Tag: Macro Photography

Friday Floral – Reflectors and An Odd Find

Published on by tbeckerphotos2 Comments

Last Friday I wrote about shooting Iris on Earth Day at Boyce Thompson Arboretum.  Another flower that I photographed was an odd find and quite the surprise.

Tucked away in a shady spot was a large container with an Amaryllis in bloom.  The Amaryllis looked out of place, as if someone had just put it there without any rhyme or reason.  There were so many beautiful orange-red blooms!  I think of this as being a Christmas flower, not something you would see in bloom in late April.

 

The first image was shot in full shade with no reflector or flash. Although the light is even and soft and the red blooms vibrant, it seemed a bit flat to me when making the image.  The background has a nice blur, but the image looks 2 dimensional and not what our eyes would see.

 

 

 

For the next two images I pulled out my 5-in-1 reflector and chose to use the gold side.   I held the reflector up and to the right of my camera creating side light.  In these images you can see shadows giving the images the look of 3 dimension as our eyes would see.  The orange-red is a richer color and by using the reflector on the flowers, the background is darker making the flowers pop even more.

 

 

 

 

This third image I was able to get rather close and really show the texture on the stamens.

 

 

 

 

I chose to leave the images untitled for now.  Leave me a comment if a title(s) shouts out at you!

You can click on each image below to see a larger view:

Going Light

Published on by tbeckerphotos2 Comments

I have been busy in our yard pulling the once beautiful wildflowers that have now turned brown and dry as can be.  Also the last two weekends on impulse I have purchased an heirloom Amish Paste tomato plant, three 6-packs of flowers and a pink night blooming cactus.  All have need to be transplanted and tended to in order to not go into shock. With all that going on I hadn’t been to the Desert Botanical Garden since last Wednesday.

Late yesterday afternoon I decided to go the Desert Botanical Garden to scout more night blooming cactus and to see what else had bloomed since my last visit.  With the warm temperatures I knew there would be cactus blooms that I had missed.  Since my goal was to scout the garden, going light with just my Nikon Coolpix P7000 was my choice of gear.  Would I regret going light?  A few times yes, I was seeing some incredible late afternoon light and even one night blooming cactus that had opened way early in the day!

Instead of being upset that my DSLR and macro lens and tripod were at home, I made the situation a challenge. What images could I make with my compact camera?  No tripod and no 5 in 1 reflector/diffuser. Besides, how many articles have I read and told people you don’t have to have a DSLR to make a quality image.  There were some advantages of going light.  A few images I was able to hold my camera at arm’s length and make images that would have been impossible with my DSLR as you are to stay on the trail.  Also, it was a very warm afternoon and with less gear, I was able to move through the garden much faster and not be too hot.

The  Nikon Coolpix P7000 does shoot in RAW and has quite a few functions including macro and some of which I have forgotten and should read the manual again.  The current model is a Nikon Coolpix P7800.

Here are six of the images from yesterday.  Even if you don’t have a DSLR and macro lens, you can make some great images!

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