Macro flower photographs

[Letrow]

Hey guys, I'm new here to the forum. Just took this one a few days ago.

James, welcome. Nice photo. A bit of cropping in the upper left and lower right corner might make it even better I think, have you tried that?

[Letrow]

armeria maritima or sea pink or thrift (Dutch: Engels gras)

[tw0bears]

James, welcome. Nice photo. A bit of cropping in the upper left and lower right corner might make it even better I think, have you tried that?

Yeah, that's what the final image looks like. I didn't have access to the edited version while I was at work and was antsy to post it.

[Clactonian]

Still playing with my new toy ...



XZ1, ISO100, 1/640 f1.8, hand held, natural light.

[ktuli]

Mike - very nice. The square crop is perfect here!

- Bill

[MiniChris]

you might want to resize your photo as it is way big.

[ktuli]

Here are a couple trilliums

Red (sorry about the dark area, and the dirt on the petals - they're hard enough to find that I just had to photograph what I had)

White:

Hope you like them.

- Bill

[ScoutR]

Here are a couple of the latest thing to pop up in the backyard. Wild violets coming up in the lawn. The whole plant is approx 6mm high and the flower 2mm across. Both were taken with the 18-55mm kit lens with 6X close up filters.





Hope you enjoy them as much as I am enjoying the rest of this thread. Wish I had more time to comment on individual shots, there are so many beauties in this thread.

Wendy

[Dave Humphries]

Here are a couple of the latest thing to pop up in the backyard. Wild violets coming up in the lawn. The whole plant is approx 6mm high and the flower 2mm across. Both were taken with the 18-55mm kit lens with 6X close up filters.

Just goes to show that the photographer's committment outweighs having the best kit, well done Wendy.

The only minor criticism is the bright-ish blade of grass in foreground of #2.

Cheers,

[Donald]

Here are a couple of the latest thing to pop up in the backyard. Wild violets coming up in the lawn.

Gorgeous flowers, beautifully photographed. Maybe the second one could have done without the blurred petals in the background. But I don't think pulling them out just to get a picture could really be justified.

Katy was writing about lying on the lawn photographing violets. Well, here's it is.

[SpiderBob]

So here is the latest, what do ya think?

[Katy Noelle]

armeria maritima or sea pink or thrift (Dutch: Engels gras)

Peter, I've enjoyed your last few entries, again. Really lovely!

I'm sorry that I never responded to your brightening of that other photo (and I'm sorry that I'm not specifying which one - I think it was on pg.5 - you know the one I mean.) The thing is, I still don't know for myself what to do with those post processing situations. I liked both.

[Katy Noelle]

Here are a couple of the latest thing to pop up in the backyard. Wild violets coming up in the lawn. The whole plant is approx 6mm high and the flower 2mm across. Both were taken with the 18-55mm kit lens with 6X close up filters.





Hope you enjoy them as much as I am enjoying the rest of this thread. Wish I had more time to comment on individual shots, there are so many beauties in this thread.

Wendy

Gorgeous, Wendy! and, so clear....

(See, Donald! I need violets in my lawn, too!)

[Katy Noelle]

Still playing with my new toy ...



XZ1, ISO100, 1/640 f1.8, hand held, natural light.

This is really a beautiful specimen, Mike! Garsh! I love the colors. The only thought would be, what if the dof extended to include the very center portion, too. It's beautiful - it looks like satin ribbon, I think. Then, it might add a little more "weight" and interest of detail to catch us. Do you know what I mean, I hope and what do you think? I do like it as is, though.

[Katy Noelle]

Trout lily in the woods.





My very humble first real offering.

So, this is my observation about early spring flowers. They're all really short! My tripod doesn't really work in these situations. What do the rest of you do? What about that gorillapod thingamajig? It's impossible to do anything truly macro when it's hand held.

[Peter in Italy]

Not really macro, sorry. D90 with 105mm f2.8

[Letrow]

Peter, I've enjoyed your last few entries, again. Really lovely!

I'm sorry that I never responded to your brightening of that other photo (and I'm sorry that I'm not specifying which one - I think it was on pg.5 - you know the one I mean.) The thing is, I still don't know for myself what to do with those post processing situations. I liked both.

I know the one you mean. I liked the last version better and thought you were right. The white should pop.
Been doing some photography in Brussel during the weekend (not macro). Everything around me is growing so fast now that I don't know where to start. And I have to wait till the weekend, too much work at the moment.

[Clactonian]

The only thought would be, what if the dof extended to include the very center portion, too.

I have to agree Katy, but in truth I'm surprised to get anything in focus. The rules are the same with any camera and hand holding a compact trying to gauge what is in focus, yet alone dof, using the rear screen at arms length is near impossible. A tripod, and some form of remote shutter release is really the only sensible way forward. Having said that, I was quite impressed with with what in truth is a quick snapshot to see how good the auto close focus works.
My conclusion is that at a push my pocketable little XZ1 is going to give me a fair chance of getting the shot, if that's all I have with me.

[Katy Noelle]

You are right, Mike! I didn't see the little bit after the photo about it being handheld. I have been reading along, though, about your new "toy". That's pretty nice! Have fun, then!

[ScoutR]

So, this is my observation about early spring flowers. They're all really short! My tripod doesn't really work in these situations. What do the rest of you do? What about that gorillapod thingamajig? It's impossible to do anything truly macro when it's hand held.

Katy, if you like the violets (or anything else I've posted in this thread) they are all hand held. Get yourself some old feedbags or Sunflower seed bags or whatever to use to lie on when you are trying to shoot short flowers.

For the violets it was raining and I was laying in the wet grass on a couple old sunflower seed bags. Actually if you don't mind getting a bit dirty, you can steady yourself quite well for the low shots. I would never in a million years have the patience to set up a tripod for shots like these (or any other shots for that matter). Good grief the DOF is so shallow that you would just get set up and a gentle breeze would come along and mess everything up. or you'd tighten the controls on the tripod only to find that was just enough to get things out of focus. I will admit that if you have the patience and the skill to set up a tripod shot the results will be much sharper, but it's not my idea of a good time that's for sure.

Just my 2 cents, I know everyone says a tripod is a must but I wouldn't let the lack of a tripod stop you from getting the shots you want.

Wendy