Variety is the Spice of Flower Photography

Your Call

After clicking on each image to enlarge it, please leave a comment and let us know which one you like the best and why you made your choice. Image #1 was made at the wide open aperture, Image #2 was made at f/8, and Image #3 was created at f/16.

What’s Up?

It is 5:35am and Clemens and I are headed up to Lake Woodruff in Volusia County in search of large numbers of Swallow-tailed Kites gathering before they head to South America for the winter. Wish us luck. For the most part it will be a big challenge for me as I will be hand holding the SONY 600mm f/4 GM with the 1.4X TC and the a1 body.

Today is Friday 23 July 2021. The weather for Deland is looking less than ideal … Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day.

Thanks for all the comments on yesterday’s images. I will be sharing my thoughts on those with you here soon.

Remember that you can find some great photo accessories (and necessities!) on Amazon by clicking on the Stuff tab on the orange/yellow menu bar above. On a related note, it would be extremely helpful if blog-folks like me, who spend too much money on Amazon, would get in the habit of clicking on the Amazon logo link on the right side of each blog post. As you might expect, doing so will not cost you a single penny, but would be appreciated tremendously by yours truly. And it works seamlessly with your Amazon Prime account.

This blog post took well more than two hours to prepare and makes 208 consecutive days with a new one. Please remember that if an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, and is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to save 3% at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And doing so always earns my great appreciation.

Please Remember

With income from IPTs now close to zero, please, if you enjoy and learn from the blog, remember to use one of my two affiliate programs when purchasing new gear. Doing so just might make it possible for me to avoid having to try to get a job as a Walmart greeter and will not cost you a single penny more. And if you use Bedfords and remember to enter the BIRDSASART code at checkout, you will save 3% on every order and enjoy free second-day air shipping. In these crazy times — I am out at least forty to sixty thousand dollars so far due to COVID 19 (with lots more to come) — remembering to use my B&H link or to shop at Bedfords will help me out a ton and be greatly appreciated. Overseas folks who cannot order from the US because of import fees, duties, and taxes, are invited to help out by clicking here to leave a blog thank you gift if they see fit.

New and Better Bedfords Discount Policy!

You can now save 3% on all of your Bedfords photo gear purchases by entering the BIRDSASART coupon code at checkout. Your discount will be applied to your pre-tax total. In addition, by using the code you will get 2nd day air shipping via Fed Ex.

Grab a Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III and save $14.99. Purchase a Canon EOS R5 and your discount will be $116.97. Purchase a Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and save a remarkable $389.94! Your Bedford’s purchase no longer needs to be greater than $1,000.00 for you to receive a discount. The more you spend, the more you save.

Money Saving Reminder

Many have learned that if you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H and would enjoy free second-day air shipping, your best bet is to click here, place an order with Bedfords, and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If an item is out of stock, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell phone at (479) 381-2592 (Central time). Be sure to mention the BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order to save 3% and enjoy free 2nd-day air shipping. Steve has been great at getting folks the hot items that are out of stock at B&H and everywhere else. The wait lists at the big stores can be a year or longer for the hard to get items. Steve will surely get you your gear long before that. For the past year, he has been helping BAA Blog folks get their hands on items like the SONY a9 ii, the SONY 200-600 G OSS lens, the Canon EOS R5, the Canon RF 100-500mm lens, and the Nikon 500mm PF. Steve is personable, helpful, and eager to please.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs (remember those?) and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear, especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail

This image was created on 23 July 2021 in my front yard. Standing at full height, with the blossom picked and Plamped in place, I used the Induro GIT304L Grand Series 3 Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Mini-mounted Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM lens with the Metabones Canon EF/EF-S Lens to Sony E Mount T Smart Adapter (Fifth Generation) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital camera body. ISO 400. The exposure was in part determined by Zebras with Exposure Compensation on the rear wheel, and then selected as best from a bracketed series of exposures after evaluation in RawDigger. Multi-metering +1.3 stops: 1/100 sec. at f/3.5 (wide open) in Manual mode. Manual Focus, Focus Magnifier, Focus Peaking, and the 2-second self-timer, all as detailed in the SONY Alpha a1 Info and Updates group e-mails. AWB at 8:24:46am in the shade on a sunny morning. Be sure to click on the image to view a larger version. Image #1: Sunshine or Powderpuff Mimosa — Mimosa strigillosa blossom

The Situation

We have a nice patch of Sunshine Mimosa growing in a small patch of dirt right next to the pool machinery. I’ve seen spent blossoms before. I checked for flowers on Wednesday morning but there were none, and no buds as well, at least that I saw. After my Thursday morning walk, I walked out onto the pool deck to put my boots in the sun to dry and decided to take a peek at the low-growing mimosas that had multiplied over the past three years. I was surprised to see two blossoms. One was a bit ragged and the other one was perfect. I picked the beautiful blossom and set up for a green background in the front yard. As it was rather late and a breeze was developing, I moved my setup into the lee of the big oak tree in front of my house. The good news in those situation is that the breeze comes and goes.

Note that working wide open with the Metabones Adapter resulted in severe vignetting that could not be completely eliminated via the Vignettting slider during the raw conversion in ACR; I had to use a very soft clone stamp to make the corners perfect.

