Cattreasure

This picture was taken at a flower show. Hand held, no tripods allowed. Shot at f/9, 1/60 sec, 58 mm, iso 80

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SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

The petals are sharp but the stamen is not. I think I would have kicked the ISO and f stop up a couple notches to see if you couldn't get more depth of field. I like the composition, exposure and color.

Cattreasure

Thank you for your comments. Sorry I did not get back to you sooner. We have a brand new grandson. He was born at 2:30 this morning. We thought he would make it on the 5th. If he had, he would have shared his birthday with Grandpa. Now he will share his birthday with a cousin and his parents anniversary.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

First- congrats on the new grandson. You'll have a new subject to take pictures of! And he can't argue with you or run away. I hope you're better at baby pictures than I am. We have a new one coming in October so I'm studying up, hoping to improve.

Second- your orchid photo. I had a recent opportunity to shoot these same flowers so I know the challenge. One would think that an aperture of 9 would get the whole thing in focus but no, the stamens are so much longer in relation to the size of the flower, it is harder than it looks to take a photo of them. Most critics will tolerate blur on the petals more than blur on the stamen (kind of like eyes on people). And they'll tolerate more blur at the base of the stamen than the end of it.

I had better luck at more distance from the flower, and at somewhat of an angle, than I did straight on, so I could get more of the thing in the plane of focus. I had to fine tune focus manually instead of relying on autofocus entirely. Having to handhold (usually in a crowd of onlookers) adds an extra challenge. I'd suggest you try to get more in focus by changing angle, aperture and ISO, you don't really have a lot of room to change that shutter speed.

Orchids are beautiful but if you look closely at them they are downright weird.

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

That won't work. The only way you can get close to everything in focus, is to stand way back, and that won't even quite cut it. And take a 3/4 at that! To get the stamen in focus with the rest the bloom in a practical manner would be to focus stack it. The poster said no tripods allowed, so there goes that idea out the window.

Cattreasure

The orchid was a tough shot. No tripods allowed. I can understand not allowing the tripods. Too many people and not enough room. It was a good experience for next time when time and space are short. Thank you, I will remember your advice.

I got a few baby shots at the hospital. Another place with too many people and activity. The baby has 8 aunts and 2 uncles along with their spouses and children. Every body wants to hold the baby but not have their picture taken. Very uncooperative. I don't think they stop to think how special these pictures are to the baby later. I will be taking baby pictures this afternoon. That will be fun.

Thank you again for your orchid advice.

Cattreasure

No tripods and not much room. If you get too far from the flower, than it becomes a people with flower shot.

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

True.