A couple of Proteas

Well, perhaps not proteas as such, but certainly part of the protea family.  I've always been fascinated by these plants.  Their blooms can be quite strange as well, and, in some case quite large.  They often have "hairy" parts to them ... to collect moisture I suppose?  These hairs are perhaps necessary as the plants originate from a somewhat dry part of the world where rainfall is quite low.  I can recall them not doing well in damp parts of the garden.

All shots in this post were taken with the 50mm f1.8 lens.  Apertures at f2.8 and ISO set to 200.  I must try using ISO 100, but have been told the contrast levels are rather low when using ISO100.  I can recall in the days of film that ISO 200 was seen as quite fast and I often used Kodachrome 25!  How things have changed.  Are the photos any better?  I'm not really sure about that ... but I certainly take a lot more than I ever did with film!

I'll finish this post with a couple more shots of the flowers.  Perhaps let me know what you think.

Your own backyard

I was talking with a friend recently about photographs.  We both enjoy using our camera to capture images, but we thought that a lot of the pleasure was in finding the picture in the first place.  This didn't involve driving for miles or international travel, it just required time to look.  Take the time to look; don't glance at things, but examine and carefully observe the scene and objects.  You have the opportunity to re-visit local places quite regularly and take advantage of a variety of lighting conditions that a casual visitor will miss.  The image above, for example, was taken whilst on a walk from my home.  I'm not claiming it's an award winning shot, but it's pleasant and one that'd be easily overlooked as it's so close to home.  It's also one you'd consider taking if the scene was close to your hotel as you'd have your camera in your hand.  Here's a few more images from places I'd call local.
So, with this in mind I thought I'd venture into Auckland City with camera in hand and try to view (and photograph of course) things differently.  I'll keep posting my efforts and, as always, you can comment on my efforts and ideas.  Perhaps even make suggestions of places I should visit?

HDR ponga

HDR ponga, originally uploaded by nzcjs.

Pretty heavy crop of some ponga leaves illuminated by the setting sun in an otherwise shady part of Auckland's Botanical Gardens. Using Lightroom I made a few other images at -3, -2, -1 and 0 EV and then combined these in Photomatix Pro to get the image you see. Not really sure what I think of this one.
Do you like it, or have any suggestions for improvement?