2015 Project 52 by Geoff F - 2nd Quarter

[Geoff F]

Decided to try to improve my botanical photography with this challenge. I have regularly shot flowers etc but too often I'm thinking 'I could have done better'. So this is a chance for me to experiment and learn a bit more.

The first quarter is here:-

Project 52 - 1st Quarter by Geoff F

Week 14 - My first Bluebell of the year Plus a little spider; probably Meta mengei.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens 1/60 F11 Iso 400. Bluebells are a subject that I always find difficult; although all these flowers presented me with problems.

Dog Violet



1/40 F11 Iso 400 with my Sigma 180 macro lens. Shot quite a few violets from different angles and with various settings; so I thought I had everything covered, then when viewed at computer screen size I realised this image was the only one which showed the yellow centre. Getting the colour correct was another issue, even with a violet beside me I struggled. They appear to change colour depending on the light angle. I shot Raw with a custom white balance which gave me a reasonably close
starting point.

Wood Sorrel Another unassuming little flower which tends to hang head down and is difficult to get the exposure right.



Back to the 24-70 lens. I tried many angles with both lenses but finally decided this image which is a merge of two shots is the best I could achieve.

An a close up from the macro lens to show the flower markings.

[IzzieK]

How beautiful these all are, Geoff...the simplicity of these shots, apart from the Wood Sorrell is amazing! I do not like that much because it is too busy and looks messy...I particularly like the last one where you used your macro lens...because you shot the Wood Sorrell with its open bloom... simplistic but effective...

[deetheturk]

Very nice Geoff!

[Rebel]

Nice Geoff, flowers are not as easy to photograph as they seem.

[Shadowman]

Nice starting point, nice series.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for comments. With many wild flowers it is essential to also show the leaves, and often the stems, in order to obtain a correct identification. I had been getting a bit lax in this respect because most of my previous shots had been easily recognised species just from the flowers.

Week 15 - Bilberry and Forget Me Not

Some very small flowers (around 5 mm) which have caused me a lot of problems. Many shots were taken and most were quickly ditched. Over bright areas and background distraction was a real nightmare!

All are a merge of 2 or 3 different focus points.

Both subjects only worked under shadow plus a difflector and then required spot metering or exposure compensation plus quite a bit of editing to get the colour looking natural; or at least somewhere close to real life.

Bllberry.





Forget Me Not





All shot with 7D and Sigma 180 macro lens obviously using a tripod and on a calm day.

[bnnrcn]

Lovely images in week 14 and week 15 Geoff Your flower shots make me want to shoot macro , but I don't want to change the direction of my photography right now. Anyway, I will certainly try macro in the future, when I feel ready

[IzzieK]

Very nice theme this time around, Geoff...they are really suitable for ID.

[Geoff F]

Week 16 - Strawberry and Marigolds. Some more extra tricky challenges.

Well actually a Barren Strawberry (Potentilla sterilis)



7D with Sigma 180 macro lens. 1/30 F11 Iso 400. In shade plus a difflector so I thought I had done well until I saw the results on my computer screen; then I ditched the lot except this one which was really shot to show the leaves.

The small petals, which are more widely spaced than the edible Wild Strawberry, have very little in the way of texture.

A Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) which I attempt to photograph every year - and always go away disappointed.

Firstly the overall view which demonstrates some of the many potential problems with this scene, including having one foot in a pond with thick mud and decayed vegetation.



And a couple of close ups.





This is the first time I have shot this flower using a Difflector to dull the light a little and I think it has helped, although possibly I have also learned a little bit more since last year's attempt.

[Cantab]

The close-ups of the yellow marsh marigolds turned out well. The colour looks good (on my uncalibrated iPad!) and there is clear texture in the petals. Were all the photos taken at 1/30 - obviously no breeze!

[Geoff F]

There was a bit of breeze but I managed to work around the worst of it.

The overall Marsh Marigold shot was with my 24-70 lens at 1/200 F11 Iso 200 and the close up shots were with the macro lens; one at 1/125 Iso 400 and the other at 1/80 Iso 200. I dropped to F8 to avoid background problems then did a merge of two focus points.

[IzzieK]

Ooohhhh loves those close-ups very much...even the overview of the bunch of them...the barren strawberries, are they native to your place? We have wild native strawberries here and sometimes the birds eat the red little berries but they know better than I do which ones to peck at. I find them very sour...and tried to remove as much as I can of them because they overrun the place if I don't...

[Geoff F]

Yes Izzie, wild strawberries are a bit of a problem in my garden. They thrive where cultivated forms fail!

