07-24-12 Depth of Field

07-20-12 Star Gazing

It hard not to notice the star gazer lilies, which just bloomed a few days ago.

Hot Pink

I remember these as being more purple than pink when I spotted them in the garden. But in the post-processing, this is the color that my white balance adjustments got me. I can live with that. . .

Another View

I think this is the third year I have photographed this lilly and this morning when I took my tripod and camera out to the garden, my goal was to try to see this beautiful plant in a way I hadn't seen it before.I have said before that photographers have the power to define reality by framing the field of view in ways that the human eye and brain don't. Thus, we can show the "big picture" in a way that makes it interesting and we can move in close to show things that people wouldn't normally look at. This photo is an example of this, I think.When I took this photo, I stopped looking at the whole flower and instead looked at its parts, its lines and it colors. I also looked at how these parts related to the background. To me an important compositional element is the way the edges of the leaves define the green space in the middle.Is it a good photo? I'm not sure that I could ever answer that question about one of my pictures. All I know is that I feel I met my goal of giving people a new way to look at the stargazer lilly.

Lilly Pond

Sometimes an obvious post title jumps out at me. And other times, nothing strikes me. Such is the case today. "Lilly Pond" is pretty boring, isn't it?This photo, incidentally, is a departure from my normal style in that I rarely would photograph flowers in full sun. But waiting for shade wasn't an option. This pond is one of a couple at the Mission at San Juan Capistrano and I was there on a sunny southern California day at high noon. This isn't my favorite time of day to shoot any photo but actually, this brightly lit lilly came out OK. To get the selective focus, I set my camera on aperture priority, set the aperture to widest number (4.0) and then lowered the ISO. I let the camera set the shutter speed. Notice the bokeh in the background?

I Am Not the Artist

If you think I did something beyond point and shoot on this photo, you'd be wrong. I credit Mother Nature. But my 70-200mm 2.8 lens played an important role.The circular green swirls that seem to frame these lilies are actually out-of-focus lilly leaves. And, like so many shots I take, I didn't see this until I opened the photo on my computer.These lilies are long gone now, I'm sad to say. In fact many of the flowers in my wife's garden are waning. Fall is just around the corner and, of course, it offers many opportunities for photographers.It's the four or five months of winter that I find challenging. . . .Canon 5DII 1/200s f/2.8 ISO400 130mm

Macroscope

I don't know if "macroscope" is a word. But I've decided that my macro lens turns my camera into one. It is when I am looking though the viewfinder that I start to see things that I (and most normal people) would never take the time to see. An example are the lines that decorate this lilly petal.

Deep Purple

We have an amazing array of lilies right now so you'll have to be patient with me. I can't resist.

Completing the Trilogy

It may seem that I am posting too many photos of the same flower, but the first two (here and here) were details. In today's photo, I move further back so you can get the "sum of the parts." More or less. . .

Bedewed

Standing Tall