My Favorite Place ( yet again)

 Trying out the new camera.   Last new one was five years ago.  I like to take the new one and do shoots I've done before to see if operationally things have change much.   They haven't... except I have to be much steadier with a higher pixel count.    Kauffman Gardens beckoned today.   It was suppose to be sunny all day but clouds were the norm when I arrived this morning.  

 All shots taken with the Nikon D800.  Closeups were with the Nikon 105mm Macro, wide angles with the Nikon 14-24mm, and medium shots were with the Nikon 70-200mm.  Most all were at ASA 800 to allow for very high shutter speeds as I was hand-holding everything.
Very first picture is multiple images (5) stitched together in Photoshop.

 Love the detail in the new camera.   It has a 36 megapixel, full-sized sensor which means medium format quality in a 35mm body.   It also means it doesn't like camera shake.

 Above, a duck dropped in.... literally.

 Asian Poppy above.

Senior Citizen Flower

The crocus bloomed late this year.... seems with a hard winter they bloom in February, with a mild one, March. I also realized that this same plant has been blooming since I was little... and came to discover via online research that Prairie Crocus can live 50 plus years.... I'm going to see if I can get a senior discount on plant food.... hardy little dickens.... and so welcome each spring. Nikon D3, 105mm macro lens, F22, ASA400. Tripod and cable release...

Les Fleurs du Jour

Acquired a new lens this week so HAD to test it. Nikon 105mm macro. Sharpest lens I have ever owned. Headed out to Kauffman Gardens for some closeup work. The Gardens right now are at their peak of Spring beauty. 4801 Rockhill Road diagonal from the Nelson Gallery.... free. Technical info as we go along.All photos were opened in Photoshop.... no intensification of color was done. Vignetting was applied in a lot of the shots to provide more emphasis to the feature flower.

Those with relatively shallow depth of field (focus) were shot at f5.6 to f8... others that are deeper in focus were shot at f16.... none were shot with smaller aperture although the lens will stop down to f32.

All images were shot with available light; no flash used.
Tripods are not allowed in the garden (something I approve of) so in doing macro photography hand held a fast shutter speed is essential. Many of the close up flower shots were made at ISO 800 or 1000 to enable a shutter speed from 1/500th all the way up to 1/4000th. The lens has image stabilization built in but even that is not useful at higher magnifications.

With any warmer weather the roses will go crazy.... probably peak in the next 10 days.
Lady bug hiding.



This lens will go 1:1 on its own without any extension tubes.... however you end up very close to your subject to get that ratio. (Merely means that the object you're photographing is the same size on the image as it is in real life.) For insects I will probably use a Nikon extension... the TC-1.7 E... so I'm further back. Although most insects don't really care....



This lens also has a gorgeous "bokeh" which refers to the manner in which the lens renders the out-of-focus background. Very smooth and accurate colors with a gentle blur.
In addition to vignetting I burn in portions of the photo to emphasize the main subject. As in photojournalism though I don't remove or artificially add anything to the images so they are what you would see if you were standing beside me.

All shots were taken with a Nikon D3 and the 105mm. Not using zoom once in a while makes you think a little harder and it's healthy.

All of the plants have their names nearby so you don't have to guess what they are like you do on this blog.