Nature Is Ready For Her Close Up

Travel Photo Thursday

I have to remind myself that the great sweeping panormas that I see as I travel may not translate into a good photograph. Tiny details, however, may capture a place very well.

I took these photos in the forests of Upper Peninsula Michigan and Tennessee’s Great Smoky National Park.

This photo group is my contribution to Travel Photo Thursday, the brainchild of Nancie at Budget Traveler’s Sandbox. You can click over there and see photos from all over the world.

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About Vera Marie Badertscher

A freelance writer who loves to travel. When she is not traveling she is reading about travel. When she is not reading or traveling, she is sharing with the readers of A Traveler's Library, or recreating her family's past at Ancestors In Aprons . She has written for Reel Life With Jane, Life is a Trip and other websites. Also co-author of a biography, Quincy Tahoma, The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist. Contact Vera Marie by e-mail.

17 thoughts on “Nature Is Ready For Her Close Up

  1. Vera, these are lovely. The red really stands out (especially that “Canadian” maple leaf) 🙂 I don’t have a macro lens but find that the macro setting on my camera works quite well. It’s always fun to play around with it.

    1. Thanks, Nancie. Yes, and I have found that the macro lens performance varies a great deal from camera to camera. One of my point and shoot cameras does great with macros and the other is better at distance. Now if I could just remember which is which. 🙂

  2. Hi Vera,

    You’re exactly right. As I travel with a compact camera, I do struggle to take good pictures of landscapes, so I focus on the details and end up not only with beautiful photos but also with images that are often unique, because not everyone bothered with the small details.

  3. I have had tremendous fun with a macro lens too – getting really close to stamens and bugs and capturing the details. And getting close makes you really focus on something interesting.

    Have you recovered from the snowstorm?

    1. Ha, Ha! Yes, we’ve not only recovered from the snowstorm, the temps are reaching 80 degrees. Fast recovery around here!

      Since I don’t use an SLR camera, I can’t get the astounding bug pictures that some people do, but have to be satisfied with however close my little snap and shoot will go. My hiking companions must get tired of me stopping in the middle of the path to lean over a leaf!!

  4. Love the detailed nature shots! I find that I try to capture the sweeping panoramas only to realize after that the photo just does not do justice to the scene. Will definitely take your advice and try some close-ups too!

    1. I agree, Debbie. The camera just doesn’t have the capacity to capture things as the human eye sees them–on a large scale. On the other hand, when I focus in close, the camera frequently captures things I totally missed with my eye.

  5. I love that first picture! You are so right, it sometimes is so hard to capture the whole landscape of a place and it doesn’t always tell the whole story. It’s sometimes that little stuff that makes a place. I have not been to the UP or Great Smoky Mtns in quite awhile. Looking forward to going back to them someday.

    1. Bob: Actually, this is an artful use of old wood for a bridge railing along a nature path in the Great Smoky National Park. But close up, it does look like a fallen log, doesn’t it?

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