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Lilac


Lilac
Photo Information
Copyright: Gilbert Isaacs (gcifromsocal) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 361 W: 0 N: 661] (2406)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2010-02-20
Categories: Nature
Camera: Canon 10d, Micro Nikkor 55mm f3.5
Exposure: f/32, 1/15 seconds
Details: Tripod: Yes
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Date Submitted: 2010-02-21 5:06
Viewed: 2019
Points: 24
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
We had a brief, but heavy rain yesterday morning, and I noticed this solitary bunch of lilac blossoms and tried to get a photo. To see the full scene, check out my workshop. This was a technically difficult shot to get because the conditions were poor - inaccessible and tiny flower, rapidly changing lighting, and wind. The storm was still passing through, but I was able to get a large number of shots; however, only two were any good.

I used my Canon 10d 6MP DSLR with an old Micro-Nikkor 55 f3.5 lens with an extension tube and an adapter to fit my EOS. When Canon designed their new lens mount for the EOS back in the 80s, they gave it a short distance between the mount and the film plane (or sensor). That means that EOS cameras will mount other brand lenses with an adapter, and these lenses can focus to infinity. You have to use them in 'stop-down' mode, but they still can be metered on the 'A' setting - very handy! Although some adapters are expensive, cheap Chinese-made adapters are readily available on Ebay.

Because of the tiny flower (1.5X1.5") and the extremely close focus (2" from the lens), I had to use f32 to get enough depth of field. Due to the low light conditions, I had to use ISO 800 because the flower was moving around a lot in the wind. I also used a Tiltall tripod after wasting many frames and getting nothing useful. Using stop-down at f32 is difficult because the viewfinder gets really dark. Opening the lens to focus and then stopping down to shoot is not really possible unless the subject is fixed and unmoving.

Using iPhoto, I cropped and resized the image, increased sharpness and saturation. I tried using various filters on Gimp to try to eliminate the noise, but ended up sticking to my original version.
werdir, chrisJ, walk33a, harpya, parasbhalla, kanton has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

Bonjour Gilbert
Très jolie photo de cette superbe branche de lilas!!
Belles couleurs et lumière mise en valeur par les gouttes d'eau!
Jolis reflets dans ces gouttes!
Congratulations.Catherine

  • Great 
  • werdir Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1416 W: 147 N: 2654] (11957)
  • [2010-02-21 6:09]

Hi Gilbert,

Thanks for explaining the steps you took to get this shot. Quite a challenge, but with digital cameras we're afforded the luxury of numerous attempts. The composition and framing are excellent. I haven't been successful with noise reduction in Gimp either. I use the free version of Neat Image, which does a good job.

Have a nice Sunday!

Werner

  • Great 
  • rlrad Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 142 W: 8 N: 375] (1374)
  • [2010-02-21 6:17]

Hi Gilbert,

I find this an interesting lesson! I knew you could mount Nikon lenses on a Canon, but I never saw anyone do it before. I saw the f/32 and then all the bokeh, then I looked back to see what lens and had to do a double-take.

Not too noisy, at least on my monitor, and the color saturation is great.

Thanks for the lesson!
Reed

  • Great 
  • chrisJ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4430 W: 637 N: 9632] (55124)
  • [2010-02-21 6:31]

Hi Gilbert

Excellent use of a shallow dof, with superb sharpness on the purple fg flowers. Good repetition of the water drops & well composed. Tfs!

Hi Gilbert,
In your note I can read that it wasn't easy to get this capture. But it turned out to be very good !
Great colors, exposure and DOF.
Very informative note with it.
Tfs
Joop!

Hi Gilbert!

This is very impressive, especially considering f32 and ISO 800. Excellent composition too! My wife bought me a spray bottle for Christmas ...see, I'm easily pleased. I wanted one to create my own water droplets. :) This really is beautiful Gilbert!

I'm so happy that you like the CP filter!

I was biting at the bit to get me some Kenko Tubes, but they don't work on most of my lens. They will work on my 200-500mm lens, but I probably won't use them much. I think I wasted some money here.

I hope you have a good week!

TFS
Dennis

  • Great 
  • AKITA Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1523 W: 73 N: 86] (20294)
  • [2010-02-21 18:45]

dear Gilbert,
wow,
beautiful violet lilac flowers,
it looks already mid spring there, in San Diego,
I like those graceful color so much,
and its wet feeling is very nice,
the light and the air are really cheerful,
thank you,
Akihisa

Ciao Gilbert


Nice close-up work, showing the fine
details in this delicate flower!
Good colour palette, excellent composition
and good presentation.

Best regards,

Sergio

  • Great 
  • nicou Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 2777 W: 0 N: 5194] (50772)
  • [2010-02-22 6:33]

Hello,

quelle fleur de lilas, ce violet est merveilleux, une présentation parfaite, sueprbe image et compo.

Bravo et amitié

Nicou

  • Great 
  • EOSF1 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1977 W: 301 N: 3060] (26902)
  • [2010-02-22 10:39]

Beautiful shot Gilbert! The colors, sharpness and the nice drops on the flowers are just great. A fine image!

Mario

Hi Gilbert,

What a a wonderful macro capture from lovely flowers with perfect droplets, showing their best in reflecting the surroundings!

Great colors, perfect POV and nice sharpness. Very well spotted and greatly captured!

best greetings,
Paras

  • Great 
  • kanton Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 854 W: 5 N: 1570] (6756)
  • [2010-02-25 15:40]

Hi Gilbert!
Wonderful flowers!with amazing colours,
waterdrops perfect focus and textured details!
TFS Kostas

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