Flowers Part 3: Succulents & Cacti

[Athena]

[No message]

 

[Ksnow]

Wow, Athena! Beautiful work! I looked at Parts 1-3 and am blown away! Your subjects are exquisite. You captured them beautifully. And you've really shown how capable the P10 is in the right hands.

 

[AlbertTRAL]

Nice 3 sets! Lighting seems to tell that the day was pretty covered! Out of all, although difficult, I would choose #3 of this set. You can almost feel the texture of the plant if you touch the screen!! It is really amazing was this little sensors can achieve macro wise...counting obviously on the driver! :lol:

 

[quester]

The three sets are really beautiful and very well done Athena! A great idea to capture the last of the drops of water - adds another dimension.
Is that a reflection of you with the camera in the drop of water in the middle of #1 of this Part 3? Hard to say.... Something the same is reflected in all of those drops....

I have to agree that the Ricoh cameras are great for macro work - the PX also gives very pleasing results.

 

[Cristian78]

Very nice macro work, like this series the most! 3 is my favorite one, great photo!

 

[Genster]

Great photos Athena!

 

[5four]

outstanding flowers in these 3 posts!!!
I like them.

well done!

 

[Blow-in]

Athena,

I notice you were using manual whitebalance for these shots on what looks to be an overcast day (which figures if it has just rained). How did you set the whitebalance please?

Richard

 

[thelps]

Great work Athena, you've proven that Ricoh's do macro very well.

 

[Athena]

Wow, Athena! Beautiful work! I looked at Parts 1-3 and am blown away! Your subjects are exquisite. You captured them beautifully. And you've really shown how capable the P10 is in the right hands.

Thank you very much Ken, I appreciate your feedback and I am humbled .

Nice 3 sets! Lighting seems to tell that the day was pretty covered! Out of all, although difficult, I would choose #3 of this set. You can almost feel the texture of the plant if you touch the screen!! It is really amazing was this little sensors can achieve macro wise...counting obviously on the driver! :lol:

Thank you very much AlbertTRAL! Again I am humbled. Yes, the day was cloudy, as it had been raining on-and-off (and still is, quite heavily at times too). I was lucky that the rain held off long enough for my trip out with the camera. I hadn't looked at the third pic from this set in that way (I just liked the way the light outlined the edges of the leaves, creating a nice, simple pattern), but now that you pointed it out, I can see what you mean about the texture .

The three sets are really beautiful and very well done Athena! A great idea to capture the last of the drops of water - adds another dimension.
Is that a reflection of you with the camera in the drop of water in the middle of #1 of this Part 3? Hard to say.... Something the same is reflected in all of those drops....

I have to agree that the Ricoh cameras are great for macro work - the PX also gives very pleasing results.

Thank you very much quester! I know that the water drops on flowers thing has been done many times before, but what can I say, I'm a bit of a sucker for that type of subject . No, I'm pleased to say, my reflection does not appear in any of the water drops...but there are certain structures that are reflecting in some of the droplets instead...

Yep, macros are great from the Ricoh line, that's for sure. It's just a matter of tweaking the settings a bit, then enjoy... .

 

[Athena]

Very nice macro work, like this series the most! 3 is my favorite one, great photo!

Thank you very much Cristian78! I'm still not sure, but I have to admit that this series might also be my favourite, but only by a little smidgen...Another vote for 3 . It's nice, and sometimes surprising, to find out what people like .

Great photos Athena!

Thanks again Genster .

outstanding flowers in these 3 posts!!!
I like them.

well done!

Thank you very much 5four! Much appreciated .

Athena,

I notice you were using manual whitebalance for these shots on what looks to be an overcast day (which figures if it has just rained). How did you set the whitebalance please?

Richard

All I do is put the WB on cloudy - at the moment, I hardly ever use any other WB setting, even when it's not cloudy, or when I'm inside. I just tweak the other settings according to where I am at the time, whilst still leaving the WB on cloudy, as much as I can. Cloudy is also really great for B&W .

Great work Athena, you've proven that Ricoh's do macro very well.

Thank you very much Tim! Yep, they sure do .

