Flower Pics

stevo

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Post up your flower pics! :cheers:

All this photography talk got me motivated on the weekend to pull out the 40mm macro lense, I did have more success at it this time, and seems I just need to spend some more learning how to use it better.

Flowers are known for being a difficult subject to photograph because they move, a lot! There is always wind at the time you want to photograph a flower. Some people will secure the flower, tie it up with wire or something like that, or cut it off and put it in position. I usually try a tripod and wait for the wind to stop. This time It was relatively still day, for the last two photos, the purple one and orange one, I held the flower with two fingers while holding the lense with the other fingers, that made the flower steady to the lense.

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Mark

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Geez! That's amazing clarity. Love'em... How about those ants crawling in contrast to the pink stamens - great colours too.

I'm trying to figure out the flowers. So some are Kangaroo Paws? Lilly Pilly? Or, am I totally wrong? :dunno:
 

stevo

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cheers Mark. I figure everyones got flowers around that they can photo.
The Kangaroo Paws were done with the 300mm zoom lense. I think I should have increased the depth of field and shutter speed to get them a bit clearer.

Top yellow one and red and green ones I assume are Kangaraoo Paw, but I have the correct name at home I can get later.
Pink one is a Callistemon / Bottle Brush
Purple one is some weed ( but I thought it looked ok to photograph)
The last orange one is a Gravillia
 

Steve

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Nice pics Stevo.
The pink ones definately caught my eye. The ants give some added interesst to the shot and gives a good perspective of the size of the flower.

Yes I tried a while ago to get some close ups of plant life and it did my head in trying to get them to sit still long enough....very frustrating.
I also remember an overcast day trying to get a wide angle photo in a park and there was some long stem grass that kept swaying and bluring out in my pic. I had to keep playing with settings to get the shutter speed up higher and also wait for a lull in the wind.

Ah, all good fun and part of the challenge to get the shot that exists in your head into the camera.

Cheers,
 

stevo

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cheers Steve

challenge to get the shot that exists in your head into the camera.
Cheers,

yeah, sometimes it's easy enough when all conditions are right, rarely. They always look different when you view them on the computer!

PS. probably what makes a good photographer: being able to get a good shot in bad conditions?
 

Steve

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Here are some flower images I took in New Zealand: Bumble bee in a park, chrome dome in a garden, boys looking at Begonias, and last one is pink roses.

These are some great shots Mark.
I like the chrome dome one and the colours on the last couple are awesome.
I imagine the smell would have been special too.

Nice work
 

Mark

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These are some great shots Mark.
I like the chrome dome one and the colours on the last couple are awesome.
I imagine the smell would have been special too.

Nice work

Cheers Steve - I'm enjoying this photography section :) Learning lots too :thumbsup:
 

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In the lower part of this photo is the national flower of Tahiti called the Tiare. (pronounced Tee - are - ee) (or for those in the know, Gardenia Taitensis, thanks to google :smug:)
It is a very traditional symbol for the Polynesian people and very often worn behind the ear as a relationship status (worn on the left means your taken and right mean your available). My wife quickly learned this lesson thanks to the friendly locals kindly pointing it out :blush:.
It is extremely perfumed and grows straight out of the sand on the beach. Amazing. It must be one tough plant.

Tahiti Photos - all 401small 3.JPG
 
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Steve

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Nice work Mark. Both shots are very good. Good focus, lighting, exposure and composing, not to mention a shallow depth of field to blur out the background which brings the attention back to the subject. Awesome.

Are the two purple blobs on the bees legs collected pollen?

Did you shoot these on auto mode or did you venture into the manual mode?
 

Mark

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Yeah the sun was hitting the banksia candles just nicely on that angle so I ran up and got the camera - I took that pic on auto :blush:

The bee shot was done on macro (18-55mm) and the purple pollen is from the purple stamens of the coriander flower if you look closely you can just see it. It's amazing how the bee collects this pollen and sticks it on the back legs for storage. Flowering herbs are magnets for native stingless bees!
 

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- I took that pic on auto :blush:

That's cool Mark, it's how we learn.
A tip is that you should be able to right-click on the picture where you have saved it and see the EXIF data (Exchangeable image file format - but dont worry about the this mumbo-jumbo).
This data will tell you what the focal length was (how far it was zoomed in/out), the ISO (how sensitive to light the sensor was) , the shutter speed, and the appeture (how much light was allowed in) all for that one shot. See even on auto the camera has to set all these things but just does it a lot quicker than you and it doesnt always get it right either.
From that info you can start to learn what setting the camera will use on auto and that gives you a starting point. Some teachers say to take a photo on auto and see what settings it set and then switch to manual and set up the same settings and take another shot. Both shots should look the same. From there you can make adjustments to any of the settings and you should see the difference in the result.
It's just one way to learn your way around manual mode and get comfortable with it.

Whatever mate, just have fun taking photos. :cheer:
 

Mark

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ahh ok, just looks different to mine, and looks pretty big too. Maybe we need a "what's this?" thread to identify species :nuts:
They are pretty small - half the size of a honey bee. But yours are probably a different species - aren't there hundreds of different native bees in Aust?
 

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