Flowers 2010

[Dr. Harout]

More and more beautiful shots.

[Birma]

Nice weeds Greg . If all of the weeds look like that then gardening is a lot easier - hehehe.

Also, lovely californian sunshine colour sury. I think we have a couple of the second plant in our garden, but it never looks as good as that here in the UK.

[Birma]

I had an hour or so to spare yesterday afternoon while my daughter was taking her nap and so I thought I would try and grab a flower shot or two. It was very breezy in the garden and so I decided to try some "portrait" shots in doors using the light from a window. I discovered that large sheets of watercolour paper make great diffusers / reflectors, and that my wife's tapestry frame makes a great backdrop holder . Shot with the Min AF 35-70 in macro mode.

[Greg Beetham]

Hey, that's pretty decent yellow on yellow overlap there Birma, I have run into trouble with yellow on occasion. I think I like the purple background slightly better than the blue one, although the blue certainly stands out..the lighting is good too, no pesky shadows anywhere. What's next, a little macro studio table with acrylic sheeting and a couple of flashes, reflectors, stands, lights?....yay....
Greg

[aster]

Hi,

Some from my bee quest ... when no bees to shoot I went for the blooms..

Very lovely photos everyone!

Yildiz

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[aster]

Hi Rosearodoe,

Welcome to the forum. It's great to have you among us! Looking forward to seeing your photos when you can find some time to post them here.
The tulip bulbs are sown around December in Istanbul. By March they start showing up with their green stems with small buds and blade-like leaves and in April they are in full bloom. They don't need much care but a good soil makes them last for quite a long time till all petals fall off and the leaves are dead.

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Cenwyn;

That's a lovely shot of an Amaryllis. Especially the second post is full of intricate details.

Thanks for sharing.

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Greg;

I would say "nice weeds" but I won't, because the second one espacially is a flower that can grow into a beautiful bush and we actually have to by the seedling from a florist here. It makes nice, colourful borders but have no fragrance.

The birds are doing you a good service by dropping of seeds from around the world!

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Sury;

Nice sharp shots. The second is known as paradise bird or something of the like and you captured them nicely.

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Birma;

The first shot's details and colours on the flower is neat. Very 'noble'! A white or pearly-white background may also work for this flower. I think B&W conversion would look good too with so many neat details.


Thanks for sharing everyone! Keep the bloom spirit alive in you...

Yildz

[Birma]

Thank you Greg and Yildiz. I will try a B&W conversion later on.

Lovely rich, warm colours Yildiz - I can feel the Istanbul spring sunshine through the pictures .

[Greg Beetham]

It looks like Istanbul is fast approaching being a city of flowers now Yildiz, and that might make finding bees even more difficult, with so many flowers around and more out in the countryside as well, they might be spread a bit thin....Love those Tulips..
Greg

ps. Those other nice flowers look very vivid, are you experimenting with saturation a little? it might be my monitor settings of course, although I have tried to get it as accurate as I can, but I'm never sure how accurate it actually is. My camera rear screen looks slightly different to the monitor and the monitor looks slightly different to a printout, and the print doesn't fully agree with either but strangely enough looks close to the real thing....I don't think I've ever seen them all agree with one another...

[aster]

It looks like Istanbul is fast approaching being a city of flowers now Yildiz, and that might make finding bees even more difficult, with so many flowers around and more out in the countryside as well, they might be spread a bit thin....Love those Tulips..
Greg

ps. Those other nice flowers look very vivid, are you experimenting with saturation a little? it might be my monitor settings of course, although I have tried to get it as accurate as I can, but I'm never sure how accurate it actually is. My camera rear screen looks slightly different to the monitor and the monitor looks slightly different to a printout, and the print doesn't fully agree with either but strangely enough looks close to the real thing....I don't think I've ever seen them all agree with one another...

Thank you Greg,

I think we're more lucky with bees this year. I wasn't able to see this many last spring. I'm glad that they are here with us and have no intention of deserting the city and its flowers.

About saturation, I can't of course see how they appear on your monitors to tell the difference but I actually had to reduce the saturation level by -1 to regain some of the details for all those photos. I don't know the English name for these but they are this vivid in real life as well. The pink one also had, bright purple, bright indigo-blue, bright red and some other colours of the same flower planted next to it. They are so vivid, you have to come closer, watch the bees that are atracted to them or touch the leaves in order to believe that they are actually alive...and happy to be alive!

Same for the reds of the red brake lights and red tulips of the street; -1 went the saturation amount.

Yildiz

[Rosearodoe]

Doc, Yildiz, Greg, and everyone,

All of your shots are just beautiful. So crisp. clean, and so colorful. Well Done!! We do not have the large variety as all of you do, here in Michigan right now. We are just getting few of our fruit trees in bud and a few blossoms right now, not quite full spectacular bloom yet in the orchards or in our yard. But it is only April here, with warm and cool days and cool nights, with chance of frost to come. Hopefully, after the fruit trees are done, so we have fruit this year.

I have sent in a message as to the problem to Mozilla and foxfire for help with uploading attachments so it does not crash while doing so. Hopefully, it will be repaired shortly and I can upload and share my shots with all of you here.
Between the last two weeks I have the first vivid color of the violets to last weeks faded violets, daffodils, and a wild turkey too who dropped by on Holy Saturday in our yard after the rain storm.

Sincerely,

Rosemarie

[UrsaMajor]

I do not have any images of flowers that can begin to compare with some of the photos that have previously been published here. However, I do have a flower image that I happen to like very much because it appeals to my - admittedly somewhat strange - sense of humor. The following picture was taken with my Minolta A2 while on vacation in Canada in 2005. It was taken at the motel at which we were staying at Lake Louise, and I have another shot which is almost identical except that my wife is in the image also.

It's quite possible that this shot will not appeal to others, but I enjoy it immensely for non-artistic reasons.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[Greg Beetham]

So those definitely weren't plastic Tom? anyone who can grow mixed flowers in a hanging pot that good is a master I reckon, and those are really really good, and well worth taking some photos of thats for sure.
I like the photo as well btw.
Greg

[Birma]

Hope your posting troubles are sorted soon Rosemarie.

Nice hanging baskets Tom. I never have the patience for all of the watering they need. I prefer plants in my garden that can compete with the weeds to survive .

[UrsaMajor]

So those definitely weren't plastic Tom? anyone who can grow mixed flowers in a hanging pot that good is a master I reckon, and those are really really good, and well worth taking some photos of thats for sure.

The flowers were real. The sign is attached to the railing of stairs leading to the second level rooms of the motel, so we could stand on the stairs and smell the flowers.

The image was taken in mid-summer when the weather was very nice and the temperature had been well above freezing for many weeks, which is why I was so amused about the combination of the flowers and the sign warning about snow falling from the roof. (In winter the snow can be several meters deep in that part of Canada, so there actually is a valid reason for the sign.)

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[Rosearodoe]

Tom,

You gave me a very good laugh with that shot. We here understand completely. Especially in the U.P. of Michigan where the houses are sometimes on built very tall stilts with many stairs to get to the door. I did not know this until my Father-In Law and husband had shown me in pictures and homes with those while we visited there. Thank you for the pretty flowers and the funny.

Sincerely,

Rosemarie