The Tulips in the Front Yard

Now that we are little later into the spring and there was some sun yesterday, I headed to the front yard to check out the tulips again. I mean, what else are you going to do, right?

Most of the images here are taken with the 45 mm extension tube on the 100-200mm lens (GFX-50R camera). However, this first one, uses the extension tube on the 32-64mm lens. Here, the depth of field is very shallow and I must get very close to the flower to get anything in focus at all. In fact, if I try any focal length on this lens except 64 mm, I can't get close enough to focus at all.



This morning on the local NPR station (KUOW), we were told that tomorrow the "mercury is going to shoot up and it will be hot". Tomorrow is predicted to get to 70 F. For most of the country this means that we are getting to room temperature, not what any sane person would call "hot".

On the other hand, the flowers in the front yard are showing clear signs of being happy in the sunshine.

The colors are quite delicate, especially the combination of yellow, purple, and orange, above. In the image below, we see a sedate selection with only purple and cream. Nevertheless, these flowing shapes and gentle color gradations are delightful.

This one is more aggressively colored with bold red strokes across the white background reminded me of nothing so much as flames.

Since these are hand held shots, it is not always clear exactly where the focus is. My bad. Perhaps I'll take the time once day soon to set this up on the tripod and do some focus stacking to get the whole flower in focus.

Even though the front flower is not entirely in focus, the back flower is nicely softened and makes a good background for the nearer flower.

As usual, I found one shot that I like better in monochrome than color. This time I managed to get the front of the nearer flower reasonably well focused and the farther flower is well blurred. This makes for a pleasant composition.

As proof that spring is well underway, I caught this tiny bee in the act on this flower.

Finally, (for today at least), we have a purple accented flower to brighten your day. One of the petals is twisted about and it makes the flower a bit confusing to understand as a simple flower. But, there you are...not all flowers come in standard shapes.

If it really gets all the way to 70 F tomorrow, I'll brave the oppressive heat and see if I can get a few more images for you to peruse.

I have a couple other lenses that I rarely use for everyday photography so I'll soon be going out for walkabouts with each of these to practice with them. I've photographed all the obvious stuff near the house. Now I need to start changing the way I view these things by changing lenses and perspectives.

We're told that self-isolation is making things better here in Snohomish County. We're in one the counties (along with King and Pierce) with the worst of it in Washington. While we are under a stay at home order though May 4, I expect this to be extended, possibly with some relaxations around the edges, for at least another month. This is going to take a while and I'll keep looking for at least vaguely interesting things at which to point my camera.

Take care.