Moon phase: Waxing crescent Weather: Perfect Phenology: Finally feels like fall This is one of the first photos I took with my new Nikon D40. I decided to get an SLR mainly because I needed a manual focus. Since I take so many close-ups of plants, not having manual focus made it really difficult to take pictures, and I wasted a lot of time trying to get the automatic focus on my Olympus to actually focus on the subjects of my photos. The manual controls on the Nikon have also allowed me to take better nighttime photos. This is Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota), otherwise known as the carrot. I love the geometric pattern made by the forked bracts.