Close-up Experiment

 We took the grandkids to a small scale amusement park today and I wanted to travel light so only took my 24-240 mm lens.  Whenever I don’t have my macro lens with me, I regret it, but today I didn’t want the additional weight, so instead, I took a Canon 500D close-up filter with a step-up ring. 

As we waited for the kids to go on the roller coaster for the gazillionth time, I gave it a try on some sedum that had been placed in some attractive planters around the property.  It was a little tricky until I learned the minimum and maximum focusing distance, but once I got a feel for that, it worked quite well and I was quite pleased with the detail I was able to capture on the bees. (looks much better in large.  I am still puzzled why some of my images look soft after posting and only look clearer when viewed in large.)  

The close-up filters are only slightly more expensive than extension tubes and are an alternative to the sometimes very expensive macro lenses.  I only just purchased the step up rings (very inexpensive) which means I can use this filter and the 250D close-up filter on any of my lenses when I don’t want to carry the macro lens with me. 
 
Tiny Tuesday tomorrow… please tag your images with TT114.

Many thanks to all of you who left so many lovely comments, stars and hearts and pushed my Bunting on the sunflower to page one.  I am so glad you like it as much as I do.