Yesterday on my early scooter jaunt to the beach, the roses were looking rather tattered from the days of rain and wind. The fully open blooms were almost all missing at least one petal. The partially open blooms had weathered the storm in better trim. The low angle of the morning sun really picked up the water remaining on the roses from a night of rain, as well as bringing out all the warmth of the deep pink petals. I like this shot for the wet rose, but also for the detail in the sky behind. Alright…there is not a lot of detail in the sky behind, but the fact that there is any at all adds a lot to the image, imho. In fact, I was amazed when I got the image up in Lightroom to see any there at all. The sensor and the processing engine in the Canon SX40HS continues to amaze me.

For contrast, I provide a white beach rose, also wet, also with a bit of detail in the sky behind it. Here you see how yellow the center is in the morning sun.

Both shots use the Tel-Converter Macro trick. They are taken at the 24mm Macro end of the zoom for extreme close focus, but with the 1.5x digital tel-converter function engaged. That pushes the equivalent field of view to 36mm for a larger image scale. I like the effect a lot. You still get great depth of field and rich detail, but without pushing the lens so close to what you are photographing that you see the wide angle distortions (and risk getting water on your lens).

Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.  As above. Both at f4 and ISO 100. 1) at 1/250th and 2) at 1/1250th. I love that the Canon can maintain a full range of detail in this white flower!

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. 

A note on the rose since I got some questions on it yesterday. It is Rosa rugosa, an import form the far east, planted originally as an ornamental and to stabilize san dunes. It is now invasive all through New England along the sandy sections of coast. It forms low dense thickets on the land side of dunes, often extending for miles. It has been here long enough so most people think it is native. On Cape Cod, they make “Beach Plum Jelly” out of the hips. Just as an added note, it is super hardy and salt resistant, and hybridizes easily, so it is used extensively by rose culturist in the development of new varieties.