Flower Power Thread

I know...weird right?!? I don't think I'll ever understand women...

Thanks :)

I think we have hit Wife/Partner moaning season... Why can't we just take pictures they like lol typical they say this at the start of peak bug season. :)
 
Hahahahaha! I guess it depends on the female doesn't it?!
 


Taken at Lake Barrine, Far North Queensland.

I figured I should probably contribute something to this thread! So may of the shots are phenomenal though.
 
:agree:

A couple from Pinsla Gardens yesterday, these are managing to still look very summery.

15245968075_6f2d97b83f_b.jpg


15245582262_859c57e074_b.jpg
 
We still have a few flowers in our garden. These were captured on Friday using available light with a Panasonic G3. It was rather breezy so I had to wait around to try to pick a moment when the flower was not moving (so much).

(Larger versions available on clicking through to Flickr.)


ISO 800, f/11, 1/160 sec

0596 16 2014-10-03 P1840630-Edit PSS4.80
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

ISO 800, f/10, 1/25 sec

0596 17 2014-10-03 P1840641-Edit PSS4.80
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

ISO 800, f/22, 1/30 sec

0596 19 2014-10-03 P1840660-Edit PSS4.80
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
 
Some really "Excellent" shots on this thread. I must admit up until now I'd totally missed the thread so I'll see if I can contribute something as well.(y)

George.
 
We had the first flower of the new season in our garden today. It is still mainly buds on the Camellia bushes, and they have been burnt a bit by the cold spell we have had in the past couple of days, as you can see from the blemishes on this one (many are worse than this) ...


0645 6a 2014_12_31 IMG_9242 LR
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

... but this one, the first to open, seems to have come through unscathed.


0645 1 2014_12_31 IMG_9204 LR
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr


0645 4 2014_12_31 IMG_9194 LR
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr


0645 5 2014_12_31 IMG_9200 LR
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

Captured with my newly acquired Sigma 105 macro on my 70D using a tripod and remote release. The reason the ISO is up at 400 for three of these despite using a tripod and remote release is that it was breezy. I tried to pick moments when the breeze had abated, but I wouldn't be surprised if the flower and bud were still slightly in motion while these were captured.
 
Great contrast between the cosmos flower and the green background. I'm intrigued how you managed to get the flower petals sharp but the background seems to have a lovely movement to it.
 
These were taken yesterday ...but slight cheating as it was at the Eden Project in the rain forest zone,

Cheating??? I don't think so, not even slightly. A good, and rare, photo opportunity, that's what I'd call it. :)

my lens kept steaming up so it was difficult to get clear shots.

Eeek!

I love the first one, the soft colours and focus and the composition. Lovely. Fascinating colours in the other two.
 
geeez which i could get my flower shots half as good

My poor effort



As i posted eleswhere I have 2 major problems, getting the DOF correct which is something I tend to overlook and dealing with a slight breeze, even with camera on tripod and remote shutter release

Thought about something like this

 
My poor effort

It doesn't look poor to me. I think it looks rather appealing actually. :)


As i posted eleswhere I have 2 major problems, getting the DOF correct which is something I tend to overlook and dealing with a slight breeze, even with camera on tripod and remote shutter release
Thought about something like this

Hmm. A plamp. I've got one but I've never found it very useful. It can be quite difficult to apply the clamp to the flower in a way that doesn't damage it. If you can though, it will stop large, swinging across and even in and out of the frame type movement, but I found that the flowers could generally still move in a breeze anyway. You need to clamp it far enough away from the subject so as to be out of the frame (e.g. down the stem a bit) and there will still be some flex between there and the subject, and in any case even if you have managed to keep the stem still, petals are likely to move in a breeze, especially those of more delicate flowers.

