close-up shot of a young tree bud

almost passing for a multitude of old dusty harpsichord strings, this is actually a closeup photo of a polished gemstone called 'Tiger Eye'. we zoomed in where the chatoyancy effect was the strongest to capture these fiber-like inclusions that make up the cat's eye appearance. the width of this photo is about 0.037 inches which is a tad thicker than a playing card.

this is a closeup shot of a copper snake chain necklace. the islands of gold are parts of corroded copper links that are kept bright by constantly rubbing against the skin. the aqua river is the remaining part of the copper that goes down into valleys between chain links where the corrosion has gone untouched and turned a beautiful blue-green. the chain of this necklace measures 0.045 of an inch in diameter and this photo captures an area equivalent to the thickness of a credit card.

This is called "get the shot and run for cover". I'm wading waist-deep to get the desired camera angles and when i saw this swell raising more and more, i knew i would be grabbing the camera and heading for more shallow water before i get clobbered.

rarely does an insect stay put long enough for us to go through our setup process, but this large dragonfly was very trusting and didn't move while we choose a good macro lens, took light readings, test exposures, and finally this shot.

closeup of a tortoise emerging as desert temperatures become more tolerable just before sunset in Arizona

After the boiling hot mineral water oozes up from the earth, it eventually starts to cool and the mineral elements fall out of suspension. Since the edges are cooler than the middle, the sediment builds up a little perimeter wall one grain at a time. Over time, large cascading pools are created as they overflow and puddle to create more.

This is an up-shot of some colourful scale-shaped rock layers on the side of large cliff. To capture this amazing natural art, i had to setup as low as possible to get enough room between the camera lens and rock layers. There was just enough room for me to lay on the muddy ground and get my head in place to see the focus screen and prepare for the long-exposure.