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The overcast sky provided excellent testing conditions for my new Nikon D700, a great piece of equipment for close-up photos. For this test, I just wanted to use the light that was there and a tripod for most images. All these photos were made around our Portland home.

These blossoms, attached by green cap and stem, remind me of the structure of really old glass Christmas ornaments with a similar cap and wire loop used for hanging them on the tree's branches. Feels like Christmas in July when I look at these delicate flowers.
D700 Nikon 105 blossom close up flowers insect macro rain drops test yard
How much smaller can blossoms get? Not much?
D700 Nikon 105 blossom close up flowers insect macro rain drops test yard
Fading beauty, battered by the rain, but beautiful nonetheless. I've always had a fondness for blossoms less than perfect.
D700 Nikon 105 blossom close up flowers insect macro rain drops test yard
It takes some effort to get to these blossoms behind the pagoda dogwood, but it's worth it.
D700 Nikon 105 blossom close up flowers insect macro rain drops test yard
These hosta blossoms are a bonus for me. In the spring, I watch the new shafts slowly spear up from the winter ground and unfold to present beautiful blue-green leaves that can measure a foot or more in width.
D700 Nikon 105 blossom close up flowers insect macro rain drops test yard
So the hosta blossoms wait for pollinators distracted by and busy with an abundance of blossoms around the house.
D700 Nikon 105 blossom close up flowers insect macro rain drops test yard
I don't know the name of this fly-like creature, but it stayed so long as I examined it for the right image angle that I imagined it waiting to be paid a modeling fee.
D700 Nikon 105 blossom close up flowers insect macro rain drops test yard

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