The fresh leaves and the sunshine invited my camera out into the garden. In particular, to record the spiky tulips that Frances has grown in pots. I wanted to capture them before they wither. They are a powerful pink. More Gay Pride than common-or-garden.
The other red and yellow tulips looked up to them, because they looked as if they were painted by a Japanese watercolour expert. Their stems were the same standard mid-green.
It was this sharp new colour in the garden that caused the tripod to make a stand for flower photography. What I learned from last year’s ‘Garden of the Old Codgers’ publications was the important of depth of field for flowers. What I learned more recently from my OU photographic course was the closer I get to my subject, the shallower that depth of field. The tripod made that easier, as I could shut down the aperture without worrying about camera shake. I had partly covered that already by setting the ISO at 640. Then the bright sunshine gave me a different issue.
I was aware of my shadow occulting the light on the apple blossom I was shooting. I could move slightly away from the tripod, but then how to operate the shutter release? I tried, unsuccessfully, to connect my phone to my camera by wifi. That did not work. Eventually, I stretched out an arm. My shadow is seen in some shots but not in the tighter compositions of the blossom. They had the same focus problem – some blossoms went out of focus among a pleasing arc of flowers.
Eventually I achieved a section of shots of the apple blossom. That was when I decided to end the session.
It was an exercise in common sense really. The flowers are not roaming around the garden so I can use the tripod and experiment with depth of field and take time to consider the composition. I had remembered to put the background out of focus, but next time I will consider the objects or textures that form the backdrop to the key subject.
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