There are many kinds of nuts, most come from trees and yes some walk on two legs, but my visit to a local park had the tree kind in mind. I had the urge to get out yesterday if only for a little while and had Shunga Park across the street from my house on my mind. There is a grouping of oak trees that I can see from my front door and visit it often hoping for photo opportunities. I’ve taken many shots from here over the years and always seem to come away unsatisfied with my results. When one enters this grouping of oaks I’m guessing 50 yards by 50 yards square they are in deep shade with the surrounding park area in bright sunlight so I usually concentrate within the shaded areas searching for something unique or just catching my eye.
© Brad Mangas
This day I had a plan, I was going to concentrate on the ground, mostly without grass and scattered with acorns, leaves and sticks. I spent over an hour just roaming back and forth looking something, what I’m not sure, but I had my eyes focusing in on areas less than a square foot knowing with the lens I had on, a 17-50mm would be framing roughly this amount when set down to 12 inches or so from the ground. I would typically use my 70-200 with extension tube for such closeup/macro work but this is a new lens and honestly I just wanted to play with it. So that’s what I done and had a good time with it. One thing I did find out when working close to the ground like this, it’s getting much harder on my knees and legs to do the up and down thing for and hour! Next time I may have to use the longer lens when doing this type of work and play with the wide angle out on the prairies which it was actually purchased for. Nonetheless it preformed well for me and I ended up with a few images to hang on to.
© Brad Mangas
© Brad Mangas
The 17-50 did a fine job, Brad. Is the 70-200 challenge to use with an extension tube?
A side note: when we lived in MN our house was surrounded by oaks, which I loved until this time of year when the acorns started to drop. Talk about high maintenance lawn care!
Yeah Ken with the 70-200 I would use an extension tube for closeups like this it’s really a nice setup for macro work in my opinion. I agree, if these oaks were in my yard I would not be thrilled with them. Thanks for the comment.
My knees suffer after spending time crawling around on them or squatting for any period of time. I’m like you a longer lens always comes to mind and also the idea of knee pads. A few days ago I squatted down in a bar ditch and came up with 20 cockleburs clinging to my pants and shoes.
I’ve been using almost exclusively the 17-50mm for a year now. It’s taken me a while to adjust after switching to this lens from the 18-200mm. But I like it.
A nice series of images and love how you’ve made the green pop. I’m also in the camp of keeping the acorns in the city park or the neighbors yard. :-)
It’s always fun to do something a little different at times like using a wide angle for closeup shots but got it right about the squatting down, with age comes the realization that maybe I shouldn’t go over board with this. Thanks for the comment Monte.