Saturday, May 24, 2008
Evening Epi

It's a great time of year, time for our Epis to really start blooming. This one lasts a little longer than one evening so I'm pretty sure it is a hybrid of some sort. In the wild they only bloom for a single night. The blossom is about nine inches at the widest. The cup of petals in the middle is about four across. It is quite an amazing sight and makes for some nice night-time photography.

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Mexican Tulip poppy

This is a new friend that followed us home from a nice little nursury in Montecito. Nursuries are a dangerous place really, we only have a small backyard and it is getting pretty full.

Last week a similar thing happend with a Passion Flower vine and a dwarf Fingered Citron tree. Both of which will be featured on the Photo of the Day in the near future. Just as soon as their blossoms get a little further along.

Sunday, April 20, 2008
Sun Star Bloom

Well it's that time of year the Sun Stars are in bloom! This is a beautiful Orange hybrid related to a Star-of-Bethlehem. This particular flower was my first one. It took a rest last year, but it is back strong.

If you landed here looking for care and feeding of your new plant take a look at the Sun Star page. And my earlier shot from the first time this one bloomed. Most importantly, it's a perennial bulb, so No!... you did not kill it! It dies back every year down to the bulb. And pretty fast after it's done blooming! If you're looking for one, they are available as live plants now. Or you can get bulbs in the fall. I've had a few requests for sources of bulbs so I'll try to get some links online soon.

Saturday, April 19, 2008
Tulip Feather

More plants followed us home from the grocery store the other day. One of them was this beautiful Tulip. The bellows was still out from the recent Ladybug fest so this shot was inevitable really.

Saturday, April 12, 2008
Break time for the farmworker

Another lady bug fresh from work on our epi farm. They are doing a great job, the aphids are virtually gone! So she (he?) deserves a break. This is a rose from our first anniversary. Lasted well didn't it? Well, it helps to buy the bush rather than the cut flowers. :-D

Unlike the Ladybug from yesterday I shot this one with a macro lens attachment and no bellows. This was the closest I could get as compared to yesterday when I was actually at the maximum focal distance of the bellows. This way I can get a little bit of the beautiful surroundings. Oh, and as you can probably tell it's dark outside. I was using a hand-held light to get these shots. I'ts best to release the lady bugs in the evening unless you just want them to fly away.

It was interesting though, they were much warmer and therefore much more active tonight. It finally got to the point where I had to go inside because I was covered in ladybugs. Fortunately these don't bite unlike the apparently carnivorous ladybugs in the farm country where my parents live. When the farmers harvest the fields the ladybugs run... and then they descend upon my parents' house in a swarm.

Friday, April 11, 2008
Lady in the Epi

The ladybugs seem to really love our epis. Probably because when they start to bloom (the epis, not the bugs :-D) there's a lot of nectar around the buds. The nectar seems to attract aphids. This time we tried to get the jump on them. We bought a small bag of ladybugs from the hardware store. Of course I was not going to let them go until the camera was ready!

I used a bellows to get close enough for this shot. The whole background of the shot is the same flower that the ladybug is sitting on.

Monday, February 11, 2008
Ranunculus Close Up

It may not seem like it, but I have finally got off the sofa to start to take some pictures again. This was during a nice walk through a local nursery the other day.

I appreciate all your kind notes and thoughts over the last few weeks. Zoe's still a great inspiration. I think of her often when we are out and see something beautiful like this, or the amazing flowering pear trees that are covered in white blossoms right now. The kind of things that she would have got me out of the house to take pictures of. Now it's all up to Tweetums to get us out of the house once in a while! I wonder if he would like to go out for a walk? ...hmmm

Sunday, November 25, 2007
Orange Gerbera Closeup

More beauty courtesy the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market.

Monday, May 28, 2007
Poppy Seed Pod

No, it's not upside down! Well, the photo's not anyway, the flower is.

This is the same flower from the Photo of the Day on the 20th. By the looks of things there will be poppies all over the place in our back yard next year.

I like the "cross section" look of the flower. And the ruffled edge of the petals too.

Sunday, May 27, 2007
Kalanchoe & Star

I was tinkering with using the Kalanchoe as a nice backdrop to get some shots of the green tipped Sun Star blossoms. In the end I was happiest with the shots that had them both in the mix. I really like the Kalanchoe in this shot because one of the flowers in the upper right has five petals. There are hundreds of blossoms and only two of them have five petals. The rest all have four.

Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Rose Shadows

I particularly like the shadows of the stamen on the petal. The sun was cooperating very nicely on this one!

Friday, September 22, 2006
Rebel Cyclamen

A few months ago we put some new plants in near our front door. Among them were a few white Cyclamen and one purple one. The Purple one was right next to this white plant but it did not seem to do so well. There is not much left of it above ground But it has managed to make it's presence known. (they are tubers, so hopefully it is still down there)

These plants are interesting and beautiful anyway. The flower is actually pointing down and the petals turn around and point up. (called "reflexed petals") But this little addition has made this one of the more interesting plants in the front yard at the moment!

