Experimentation

In order to prepare our family trip to Alaska I decided to test drive a couple lenses in advance to see what I might like to use.  Mary's suggestion to visit the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for their Cocktails in the Gardens seemed like the perfect place to give this a go.  I've decided to go with the 18-300 mm telephoto zoom and not rent the 10mm-24mm wide angle.  My Nikon has a 18-55mm lense already which is actually pretty good.  I think taking the telephoto will be all I will need, and be able to manage for special photos.  Here are some of the photos from the Gardens.

I took this to show how close I could get-this isn't even fully zoomed in.  You can get an idea of distance in the photo below.

A chihuly piece

 I tried to capture this hummingbird but he was a little too fast, but I was able to get pretty close!

 More of the Atlanta skyline-I used to work just to the left of the tallest building.

The Earth Goddess is one of my favorite installations.  I got a really close photo, but the it was not very clear.

Another one of Chihuly's permanent installations

 

 Mary and I were pretty intrigued by the bog plants at the Skyline Garden, the Garden's latest addition.  The Venus Flytraps really do much fun to play with these plants!

Another carnivorous plant in this section was the sarracenia-insects are attracted by the color and nectar and then end up falling into the plant.

I know I still have some practicing to do with the lens, and fortunately I'll have it a few days before we leave.  In the meantime I'm going to get acquainted with my "big" camera again.