Flowers in the Sun

My recent forays out around the neighborhood to photograph flowers has been done with the X-H1. With the 35mm lens and the 10mm extension tube, I get a small field of view and the objects are perhaps ½ normal size. This day, I took the GFX-50R where the magnification is lower and the field of view is larger to get some whole flowers in the frame.



This excursion was spent framing the flower, getting the focus close and then waiting for the wind to die down so I could get an image in focus and with no motion blur.

I was watching a bird photography video the other day and the person explained that that the way to get good photo is to fix the aperture and shutter speed, let the camera choose the film speed and focus by hand. After I thought about this for a while, I realized that this was really smart. So smart, I tried it on this field trip. I am pleased with the results.

This method of shoot in manual with auto-ISO leaves me with composing the shot and focusing. At least of these stationary objects, it works great. Birds are likely to be harder. Even if I switch to autofocus for moving birds to speed up the process, there are advantages to setting the aperture and the shutter and leaving them alone.

Around the corner, one of our neighbors has planted a small fruit garden with strawberries, apples, pears. I have photographed there several times before. Today, I was able to get the ripe fruit and strawberry leaf that is going through its change of colors.

Hanging above it, is this apple, all ripe and ready to be eaten. Even in the cool northwest, summer produces the usual suspects.