A Morning Bloom

Pondering some creative time for the past few days to get away from work things, I unexpectedly found myself trying and doing this (short) time-lapse thingy as you can view below.

As the video description says:

This morning, while washing the car, I noticed a bloom flower in the garden. As the sun was rising from the horizon, I knew this flower will bloom in awhile as it does usually in the morning. I just wanted to share one of nature's many wonders that is often go unnoticed.

And the video:

This is my first try of doing time-lapse video with my beloved Canon EOS 1000D/XS. Controlling the exposure of each photo was a challenge as I initially exposed for a lower light level and stuck with it and the latter parts of the photo series, I have over-exposed photos due to the change in light levels. I didn't want to move the cam to change settings so I just left it as is and just handled the over-exposed photos during post-processing.

The thirty-or-so seconds of video was a photo series of 100 photos. I had an interval of 45 seconds for each photo. Photos were taken between 07:22 and 08:34 on January 06, 2013.

I'm hoping for another take on this time-lapse thingy.. 'til next time. Hope you enjoyed the short clip.

Flowers Delight!

Over the weekend, my wife together with my two daughters and I, went to church early and ate out for breakfast as I wanted to go to the Orchids Festival that was just recently concluded last March 7, 2011. These were taken at the Quezon City Memorial Circle where the festival was held.

I wanted to be early so I can still have soft natural light and didn't want to use flash in this occasion. Indeed the day was blessed with magnificent light. I really like taking photos of flowers under ambient light. Flower photography is my first love in photography and I can't wait to get myself a true dedicated macro lens for this (but it has to wait for awhile).

So let me share some of my favorites which I am very happy to share with you along with some description of the photo.

Here's an orchid where my intention is to focus on only one or two blossoms and let the others in the cluster blur in the background. Though the other blooms are blurred, it retained it's general form, shape, and color suggesting that the only focused bloom is part of a group and not a solo.

f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 200

Here's another bloom where I intentionally took a shot of the top part only of the cluster and show the color and the remains of the previous night's rain on them.

f/3.2, 1/640sec, ISO 200

A close-up shot (not a macro) of a bloom from a cluster of orchid blooms where I intentionally shot only one to reveal the patterns and color of this particular bloom. Actually, if you can look closely, there seems to be an alien's face (similar to movies -- big eyes, small mouth, and probably a third eye on the forehead) there in the pattern.

f/3.2, 1/320sec, ISO 200

This particular bloom is quite interesting for me as this variety is very seldom seen. The common color of this bloom is pink. I am actually trying to grow the common variety of this in our garden.

f/4.0, 1/125sec , ISO 200

I remember that this is my second shot from the series of photos that I have taken from this trip. My wife actually spotted this particular bloom for it's peachy color. The shallow DOF was intentional as I wanted to introduce dimension to the flower. I hope I achieved this. :)


f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 100

Ain't that delightful? Thank you for viewing. I hope you were enjoyed the photos as I enjoyed taking photos of them.

Share your delight and mine by sharing this blog entry to your friends.

Cheers!

Yellow and Green

This photo has been long overdue and it was only last night I was only able to check on it. After doing my levels adjust on the converted RAW to JPG, I just can't help but be amazed on the output of this flower shot.

I'm loving the colors, sharpness, and DOF so much. I don't know if it's just me but I really do love the outcome on this photo.

Canon EOS 1000D + defective AF 18-55mm kit lens @ 49mm, f/8.0, 1/160sec, ISO 800

Thank you for looking.

Spring Time

It felt like it was spring time this morning. Looking at the lawn filled with weeds reaching at most 5 inches due to the onset of rainy afternoons. Not only the weeds are thriving but also our flowering plants in the lawn. Though I think the flowers are a bit struggling due to the weeds.

Despite of this situation, the flowers are in bloom. The leaves are green and the flowers are bright.

The photo looks like a field of wild flowers. Some are yellow, white, orange, and even red. Add to that the tall weeds that makes it really a field of wild flowers. I guess what's lacking is the bright blue sky.

What made more feel like spring time is that the lawn had several visitors taking advantage of the flowers in bloom. There were several butterflies frequenting the lawn. I guess about three of this specie presented below.
Another specie of butterfly was also in the garden but wasn't able to take a photo of it as didn't rest much on the blooms long enough and it/they was/were relatively small than the ones in the photo.

The edges of the wings of this butterfly are jagged. It looks like strong winds or something else damaged the wings.

Even this butterfly have jagged wings, it's still beautiful and it's not always that these lawn visitors let me take a photo of them enjoying the wonderful blooms.

I think I would like to have a butterfly garden but I'm not sure if it's the right time as I feel the rainy season is just around the corner.