Actually, I've go two plamps, and I occasionally use them in bright sunshine to hold a fold-out diffuser/reflector, but not for holding subjects. I tend to use patience (waiting for a moment when the breeze dies down) and multiple shots (hoping to catch the subject when it is moving slowly enough not to spoil the capture). I do use slow shutter speeds quite a lot, and when it is breezy - not much choice really as I live in a notoriously breezy location. You have to live with a high failure rate and spending time sorting through to find good ones. Do that a lot though and you get quite quick at it!
 
@Bazza

A tripod and remote will not help with "freezing" moving subjects. A fast shutter speed can do that.

Re aperture;
If you are using a camera that doesn't give you a lot of control over DOF (like some P&S cameras)then all you can really do is;
#1 Fill the frame with the subject, or
#2 Use a point of view so you have a "clean", non distracting, background so you can isolate the subject (if that is what you want to do).

If you are using a camera that allows interchangable lenses try shooting with wide apertures and longer focal lenghts (if you want to isolate your subject).
Having a clean backgrtound also helps.
Almost all my flower photographs are shot in available light annd hand held.
I can post some examples if you lilke.
 
hi @realspeed I like that too, the flower is in focus and the background blurred, the only thing I an see wrong is that you've chose a flower that's slightly damaged and that's a bit of a distraction.

@GardenersHelper yes, that first one is my favourite too :) I love the rainforest zone ... it's changed so much over the years, I've yet to make it up to the new high viewing point, I must do that next time i go.
 
Last edited:
I love the rainforest zone ... it's changed so much over the years, I've yet to make it up to the new high viewing point, I must do that next time i go.

Oh, you get to go there repeatedly. You lucky person! :)

Perhaps we'll get down there one day. I hope so.

Thinks - if you are in the deep South West, you might have a really nice mild climate that is very good for plants. We have a particularly mild microclimate here on the edge of the Severn Estuary, and stuff grows here like mad compared to where we were before I retired, in Hampshire. (We're also very lucky to be on a small outcrop of Old Red Sandstone amidst all the limestone around here, which means we have soil that is sufficiently acid to grow Camellias, Rhododendrons and Azaleas, and we have several species of each.)
 
Last edited:
Richard T

I think I may have the right equipment ,that is a Nikon D800 and a Nikon D300 with shutter speed up to
1/8000 sec. Is that fast enough?

with a choice of lens from 12mm up to 400mm and from f1.4 to f5.6.


Susie

That was the best one in our garden at the time and i do like to shoot nature as is. Of course I could easily edit out the bad bits on the petals but decided not to
 
Last edited:
These were captured a couple of days ago in our garden.

Camellias are winter flowering, so buds and flowers are to be expected at this time of year ...


0650 3 2015_01_01,02 IMG_9637 LR
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr


0650 1 2015_01_01,02 IMG_9316 LR
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

... but Hebes' flowering period is May to June, according to the BBC Plant Finder. We have several Hebe plants and they have all had an isolated flower or two hanging on right through the autumn until now. But now one of them has started flowering profusely. Here are a couple of the new flowers.


0650 2 2015_01_01,02 IMG_9669 LR
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

And, according to the RHS, Hydrangeas' flowering period is late spring to late autumn. One of ours is still throwing out occasional new flowers.


0650 4 2015_01_01,02 IMG_9711 LR
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
As I have said maybe before my main interest is wildlife photography but decided to expand a bit hence flowers

 
Last edited:
The same principals apply (and I do shoot other things beside flowers) to lots of photographs

#1 No unwanted subject movemt
#2 No unwanted camera movemnt
#3 No distracting elements in the image (isolate the subject by controlling DOF and/or light and/or POV )

This was shot in a nearby university grounds last month (decemeber 2014)

Red by dicktay2000, on Flickr
 
I missed the last few shots ...not sure how o_O it's good to see a few flowers emerging even though it's still chilly out there.

I took a trip up to a small village church today and saw my first snowdrops :) I managed one shot and my battery ran out ...that was a bit annoying !

15735849433_7ab21c5625_b.jpg
 
Back
Top