Where is my left foot?

When in manual focus mode, using the thumb adjustment to set the distance to the shortest possible enables the camera to take photos of what is pressed against the lens. These little green bits were little flavor bits off of some chips we were devouring at the pool party on Sunday. You can see in the first photo my thumb is pressed against the lens, effectively making the camera a microscope:

(”Perhaps he’ll find something else to take really close-up pictures of?” A girl can dream…)

I’ve been using my new camera, a Panasonic FZ18, learning its ins and outs. I’ve been experimenting with the 18x zoom, long exposures and high-sensitivity mode: