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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 5, 2021 19:01:28 GMT -5
Managed to brave the heat outside a few days ago to take some pics of the Plumeria! They call this color, "Sunset." Boy howdy, I wish this forum had smell-a-vision! They pretty much smell like honeysuckle - only better! More flowers unfurling. Closer shot of the inner petals opening up.
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Post by rockjunquie on Aug 5, 2021 19:06:51 GMT -5
Managed to brave the heat outside a few days ago to take some pics of the Plumeria! They call this color, "Sunset." Boy howdy, I wish this forum had smell-a-vision! They pretty much smell like honeysuckle - only better! More flowers unfurling. Closer shot of the inner petals opening up.
Damn, those are beautiful!
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Post by mohs on Aug 5, 2021 19:17:32 GMT -5
spectacular blooms !! excellent capture
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Aug 5, 2021 21:27:25 GMT -5
Jean rockpickerforever those are absolutely stunning flowers! The colors in the Sunset are gorgeous.
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Post by amygdule on Aug 5, 2021 23:42:29 GMT -5
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,341
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Post by quartz on Aug 5, 2021 23:43:35 GMT -5
It didn't take long for jamesp the Botanist to figure that one out Around here we call it Wild Cucumber aka Oregon Manroot. Used to have some on the place. There's a story about "manroot": It says whenever an indain passed away a seed of this sruff was placed on his chest when he was buried, the plant never dies, so giving the deceased eternal life. Hard stuff to kill, have to dig up along a vine to find the football size gourd, then break and salt it. Mice pack the seeds into any hole they can in the fall, plant comes up from there.
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Post by fernwood on Aug 6, 2021 4:11:12 GMT -5
rockpickerforever I love the colors and shape of the blooms. The scent would be a bonus. Are insects/butterflies attracted to them?
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,169
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Post by jamesp on Aug 6, 2021 5:28:00 GMT -5
Wow pics rockpickerforever. Was wondering where your fine garden photos were hiding. Plumeria is the bestest.
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,169
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Post by jamesp on Aug 6, 2021 5:50:03 GMT -5
So I could not get my dragonflies to be in focus wing tip to wing tip in 'P' or full AUTO mode. I noticed AUTO was picking f4,5 for aperture which makes a fairly narrow focus zone so I simply switched to AUTO 'A' aperture priority and set the aperture to max f11. Bear in mind the shots are in bright sunlight so a small f11 aperture is no problem. Test photo, 2 pitcher plants in focus, measuring 5 inches from back of back pitcher(a bit out of focus at back) to front of front pitcher plant. Should be plenty of depth of field for a dragon fly and it sure was. Many folks have high powered cameras but don't take advantage of easy to use(auto)aperture priority setting for deeper focus when taking close up shots in strong light. Small aperture openings - f9, f11, f16 way increase the focus range in strong light especially with close shots. Test photo Wing tip to wing tip focus. yeah! ETA The manual focus(M/F switch) on the 2500 is unusual. It blows up the portion you want focused into a temporary magnified window when the shutter button is held half way down. This really helps to see if focus is correct. And it appears the focus plane is light up with a blue haze which defines it's location easier. This really helps failing eyes to focus on macro/closer shots. Pushing camera limits cropping, and checking focus A bit of noise showing. But this is very magnified...
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Post by fernwood on Aug 6, 2021 5:51:28 GMT -5
Those are amazing photos.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 6, 2021 13:26:03 GMT -5
One more pic I took in the yard the other day. This is a large Umbrella/Schefflera plant growing in the neighbor's yard on the rear fence line, but coming into my yard several feet. I believe it is the same as the little ones people grow as houseplants. But put them out in the yard, and they get big! This one is about 20 feet tall. The red flowers attract numerous bees! That's an Ornamental fruitless plum tree in front of it. My neighbor likes to maximise her yard by putting her plants in the ground right on the property line. That way, they can drop their leaves into my yard. If I don't constantly prune them back to the fence, they'll overtake my yard. SMH...
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Post by rockjunquie on Aug 6, 2021 13:39:57 GMT -5
rockpickerforever I had a big umbrella tree houseplant. I don't think they would live outside here. I had a big beautiful false aralia in the house. I loved it, but one winter we went to Georgia and my heater gave out while I was gone. Poor thing didn't like the cold.
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Post by amygdule on Aug 6, 2021 14:11:35 GMT -5
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Post by mohs on Aug 6, 2021 19:29:57 GMT -5
wonder if this holds true for the blue bomber? why blue is rare ...most of this already know this but mo is slomohsbloom
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,169
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Post by jamesp on Aug 6, 2021 22:08:13 GMT -5
wonder if this holds true for the blue bomber? why blue is rare ...most of this already know this but mo is slomohsbloom That video blows my mind Ed. Thanks for sharing. Here I am complaining because all my dragon fly varieties(at least three) are blue. Well not really... Probably not blue pigment, but a structure that makes us see blue !@# complicated this blue structure thing hmmm Ommatidia of krill(eyes). Dragon flies also have Ommatidia eye structures(24,000 ommatidia/eye !) such eyes are very muy Sci Fi.
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pizzano
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Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,390
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Post by pizzano on Aug 6, 2021 22:35:37 GMT -5
Managed to brave the heat outside a few days ago to take some pics of the Plumeria! They call this color, "Sunset." Boy howdy, I wish this forum had smell-a-vision! They pretty much smell like honeysuckle - only better! More flowers unfurling. Closer shot of the inner petals opening up. Jean....I've probably mentioned we used to spend 6 to 8 weeks a year at our rental on the Big Island in Kona........not so much anymore due to various reasons, but the property had various Plumeria in many locations.......our favorite was the Frangipani, the sweet aroma could be recognized for several acres around us in the cool evenings.........I tried raising one here a few years ago........they do not take to cold weather very well.....and didn't seem to transition indoors very well either...........it is one of my most favorite plant's (trees) of all time........wish I could grow them here....!...........not to mention how beautiful their flowers are. Yours are outstanding......!
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Post by mohs on Aug 7, 2021 10:24:22 GMT -5
I recall being on smoke break at Sonoran Quest. They had nice pooled garden area to linger from are labors.. It was mildly warm, maybe even freaking hot day, and I was watching 2 copped dragons in flittering flight. A beatific vision ! Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a dark shadow, descending . A huge black bird (a Grackle most likely ) swooped in with incredible acrobatic skill. . It snatched those 2 copulating dragons in its hard black beak! flying off in triumphant display of coitus interruptus. Dang I had to go back to work in the dark hustling warehouse w/ this unsettling vision. Just another day on the job for most. For me, it was sad reflection. Yet one as to put away their more softer side, and accomplish their Sisyphosian duties …mostly
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,169
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Post by jamesp on Aug 7, 2021 10:32:39 GMT -5
Lol.
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Post by holajonathan on Aug 8, 2021 0:52:28 GMT -5
So I could not get my dragonflies to be in focus wing tip to wing tip in 'P' or full AUTO mode. I noticed AUTO was picking f4,5 for aperture which makes a fairly narrow focus zone so I simply switched to AUTO 'A' aperture priority and set the aperture to max f11. Bear in mind the shots are in bright sunlight so a small f11 aperture is no problem. Test photo, 2 pitcher plants in focus, measuring 5 inches from back of back pitcher(a bit out of focus at back) to front of front pitcher plant. Should be plenty of depth of field for a dragon fly and it sure was. Many folks have high powered cameras but don't take advantage of easy to use(auto)aperture priority setting for deeper focus when taking close up shots in strong light. Small aperture openings - f9, f11, f16 way increase the focus range in strong light especially with close shots. Test photo Wing tip to wing tip focus. yeah! ETA The manual focus(M/F switch) on the 2500 is unusual. It blows up the portion you want focused into a temporary magnified window when the shutter button is held half way down. This really helps to see if focus is correct. And it appears the focus plane is light up with a blue haze which defines it's location easier. This really helps failing eyes to focus on macro/closer shots. Pushing camera limits cropping, and checking focus A bit of noise showing. But this is very magnified... Sounds like you've got aperture figured out, Jim, but the higher f number you go to, less light enters the camera. So either the shutter speed has to slow down, or the ISO (light sensitivity) has to go up. Both have consequences. Too low a shutter speed and the photo will likely be blurred without a tripod, and too high an ISO and you will get a lot of "noise" from the sensor resulting in photos that are less crisp. You seem to understand all of this based on your post, but I am just making it explicitly clear for others. The solution often used by the macro photography pros is to use a bright flash for macro even when taken outside in full sun. The extra light can allow you to stop the camera way down to the f16/f22 range while keeping the ISO as low as possible. Using a powerful flash can also get very good photos that look as though they were taken at night, where the insect is well-illuminated and the background is black. Looks kind of cool, although in your photos you definitely wouldn't want to lose the beautiful context and scenery.
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Post by holajonathan on Aug 8, 2021 1:00:33 GMT -5
You might as well go full manual mode, lower ISO down to 100 (or whatever the lowest is on your camera), and make shutter speed much lower to compensate. No need to have a 1/400 of a second shutter speed unless you are trying to capture the dragonfly in flight. If 176mm is the focus length of the photo, most people can pretty easily hand hold a camera steady down to 1/the focus length seconds. If you have reasonably steady hands, you should be able to hand hold at 1/150 of a second at 176mm. If the camera has optical image stabilization, you can at least cut that in half, and maybe cut it in half twice (1/70 or slower with decent image stabilization).
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