Close, closer, even closer! Winter offers a great opportunity for landscapes that look completely different from their summer counterparts. You could re-shoot all of your Spring - Fall locations in WInter and no one might notice it's the same places - maybe I have to try that one day!

Winter is also a great time to stay indoors and try out new things in the home studio. In particular macro photography can be so much fun. And the thing is, you don't really need a dedicated macro lens to get started. There are cheaper solutions like extension tubes that allow for great results and are way cheaper than a dedicated macro lens. For example this Kenko Extension Tube Set (this one is for Nikon, search for other brand compatibility as needed) will allow you to get as close as needed because they are stackable permitting you to get so close that lighting will be a problem. One thing about extension tubes that you need to keep in mind is that the lens will no longer focus to infinity like a true macro lens would. Not only infinity - you will be able to focus only within a really limited range. When you stack all of them, your focusing range may be about an inch, if that. But that's the purpose, getting close, right?

In this photograph, I used the above listed Kenko tubes to get extremely close to a hibiscus bloom. If you've seen a hibiscus bloom before you know how small the stigma pads are in real life.

Working in these high magnifications, getting the focus right is a bit different too. I like to place my camera on a tripod close enough to the subject to insure it can be focused on, and then I combine manual focusing and moving the subject back and forth to get just the right spot in focus. Forget auto-focus. If you are going to get more into this field, a focusing rail might be a good investment but then a macro lens probably would be too. So for a cheaper solution, moving the subject must do.

When you do get this close, depth of field is going to become a problem and a simple small aperture, even an f/22, may not be sufficient. You may need to reach for software solutions like Helicon Focus or similar.

Have fun!