Sunday, July 29, 2007

Macro: Red, red ribbon flowers



Gazing skywards

f/8, 1/400s, D80, Tamron 90mm 1:1, +0.3 EV



Sea of Red

f/3.2, 1/640s, Nikon D80, Tamron 90mm 1:1



Look At Me Bloom !
f/13, 1/60 sec, Nikon D80, Tamron 90mm 1:1

A sudden flowering spurt have hit all the plants in my garden, and while I'm happy with all the orchids, roses and hibiscus blooming, what really pleased me was the 'ribbon flowers' which rarely blooms, rendering the whole shrub in bursts of lively red.

Flowers are amazing in their ability to provide so much joy in such simplicity. And of course, there's a new subject to photograph.

The first picture, Gazing Skywards, shows the flowers against the sky, a common rendering of flowers that works well. When you have a mostly blue sky, and you have flowers that contrast well against that backdrop, this is a good shot. Just be careful not to get the exposures wrong - use the correct metering - making sure the flowers do not become underexposed against the brighter sky.

The second picture, Sea of Red, shows the shrub itself in full blooming glory. It's really nice to be able to use bokeh to render the background colorful, but not too distracting. To get the bokeh, I used the widest possible aperture, f/3.2. A narrower aperture gives greater depth of field, which renders less bokeh, by making the background more in focus.

And finally, Look At Me Bloom !, a macro of the flower itself. There are plenty of 'ribbon flowers' on the plant itself, so I took the time to find one that is beautiful and unique. Most of the other blooms are pretty, but this one had blooms in various stages - some are still coiled, some are semi open, and some have flared all the way out.

The thing about photographing flower is to take the time to choose the right bloom to be photographed. In a cluster of flowers, there will be one of two which is right for photographing - take the time to look for those.

Edit: The last picture, Look At Me Bloom !, is dedicated to my girlfriend. How appropriately, her life is also starting to bloom, now that she's started her working life. It's looking rosy.

6 comments:

Applegal said...

Thanks, love, it's gorgeous!!! :D

Anonymous said...

WOW, you do have a Botanical Garden at your place, huh? You can obtain your Master's by documenting the flowers in your Botanical Garden, hahah...

Anonymous said...

Red ribbon flowers? I've never heard or seen it before. The 3rd photo look almost fake man...I never thought real petals can curl like that. :P

Anonymous said...

I've never seen these flowers before.
Gosh! I must be deprived. LOL

moz monster said...

applegal: Don't mention it !!!

pelf: Botanical Garden? I don't even have a zen garden. That's why macro photography is so cool. Small subjects under magnification is so different and cool !

che-cheh: Actually, I have no idea what the name of the plant is. But the flowers look like ribbons, and my parents also call it firecracker plant because when it's blooming, it looks like a red firecracker after it's burst !

It doesn't look obvious to the casual observer, but under magnification, it curls during the early blooming stage, before unfurling, and eventually straightening. Happens in about 2 days ...

jems: No, you aren't deprived. :P ... but they are pretty, aren't they ?

Anonymous said...

wow u have those in your garden?? can pass me some anak to plant????