Macro-photography has been one of my interests from time to time, so if you all like them, perhaps I might post a few more here and there, eh?
Also, if you click on the pics, you will get a larger version, which look better, in my humblest of opinions ~
more macro shots... Roses by any other name
This is a day lily I caught on its way out ~ I love the hot fiery colors and the perfection of layout ~ Who but God could create something so lovely? (yes, El B, I am Christian, hate me if you must, it's ok, I'll still love your hairy little heart ~ ;-P)
Here is a tiny green spider, living in the petals of a rose ~ sort of romantic, isn't it? And yet, I bet he's dead now, since the frost came, and the roses are gone ~ the cycle of life must include death, even for little creatures like him.
I love the way the light refracts off of these natural lavender pearls ~ so many oysters worked so hard to make these~Here's a quicky little note of interest ~ a great way to tell if a pearl is real or not ~ rub it on your teeth, if it slides, its a fake-a-roony, if it's sorta gritty feeling, it's REAL. That gritty feeling comes from a whole bunch of little micro-crystalline structures, which is what makes up the nacre of the pearl, and that's what makes it so pretty, and full of luster. And of course, real pearls are cool, cuz they came from a living animal, and in fact, only oysters can make that nacre, man still hasn't figured it out. ( Well, hey, what do we need to figure it out for if we can get oysters to do it for us, double time?) Did you know that some oysters can produce up to 60 pearls at a time? Course, it takes a while, but when they are done, there's a load of them! Pretty cool huh? That's why I have a nasty little pearl addiction too! ;-D
12 comments:
You know a lot about pearls, Ms Redhead. I hope you'll be able to put your knowledge to good use. I prefer stocks. Dr Maroon works for one of my companies (or so I like to believe).
I got the blowup version of that spider. It has two spots on its abdomen, but I cant identify it. It looks female, and has also spun a small web in the flower. The frost won't kill them however fierce, unless its very sudden and very cold. You must have a good camera to pick up the detail at such a close range. Good pictures all in, actually.
Ignore GB, he's always fishing.
What about cultured pearls, aren't they put inside the oyster to grow? but maybe you'd still feel the difference. teeth and fingernails are used in engineering to test surface finishes. Bet you AND Mr G Bananas, didn't know that.
Both are surprisingly sensitive to surface textures.
That will be $25 please.
hehe ~ GB ~ I do sell on eBay and at local craft shows, and the state fair ~
And Doccy ~you work for cheap, man ;-D I'd have charged several hundred ~ ;-D
And on cultured pearls ~ some people confuse freshwater with cultured. Freshwater are just as they say, oysters producing ( under some great deal of duress, you ought to know) pearls in freshwater. Since a tiny mantle of shell from an American mollusk is inserted into the oyster at different locations ( determines the color, shape, etc), freshwater
pearls are entirely made up of nacre.
Cultured pearls, however, are made up of differing sizes of beads, (the better ones are mother-of-pearl, cheaper are glass, plastic, resin, etc) (perfectly round) which are then inserted into the oyster, and allowed to coat the bead for a length of time. There are a few ways to determine the quality of these pearls, 1~ look at the drill hole, you should be able to see a difference in where the bead ends and the nacre begins, the thicker, the better.
2~ look for any flaking near the drill holes, if the nacre is so thin it flakes at the drill hole, it will most assuredly flake off quickly, and is a very cheap string of pearls. 3~ x-ray's. Seriously, you can see where the nacre ends, and where the bead begins, because the nacre is represented by a thin white-ish aura surrounding the darker form of the bead.
Both freshwater and cultured are different than saltwater, as well. Saltwater cultured pearls are very popular, but are usually of the cheap, easily flaking variety, as manufacturers are trying to cut corners and make more money. They are only popular due to their uniform roundness.
And, a string of round freshwater pearls is far more expensive ( enter Japanese Akoya pearls) than cultured, precisely because they are entirely made up of nacre.
Also ~ jewelry has a disgustingly high mark-up, I personally NEVER buy at a jeweler's shop, the markup is well over a thousand percent. Impress your family and friends with something off of eBay, still looks great, but cost FAR FAR less. ;-D
That'll be $500, thank you. ;-P
oops,lol, all that and I forgot to tell you, the camera is a little digital JVC cam-corder, using the disk option. It is supposed to be able to magnify up to a bazillion times, but that's a lie, it doesn't really. Still, it works.
I would be very interested to know what kind of spider that is, Doccy, I have not seen one like it before.
I didn't know that about the freshwater pearls. There is a shop in Perth that specialises in them. It's called Cairncross, and actually has one on display called the Cairncross Pearl! That's all I know about the local ones. I will of course now act like an expert to anyone who'll listen, especially in the pub.
If you look closely at your spider again, you will see that it has 3 spots. There is one on its back, near its head. Once you've done that, follow the link.
http://english.sina.com/p/1/2004/1104/46.html
No. I've had another look. Yours has quite distinctive patterned spots. But it's close, It might be a similar family.
I'm sorry, it's me again. i googled that pearl and here it is:
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2004/12/14/images/PERL.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2004/12/14/newsstory6627443t0.asp&h=448&w=298&sz=15&tbnid=glP5VYL1c2KJsM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=82&hl=en&start=1&prev=/images%3Fq%3DCairncross%2BPearl%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG
I didn't realise the link was so long. maybe you could google Cairncross Pearl
That is the rare "Unity Spider" which can cause uncontrollable moderation in anyone it bites.
Moderates will merely fall into a lifeless sleep, however.
Loverly pictures.
Ahhh ~ good thing it didn't bite me then, I tend to be a little on the pendulous side of thing,, swinging from one extreme to another... I must say I have never been a fence-sitter....:-P
It might be very strange to spend time actually being lifeless...no, no, I just cna't see the advantages to that.
Von must leeve life to zee fullest, jhou know? Vot eez life eef jhou cannot leeve & learn & grow, eh? ;-D
doccy, I googled it, and I must say, that is one LOVELY pearl! and to think it is natural, and not ~helped along~!
And that spider is driving me nuts, I am thinking of submitting him to a bug site, where they sometimes can identify such creatures.
Hopefully he doesn't bite me in the mean-time, lest I suddenly become dis-interested.... ;-D
Did you ever see MY spider story?
Click here
Spiders are fun, in that when you discover them they always constitute a surprise. You are never surprised to discover a fly or a mosquito...
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