Most of the shots I've taken with the Fuji 60mm to date weren't actual macro shots. I've used it more for its longer focal length and it's great for medium closeups, but I had taken very few proper "macro" shots with it. I was out walking in the park on Sunday, and I happened to have the camera with me (as you do!) I hadn't set out to take pictures but I came across an interesting set of flowers which I thought would make a nice pattern. I was snapping away when I noticed this little guy...
I didn't have a tripod with me so I had to make do hand held. Getting the focus was difficult because the lens focusses so slowly and the flowers were blowing in the wind. In the end I focussed by moving the camera rather than trying to focus the lens. It was still quite tricky because the camera is so light, and as with all macro shots, the plane of focus is very narrow. Still, I managed to get some good images
(head is a little soft here unfortunately - but the detail on the legs is cool)
What amazed me though, is that I was shooting some of these at ISO800 (some are 400) and there is virtually no noise. I love the milky bokeh too. I think this kind of shot - where there is an object in sharp focus, with the rest of the frame thrown out of focus - is the kind of shot the fuji really excels at. The tonality and graduation is beautiful and the softness as the focus falls away is really organic.
I love how the wings almost look like a stained glass window!
Oh, and incase you were wondering just how sharp these shots really are, here's a 1:1 (100% Crop) view:
Shots were processed with Silkypix and then brought into lightroom for some additional tweaking (although very little - just the odd vignette)
