[ivanvernon]

As the season for Hibiscus flowers are coming to an end, I am also winding up my photo range of these flowers for this season. I am slowly finding my way to get shots of the flowers in what I would regard as a "pleasing" image. My goal was to get flowers that are tack sharp, yet portray its soft and gentle curves. Up to now I think I have achieved the sharpness but totally missed the pleasing look. The bees were incidental and welcome extras to the show.

With the pictures below I maintained the sharpness and then dialed in a pleasing look effect. The result is much better in my opinion. I have found flowers in a non-studio setting, to be one of group of difficult pictures to take. Perhaps it is the wide dynamic range needed and the need for caution not to over expose the small ultra bright white areas and reflections.

In summary I would say the difficulty for me with flowers were (a) the DoF required, because for me flower stacking is rarely successful in a non-studio environment; (b) the dynamic range goes full spectrum and I needed to turn down exposure depending on the available light; (c) using a longer lens with rings gave better results. Composition became easier and bugs and bees were less shy the further I stood from the flowers; (d) using a tripod had very little advantage because slow shutter speeds fail with moving and flying bugs, and a slight breeze will move the flowers as well. (e) The combo of fast shutter speeds, small apertures and soft early light resulted in higher ISO's. Thus noise can easily become an issue; (f) finding a balance between sharpness and a pleasing look, for me it is as difficult as editing shades of colors.

Hopefully this adds to the stuff I want to still discover. Next may be birds, where I see similar challenges plus the trap of "bird on a stick" pictures.

645z + FA*300mm + #2 extension ring


Comments and critique always invited and welcomed.

Enjoying your flowers! The ones you are presenting here are what we call Rose of Sharon in the U.S. I have five different versions of these in our garden. We use the name hibiscus for the ones with much larger blossoms. (I will not show an example in this thread as I no longer have a medium format camera, though still quite a number of mediuim format lenses.)

[w2ck]

I HATE SPIDERS !!! Please refrain from posting these horrible pictures. I jump from my chair every time I fall on them and my heart almost stops. PLEASE ...

I love spiders myself. I raise them here on the farm. Really pretty garden spiders. Pretty large ones, too. That particular spider wasn't all that pretty. I had to count the legs to know it was a spider and not a lousy tick.

As I wander about the farm, I kick up grasshoppers and catch them and toss them into the garden spider webs and watch the 'spring' do its' thing. Really cool system those girls have.

We have Wolf, Orb, North American Tarantulas (rather smallish ones) and such. All over. The only ones I don't care for are the Black Widows and the Brown Recluse. The BR I deal with with BrakeKleen and the BW with a boot. Those can make one pretty bad off. The others just hurt for a few minutes if they bite.

What I hate around here are those danged Tobacco Worms. Caterpillars, actually, and they not only sting when you find one on the other side of that tomato, they smoosh and make a stinking mess. Fortunately, the Garden Spiders catch and eat the Tobacco Worms and their webs are so large you spot them before you get your hand near enough to them to get bitten.


So, yeah, I love bug eating spiders.

Next up rodent eating snakes (non-venomous)....

Farm Stuff.



So, here. Have a farm photo. The Gourd Arch. Hopefully, there are no spiders hiding within that mess...

I won't go out today and shoot my crop of garden spiders I have this year. But I have one really pretty Big Girl out behind the workshop I have been feeding all summer. And she's made *two* eggs. Usually they only make one. So she got found by a second male. And, boy! Are the males ever *tiny*. I rarely get to see one of those. They are hard to see and then they, um, don't hang around for long......


Stan

[RICHARD L.]

Good one, Stan.

I spent my younger years on a dairy farm so I have seen dozens of varieties of spiders. Why I don't know, but I always hated spiders. I know they are useful in getting us rid of tons of unwanted insects and other pests but I still hate seeing them. I was bit by a large spider with a bulbous orange abdomen when I was 5 or 6 years old and always feared these demons ever since.

While camping near Las Cruces, New Mexico, a few years back, large tarantulas started to come out everywhere around my van as soon as the sun was setting. In the morning, there were plenty of small "dark pools" everywhere, as people driving in the campground crushed as many spiders as they could with their tires during the dark hours.

Anyway there are prettier things to photograph all around us. Between taking pictures of a tomato or of a spider, the choice is not difficult ...

Regards

[kaseki]

As the season for Hibiscus flowers are coming to an end, I am also winding up my photo range of these flowers for this season. I am slowly finding my way to get shots of the flowers in what I would regard as a "pleasing" image. My goal was to get flowers that are tack sharp, yet portray its soft and gentle curves. Up to now I think I have achieved the sharpness but totally missed the pleasing look. The bees were incidental and welcome extras to the show.

