Flowers 2014

[aster]

That looks fresh from a nice shower, Sury.
A happy one to get the cleasing, it appears.... Lovely purple colour too.

Thanks for sharing.

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Hi Marcell,

The first and the second shots of the Snowflakes are very nicely captured with other little critter enjoying a day out. They have an extraordinary petal formation with the green dots weighing the whitel petals down.

Thanks for sharing,

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Hi Birma,

Congratulations on the new lens! You befriended it pretty well on the A99 from the looks of the shots captured.

The first looks like Plum Tree blossom. Probably will fruit around late June. The Primroses are excellent-looking as well.

Happy shooting and thanks for sharing,

Yildiz

[Greg Beetham]

I like the one with the spider Marcell.
The 135 STF sure produces bokeh well Birma it should be good for portraits as well. I thought those first flowers were like the Apricot blossom Doc took a picture of once (from memory) but I’m no expert, the peach, cherry and apple blossom all look fairly similar too my eye except some look pink instead of white, but then some that are usually pink sometimes are almost white too (in photos I’ve seen) so I don’t know if the photo was of the wrong thing or they change colour as they age or it’s just variation.
The Primroses are nice.
Greg
Ah I see Yildiz has beaten me too it and has a better idea of what they are.

[Marcell Nikolausz]

Nice bokeh with that new lens Birma.
Really nice

[Dr. Harout]

You beat me Andy. I have the same lust for the STF, a disease named eSTFomania... but, I have other similar disease entities, such as Curiositas febrilis ad mountus futurum, which when elucidated will put me on a healthy track.
I guess Photokina will solve that syndrome and I will know which path to follow, namely A or E.
Abu Richard (DK ) has already made up his mind, so has Frank and others alike, but I'm still undecided
Great photos, btw to all specially Marcell.

[Birma]

Thank you Yildiz, Greg, Marcell and Doc

Plum blossom would make sense as this area was once the plum capital of the country

I have had a quick look at it for portraits Greg and it's knockout. The down side with completely MF is that it you need to have a model with more patience than the typical 6 year old . On a tripod, with lots of time to focus, and the A99 focus aids, it's fabulous to use.

Those conditions sound serious Doc! . I agree that by Photokina we may have more information on which way to go. Having said that I must admit to having little GAS for a new body at the moment. The Nex 6 and A99 are great stable mates. Lens GAS? I fear that is still bad . Can you prescribe anything for people who want more prime lenses?

[Dr. Harout]

...

Those conditions sound serious Doc! . I agree that by Photokina we may have more information on which way to go. Having said that I must admit to having little GAS for a new body at the moment. The Nex 6 and A99 are great stable mates. Lens GAS? I fear that is still bad . Can you prescribe anything for people who want more prime lenses?

All I can say: an Aspirin a day keeps a doctor away...

[Birma]

I'll give it a try Doc . It'll be cheaper than feeding that particular demon

[Birma]

Much as I love the STF, it isn't really a lens for a light, carry around set-up. After reading many positive reviews I am trying out the Sony e-mount 50/1.8 (the world's fastest stabilised lens? well, that is what they said in LCE .)

Lots of spring blossom about and so here are some pictures while walking in a city park with the camera. All at 1.8 or 2.2. It was breezy so I was keeping the shutter speeds high, and the large aperture was just to see how it did. I'm please with these as 'walk-by' shots. It really is a nifty 50. With this and the Sigma 30 I feel I have a couple of very sharp, super light primes to accompany the Nex 6 when out and about. (An 85 or 135, say f/2.8 or may even f/4 would make a nice further addition, Sony .)

2014 Flowers - Park Blossom 3 by Birm, on Flickr

2014 Flowers - Park Blossom 4 by Birm, on Flickr

All Nex 6 with SEL 50/1.8

[Birma]

... and a couple more

The first is more blossom, although the wind was starting to shed the petals on this tree. The send is much lower on the ground - probably my favourite flower, the Forget-me-not. Got to love the flip out screen for super low shots like this!

2014 Flowers - Park Blossom 2 by Birm, on Flickr

2014 Flowers - Park Forget-me-not by Birm, on Flickr

Nex 6 with SEL 50/1.8.

[Greg Beetham]

Very artistic Birma, I quite like the less busy background in the first one, looks like your headed for the Japanese art style effect in that one. The second last one has that Japanese artsy look too, with the plain sky background, very pretty flowers, is the sky a bit bright in that one maybe, (it seems to be stealing from the flowers) I’d like to see how it would look with the sky a little greyer/overcast, but not too much though (just to make the flowers look a bit brighter than the sky).
Greg

[sury]

Nice ones Andy. As I am still stuck in the time warp of A900 and A700 (you will be forgiven, if you ask what are they? )
I decided to go back even further. A700 with a "permanent" loan of Hasselblad 250f5.6 from my neighbor (love thy neighbor).
Nice Spring day in San Jose, yesterday, with neighbors dropping by and we were done after about 5 hours of chatting and a couple of dozen empty beer bottles.

[Birma]

Thanks Greg Yes, I think the sky could be toned down a bit in the blossom shots.

Thanks Sury - nice to see your trip back to the A700 and Hasselblad - I especially like the second one - fabulous colour

[sury]

Thank you Andy. Here are few more....





[url=https://flic.kr/p/n4N26z]

[Greg Beetham]

Nice work Sury, you sure are finding lots of cool flowers.
Greg

[sury]

Greg,
Thank you. Would you believe all these are in the front yard, back yard and in between?

Sury