I really want a marco lens. I keep taking close up pictures of things hoping my camera lens will somehow turn into one. But no, never does. Taking pictures of little kids (and have them do what you want) is hard. Very nice job, though. I like this picture, though I like pretty much all of yours.

This photo is more expressive in vignette than in full size. I wonder why...

Be still my beating heart --- wow! ... congrats on the lens -- but really, that's an aweseome shot Dave... I love the images of your children -- always my favorites... beautifully done... outstanding....

Oh I love the soft color in this! Such an interesting macro shot. I loved the image yesterday as well the colors in it were stunning. =)

/weeps! ;'(

Oh wow, it looks like you're going to be having some fun with your new lens. Enjoy!

Very nice job. Eyes are incredibly hard to do, especially withOUT a macro. The two best attempts at my own eye (which are completely devoid of youth and far from wrinkle-free, even at my age) are here:

http://www.fabricated.ca/stuff/My_Eye2.jpg
http://www.fabricated.ca/stuff/BlueEye3.jpg

I like the fact that in your shot, the eye itself is nearly completely obscured, and yet still discernable.

I'm pretty impressed with this as one of your first macro shot. I've tried to do a few of my girlfriends eye with no luck.

One interesting thing you can do to get a cheap macro effect would be to take any of your lenses off your camera and turn them around completely (shoot through them backwards)

It's fun to play with.

Dave,

Whatever... perfect.

Wish I woud have such difficulty ;)

Abstract yet brilliant.. Reminds me of that shot you did, head down in black and white

http://www.chromasia.com/iblog/archives/0412142147_clean.php

In fact the first image I ever saw on your site. A true masterpiece.

tech stuff

what lens is it?

i'm looking to get a canon ef extension tube. 25 i think it's referred to as. i hate spending more than i have to....

Very nice. Makes me so much more excited for my 100mm f2.8 that I have been promised in May. 3 months. 96 days to be precise! Whee!

I love the hair. It's almost like a radiograph.

Awesome dreamy capture David. BTW got my 20D this month :)

I must admit, when I first saw this, I thought it was a Barbie or some other doll eye. Pretty impressive that your daughter could be still long enough for you to shoot this!

David, I'm interested as to why you decided to buy this particular lens (not that I think anything about is bad, just because I'm interested in your thought process, as I'll hopefully be buying some real glass too in a few months). I think I'm right in saying that you only own Canon lenses, so have you ever considered third-party variants or from your experience is the quality of Canon lenses hard to beat?

Also why this focal length? If cost wasn't an issue, woud you have preferred the 180mm f/3.5L? Or perhaps it's something to do with the distance front the front of the lens to the subject being too great?...

Talking of which, how far away from your daughter were you when you took this? Cool photo btw.

Very nice. I like the colors in this. The almost high key feel to it adds to the sense of innocence. And it doesn't hurt that your daughter has beautiful eyelashes, so long and thick. The strand of hair falling across the lashes disturbs me a little, and I would sort of like to see just a tiny bit more of the eye, but I can understand how hard it is to photograph little ones who are always on the move. Gorgeous.

Macro shooting is great, and macro with a macro lense is hit or miss.

Nice picture, as usual, but if I may add a comment, I would say that this would have been great with a mid-format camera with a very luminous macro lense.

I'm officially jealous! Very cool!! I gotta get me a macro lens!

Thanks everyone.

tobias: it's odd you should mention that shot as this is the same daughter. For some reason that I can't work out I find her the easiest to photograph of all of our daughters, which is odd, because she's by far and away the least co-operative and most jumpy of them all. As for the lens, it's the 100mm f/2.8 macro.

Amit: congrats - you'll have fun :-)

Daaave: I went for this lens for a couple of reasons. First: from the reviews I've read all the Canon macro lenses outperform the 3rd party alternatives. Second: I got the 100mm rather than i) the 50mm because it has life size magnification and a longer working distance, and ii) the 180mm because it's over twice as expensive and was beyond my budget. And I'm not sure how far away I was as I haven't got used to the lens yet but I guess about four inches.

Richy: I'm not sure what you mean by a "very luminous macro lens".

Beth: I've only used it for a day but I can see this turning into one of my favourite lenses. If you can run to one I'd definitely recommend getting one.

Nice shot David, I'm sure you're enjoy your macro lens, it opens up a whole new world.

Here's a macro lens on the cheap, my homemade bellows lens, but don't expect super sharp optics. Plus you must have an understanding subject, since you sometimes need to lean in and out for proper focus, you wouldn't want to bump them.

I've had good experience with extension tubes and another trick is to turn your lens around and shoot through it backwards. Not sure if you digital guys want to try that one or not, but it works great for manual film cameras.

Marcus: thanks for the link, your lens looks great. You might be interested in this lens, a home-made selective focus lens developed by John at orbit1.

yeh. John and Justin at chromgenic were my inspiration for creating my lens. Good stuff!

I just got one of those lenses myself. I've started using it for photos on my food blog, among other things. I look forward to seeing what else you'll do with yours.

Just by looking at those long dark lashes, I knew this shot was of your daughter.

My favorite of all your pictures (and I love most of them). I probably own you money since I have been using it as wallpaper for about a month now. Thanks.