Well, I guess that gives me some time to research and get to know more about having these beautiful winged creatures that enjoy the blossoms.

I have sighted a couple of dragonflies too but didn't have the patience to follow them around in the hot sun. I think I had enough chasing with the butterflies.

That's it for my spring time -- or I should say my spring day!

Day 59: Starting To Bloom

I can't stop checking on my Cosmos bud. Early this morning, I checked again my Cosmos bud. Actually, it's not a bud anymore. It's starting to bloom! I can't wait for it to bloom fully. Sharing some photos again.

On the photos above too, a second bloom is showing some signs. Now I've discovered the color of my Cosmos plant. I'm wondering it would bloom other colors as well. I guess I just have to wait for other blooms to show up.

Day 56: Signs Of Blooms

Nearly after two months and some struggle with weeds and other elements, my Cosmos plants, actually two of about a dozen, are showing some signs of blooming. I am very excited for the first blooms of my Cosmos plants.

I am very curious to what color of the flowers will be. Can't really wait for the blooms and it will be photo time again with my favorite subjects -- flowers!

Here's a photo of what I think is a potential for a bloom:

Flowers!!!

Day 3: Signs Of Life

A few days ago, I tilled a small portion of the lawn and planted some flower seeds -- Mexican Sunflower and Cosmos. I really don't know much about gardening but just the basics. I love taking photos of flowers and I guess this is one way to take more photos of them.

Well, I read quite a few from the Internet about growing Mexican Sunflower and Cosmos. They say they're one of the most easiest flowers to grow even from seeds. They're able to tolerate the warm/hot climate and are not choosy on soil type. Once they have started growing, they need not much care. A little water here and there in awhile just to moisten up the soil and they'll thrive.

So, when I woke up this morning and checked the little lot of tilled soil and checked for signs of life from the seeds that I have sown. I found cracks on the top soil something similar to these.

I wondered if those cracks were made by the ants that were grazing over the top soil the other day. By looking closer into the cracks, there I found signs of life from the Cosmos seeds but none yet from the Mexican Sunflower (being optimistic that in a few days they will show some signs of life too). Here's a little closer view of one of the cracks:

Now, that's a very wonderful sight!

Back To Point And Shoot

It's been almost two weeks since I parted with my DSLR, that is in for service for flash repairs, and I spent again time with my P&S (Point & Shoot). I have to admit that taking creative photos again with my trusted P&S seemed a little bit challenging. It's kinda awkward -- in terms of size, weight, control, speed, and handling.

Despite of these temporal adjustments, I believe I was able to get some decent photos as shown below. Hope you can share some C&C.

Red Flowers

It's been a rainy week. Occassionally, there would be some gusts along with the rain and there times when it just drizzles softly. I took advantage the drizzling and cloudy morning today. Took some photos of the red flowers in our garden which was quite blooming a lot lately.

Here are my favorites:

Catching The Rain - actually, it just caught the drizzles as at this time it was only drizzling. Of course, I had to be under an umbrella to protect my beloved gear -- 1000D + Kit Lens!

Watching The Cloudy Skies - A pair of red flowers looking up above. Not a trace of blue.. only white clouds sending some drizzle.

Not Alone - This one is not alone in the drizzle. There's quite a few of these beautiful red flowers that are so much in bloom. All of them catching the drizzle.

More Flowers

It was a great day, I'm glad that we made this trip. I give credit to my wife for the nagging to take this trip. It's sort of a stone hitting two birds at the same time. Actually, it can be considered to be three birds -- my wife's aunt's tour, our kids' out of town trip, and my time with these gorgeous flowers. All photos taken hand-held, no tripod or whatsoever. Just my stance. You may click on the picture for a bigger and better view.

Below is a budding bougainvillea - trying to get only the center in focus while the foreground and background blurred. Needing a lot more practice or a tripod could have helped. You may click on the picture for a bigger and better view.

A couple of yellow flowers. You may click on the picture for a bigger and better view.

Here's a bed of orange flowers. Just keeping the foreground focused and the rest blurred towards to the end. You may click on the picture for a bigger and better view.

I took this photo towards the end of our stay in this beautiful garden. This was the best I can get. Somewhat in a hurry and just fired away. Got lucky I still have this. You may click on the picture for a bigger and better view.

Actually, there's a lot more of this set and can be seen in my Flickr and Picasa Web pages.

My Favorite Flower Photo

I have been taking a lot of pictures since I bought myself a digital camera. It's one of the good models at the time I purchased it and this is one photo I love the best that I took a photo using it.

I was able to take this photo during one of the weekends I was spending time at the garden of our dorm in Japan.

I love flowers, roses especially, and I guess that's why I took a photo of this beautiful red rose. This photo has further gave me inspiration in taking more photos.

Click on the photo for a larger image.