This image was created on 23 July 2021 in my front yard. Standing at full height, with the blossom picked and Plamped in place, I used the Induro GIT304L Grand Series 3 Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Mini-mounted Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM lens with the Metabones Canon EF/EF-S Lens to Sony E Mount T Smart Adapter (Fifth Generation) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital camera body. ISO 800. The exposure was in part determined by Zebras with Exposure Compensation on the rear wheel, and then selected as best from a bracketed series of exposures after evaluation in RawDigger. Multi-metering +1.3 stops: 1/40 sec. at f/8 (stopped down 2 1/3 stops) in Manual mode. Manual Focus, Focus Magnifier, Focus Peaking, and the 2-second self-timer, all as detailed in the SONY Alpha a1 Info and Updates group e-mails. AWB at 8:23:57am in the shade on a sunny morning. Be sure to click on the image to view a larger version. Image #2: Sunshine or Powderpuff Mimosa — Mimosa strigillosa blossom

Sensitive Brier

Sensitive Brier (Mimosa nuttallii), with its smaller prettier blossoms, is more common at ILE than Sunshine Mimosa. It is sometimes called Catclaw Sensitive Briar because of the multitude of tiny barbs on the stems. You can see a decent image of this mimosa in the the blog post here.

This image was created on 23 July 2021 in my front yard. Standing at full height, with the blossom picked and Plamped in place, I used the Induro GIT304L Grand Series 3 Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Mini-mounted Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM lens with the Metabones Canon EF/EF-S Lens to Sony E Mount T Smart Adapter (Fifth Generation) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital camera body. ISO 800. The exposure was in part determined by Zebras with Exposure Compensation on the rear wheel, and then selected as best from a bracketed series of exposures after evaluation in RawDigger. Multi-metering +1.3 stops: 1/13sec. at f/16 (stopped down 4 1/3 stops) in Aperture Priority mode. Manual Focus, Focus Magnifier, Focus Peaking, and the 2-second self-timer, all as detailed in the SONY Alpha a1 Info and Updates group e-mails. AWB at 8:23:24am in the shade on a sunny morning. Be sure to click on the image to view a larger version. Image #3: Sunshine or Powderpuff Mimosa — Mimosa strigillosa blossom

Variety is the Spice of Flower Photography

Once I have my gear set up on a still flower in calm conditions, and have focused sharply exactly where I want, the process becomes quite automated. For this flower, I started at f/8 and shot exposures from +.7 stops to + 2 stops. I guessed that +1.0 would have been best. Those were acceptable but when I evaluated the images in RawDigger it showed that +1.3 stops was best. Working in Av mode with Exposure Compensation enables me to work very quickly and to learn more about exposure once the images are downloaded by evaluating them in RawDigger. Then it is a simple matter of varying the aperture and shooting series of five images at different exposures. If you wish to change the size of the image in the frame or try a different image design, rinse and repeat.

Note that in Image #1 there were no dust spots. In Image #2 there were two. In Image #3, where I stopped down to f/16, I had to use the Spot Healing Brush to eliminate about 20 dust spots, many of them nasty. Note also in Image #3 that some background detail was brought up even though it was a good twenty feet to the grass background.

SONY and artie

Switching to SONY, first with the a9 and the a9 II, and then with the remarkable a1, has enabled me (and others, like Mike De Rosa as seen recently in the blog post here), to create images of birds in flight and in action that I could not have even dreamed of when using Canon for 33 years and then Nikon for more than two. Most of the time I am using one of two AF methods that together, cover about 99% of the commonly-encountered bird photography situations. Learn more by joining the group!

From Long-ago IPT veteran Keith Kennedy via e-mail

Absolutely great information. I am calling Jim in a few minutes to order a couple of Delkin 128GB UHS-II cards. Your timely email has saved me a ton of money! Many thanks

In the same vein, via e-mail from John LeClair

Well, e-mail #21 alone was worth the price of admission!

From Pamela Viale, after receiving my a1 settings along with detailed instructions on how to copy them to her SONY a1 via e-mail

This e-mail group has been an incredible boon to me! Thank you so much!

From Joe Barranco via e-Mail

Thanks for your great ideas on the A1 set up. I have been getting MANY more keepers doing things your way!

From Barbara White via e-Mail

Wow, I just gotta say – I learn so much from the SONY Alpha a1 Set-up and Info group! My camera is on my desk, and I’m always picking it up and changing something that I’ve read about in the e-mails.

Thanks, Barbara

From Janet Horton via e-Mail

Hi Artie, Mystery solved. Yes, I was able to replicate what you did. I forgot that you have to set self-timer using the upper dial. I am used to that being a MENU selection.

Thanks much, Janet

SONY Alpha a1 Set-up and Info Group

The SONY Alpha a1 Set-up and Info Group is going great guns as more and more folks chime in with thoughtful questions and experience-based answers. As the a1 is becoming more readily available, more and more folks are getting their hands on this amazing body. We are now up to an astounding 69 lucky and blessed photographers! Early on, we discussed the myriad AF options. I gave my opinion as to the best one for flight and general bird photography.

All who purchased their Alpha a1 bodies via a BAA affiliate link will receive a free subscription to the Sony Alpha a1 Set-Up and Info Updates after shooting me their receipts via e-mail. (Note: it may take me several days to confirm B&H orders.) This same service may be purchased by anyone with an a1 body via a $150.00 PayPal sent to birdsasart@verizon.net indicating payment for Alpha a1 Info Updates. Alternatively, folks can call Jim weekdays at 1-863-692-0906 to pay via credit card. New members will receive composite e-mails that summarize all previous discussions.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.