FOTD – April 20 – Macros from the Indoor Garden
It was warm and now it’s cold. Below freezing at night again. Rain in the morning, sun in midday, but it never got warm even with the sun out. But, on a more positive note, the sun let me do some close macros of all the blooming orchids plus the Easter lily and the cactus flower. Because I was shooting so tightly with the sun behind the flowers, I balanced the cameraon the table on one edge to stabilize it.
It worked. I can’t hold a camera steady at a 50th of a second these days, but using the table, it was steady enough to get a pretty clear image.
It was an interesting balancing act. Even a mini tripod would have been too tall for these shots. Also, to get enough light in the picture, I had to shoot from below the flower or the center of the flower was too dark. Our house is not bright, even when the sun is out.
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Categories: #cactus, #Flowers, #FOTD, #Photography, Anecdote, Cee's Photo Challenge, Flower of the day, lily, orchids
SERENDIPITY: SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Beautiful orchids 😀 😀
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Thank you. For once, I got what I was trying to get. It helps that the flowers don’t fly away when I point the camera at them. The sunlight helped too.
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Wonderful macros, Marilyn…
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Thank you. I was happy at the results. Everything looked pretty much how I wanted it to look — no small thing, that. It was all about getting the camera where it needed to be and in a bright spot. In the end, it always seems to be about the light
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I thought they were all perfect…
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Thank you. Some of them were as close to perfect as I will ever manage. Even the imperfect ones were mostly just a bit off center and I may yet decide to use them in the future. I got the focus right on all of them which might be a first for me
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I think we learn and getting better every day…
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Fantastic macros, Marilyn 😃
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Thank you. The light was right and I finally got the angle right. Sometimes, the magic works 😀
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I have a suggestion to steady your hand at 1/50 of a second. It’s a trick I was taught while target practicing with those heavy Winchester rifles, back when I was on the competition team in HS. Set your focus and before you squeeze the shutter, hold your breath and squeeze. 1/50sec will be nothing to do and you might find you can squeeze some off at considerably slower speeds like 1/10th or lower. Try it and let me know how that works
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I’ve gotten shakier lately, so that doesn’t work as well as it did, at least not all the time. It also depends on what lens I’m using and whether it’s reasonably bright or as usual, grey. Some days are worse than others. Balancing it on the table helps and if I can afford it, I might get a unipod, just for the balance. They are the least intrusive of the pods.
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…or one of those GOBO flexi-pods that you can wrap around any near by fence, tree limb, or the like.
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I have never seen one. I will have to look them up. That sounds really interesting.
It was just $24, so I bought one. It’s a great idea. I guess I’ll have to see how it actually works, but what a terrific idea!
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The lighting on the lily is particularly good 😃
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I think it’s because that lily is very translucent. The light comes through it. The purple orchids are also very translucent. The white ones have thicker petals, so you lose more light.
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Thank you. I was pleased. Most of them came out the way I intended. A minor miracle 🙂
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