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I ended up getting another complete D70 so I have a backup: Lens, Speedlight and all.
For the flower closeup shot I used the 18-70mm lens that comes with the camera at about 20mm, which was as close as I was able to get and maintain sharp focus. I stopped up all the way to 2.8 to create the narrowest possible focal plane, which blurred the background and made the focused areas stand out. I took the speedlight off and used a remote trigger, which enabled me to direct the lighting from farther away and above the flower to create the contrast between the petals and the highlights on the top and sides.
While I was doing all of that I missed an iguana that Peggy spotted strolling past but I was not about to change all the settings back and the iguana probably would have been gone by the time I did. When I get the other camera back from repair I’ll keep them both in my bag for just such occasions.
More great pictures from you, Joe! Thanks.
If I may ask…..what is “sour sop” and how is it used medicinally? I’ve heard of aloe, of course, and know of it’s benefits, but have never heard of the other.
Karen2
What beautiful pictures.
I remember going to the Botanic Garden when it first opened and there were only a few green plants and a trail. I went back again in 2001 and was totally amazed at the beauty! I don’t know if they are still doing this, but for $2 extra we got a guided tour and got to go into the Cayman Cottage. I don’t think it was open otherwise. There were only 2 people on the tour, my girlfriend and myself. The guide was wonderful and we had the best time. We are going to be staying in Cayman Kai instead of 7MB this year, and I am so looking forward to being closer to the Botanic Garden.
Shelly ?
I understood your comments about lens focus and manually setting the f stop in shooting the flower closeups but didn’t get your reference to the speed light, and remote trigger, which I suspect is a reference to the flash and a remote activator? Just starting to get into more than automatic photgraphy, so excuse my questions as I struggle with the learning curve… Thanks again….
metalkwitu – Sour Sop is a green tree with large leaves and a bumpy pale yellow fist-sized fruit. It was used for all kinds of things, including: stomach aches, viruses, headaches and many common ailments. One of our Jamaican friends gave ours to us many years ago and we have used it several times when I was feeling under the weather. Peggy mashes up the fruit and blends it into a hot tea with lemon and honey. It’s not a cure all but I felt better after drinking it.
jpep – That’s exactly right. I have an attachment that goes in the hot shoe and triggers the speedlight from a remote location, up to about 20 feet away. If it’s too bright it won’t pick up the flash so I was lucky it was partly cloudy the day I shot the flower. It never would have worked in direct sunlight. It comes with a handy mounting attachment where you can sit the speedlight on a flat surface. In my case, there was nowhere like that so Peggy held it while I snapped away.
Celine
Here’s a few more from Botanical Park.
[hr]bossyCeline
More beautiful shots… must’ve take a while (and a number of shots) to get that 1st one with the dragonfly…. Lilly pads?…. amazing stuff…
Celine’s right about doing a photobook…. provided you could find the time… how and when, I wouldn’t begin to suggest….you must have 100s of professional quality photos on countless memory cards/cds, hard drives and/or servers…. how do you organize/index/catalog them all….
Thanks again for sharing the photos….
I agree with the above comments. Your photos are absolutely beautiful!!! Thanks for posting them. We all wish we could shoot photos like that. We are waiting for you to do a photobook (in your spare time
Cheers
Lynda
I have to agree with everyone, too. These pictures are just spectacular! They really would look great in a book……or a calendar! Whatever! They’re gorgeous!
Char
I also have to add that I wasted my money on the Cayman books I should have found this site earlier much more information than 3 books
Theressa
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