(0.8 sec @ f/16; ISO 100; 0 EV)

(1/3 sec @ f/22; ISO 400; +1/3 EV)

(0.6 sec @ f/22; ISO 400; +1/3 EV)

(0.8 sec @ f/16; ISO 200; +2/3 EV)

Took a day off yesterday to visit Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, PA) and see the elusive Himalayan Blue Poppies. These absolutely gorgeous flowers apparently grow in the [...]]]>

(0.8 sec @ f/16; ISO 100; 0 EV)

(1/3 sec @ f/22; ISO 400; +1/3 EV)

(0.6 sec @ f/22; ISO 400; +1/3 EV)

(0.8 sec @ f/16; ISO 200; +2/3 EV)

Took a day off yesterday to visit Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, PA) and see the elusive Himalayan Blue Poppies. These absolutely gorgeous flowers apparently grow in the wild in only three places in the world – the Himalayas, Scotland and Alaska. Longwood Garden has been forcing these Blue Poppies for the past several years. Being fairly delicate and sensitive plants, the blooming period is very brief. Typically, the flowers can be seen for about a two week period in early to mid-March.

There weren’t many specimens in the conservatory – two very large pots as part of one of the indoor “outdoor garden” displays and a few plants isolated in one of the flower beds. Still it was well worth the trip and the time spent photographing them.

All images were made with my Canon 5D Mark II and a Sigma 150mm f/2.8 Macro lens; tripod-mounted.

Hope you enjoy the images as much as I enjoyed making them.

Not a whole lot to say here. Most of the morning, I carried two cameras ready to go. One was the 50D with the 24-70 and the other was the 30D with the Lensbaby. I added the soft focus optic for this image. Processing was done with Nik filters – Viveza 2 to adjust brightness, [...]]]>

Not a whole lot to say here. Most of the morning, I carried two cameras ready to go. One was the 50D with the 24-70 and the other was the 30D with the Lensbaby. I added the soft focus optic for this image. Processing was done with Nik filters – Viveza 2 to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation and structure; Glamour Glow filter in Color Efex Pro; and then, at the last second, I decide to add a bit of sharpening with Sharpener Pro. The sharpening added more detail to the petals while leaving the halos characteristic of the soft focus optic intact. I kinda liked the result.

This is another image from our weekend trip to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. As I said in my previous post, what I had hoped would be a quiet winter morning in the Conservatory (like we had spent there last year) quickly [...]]]>

This is another image from our weekend trip to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. As I said in my previous post, what I had hoped would be a quiet winter morning in the Conservatory (like we had spent there last year) quickly turned into a zoo  because it was “Or-KID Day” at the gardens and what seemed like a million kids showed up with parents in tow.

Despite these unforeseen challenges, I did get to do some shooting starting early on (before the kids arrived) with some wide angle HDR photography before progressing to some Macro and Lensbaby Soft-focus work. I will be presenting some examples of each over the next week.

I had just one opportunity to make the 5-image series I needed for this HDR composite image. Unseen stage left are the elevator and stairs up from the entrance. Obviously, I got there first, got set up and made this series of images just before the elevator doors opened the first group of visitors walked into the scene. I used my Canon 50D and 24-70 f/2.8L lens mounted on my tripod. I created the HDR image using Photomatix Pro and processed the image using Nik filters (Dfine for noise reduction), Viveza (to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, structure) and a couple of Color Efex Pro filters to tweak things a bit. I finished up with a bit of sharpening using Nik Sharpener Pro.

And this is the result.

Barb and I spent a most interesting day at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA yesterday. It is always nice to spend a winter day within the warm confines of the conservatory. This is pretty much the middle of their orchid exhibit. So between the orchids and everything else, there is really a lot to [...]]]>

Barb and I spent a most interesting day at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA yesterday. It is always nice to spend a winter day within the warm confines of the conservatory. This is pretty much the middle of their orchid exhibit. So between the orchids and everything else, there is really a lot to see. It was also an interesting day in other ways as well, not the least of which was that it turned out to be a kid’s days (my bad for not checking the events schedule more closely). And when we arrived about 20 minutes prior to opening, there were about 20 people with tripods standing around – a camera club event.

Despite these unforeseen challenges, I did get to do some shooting starting early on (before the kids arrived) with some wide angle HDR photography before progressing to some Macro and Lensbaby Soft-focus work. I will be presenting some examples of each over the next week.

This first image is a “make good” from last year when I tried to make this image and blew the composition, blew the image, blew the processing. You name it; I blew it. So I was hoping it would be back this year and I knew I wanted another chance. I approaching this image several ways but finally decided on the approach used for this image. I used my Canon 50D and 24-70 f/2.8L lens mounted on my tripod. I attached a Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter so I could control the shutter speed in order to get the silky water. Then I took a series of 5 images to use in an HDR composite. The five images varied in their EV (-2 2/3, -1 2/3, -2/3, +1/3, +1 1/3) and consequently their shutter speed. I created the HDR image using Photomatix Pro and processed the image using Nik filters (Dfine for noise reduction), Viveza (to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, structure) and a couple of Color Efex Pro filters ending with Glamour Glow. I finished up with a bit of Sharpening using Sharpener Pro.

