The hills are alive with the colors of azaleas.
From the very close to the relatively far away. All taken with the DS C&C welcome as usual.

A rare yellow azalea, taken on a windy day. Wind and floral close ups don't mix. FA 50mm 1.4 f3.5 at 1/750


I had just started getting a macro on this plant when the sprinkler system went off. I beat a hasty retreat and had to wait 20 minutes till the system turned off! Tamron 90mm macro f11 at 1/180


Loved the play of light over this one. Tricky exposure, white flowers and bright highlights, but I guessed right. Zenitar 16mm Fisheye 1/350 aperture unknown.


Liked the colors of this one. Zenitar 1/125


They had paths winding thru some of the larger bushes. The Zenitar was invaluable in capturing the large variety of colors. Zenitar 1/180


Another path, another wide photo. I'm so glad I have this lens! Zenitar 1/1500


The one problem with azaleas is that the blossoms are quite reflective, if you've got mixed sun and shadow it's hard to avoid overexposed areas if you are trying to capture large scenic areas. Somehow closer in you don't get the blown highlights. Zenitar 1/125


From the top of the ridge, you can see the path entering from the center left, then it disappears between the bushes. Zenitar 1/125


Looking back up towards where I was standing on the last shot. However my camera in that last shot was pointed over to the right of this photo, gives you a bit of an idea how large the area was that was covered with color. Zenitar 1/500


edit: almost forgot; you can find more shots here:
saltwater : photos : Azaleas - powered by SmugMug

NaCl(it was like music for the eyes)H2O

[Stratman]

Yo Salty, you love that Zenitar dontcha? lol, and i can see why, fantastic shots !!

[vievetrick]

Amazing colors. amazing!!!

[daacon]

I am color challenged (Red Green deficency I am told and yeah I guess at traffic lights haha) - and I can appecaite these colors just on my Laptop ! It must have been blinding there as well as any printouts you may have had done. I was never a big flower guy but from this form , my K10D and shots like yours have changed my outlook (much to my wife's delight !) and a need for a fisheye (not so much to my wife's delight haha)

[Heinrich Lohmann]

Marvelous colors combined with good photography make for some stunning images. Thanks for sharing and take care,

Heinrich

[Sailor]

Wonderful, Buddy. The colors are terrific. You make me think of "Sound of Music" which makes me think of Coltrane's version of "My favorite things". I just played the album and enjoyed your pictures.

Jer

[NaClH2O]

Thanks everybody for the kudos. And yes the colors were beautiful.
To Stratman: Yeah, I like the "Z" but I must adimt that it was laziness as much as anything. The Z was necessary for some shots, nothing else I have is wide enough. And I was just too lazy to change it out for some of the closeups.
to daacon: glad we changed your view of flowers! And tell your wife that the Zenitar is inexpensive, and is the perfect lens to...(use your imagination here)
Pat B: The amazing thing about the colors was how many different spots there were. You could look up a hill side and see blotches of color here, there, all over. It's an extensive display, and in several different areas.
Heinrich: Thanks, coming from you, praise indeed
Jer: Ah! Trane! The horn players horn player. I had an almost full disography of his that got eaten by a flood. Insurance didn't cover it. But the sad part was some of those albums were irreplaceable. And yes a perfect accompaniment to the photos. (actually the perfect accompaniment to anything)

NaCl(again, thanks everybody)H2O

[gratefulbruce]

Lovely shots, I am preparing to do some gardening around the house, and am considering azeleas now!

[spillway]

Just georgeous! Around here, we only see the purple...and maybe the white. I didn't know there were other colors!

[Bud]

Great series and beautiful colors!

[Photo Tramp]

Great shots Salty. The zenitar is doing a great job and so are you. Love the clarity and colors this lens produces.

[rhermans]

marvelous flower shots, all of them - Ronny

[fevbusch]

Salty, these are wonderful shots. Looks like you could do no wrong with your lens
lineup. Can you tell me about the Zenitar. Do they work on K100D, do they come in
different sizes. If you can tell me the sizes you use I can do a search for the
costs. Unless you can tell me the cost. Any pictures I've seen with the Z's are great.
If anyone can help me out on this, would appreciate. Thanks, Freddy

[khardur]

beautiful shots Salty - I love the colors on #4 .

I read where you said some of the blossoms are too reflective and it can give you trouble - have you ever tried a polarizer to maybe help reduce the reflected light? though it may sometimes give the opposite effect, i.e. darken more of the image that's already in shadow - but it may be worth a shot, and sometimes can make the colors really pop (but not that your shots need it!)

[cmv]

I like these a lot too and enjoyed seeing how you used the Zenitar. I like the fourth one the most but it was a tough choice!

My copy of this lens came a couple of days ago from Moscow. I spent a while debating the wide options and decided to go with the Zenitar until I can make up my mind. After getting the Zenitar though no matter what I decide to buy it's staying in my bag as it's fun to use and built like lenses used to be made (plus I enjoy using a fully manual lens for landscapes).

favbusch: I'm sure Salty will chime in soon but Zenitar does make other lenses. The one in question is the Zenitar 16mm f2.8 which comes in a variety of mounts but all mounts are fully manual. For a Pentax DSLR you can choose from M42 or K mount. The k mount version operates exactly the same as a Pentax K or Pentax-M lens in that you set aperture on the lens (no auto aperture) and use step down metering to meter the scene. You can also shoot wide open in auto aperture mode it's just that it will always shoot at the max aperture (in this case f/2.8). Note that the different mount versions are really different (there is no M42 mount hidden within each as one might guess). I brought mine from the eBay seller "Zenitar" for about $150 shipped and it was brand new in the original packaging with the Russian seals from the factory.