimenting with the macro settings on more stationary subjects.  And the hibiscus volunteered.

Here are two of the blooms at my level on the bush.

And with the zoom I was able to get a decent close-up shot.

But them I switched over to the macro setting (and to a bloom with less shadow at the center.) You can see some fun details like the spill of pollen on the petal below the stamen.

And even closer in macro mode. More details of the pollen on the stamen and on the petal below it, and the veins and coloring of the petals.

The I switched over to a super-macro setting and got really really close (much more than any critter would allow.)

The detail of the pollen, and the coloring in the petals is amazing - I never could achieve that much detail with just a zoom (not with my camera.)

Then I combined the super macro shot with some post processing digital zoom and got this:

WOW!!

I'll keep experimenting and keep posting about my progress.