A few from Wensum Park

It's good to see some flowers John. I'm sure you are going to get a lot of joy from the 100L.

We have the flowers in #1, #3 and #5 in our garden, I'm no good with names, my wife tells me they are Crocosmia (? Lucifer), Lychnis coronaria (common name rose campion) and Acanthus. I always find it difficult to find a framing that I like for those subjects - I'm always cutting something off!

I find the Day lily (hemerocalis) can be easier to frame. Personally, if possible (and I know it sometimes isn't) I'd prefer not to have the petals of the main subjects cut off by the edge of the frame.

Always nice to see a bee in flight.
 
GardenersHelper said:
It's good to see some flowers John. I'm sure you are going to get a lot of joy from the 100L.

We have the flowers in #1, #3 and #5 in our garden, I'm no good with names, my wife tells me they are Crocosmia (? Lucifer), Lychnis coronaria (common name rose campion) and Acanthus. I always find it difficult to find a framing that I like for those subjects - I'm always cutting something off!

I find the Day lily (hemerocalis) can be easier to frame. Personally, if possible (and I know it sometimes isn't) I'd prefer not to have the petals of the main subjects cut off by the edge of the frame.

Always nice to see a bee in flight.
Click to expand...

Thanks Nick, I have no idea when it comes to names of flowers, I just shoot and hope to get a decent result, but yes I am really loving using the 100L lens, just a shame that it is my Dads, and he will want it back at some point. :).
Today I took a visit to the Exotic Garden, where I saw some unbelievable flowers

IMG_9600 by JWAR1976, on Flickr

IMG_9623 by JWAR1976, on Flickr

IMG_9643 by JWAR1976, on Flickr

IMG_9663 by JWAR1976, on Flickr

IMG_9654 by JWAR1976, on Flickr

IMG_9621 by JWAR1976, on Flickr
 
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Jwar1976 said:
Today I took a visit to the Exotic Garden, where I saw some unbelievable flowers
Click to expand...

Once you start looking closely there are wonderful shapes, colours and textures to be seen.

I don't know if you are looking for CC, but in case you are, I have a couple of thoughts. If not, just ignore what follows.

It's very much a matter of taste, but for flowers I generally use smaller apertures than you used for these - all the way out to f/22 to f/32 sometimes, and most often in the region of f/13 or so. If you try this to see if you like the effect you may need to raise the ISO to keep the shutter speed up, but I believe you can go at least to ISO 800 with no problem with the 7D.

I'm wondering how you are focusing - manually or autofocus? For example in the fourth image from your second post the flower and the hoverflies are out of focus and the centre of focus appears to be on the front edge of a leaf to the right of, and behind, the flower. This makes me wonder if you are using multi-point autofocus and letting the camera decide where the focus should fall. If so, I'd be inclined to take control and use a single point, using focus and recompose where necessary. As with any closeup work, getting the focus centred at the right distance is important for good results, and multi-point autofocus can get it badly wrong where there is stuff going on in the background, which is often the case with flowers.
 
Some very nice flower shots. For me the pick would be the 2nd and 3rd of the second batch. I am of the preference opposite to Nick where I prefer wider F2.8 - F5 shots of flowers to give a more soft effect on the background.

As you are no doubt aware - some of the above would be improved if some of the flower was not cut off the edges. Going in close this is fine - and if normally looks deliberate this way like #2 in the second batch - but #2 in the first just looks chopped.

And why could you not get perfection with the first time out :p:D
 
GardenersHelper said:
Once you start looking closely there are wonderful shapes, colours and textures to be seen.

I don't know if you are looking for CC, but in case you are, I have a couple of thoughts. If not, just ignore what follows.

It's very much a matter of taste, but for flowers I generally use smaller apertures than you used for these - all the way out to f/22 to f/32 sometimes, and most often in the region of f/13 or so. If you try this to see if you like the effect you may need to raise the ISO to keep the shutter speed up, but I believe you can go at least to ISO 800 with no problem with the 7D.

I'm wondering how you are focusing - manually or autofocus? For example in the fourth image from your second post the flower and the hoverflies are out of focus and the centre of focus appears to be on the front edge of a leaf to the right of, and behind, the flower. This makes me wonder if you are using multi-point autofocus and letting the camera decide where the focus should fall. If so, I'd be inclined to take control and use a single point, using focus and recompose where necessary. As with any closeup work, getting the focus centred at the right distance is important for good results, and multi-point autofocus can get it badly wrong where there is stuff going on in the background, which is often the case with flowers.
Click to expand...

Hi Nick, yes CC is what I was after as what may seem a good shot to me, may not seem a good shot to others so am never going to learn if I don't post the results no matter how good or bad they are :). As for the Aperture I set it at 2.8 for the shallow dof, as for me a blurred background is sometimes nicer for certain subjects. For the focusing I am using autofocus, I haven't got the best balance when it comes with moving backwards and forwards to get into focus when snapping, let alone with an ultra expensive lens, so figured that until I get a tripod, then autofocus would be the way to go. You are correct with what you say about the multi-point auto focus, as before I took the camera out, there was a site that said about single point issues on styles of shooting & then explained about going into the custom features and enabling the expanded zone, so I have been using the expanded zone, rather than a single point.

ChrisA said:
Some very nice flower shots. For me the pick would be the 2nd and 3rd of the second batch. I am of the preference opposite to Nick where I prefer wider F2.8 - F5 shots of flowers to give a more soft effect on the background.

As you are no doubt aware - some of the above would be improved if some of the flower was not cut off the edges. Going in close this is fine - and if normally looks deliberate this way like #2 in the second batch - but #2 in the first just looks chopped.

And why could you not get perfection with the first time out :p:D
Click to expand...

Hi Chris, I was just looking at the original picture before I done PP and it wasn't one I had cropped, in the place I visited there wasn't much room to move back in certain areas without stepping on the flowers behind, so it was a choice of getting in really close, getting in not so close & crushing a different plant, or just not shooting that plant at all. So figured that seeing as I paid for entry, I would snap as much as possible. :D
 
ChrisA said:
I am of the preference opposite to Nick where I prefer wider F2.8 - F5 shots of flowers to give a more soft effect on the background.
Click to expand...
Jwar1976 said:
As for the Aperture I set it at 2.8 for the shallow dof, as for me a blurred background is sometimes nicer for certain subjects.
Click to expand...

I think it depends on the circumstances. Rather than hijack this thread I started a new thread, Aperture, DOF and background rendition for flowers.

Jwar1976 said:
... before I took the camera out, there was a site that said about single point issues on styles of shooting & then explained about going into the custom features and enabling the expanded zone, so I have been using the expanded zone, rather than a single point.
Click to expand...

I think for maximum accuracy in placing the centre of focus for closeups/macros you need to use either manual focus or a single focus point. The trouble with using the expanded zone, which has multiple points in it, is that the camera will decide which of the points to use. So to get the centre of DOF exactly where you want it, when using autofocus for closeups/macros, I think that means using a single focus point.

I recently found that using multiple points is great for birds in flight, where there tends to be a lot of separation between the subject and other things the camera might focus on so the camera doesn't get it wrong too often. With closeups/macros though there is often stuff around the subject which the camera may prefer to focus on. Also, you need to place the centre of focus on the correct part of the subject to get the best effect, and the camera may choose a different part of the subject (for example focusing on the near edge of an insect's wing rather than its eye, which is typically what one goes for.
 
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