In the image above I am attempting a macro shot of a water drop on a flower petal. To do this I use the setup shown in the photo at the bottom (more explanation there). Doing this type of photography requires a great deal of patience - which I don't necessarily have yet.
The photo below is the same water drop but with the focal point adjusted ever so slightly.
The photo above focuses (more or less...) on the far shore of the lake - the photo below on the trees on our property (more or less...).
What's the point here? Well, the obvious point is water drop photography is cool! But beyond that, it shows what a difference in outlook a very slight shift in focus can achieve. Life's like that too, isn't it?
Here's my macro setup. At the front of the lens is a Raynox macro adapter. Behind that 70-300 zoom. Between the tripod and camera is a 'macro rail.' With this type of macro setup you don't focus the lens, rather you use the macro rail to move the whole rig fore and aft to achieve focus. For the pictures above the front of the lens was about 2" from the water drop and I changed the focus within the water drop by adjusting the rail by about 1/16 of a turn of the little adjusting knob which moves the camera by about 1mm. My setup is on the low end of the budget for these types of things - but it works (more or less!).
