Cornwall - still sunny

[Kaye Leggett]

One of the reasons I love Cornwall is for the flowers, especially in spring. So I went armed with my macro lens



But soon I was trying to capture the bigger picture of the gardens and the colour abounding there rather than my usual close up - have I succeeded ?



On the first image I wanted a shallower depth of field but didn't achieve the result I wanted - any tips on how to achieve in future welcome



The second image would have been better a week later with all the wild garlic in flower, but I couldn't wait for that long



This was the entrance to one of the garden 's we visited. It was the gate that look my eye but when I viewed the photo realised the bush on the left added colour. I couldn't do anything about the tree trunk on the right which is a slight annoyance





The last two capture the essence of Southern Cornwall for me - about the only place where tree ferns survive in the UK

All comments welcome
Thanks
Kaye

[Geoff F]

Regarding your first image, Kaye.

I find that most macro shots need a fairly good depth of focus to have a decent focus area over a flower, unless you wish to concentrate on just a small area.

This means that some background management is usually desirable. Tatty leaves, parts of other plants in the shot or dead blooms have to be removed and any 'unsightly' areas of the background cleaned up a little.

Also, some cropping of the final image is frequently needed. And consider the final image size ratio when shooting. For example, if you think you will end up wanting a 4 x 5 ratio crop, shoot with sufficient space allowance in your framing.

I find that most 'long focus' views work best when the foreground is fairly sharp and gradually fading into a distant blur. Which you seem to have achieved fairly well with these shots.

Spot metering on the brightest areas then recovering the shadows during editing is often necessary. HDR shots sound fine in theory but often fail due to wind movement on foliage etc.

ps. I'm also from the 'far south' but just 'over the water' in Devon.

[Kaye Leggett]

Thanks Geoff for your comments, really helpful.