...

I'm pleased. Thanks.

[RICHARD L.]

I spoke to my brother on the phone this morning and he told me our Mother "hated" spiders and snakes, to the point of shreiking loudly or running away in fear. So, I guess, she taught me to hate those critters when I was a young kid.


Regards

[mattb123]

I love spiders myself. I raise them here on the farm. Really pretty garden spiders. Pretty large ones, too. That particular spider wasn't all that pretty. I had to count the legs to know it was a spider and not a lousy tick.

As I wander about the farm, I kick up grasshoppers and catch them and toss them into the garden spider webs and watch the 'spring' do its' thing. Really cool system those girls have.

We have Wolf, Orb, North American Tarantulas (rather smallish ones) and such. All over. The only ones I don't care for are the Black Widows and the Brown Recluse. The BR I deal with with BrakeKleen and the BW with a boot. Those can make one pretty bad off. The others just hurt for a few minutes if they bite.

What I hate around here are those danged Tobacco Worms. Caterpillars, actually, and they not only sting when you find one on the other side of that tomato, they smoosh and make a stinking mess. Fortunately, the Garden Spiders catch and eat the Tobacco Worms and their webs are so large you spot them before you get your hand near enough to them to get bitten.


So, yeah, I love bug eating spiders.

Next up rodent eating snakes (non-venomous)....

Farm Stuff.



So, here. Have a farm photo. The Gourd Arch. Hopefully, there are no spiders hiding within that mess...

I won't go out today and shoot my crop of garden spiders I have this year. But I have one really pretty Big Girl out behind the workshop I have been feeding all summer. And she's made *two* eggs. Usually they only make one. So she got found by a second male. And, boy! Are the males ever *tiny*. I rarely get to see one of those. They are hard to see and then they, um, don't hang around for long......


Stan

I'm also a fan of spiders. They are so often misunderstood! I let the harmless ones stick around the house to do their important pest control job. We get some great orb weavers around here that get pretty big by the end of the summer.
My parents came to the USA from Australia and my wife was appalled when we visited my sweet little grandmother down there years ago. She had a big hairy wolf spider she was letting stay in her house that was about the size of a mouse. My wife was expecting something cute when she asked us to come see her little friend and was pretty shocked by the giant arachnid!
My philosophy about them is if they aren't threatening me with actual harm I let them be or at most I relocate them outside.

[TDvN57]

Enjoying your flowers! The ones you are presenting here are what we call Rose of Sharon in the U.S. I have five different versions of these in our garden. We use the name hibiscus for the ones with much larger blossoms. (I will not show an example in this thread as I no longer have a medium format camera, though still quite a number of mediuim format lenses.)

Rose of Sharon sounds very biblical, like it could have been in Moses' garden. I need to find out what they call the flowers here in Germany. BTW if you have a P67 M*300mm lens left lying around, let me know. :-) I'll put it right to work.

[acoufap]

Rose of Sharon sounds very biblical, like it could have been in Moses' garden. I need to find out what they call the flowers here in Germany. BTW if you have a P67 M*300mm lens left lying around, let me know. :-) I'll put it right to work.

My wife says it‘s Eibisch. But I think you also allowed to say Hibiscus.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiskus

[TDvN57]

My wife says it‘s Eibisch. But I think you also allowed to say Hibiscus.

Thank you, perhaps they won't look so funny at me next time I talk about hibiscus.

[acoufap]

Thank you, perhaps they won't look so funny at me next time I talk about hibiscus.

I wish you the best

[mattb123]

Rose of Sharon sounds very biblical, like it could have been in Moses' garden. I need to find out what they call the flowers here in Germany. BTW if you have a P67 M*300mm lens left lying around, let me know. :-) I'll put it right to work.

I had one but sold it (for like $75) and got the 645 A* 300 and 1.4x matched TC. That 67 lens was like carrying around a bazooka.

[RICHARD L.]

I had one but sold it (for like $75) and got the 645 A* 300 and 1.4x matched TC. That 67 lens was like carrying around a bazooka.

Um, I guess it was the older P67 or Takumar 300 mm f/4 model, not the P67 M* 300 mm f/4. The M* is actually bigger and heavier but rarely sells for less than 1000 $ ... ??

[RICHARD L.]

[mattb123]

Um, I guess it was the older P67 or Takumar 300 mm f/4 model, not the P67 M* 300 mm f/4. The M* is actually bigger and heavier but rarely sells for less than 1000 $ ... ??

I think it was probably just the M without the *. A good performer but an impractical form factor for me.

[mattb123]

One with that 645 A* 300/4 on the 50r tonight.