The tiny berries are indeed edible but you have to pick them at exactly the right time when they have developed some sweetness; and as you mentioned, the birds usually get there first.

Here is a photo of a wild strawberry flower from today to show the difference in 'petal design' between barren and wild strawberries.

[Barbara Ponder]

Such beautiful photos of beautiful flowers!

[IzzieK]

I was gardening today and I happened to see some of these near our rock structure...thank you for the further info.

Yes Izzie, wild strawberries are a bit of a problem in my garden. They thrive where cultivated forms fail!

The tiny berries are indeed edible but you have to pick them at exactly the right time when they have developed some sweetness; and as you mentioned, the birds usually get there first.

Here is a photo of a wild strawberry flower from today to show the difference in 'petal design' between barren and wild strawberries.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comments.

Another few days spent experimenting on tricky subjects which require light shade for photography; and with too many failures!

Some were simply too windy or other natural causes but I also messed up a few by having the wrong custom white balance. I had created a balance for shade but switched to AWB for other subjects and forgot to change back. After messing around and attempting to match photos against my memory of correct colour I decided to ditch the lot and try again another day. They were common species and my composition wasn't quite as required anyway.

About a month ago I showed a photo of Giant Horsetail shoots as they first emerged. Well here is the final fully grown result.

Week 17 - Giant Horsetails



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/60 F7.1 Iso 400 on a tripod in a muddy stream!

Tried many angles and all failed. Mixed lighting just doesn't work on these subjects. When part bright lit and part shadow, which is unavoidable, they looked terrible; and I couldn't get an acceptable background either.

Eventually I found some on a steep muddy bank beside a stream and in shade; so I waded down the stream and found a position where I was straight on at 'eye level' to my subjects. At least it was eye level when I knelt in the mud. It is a very wet site so I always wear 'wellies' there at this time of the year.

The result still isn't perfect but it was the best of many attempts. The biggest horsetail is about 14 inches high.

Glaucous Sedge or something similar. Looking for some alternative subjects I tried this odd looking grass.



180 macro lens. 1/250 F11 Iso 200. A merge of two focus points.

[IzzieK]

Both interesting...I remember your horse tail post because I asked about it...so this is how it looks like...seems very delicate. I have been wearing my wellies too when gardening each morning. That project occupies most of my day...I will upload some of the flower that I will be planting there...

With the second one, the white-ish little things at the bottom, are they flowers of this grass? Just curious...I like that you did not include any background at all, nice separation. Like it...

[Geoff F]

With that grass, Izzie, the smaller female flowers are below the males, which are at the tip; and are a different colour/shape.

I'm finding with this challenge that achieving the best background is very difficult. Sometimes it works best if some leaves are gradually fading into the distance while other situations require a very carefully controlled aperture to obtain sharp focus where required but leaving a totally blurred background.

That is where, when possible, doing a merge of two or three different focus points really helps.

The horsetails do look rather prehistoric.

I found them so difficult to photograph and show the delicate Christmas Tree like structure which has a shiny surface that was making sunlight shots impossible.

[Geoff F]

Week 18 - Early Purple Orchids

One of those days where I thought I was doing OK until I had a closer look at the results.

Started with some Early Purple Orchids but they were looking a bit tatty. The later orchid species are usually more photogenic subjects. In bright sunshine I was getting nowhere with areas of over exposure and deep shadow. Whatever I tried, such as adding shadow or using flash didn't quite work out.

But later in the day when the sky clouded over I had another attempt.



7D with Tamron 24-70. 1/125 F3.5 Iso 100. Yes, F3.5 for flowers. But a merge of two focus points. The background was becoming over dominant even after I had done some 'gardening' to remove the worst of it. So in desperation I went for a much wider aperture to blur the background; but still had to do some blurring during editing.

I wanted a fairly wide scene so the spotted leaves which are an important identification feature would be visible, but without too much background depth.

For another subject (there was only a choice of two small groups available) I tried my 180 macro lens but couldn't get a suitable angle so it was back to the smaller lens and F3.5 and attempting to clear more background area.



If I get another chance on a dull day I will try again but these blooms don't last long; and I preferably want some dull dry weather so I'm not lying in mud!

A merge of three shots but not quite right because I was concentrating on getting the bottom flowers sharply focused so missed that the top buds aren't quite fully sharp.

[IzzieK]

John...these are orchids. And grown outside? They look like small varieties. Are they native to the place? And you have winter with snow over there ? How do they survive during winter? I like both images, but I favour the second one despite the little blur at the top. When you do merge say like 3 shots, does this mean you shot the same with different aperture or different shutter speed then put them together in Photoshop? Or do you do stacking on three of them? Just curious...