Joyfullee, Elaine H, blueeyes3515...thank you, so much for your kind remarks!

Bob

I am basically a morning person and I usually am in the garden early taking pictures. I also love the light just after a summer rain shower, so many of my flower pictures include dew or residual raindrops. Although I have no proof, my results indicate that the auto-focus on all my cameras works better when there is a highly reflective element present (like water) on my subject. I would like to share a few of mine with you and invite you to post yours!

Bob

Dr. John Dickman


Luscious Lucy


Sam Trivitt

Thanks Anne Marie and Mahma!

Bob

Mommy 115, have you clicked on the (Download)? It is of a slightly higher resolution. Thanks,

Bob

These photos go with my post above.

Thanks, Bob.

About ten years ago, a doctor in our area passed away. He was an avid gardener and had a beautiful landscape. There has been no apparent attempts made to sell the home and the yards have been abandoned except for grass mowing about twice a year since. This past spring I drove by and an area of blue caught my eye. I parked, got my camera and captured these photos of a naturalized anemone bed that has seemingly thrived on the inattention. I just might have been going about this gardening all wrong!

Bob

Appears to be extremely over-processed. It appears to me that your original probably is a sharp, well composed image with adequate saturation right out of the camera.

Bob

Very nice photos!

Bob

The lady correctly offered a "Butterfly"...it is not a moth!

It is specifically a PECK'S SKIPPER (Polites peckius) and a very nice photo, at that.

Bob

I could not agree with you more! The materials the tanks are made of really want to reflect light, many of the habitats in the tanks are highly prone to have lots of sediment, the colors of the lighting varies with each habitat and the refraction of the light (and focus) varies radically with the distance of the fish from the sides of the tank. These were shot in Baltimore at the national aquarium...they prohibited flash ONLY for a very few species, such as the octopus. Most of mine were shot without flash. As often as I preach about setting your ISO at 100 and leave it there, these extremely low light conditions resulted in my shooting mostly at ISO's of 1600 and 3200 without flash. These were shot with a Canon 5D Mark II using a Canon 70-200mm IS II lens. All were hand held due to the crowded conditions.

Bob

Shot in the Tropical Rainforest section

Yes it is a gray hairstreak...individuals coloration ranges from a brown (like yours) to a stark pale gray. Nice that you get so many species in MN!

Bob

Lots of pretty butterflies here!

Bob

AMERICAN LADY


COMMON BUCKEYE


FIERY SKIPPER


EASTERN TIGER SWALLOWTAIL


CLOUDED SULPHUR

I do not know how to edit the information above the photos...the first two rose photos indicate that they were shot with a Canon DSC3...that should read SONY DSC3 in both cases. Sorry about that!

Bob

Let me begin by saying that your rose photo is pretty good for being shot with a new lens that you haven't had time to get completely comfortable with.

Shooting flowers seems that it would be so easy...they don't fly away and are usually found in reasonably well lit areas. In actuality, you are usually shooting up-close and, often, at fairly wide apertures...and there is usually a light breeze, at least, blowing. All these conditions amplify the errors in achieving real sharpness.

The single most important tool for reducing motion-blur is a good sturdy tripod. When I tell you that I use the tripod on over 95% of my photos, I mean it! Motion-blur is the primary cause of unintentional soft-focus results. It is all too easy to blame the focusing mechanism or to fault the manual focusing but if you control motion-blur, your problems will be reduced remarkably.

Most digital cameras today are capable of capturing superb photos if you will allow them to function as they are engineered to do.

One of the most abused functions on our cameras is the ISO settings. It is designed to allow your cameras sensor to operate in VERY low light situations. All too frequently, I see ISO settings posted for shots made at high noon, in full sunlight, of ISO 400, or more. Most of our cameras are not capable of shutter speeds and f/stops needed to prevent overexposure when attempted using high ISO settings, in bright sunshine.

Two steps, that if employed religiously, will eliminate much of the soft-focus problems...always use a sturdy tripod and set your ISO at 100 and LEAVE IT ALONE!

If I may, I would like to attach three rose photos...one with a Canon DSLR and the other two with a relatively low resolution "point-and-shoot" camera along with the shooting properties of each. All shot using SPOT metering, ISO 100 and without flash.

Canon DSC3-1/400 @f/8. Rose is BLUE GIRL


Canon DSC3-1/160 @f/4.5. Rose is CHERRY PARFAIT


Canon 40D-Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens-1/160 @f/8. Rose is Elina.

Your pictures are wonderful...your shooting location is enviable, to say the least!

Bob