And this is the result.

NOTE: You may have noticed the Adorama ad in the left column below my page listings. I am now an Adorama Affiliate. I will say more about this over the next week or so. In a nutshell, if you are interesting in making a purchase of any type (camera, lens, bag, card, binoculars, etc) and click through to Adorama via the link here on my website to make that purchase, it gets recorded and I credited with a referral. And you will have my deepest gratitude!

This is another orchid from Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, PA). This particular genus did not appear to be part of the main orchid exhibit which opened this past weekend. We had wandered off into another room of the conservatory where we were all alone and found a number of these orchid plants as a part [...]]]>

This is another orchid from Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, PA). This particular genus did not appear to be part of the main orchid exhibit which opened this past weekend. We had wandered off into another room of the conservatory where we were all alone and found a number of these orchid plants as a part of a display of lush tropical greens.

I swear I came close to working my way entirely around this particular orchid plant trying to come up with a good angle on the flowers and, at the same time, get a background with which I was satisfied. Fortunately by the end of my session with the Epidendrum, I had several alternatives from which to choose. I think this is the image that I prefer. 

For those of you who are interested in such things, all of the orchid images that I posted over the past several days were made using a Canon 50D DSLR camera with a Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro lens, tripod mounted.

Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

(This image is Copyright Ed Vatza 2009. Usage without my prior written approval is prohibited.)

In my previous post, I commented on the difficulty in getting great shots of many of the beautiful orchids on display at Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, PA) due to less than spectacular backgrounds and some very tough light. Still I was able to come away with some photographs with which I was pretty happy.

This is [...]]]>

In my previous post, I commented on the difficulty in getting great shots of many of the beautiful orchids on display at Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, PA) due to less than spectacular backgrounds and some very tough light. Still I was able to come away with some photographs with which I was pretty happy.

This is one of a lady’s slipper orchid – Paphiopedilum genus – Edward Marshall Boehm. It’s a real beauty to look at and a joy to photograph. 

But it also appeals to me on another level. This flower stirs memories – pleasant memories of wandering around Acadia National Park (ME) last June in search of the elusive lady’s slippers and of all the help we received from folks as diverse as a National Park Ranger/Naturalist and the waitress at our favorite Bar Harbor breakfast place. Some of our searches were successful – like the lady’s slippers we found atop Cadillac Mountain. Others were less so – like the long walk along the Eagle Lake Carriage Road in search of the flowers right along the side of the road. We never found them.  But it is all about the search. The discovery is just a bonus. 

Hope you enjoy this one from Longwood Gardens. It will have to do until our return to Acadia in June.

(This image is Copyright Ed Vatza 2009. Usage without my prior written approval is prohibited.)

My wife and I were up at the crack of dawn yesterday and headed down to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. It’s about an hour and half ride on an early Sunday morning in winter. As we talked on the ride down, we realized that it had been, unbelievably, nearly thirty years since we [...]]]>

My wife and I were up at the crack of dawn yesterday and headed down to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. It’s about an hour and half ride on an early Sunday morning in winter. As we talked on the ride down, we realized that it had been, unbelievably, nearly thirty years since we last visited the gardens. How time flies. 

Longwood Gardens is expansive with many, many outdoor display areas. But on a cold January day, what attracted us wasn’t outdoor displays but rather the new orchid exhibit inside the conservatory. I must say that hundreds upon hundreds of flowering orchids (as well as other flowers) is just what the doctor ordered to cure the mid-winter blahs. 

We spent about three hours wandering around the conservatory during which time, I took many photographs. I must say that in my estimation, for as beautiful as the orchids are, the conservatory was a much less than ideal venue for photography. Once you looked beyond the actual flowers, the backgrounds left much to be desired – bare walls, pipes, windows and the pots of other orchids filled the backgrounds. Lighting was also very harsh. With so much glass, light was bouncing and reflecting everywhere. Good compositions and images were very difficult to come by not just for me but for other other photographers as well. 

I will say that it was almost as interesting to watch the photographers as it was to look at the flowers. There were definitely two distinct groups – those like me, who approached the flowers, studying them, trying desperately to find the proper framing, background and composition. and those who just walked around snapping picture after picture of the beautiful orchids. At the end of the day, I am willing to bet that the latter group walked away happier than the former. There were many photos to be had, just precious few “perfect” ones. 

Here is one image that I liked a lot. It’s not perfect but it isn’t bad. For those botanists out there, it is a Doritaenopsis genus – Unnamed Hybrid.

Comments on this image, or any of my images here on my blog, are always greatly appreciated so don’t be shy.

(This image is Copyright Ed Vatza 2009. Usage without my prior written approval is prohibited.)