A Few Arboretum Flowers from July

In July I took two quick trips to a local arboretum for flower photography.  All of these are a result of focus stacking of up to 24 images.

Some of them are a bit blurry in a couple of places.  In particular the first pink flower could have used one or two images closer to the camera, as the nearest petal is out of focus.

Here are the best of the bunch.

Unfortunately closes petal is out of focus.

(Though on Instagram I suspect it is not noticeable.)

"The Loner" 

Soon to be Raspberries (?)

New Lens and some Fresh Flowers

In my last post I talked about the new (for me) Olympus lens I now own.  It's the 40-150mm PRO F2.8 zoom (80-300mm-full frame equivalent).

Here are a few shots from our local public arboretum.  All were done at F2.8 using the focus bracketing feature onboard my Olympus E-M1.  All were shot with 25 images.  I focus on the closest part of the flower and the camera does the rest, moving the focus point further away in small increments until 25 images are recorded. I do often discard one or more of the photos at the end of the series if by then the images were focused past the flower. The total images used in creating the images below ranged from 8 to 24. The images were stacked and processed in Lightroom and Photoshop.  It is a rather lengthy process.

These are all hand held, but I do use a little fold-up stool for low shots.  I sit on it and rest my elbows on my knees. I do have a tripod (not a fan), but usually leave it in the car (on purpose).

Tulip

Veronica

Grape Hyacinth

Apple blossoms

White Trilliulm

Very pink Trillium

I'm not sure yet what kind of fruit these will be.

Yup, just your basic Dandelion

Pink Trillium

Two Photos: It's Amazing what a Kiss of Flash can Do

Two days before Christmas we had weather conditions that resulted in 1/4” of ice over everything. It rained all day, but the air temperature at ground level was near 20F.  It was a mess.

Also going on, I had been watching our dogwood tree for the last couple of months, as buds slowly formed (not a good thing) in November due the record breaking warmth (i.e. warmest November in history).  Now I could see that these buds were topped or encircled with a layer of ice. This is all very unusual; and I thought the juxtaposition of the buds and ice made for an interesting nature story. It was also quite attractive. Definitely, it was a scene worth documenting.

I grabbed the camera that I had all set up for the indoor Christmas Eve photographs that I hoped to capture that night.  It was the Panasonic GX80/85 with Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 zoom (24-80mm equivalent). Since the little Olympus FL-LM-3 auxiliary flash was already in the hotshoe, I figured why not try it?  I was stunned by the results.  I am not saying this is “great” photo, but it is definitely interesting and tells a nature story. I really like how the direct flash was able to bring out the colors of the buds. This is technique I need to remember in the future.

Below:  Though I like both of these images, I'm thinking now I should have taken the time to shoot some images using F5.6 or F8 for greater depth of field, albeit with reduced background blur.  These were taken at F2.8.

"November Dogwood Buds and December Ice"

Panasonic GX80/85 with Olympus 14-40mm @ 40mm (80mm equiv)

1/160sec, F2.8, ISO200

Olympus FL-LM-3 Flash (TTL)

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One Photo: Wabi Sabi

Wabi Sabi? Up until a month ago I had no clue as to what that means. I hadn’t even heard the term, and I don’t think I’m alone in this regard. In fact, I see that my iPad happily accepts my spelling of “Wabi” but it wants to replace “Sabi” with”Sami” or “Saab”. 

I first heard the term when my local photo club decided to make “Wabi Sabi” the assigned topic for December.  I am sure, like me, that many of my fellow club members went right to Google. (And I found out later that December’s judge did as well!)

Even now, I’m not sure I've got a very good handle on this phrase. From what I understand, it is based on a traditional Japanese acceptance of beauty as being imperfect.  Terms like “flawed beauty”, “beauty that comes with age”, “patina or wear” came up as I read about this traditional Japanese aesthetic. 

I think there is a lot more to this phrase than I’ve indicated above. I believe it gets into the realm of religion, philosophy and religion.

That being said, below is the image I submitted for consideration. The judge liked it too; though he and I might both be entirely clueless. 

"Ferns" for the Assignment: Wabi Sabi

Panasonic GX80/85 with Olympus 12-100mm F4 zoom @100mm (200mm equiv)

1/320sec, F4, ISO200

Touched up in Lightroom