In the garden ...

Backlit flax just coming into flower

Well, it wasn't my garden, but a friend's place a little further south from my home.  A stroll around the garden gave me a chance to see some quite lovely blooms.  Perhaps the most significant thing for me was the way in which weeds had been blended and accepted as part of the garden.  Many weeds have pleasing flowers, but, due to their invasive nature, are often avoided and ripped out of the garden.  The second shot in this post shows a blend of chives and daisies.  I really wanted a shallow depth of field to focus your eyes on a specific bloom, but which one?  Do I pick the daisy, to the chives?  Perhaps let me know what you think?  In the third shot I changed focus to concentrate on the chives ... so which do you prefer?

Daisy and chives.  

Chives and daisies

Besides weeds and chives there was a huge range of other blooms including some King Protea.  Quite different to daisies!!  I showed the fourth shot in this post to some friends in the States and was surprised to learn they'd never heard of proteaceae before.  The King Protea has large blooms ... in excess of 8inches or 20cms across ... these really are quite stunning flowers that really make an impression.

King Protea

A rather pleasing doorway

The last shot in this post is a monochrome interpretation of one of the outbuilding's doorways.  As soon as I saw this scene I thought of an "Olde Worlde" scene.  A quick twiddle in Silver Efex for a sepia effect with a light vignette helped produce the scene you see.

I had a great time.  A lovely rambling garden with flowers that will bloom at different times through the year.  I'll take my camera next time I visit along with a tripod.  Shots from this visit were all hand held and I was a little disappointed with the sharpness in some of my images.  I thought I'd take some extra light and diffusers to try and even out the light too.  Quite a few harsh shadows and deep contrasts in many of my shots from this last visit I'll try to rectify next time.  Perhaps I should show a before and after set of shots and get you to let me know which you prefer and why.

Sick :-(

Felt rough today, sore throat and bad chest.  Not a happy chappy at all.  Coming towards the end of the day, just as the sun started to go down I went outside with my son to take a few shots.  Can't say these are my best efforts, but I'm sure you'll excuse me as I'm not feeling well.

Orchid(?) on my deck just outside my living room.

The first shot in this post was taken just outside my living room.  These little orchids are very pretty, but the background isn't flattering.  I picked a wide aperture (f1.4) to blur the fence and gutter downpipe.  At least that part of the shot worked!!

Backyard bluebells.

My next shot is of some bluebells in my backyard.  I've been wanting to get a shot of the bluebells where I can give the impression of depth.  I wanted some blooms in front and behind the main subject, but slightly out of focus.  Anyway, what you see is my effort whilst feeling rough.  The light was pretty bright from the right and quite dark elsewhere. The blur is not too bad though. Again a very wide aperture was selected (f1.4).

Shot three is probably my favourite for today.  This was shot by the entrance to by property.  I was shooting into the sun and wasn't altogether certain what type of effect I was going to get.  I'd seen a few highlights behind the 'red hot poker' as the sun reflected off some background leaves, but the flare and rather pleasant circular highlights have turned out much better than I expected.  Shot at f1.4 again, using the Nikkor 85mm f1.4G (dream lens!!).

Red Hot Poker.

After coming inside I noticed a few black dots on the image ... not really sure what these marks are.  I've since cleaned the lens (it did have a few dust specs on both front and rear lens elements) and haven't noticed these marks on other images so am hoping it's not a dirty sensor!  We'll see.  Anyway, what do you think of the shot?  Does the flare work?

Yet another weed!

Last shot in this post is of yet another weed! As you can see, I was still playing with a very shallow depth of field.  Daisy at f1.4 with the Nikkor 85mm f1.4G.  One seriously sweet piece of kit.