Nature pics - part 5

Yes they're back... my interest in capturing more of nature's works. To see if I could do justice to capturing the beauty of some flowers and plants. This time, I tried getting closer - see if I could focus said flowers up close without losing the image's focus... taking into consideration what Mon said about how these new digicam's allow you to tell them what to focus on.

Here's a little of what I got, from my recent Cuenca trip last March 28... I'm ashamed to say i can't remember what these flowers are called... so I'll just have to get their names later on and repost them here. My first pic, as you can see presents a bunch of Lavander colored flowers forming a near dome-like shape (will insert flower/plant's name here later).

Whereas my second subject (insert name here) is a very bright red flower... first focusing on the bunch - then refocusing... and coming even closer to get the flower. I'm rather glad that the flower's texture did not get lost in the taking - which goes to show that I was able to properly focus on the subject. Whether I can get a sharper image... I still need to reassess my knowledge or mu Canon Ixus V's capabilities.

Then here's another attractive plant (insert name here later) and I first tried getting it with a flashbulb... the camera's automatic decision - not mine; then I tried once again without the flash, this time... just to see how things went. The results - as you can see are both great (I shy away from the adjectives breath-taking or spectacular, since I feel that I don't deserve explaining my pictures in that manner... at least, not yet, anyway.

Though they're not that large, the picture's closeness makes the plant come across as much larger... I might even mistake it for a local grape (or the Duhat, for that matter) had I not known that grapes grow in vines and Duhat on trees.

I hope to continue my understanding of nature and capture them through pictures. Until next time... see you.

Nature pics - part four

There's something to be said about a well-maintained lawn, or garden. This may very well be the best spot to look at in Greenbelt. Where others may be beauty in isolated cases, this has beauty in its totality.

I likes this view - the seeming artistic sculpture of the plants positioning and if you just focus on these - leaving out the building in the background... one can forget (for a brief moment) that they are in the heat of the city. Behind me is a restaurant, and I must say, this view; while eating your meal in the evening, can be very enticing to relaxing and enjoying said meal - specially with good company... be it a loved-one or friends.

Whay is not too evident about the picture is that the shaded area in the middle can actually seem like an alcove - a naturally made one, that can shade people caught in light rain. From a religious (Roman Catholic) viewpoint, I'd say it would be perfect to place a statue of the Virgin Mary... but it can easily be as perfect for, say any religious statue, since the place can definitely promote tranquility.

Nature pics - part three

Talking about ponds - what's a pond without fishes... and when we think of fishes, what comes to mind are Koi. This has been a dream of mine... owning a place where I can afford to put in a pond, and in that pond... Koi.

Meanwhile, I'll just have to contend myself with taking pictures of such - and continue dreaming of the day I can afford to set up a Koi pond.

About the picture? I was slightly worried about taking a picture of the fishes, as they were moving. I had little success with my fishes in the aquarium - but I guess, that was because I set my speed to a slower option to compensate for less light - end result was blurry pictures of my fishes. On the other hand, these seemed to turn out right. But I guess, I can than the sunny day for this.

Nature pics - part two

Here's a nice looking scene with bamboo on the side of a pond. Some people say that a great photographer should have the eye for beauty - maybe similar to how a cinematographer sees things. I'm not sure I'm there yet... but I hope my eyes can catch some beauties in the middle of the Metro... and show that there are spots of paradise in the city... if only people take the time out from their busy schedule to notice these.

Nature pictures this time

This time around, I'm trying my hand on taking nature-related pictures. Here's an orchid that can be found in the middle of Greenbelt's park - I noticed it before, and thought to myself that I should have brought my camera. Naturally, the next time I went, I looked for this orchid and took one shot.


I hardly had to make any changes to the image. You might say, this is one picture that I am proud of - the subject is very much in focus and does not get smothered by its surroundings - and the surroundings are not exactly something to ignore either. Its just that the orchid seems to naturally stand out - it was begging to be taken.

A friend and colleague of mine (Mon Villar) commented that I should have taken the picture much closer - thus making the orchid the real main subject of the picture. It also makes the focus zoom into the flower and sort of zoom out (defocus) the background. This is something his wife did. Sound advice... problem was I couldn't go nearer said orchid anymore, as there were other natural and man-made barriers between the flower and me. Good thing too... I suspect that the flower might not have been there long had it been easy to access.

Still, I will try out said advice come the next time.