Incoming!

The black-eyed susan flowers came in thicker this year than I have ever seen. They seem to be propagating at an alarming rate; there are probably 3-4 times more this year than in the past. Right now, with all of the blooms open and overlapping, this area is a buzz with activity! Bees, hover flies, unknown flying objects, grasshoppers, spiders and even inch worms are all over these sunny flowers. Therefore, I can't seem to stay away either... Blip 'em while you got 'em I always say. ;)

I took a few breaks from my spring cleaning today to get in a few shots. (Yes, I realize it's well past spring here, but I'm never on time for anything... why should I be for cleaning?) My cleaning catalyst: my stepdaughter is back from her summer college session in France and is heading back to the University of Michigan next week, so she is coming by to spend some time with us and her uncle is coming up to see her as well. So, I had to clean out the spare bedroom... which lead to cleaning closets etc... I got carried away and now I have to take a car load to Goodwill for a donation deposit. How do we collect so many things we don't need??

Anyway, on one of my breaks, I was busy snapping away at bug after bug on those flowers when I heard the familiar hum of the hummingbird overhead. Well, I had the macro lens on, so there wasn't much point to trying to get anything, but I couldn't resist. Click, click - oh no the shutter is too slow - raise the ISO and shutter speed. Click, click - still too slow - raise 'em some more... not paying attention to how high the ISO was getting... Eventually, I gave up; the macro wasn't cutting it (go figure). Upon returning to the bugs and flowers I never checked the setting and ended up getting the shot you see above at an ISO of 3200! No, that high ISO was not needed, but it did impress me that the shot was usable at all... I did a tiny bit of noise reduction, but nothing major. Crazy, I even think it's okay large. I suppose the higher shutter speed is why I managed the hover fly in-flight... so no complaints here. :)

Now to collapse... cleaning is done... blip is up... I'm exhausted!