... and outside: SPRING !!!

SUPER

lass ihn frei !!!!!

What a beautiful series, Heidi! I love looking at both the beautiful glass and the flowers! Well captured. :-)

Schöne Serie, Heidi ! Der Frühling ist Klasse !

Superbe. Nicole.

Heidi, this is just FANTASTIC!! I adore this darling little birdy. Your photography really show it off so perfectly--love your sliver-thin dof!. The details inside the glass are wonderful to look at and the colorful spots on its body add to the beauty. It's a wonderful figurine and I'm so glad you've shared it as your main photo.

Every last one of your insets is totally outstanding, remarkable, breathtaking and beautiful. You found so many gorgeous subjects...crisp focus, wonderful details and oh my, look at that bokeh! I love the colors in each one...was that ladybug truly red like that??? Ours are burnt orange at their reddest but usually a bright orange. Loved your holly-type flower buds...on our property we have a plant called "Oregon Grape"--named for the grape-shape of the buds which looks like yours, though I think the flowers will be different...you can take a peeky if you like (top of search) www.ipernity.com/search/photo?w=290645&q=Oregon+Grape
The blue flowers are also just as pretty as can be and remind me of our stunning Great Camas blossoms which won't be showing up for probably a month I'd guess. ( www.ipernity.com/search/photo?opt=&q=Great+Camas&w=290645&t=0&lic=&s=0 ) How wonderful to have all of these beautiful choices...are they all on your property I wonder?

Thanks so much for your lovely comment about my parade of flowers and my little hoverfly! :) Yes, when it's windy, all bets are off. It's extremely discouraging in those conditions and the best luck is a very fast shutter speed and/or protected nooks and crannies. And patience when waiting for a gust to pass. Insects, like you say, are a frustrating challenge!

I love that we share the same beloved lens. Have you always had it? Forgive me if we've discussed this in the past, lol...swiss cheese for a memory here! :) It's very hard to separate me from that lens, though we have other totally awesome lenses--the 50mm 1.4 is incredible. Our Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L is also amazing, and our wide-angle EF 17-40mm f/4L is terrific too. It's wonderful when I can bear to change lenses but that 100mm is my heart and soul!

Thanks again for sharing and for your wonderful presentation! :)

oups ... a lot of thoughts and questions here, Janet !
...yes, our typical ladybugs here are in a deep red. Since a few years (by climate chsnge) more and more we have the orange ones, coming from Asia - and will kill "our" european ladybugs.
... the white blooming plant is a cherry tree, special kind, cherries not for eating.
... the blue flowers are SCILLA, just now blooming millions and millions.
... I just got this new 100mm L- lens, f 2,8. Before a long time I used the "normal" Canon 100mm
(bought it for my old 600d, but lost a lot of quality when using it on 6d). I also love the 50mm f1,4, but my favorite lens always is 24-70mm L-IS, f4. Because I can change it to a 70mm macro lens - takes photos from a distance of 5 cm. I'm not a macro-photographer, but really like to learn it ! Always find such amazing results in MM2-group !

Oh what a lovely response! :D

Wow...I look forward to seeing a juicy red ladybug like that...that's like a little jewel! And sorry to hear that the asian ones are killing the locals...*sigh*...they are killing ours too. Such is life...

Thank you for telling me more about the flowers, they really are so very lovely! :)

Yes, I thought I read a comment from your on someone's image that you'd gotten a new lens but I wasn't sure. You're taking to that lens very well! Pretty steep learning curve but you're certainly mastering it! WELL DONE! :) And I'm amazed you put up with the non IS version, I have heard it's macro cryptonite to many people...as in...those who get it are so frustrated they never try macro again because of the hard time getting any good pictures. Did you have trouble with getting usable images? I read that unless you use a tripod, you will go crazy. For me, I can use our lovely lens without a tripod but if it's not bright I'll need my macro flash or I need to brace the camera for tiny subjects.

Hmm, I've never tried the 24-70mm...sounds nice! If it's anything like our gorgeous 24-105mm, it's an easy favorite. Wow, you can really get CLOSE with that lens, that's amazing! LOL, we have a 150mm which we never use because it's got focus problems...that sucker has gorgeous bokeh but it's very heavy and also, you have to be SO FAR AWAY that it's difficult to see what you're taking a picture of. I find it too frustrating. The 100mm is the sweet spot for me. I can be far enough from critters that they don't fly away (ok, they fly away anyway! :D :D) but I can can still see them to focus on. There is nothing like having to lean in to see where the critter is and then step back a foot and try to find the spot where the bitty critter is. *throws lens out the window* No matter how gorgeous the images are, that lens drives me crazy! :D

Heh, you are dong great with your macro, but there will be a lifetime of study--no matter what you love of course! And yes the MM2 group is really fun! Always interesting challenges and another idea to try.

Ok, enough jibber-jabber! :D *high five*

que c'est adorable et très bien réalisé !! Une série magnifique

Herrliche Frühlingsserie!

JOLIES

when I see pictures like this, I sometimes think should I buy a SLR again, like in the film time.
Lovely picture

... and I'm always thinking about a new small pocket camera ! Year by year more I hate all the weight of DSLR and all the heavy lenses .. . ;-))

I remember ;))

sehr schön!

These are all so beautiful, Heidi. I can't possibly choose a favorite. ♥ ♥ ♥

schöne Serie, besonders mit dem Käfer finde ich herzallerliebst

... der ist wenigstens mal sitzen geblieben ! Frage nicht, wie ich diversen Zitronenfaltern und Bienen hinterhergehechelt bin !

Stunningly beautiful spring pictures!

I like the glow on the left and the light coming through the bird on the right. It kind of frames the glass bird quite nicely!

I left another response above! :D

Pretty piece, lovely lighting

Tolle Lichtreflexe.