Thursday, August 31, 2006
Daisy Study

I really like this shot because, not only can you make out the individual flowers in the center of the daisy, but you can see the different stages of their development. In the center they have not opened yet, but has you move out you can see the stages of the flowers' development.

This is not the first time I have enjoyed the structure of a daisy on the photo of the day.

Thursday, July 27, 2006
Neighborly Rose

One of our neighbor's beautiful roses was peeking over the fence. Actually several of them are. We only have small yards here, in fact our neighbor's yard is actually a patio. But he makes good use of it. It is completely covered with roses in giant containers. This one is about 6 feet tall.

Sunday, June 11, 2006
Sharp Pear Blossom

There are pads on this cactus that are completely covered around the edge with blossoms. I have tried to get some nice shots that show the amazing quantity, but the beauty of the individual blossoms and buds keeps drawing me in closer.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Glowing Rose

I have been blessed with a good combination of skills that allow me to work from home most of the time. But, last week I was filling in for a friend who was on vacation. It is a difficult thing to get in the habit of going to an office when you don't normally do that, but there are rewards. This is an amazing climbing rose on the side of the building where I was working.

Wednesday, May 3, 2006
Cactus Feathers

Zoe took me for a walk today, as she has been known to do. We took a little different path than we normally do. We went past this beautiful Prickly Pear cactus up the street from us. It is about six feet tall and it is in a pot in front of a house near the street. It is pretty obvious by the health of the plant that the growth of the roots has not been slowed by the bottom of the pot!

I think the coloring on the petals makes them look like feathers.

Thursday, April 27, 2006
Minerature Rose XCU

I've been experimenting with studio lighting. Until recently most of my photos have been available or natural light.

This is a miniature rose, the flower is about an inch and a half across. Which explains why the water drops look so big.

Friday, March 24, 2006
Miniature Rose

Look what followed us home from the grocery store!

When we went to the store today we found a cart with miniature roses on sale for $1.99. That was too much to pass up! This guy and two of his friends got to come home with us.

Of course, that started me thinking about taking pictures. So when we stopped at the second store, I was immediately drawn to the flower display to a really different orange flower. Stop by the site tomorrow to see that one. :-D

Saturday, March 4, 2006
Poppy Pollen

There are not may California Poppies blooming at the moment. But the ones that are sure do put on a nice show.

It was the pollen that attracted me to this particular flower.

Friday, February 3, 2006
Sunrise Daisy

This one looks like a beautiful sunrise.

Thursday, February 2, 2006
Purple flower

The light is perfect on this beautiful flower, the angle brings out the texture of the petals. But, the Internet failed me on this one! I was not able to identify it. I'll keep lookin'.

Saturday, January 21, 2006
Soft Rose

This is an early photo I took when I first got my close-up lenses on eBay. The low aperture gives a nice softness that we have dubbed the "Fuzzy Flower Filter".

Saturday, December 17, 2005
Cosmos

So before I took the digital camera back (Canon EOS 20D) I thought I would really see how it compared to my trusty AE-1 and Velvia. I took it through some of my favorite situations, unfortunately it was a hazy day so the lighting was not the greatest. Then again, if it was perfect conditions that wouldn't make for a very interesting test would it?

This is the result of my flower close-up test, I'm pretty happy with it! And, of course, I already know it preforms nicely in low light with a moving subject.

I did, however, find a couple of weaknesses. Velvia is much more forgiving in high contrast environments, especially right into the sun. (Yes yes, I know, "don't take pictures into the sun". but that's something they just tell amateur photographers so they don't get frustrated) :-D     I do, however believe I would be able to overcome this limitation to a certain extent with a little more practice with the camera's finer controls.

The really interesting thing I found was the reloads. I liked not having to reload film, and I was dreaming about 4 Gig CF cards. Then the reality hit me. It is not the Card that runs out first, its the battery! I could not fill up the one gig card without killing the battery (and that's without the built-in flash). The only saving grace was the fact that the battery charged quickly. I assume it is the auto-focus that killed it so fast, and I can do without that in many situations so it is not a deal breaker. But this is an important bit of information for anyone trying to prepare for a long shoot, you have to invest in as many batteries as CF cards.

Lastly, I love the saturation of Velvia. But that is more personal preference. I would imagine that I may be able to compensate a bit for this too with enough experience with the camera. But I felt like my landscape and architecture shots were a little flat.

In the end, I am convinced this would be a worthy tool to add to my bag of tricks. I loved using it, and I believe it has some real strengths. But, as with everything, you have to choose the right tool for the job and in many situations that is still gonna be my AE-1.

(BTW Cosmos is from the Greek "Kosmos" meaning ornament.)