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Yellow Spring Surprise

Macro Mysteries logo smallBlogging and photography have been pushed far, far down on my to-do-list the last few months.  I miss them both, so today I am making the time to publish a “Macro Mystery” post.  If it’s been so long that you don’t remember what this is, or if you’re new here at the Merry Hearts Medicine blog, I’ll explain…

Macro photography is so fun for me that I created a blog game with it.  It’s probably something thousands of other people have done — I post an extreme close-up of an object to see if you can guess what the object is.  If you have an idea as to what it might be, please leave a comment below!  In a few days (hopefully), I’ll reveal the answer in another post.

You may figure this one out easily, even though the photo quality is not as great this time.  (Sorry about that. I’m adjusting to a new camera.)

mysterious yellow-striped object with blue edging

Do you enjoy trying to identify mysterious photos like this?  If so, test your eagle eye with more Macro Mysteries posts.

So, give me your best guess!  What is this spring thing?

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{After your answer has fully grown in your mind, click over to this post to see if you’re right!}

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Monochrome Brain Teaser

Macro Mysteries logo small

Solving puzzles and mysteries is good for your brain.  “Use it or lose it,” right?  So to keep your brain happy and healthy, today I present another challenge for you.

When I saw this object, I immediately thought that it would be perfect for a photo guessing game. I’ll even throw in an extra photo of the same object. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you believe it might be, so please share your guesses in the comments below.

Here’s a hint: I took these photos in March when the weather was cooler.

mysterious dark crack across plain background

mysterious dark crack across plain background

Do you enjoy trying to identify mysterious photos like this?  If so, click here to see the entire collection of Macro Mysteries posts.

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{The answer has been revealed!  You can now zip over to the next post to see what this unusual object is!}

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Springtime Surprises

Macro Mysteries logo small

Presenting a new challenge for you from my front yard…This one would have completely stumped me a few years ago.  What do you think the subject of this photo is?

mysterious stems

Here, I’ll back off a bit so you can see it better:

mysterious dark fruit with pointed ends

Let me add a couple more photos to make you wonder.  The following photos are from the same subject, mind you, even though they look nothing like the first two.

mysterious climbing millipede

mysterious brown fringe hanging down

Have you figured it out now?  I’ll present the answer for you in a few days, including a brief story to go along with it.  Until then, please leave a comment explaining what you think the photographic subject is today.  I bet some of you know!

Do you enjoy trying to identify mysterious photos like this?  If so, please click the following link to see similar posts: Macro Mysteries

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{Have you divined the answer yet? Check here to see if you are right!}

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Photo 101: Truimph 3.0

Day 20 goal:  Use a photo editing program to tweak the contrast in your photos.

After a long day of working in the garden (and sunburning my shoulders — ouch!), my daughter and I decided to dispose of an old, wooden tomato trellis by burning it.  The boards were soaked from five inches of rain that had fallen the previous few days.  With several handfuls of paper out of the recycling bin, some additional dry sticks, and about 20 matches, we finally triumphed and managed to get a cheery fire going.

Here’s the initial fire in our homemade fire pit:

photo of campfire in stone fire pit, taken with flash on

It looked much more dramatic and impressive when I took a photo without the flash — talk about an image with high contrast!

photo of campfire in stone fire pit, taken with no flash

Here is the same shot with a longer exposure time, which causes the flames to have a more solid and blurred appearance:

photo of campfire in stone fire pit, taken with no flash and longer exposure

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing in the gentle heat of our little fire while experimenting with camera settings.  I tried several different settings for exposure and flash, and I used nearly every shutter speed my camera had from 15 seconds to 1/2500 of a second.  I personally enjoy the higher shutter speeds which capture the details of the small, licking flames.

Here’s a gallery to share the results of my playtime. Sorry there are so many.  I had trouble choosing!

 

Awww…my third and final round of WordPress’ Photo101 class has ended.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

There will still be many more photos on this site in the future, I’m sure.  Hopefully my skills will continue to improve with practice, and my photos will be more and more pleasing and interesting to view.

Look for upcoming Macro Mysteries guessing game posts, too, since macro photography is my favorite style to pursue!

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I’m always desiring to learn and improve upon my photography.  If you have the time, I’d really appreciate hearing your opinion:  Would you compare this post to the previous two and leave a comment telling me which one you like best and why?  Thanks!

Triumph 2.0 — What a precious and picture-perfect subject I had to work with for this image!  I wish you could meet her and see that sweet smile; she could brighten anyone’s day!

Triumph 1.0 — The first time I participated in Photo 101, I showcased the ultimate triumph I am striving to achieve — the thing that brings me the most happiness and hope in my life.