 

[Ksnow]

Okay Athena, I'm taking a big risk here, but I think a lot of these images have potential for an exhibit. Prints as big as possible!
Here are my choices (1 to 5 stars, 5 being the "best"):

R0016262 ***** (succulent); R0016280 ***** (succulent); R0016288 ***** (succulent); R0016297 ** (cactus - not sharp enough to rate higher); R0026298 **** (cactus); R0016328 **** (succulent); R0016233 **** (rose); R0016249 ** (lily); R0016252 *** (lily); R0016285 *** (lily - not quite sharp enough, but good); R0016292 *** (lily - not quite sharp enough, but good); R0016310 *** (rose); R0016316 ** (carnation); R0016361 ** (lily - not quite sharp enough, but good); R0016323 *** (daisy); R0016346 *** (dahlia); R0016368 *** (daisy); R0016374 *** (daisy); R0016382 *** (daisy); R0016384 *** (daisy).

I didn't rate the rest because I don't think they're quite up to the "wow" quality of these.

This just my humble opinion

 

[33dollars]

I like the use of water drops with cactus & succulents. They are so opposite, but work well together.
Great sets Athena.

 

[Athena]

Okay Athena, I'm taking a big risk here, but I think a lot of these images have potential for an exhibit. Prints as big as possible!
Here are my choices (1 to 5 stars, 5 being the "best"):

R0016262 ***** (succulent); R0016280 ***** (succulent); R0016288 ***** (succulent); R0016297 ** (cactus - not sharp enough to rate higher); R0026298 **** (cactus); R0016328 **** (succulent); R0016233 **** (rose); R0016249 ** (lily); R0016252 *** (lily); R0016285 *** (lily - not quite sharp enough, but good); R0016292 *** (lily - not quite sharp enough, but good); R0016310 *** (rose); R0016316 ** (carnation); R0016361 ** (lily - not quite sharp enough, but good); R0016323 *** (daisy); R0016346 *** (dahlia); R0016368 *** (daisy); R0016374 *** (daisy); R0016382 *** (daisy); R0016384 *** (daisy).

I didn't rate the rest because I don't think they're quite up to the "wow" quality of these.

This just my humble opinion

Wow!!! Thank you for taking the risk, I appreciate your feedback very much . I certainly didn't expect this, and as such, have taken a while to think about things before replying. I don't even know how to go about making large prints (or how much it costs), or how to go about displaying my images, or even if I want to display them at all :mrgreen: . But you have given me something to think about and I would like to discuss this further with you via PM, if you don't mind. Thanks again for your detailed feedback .

I like the use of water drops with cactus & succulents. They are so opposite, but work well together.
Great sets Athena.

Thanks for your feedback Phil . I hadn't thought of the juxtapositional aspect of these pictures before, and you are right. Very cool . Thanks for pointing that out to me .

 

[Orol]

Take compliments also from me Athena for your great three flower series. No doubt I also like most this succulent series and also agree on the fact the water drops are the essence making the series special.

Peter

 

[Athena]

Thank you very much Peter! Sorry I took so long to reply - I lost this post for a while, as I have been trying to catch up on other posts, then I ended up forgetting about it :mrgreen: . It took me until today to come across this one again. In the end, I agree that the succulent series was the best of the three. I appreciate your feedback very much .

 

[Gab]

Athena, they are wonderful! And these kind of plants are my favourites....

 

[Athena]

Thank you very much Gab! I have to admit, I am starting to really like these kind of plants also - through photography, I have now been able to see the beauty in things that I could not before. I used to walk around in my own world, not noticing anything much else around me - little own flowers. Believe it or not, but flowers (and especially succulents) never interested me before. For example, I wasn't one of those women who would be overjoyed to receive flowers from her partner. But now, well, how things have changed! My eyes have been opened up to all the beauty around me, thanks to photography . I can't believe I never could see it before. Now, I can't help but look at any flower I see, or any pretty sky, or any abstract looking object that would make an interesting picture, or any unusual/striking natural lighting, and even the tiniest insect gets my attention...the list goes on. I am very thankful to photography for helping me to see and appreciate the world around me.

 

[Gab]

Athena, these are very nice and true words... Photography let you see many things in a different way, and find the beauty of them both in the very small and the large scale... Regarding these plants what I can say is that I have been never attracted by them until some time ago I had the chance to see them in their full bloom in the Rome Botanic Garden... They bloom once a year and produce some of the most impressive and beautiful flower you can see, and at that time... is better that you have your camera with you!

P.S. I'm a man but I really love to receive flowers as I find them a real expression of the beauty that is all around us. Unfortunately in my country the people is not used to do this...

 

[olyz]

Athena and Gab, I like flowers very much, too. But I hate flower shops. And so my vocal marriage contract from 1973 states in its first and only paragraph, that my wife can buy as much flowers as she wants to buy. Think this was a littlebit expensive.... But we still love flowers.... 
Many greetings and thanks for your nice replies!
Christian