Petunia 'Ultra Crimson Star'

Petunia 'Ultra Crimson Star'
Petunia

Beautiful photo of one of my favorite petunias. When I attempt to upload reds, they do not look as good as they do on my computer. Yours looks super. Great job. Thanks for sharing.

I have found with digitals the lighting does make a big difference. We have cloudy-bright skies alot. This was what I call Carmel or ocean lighting.not regular cloudy- bright, I have the same problem with reds and oranges . It is a thicker cloud overhead and the light is there, but the colors are vibrant, no shadows, it's what filmakers try to get when they shoot. When the weatherman says" cloudy then clearing" that's the time. The other thing is that, there are usually little or no shadows. This Passiflora is another example.

Your photos are always an inspiration to me.I really like the Clivia miniatas you did. I like the set-up in the longer shot alot.I always try to get something different or a least fun. Thanks for writing!

Your welome. Thanks. The first Clivia miniatas closeups took a while trying to obtain a proper angle and still have it focused well. I have been taking my last photos on very cloudy days. You are right. It works wonders. In bright sunlight, sometimes I have to lower the brightness on the camera a lot hoping I don't lose the color. Then, I increase the brightness and contrast with my graphics program. Thanks for sharing the tips. I love your Passiflora ... just beautiful as are all of your photos. I remember your name because I admire the great job you do with capturing the beauty of the plants you post. Now, I have to find something red and try it out! :o)

I would like to start working with a program to improve my pictures. All of them are straight shots no editing at all. I"m sure it would improve them.

Here's a shot I just took. This could have been good, not enough light, I always take the flowers if possible in my shadow. As you can see it doesn't always work.

Oh, that is an enchanting bloom! What is it? I started taking them in my shadow too!! And you are right, it doesn't always work. If you can have the shadow far enough around of what you are taking the photo, then you can crop the extra stuff around the bloom out. Then, you can adjust the colors ... brightness, hue, contrast, blues, reds, etc. until it is correct. But, it is much easier to not have to do all of that. Plus, if the plant isn't where you are located, it is difficult to remember the subleties of its color when away from it. I use Paint Shop Pro which I do other graphics in as well. My husband told me that I need to use PhotoShop because that's what most people use. I need to learn how to adjust my camera. There is a site that teaches digital photography. I just haven't had the time to study what it teaches there. I listed it below. It may be helpful to you. My father was a photographer. To bad I didn't take the time to learn from him while he was alive. I know he is looking down, laughing at me most of the time. He'd just set his old camera (not even a 35mm), take one shot and it would be perfect.

http://www.shortcourses.com/index.htm

Gorgeous petunia! DD loves these. The one that has been blooming all winter has lost its stripes and now just has spots. Every now and then there is a striped one.

frogsrus, I have never seen them do this. How interesting. Nice photo. I like how the bud stands out as well as the upper leaves giving it a 3-D effect.

That is Clematis x Bee's Jubilee. It is pinkish white.

This was in my shadow, it can work!

The white and pink one is so delicate looking. You have posted the purple one already, right. I remember it or one that you posted that was similar. That is oustanding, Monterey. Getting almost all of the blooms in focus is hard to do. I have been having ome problems with that. Keep up the fantastic work.

This is my Clytostoma callistegiodes ( Violet Trumpet Vine)

This message was edited Mar 29, 2004 4:29 PM

It is just a depth-of-field problem.When you are in macro the area in focus is in ratio to apature, f2.8 can not get as much in focus as f4. Pick a mid spot on auto and hold it, re-align the shot and go.

Your Clytostoma callistegiodes bloom photo shows such good detail. I like the way the light is illuminating the throat. My daughter and the directions in the camera's booklet says to do ythe auto focus thing, but I have not been able to pull it off very well so far. The object in the forefront is then out of focus. Perhaps I have a a setting messed up. So on the purple flowers, on which bloom did you first focus the camera?

Focus on the area between the two objects first, hold the button so the focus doesn't change. The real key to this is go to apature control on the camera and get the f stop as high as possible, the higher the f stop the more things are in focus. The only thing to what out for is the shutter speed and the wind, it is always bugging me on the outdoor shots. That's where the shutter speed comes in. The marriage of the two gets your shot. I had a booklet that Kodak put out with a depth-of-field gauge in it. Check a camera store for it. It lists the specifics for each lens length,apature etc. The best thing to do is shoot, shoot, and shoot some more.When I got a digital card that holds 162 pics I found I could afford to experiment. That in the end is the best way, I can take 20 shots and get 10+ good ones. This is a shot I call off-the-hip,I carry my camera on a fanny pack. Pull and shoot!

The plumbago bloom is so cool and refreshing. I have a camera that uses small cds so I can take a lot at one time. The wind here has been really strong for quite some time. That with the cloudiness, makes it hard to take a well-focused shot. Thanks for the information.

This is interesting. The stripes on these petunias are returning after being absent for months. I wonder what the combination of elements are that cause this.

That is really interesting. I would suppose it could be the weather warming up or the angle of the sunlight or both. Thanks for sharing this information.

Here is a shot with stripes and kind of all red.

I haven't grown this type in quite some time. But, I don't recall ones not having the white stripes.But then, maybe I just don't remember them doing this.