Posts in Category: flowers
Rhododendrons in the Sun: Happy Sunday. Happy Father’s Day
I have been patiently (okay, maybe “impatiently”) waiting out the rain and gloom of the past week…hoping for a sunny morning to catch the Rhododendrons in our yard. Though they are late this year, they are particularly lush…as though making up for lost time. The early sun this morning showed them off to good effect.
Sony NEX 3N with ZEISS Touit 50mm f2.8 macro. I am really liking this lens! It is sharp and contrasty whether used as a normal short telephoto (75mm equivalent) or as a wonderfully close focusing macro. Absolutely brilliant! Processed in Snapseed on my tablet. Panel assembled in Pixlr Express.
And for the Sunday / Father’s Day thought: twofer today! Not only Sunday but Father’s day to boot. Somewhere there is an even more beautiful display of Rhododendrons than in my yard at the moment. I even know where it is. At the tip of Mt. Desert Island in Winter Harbor Maine there is a world class Azalea and Rhododendron garden that I have visited several times in June. Now that is a display! But I am not there. I am here, in my own yard, and the Rhododendrons are beautiful enough to feed any soul…to set the spirit soaring…and gladden any heart. I have a lot, this Sunday / Father’s Day to be thankful for. 7 wonderful daughers, each as complex…as beautiful…and, in the end, as simple as a Rhododendron flower in the sun. Happy Sunday! Happy Father’s Day!
Worn Fritillery on Amazing Blue Flowers!
Today is both #floralfriday and #buggyfriday over on Google+. In hindsight, yesterday’s image of the Queen of Spain (?) Fritillery flying off the potted flowers would have been perfect! Almost as good as this one, taken in South-central Hungary near Kiskunsági National Park. This might be a well worn Heath Fritillery. I have had no success identifying the flower. By its growth it is probably classed as a weed, but it is certainly beautiful.
Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
Canada Mayflower
The Canada Mayflower, despite it’s being almost June now, and despite its name, is just coming into full flower the past few days. This is a bed of the tiny white flowers at Emmons Preserve in Kennebunkport ME. The flowers, close up, have an odd look, with the long white stamens just about overpowering the petals.
Main shot, Sony NEX 5T with the ZEISS Touit 12mm f2.8. Inset, Sony NEX 3N with the ZEISS Touit 50mm macro. Main shot is an in-camera HDR, processed in Snapseed for further HDR effect. Inset is processed in Snapseed, both on my tablet.
Trillium Triumph
It certainly seemed like spring was never coming to Southern Maine, and of course, when it came, I was away in Ohio at the Biggest Week in American Birding. Here we are approaching Memorial Day Weekend and the Trillium have finally bloomed at Rachel Carson NWR Headquarters. There is no sign yet of Lady Slipper, through the smaller forest-floor flowers of May have made a showing. There is hope.
This Painted Trillium was taken with the wonderful ZEISS Touit 50mm f2.8 macro, a lens I have on loan from ZEISS for a trip ZEISS is sponsoring next month. What a great lens. I have missed true macro focus since I stopped carrying my Canon SX50HS, and the sharpness and clarity of the Touit lens is certainly refreshing! With its 50mm (75mm in 35mm equivalent) focal length, it has decent working distances and yet is easy to handhold for field macros. I like it!
Sony NEX 3N with ZEISS Touit 50mm macro. ISO 1600 @ f13 @ 1/800th. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
Tulip Macro
I have the ZEISS Touit 50mm macro for my Sony NEX 3NL to try out for a few weeks. I have missed true macro ability with the kit 16-50mm zoom. This shot is just messing around in the yard yesterday. How close can I go? I used the “background defocus” tool in Superior Auto to get a smaller aperture and more depth of field, but that pushed the ISO up higher than I would have liked. Still, not bad for a hand-held, natural light shot.
Sony NEX 3NL with ZEISS Touit 50mm macro. f11 @ ISO 1600 @ 1/500th. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
Daffodil Up Close
The Daffodils in the yard are finally blooming…weeks late…but brave in the thin Maine sunshine. I went out the other morning, on my way to more challenging photo-ops down by the sea (I hoped) but I could not resist working the Daffodils. The back light coming in low made them glow.
Sony NEX 3NL with 16-50mm zoom. Macro (Superior Auto) adjusted for depth of field. f5.6 @ ISO 200 @ 1/160th. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
Maple Blossom Special
It is time for my yearly Maple Blossom post. I suspect that there are still a lot of people who do not realize that the Sugar Maple, our common Maple here in New England, actually blossoms, let alone that the flowers are so delicate and so beautiful. Mostly the flowers are a just a red tinge at the branch ends high overhead. It takes a fairly long telephoto to bring them close enough to appreciate. They do, of course, fall from the trees, and you do see them in the grass and on the moss underneath, but mostly the filaments are tangled and wilted by then…they have lost their glory.
This shot, processed for HDR effect, captures the luminescent red of the flowers against a gray spring sky. Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent plus 2x digital extender for 1200mm equivalent field of view. 1/800th @ ISO 320 @ f6.7. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
The Crocus of Spring
After our long hard Southern Maine winter, I almost missed the first Crocus. The snow was barely off the Crocus patch when I left for two weeks in Texas and California. I came back to find the Crocus beginning to fade. There is still one brave plant in full bloom, so, of course, I had to photograph it!
Sony NEX 3NL with 16-50mm zoom. Macro (Intelligent Auto Plus) @ 75mm equivalent plus 2x Perfect Image Zoom for 150mm equivalent field of view. In intelligent Auto, you can fine tune the settings. I used the “background defocus” tool to shift the exposure for the greatest possible depth of field. f29 @ 1/160th @ ISO 800. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
Texas Paintbrush
My day on the Bolivar Peninsula was mostly dreary weather-wise, but the light was excellent for photographing detail, as in these Texas Paintbrush flowers that lined many of the roads at the tip of the peninsula. After I had passed about my dozenth stand of them, I managed to get the car off the road in a sheltered spot and take a few photos. They are beautiful flowers, intense enough for even a dull day.
Sony NEX 3NL with 16-50mm zoom. Wide angle view at 24 mm equivalent . Close up at 75 mm with macro. The main challenge with the macro was, as is often the case, the wind. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
Little Green Metalic Bee in Heaven!
I think this flower is just Spider Wort. I found it growing at Galveston State Park yesterday morning. I had my screw-on macro lens attached to the 16-50mm zoom on the Sony NEX 3NL and was taking some Wildflower shots in general before I noticed the tiny Metalic Bee working the blue flowers.
Camera as above. ISO 200 @ 1/250th @ f8. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.