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A couple of weeks ago I spent several days in the Yosemite NP looking for a nice dogwood shots. I've got a word from a good friend of mine that the trees were blooming so I drove up to the valley and explored the place looking for my images. I never shot dogwood before, and to be honest, I'm not really into flower/macro photography. But, I'll be exhibiting this summer at the Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach (if you're local, stop by my booth, say hi), so I wanted to have a few good shots of flowers. I've exhibited at that festival before and quite few customers asked me if I have prints of flowers etc. I never had, so obviously I didn't make any sales
This experience also thought me a lesson, and changed the way I look at (my) photography a bit. I started to re-think my "hard core landscapes only" photography idea, and moved towards more of a (wider) nature photography instead that includes intimate, macro, flower (with telephoto), forest, flow of water/stream etc. types of shots. I've shot some of that types of imagery before but I almost always looked for something (a lake or mountain in the background) to complement and complete the landscape shot I really was after.
I still love mountains and I already set up a few good hikes to high Sierra Nevada this summer/fall but I sure will look at any possible macro or intimate shots I practically always ignored.
Besides dogwood I also included shots of plumeria and poppies I shot around my house driving Ortega Highway etc.
Most of the dogwood shots I took with my Nikon 180-400mm f/4.0, or 70-200mm Z lenses.
These are all first-rate flower shots, but the cascading dogwood blooms from the back, which are both "front lit" and also "back-lit" cause you're behind them and the sun is in front of them (lol I just confused myself) - anyway, those are spectacular, and the bokeh "behind" them is perfect with those shifting medium to deep blues that make the white and green pop...make sure that one is printed large and front and center of your display - it will draw lots of traffic. My second favorite is the soft simplicity and colors of the second one. I've never seen dogwood pods before they flowered, and the beauty of those pods really jumps out.
Great images. thanks for the info too. I figured you must shoot with a longer lens to blur that background so nicely. These are excellent and I'll bet you get some sales from this collection.
Gorgeous, all!
I especially like the very shallow depth-of-field to accentuate the blooms.
While I always enjoy the annual "dogwoods-with-Merced-rushing by" that show up here, they are often a little too busy.
Your views, by comparison, are a perfect change-of-pace.
The one with poopies I shot with Nikon 105mm macro lens, and this is the only one I used macro lens for. Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 Z can focus at much closer distance now, and it’s great for these types of shots…
gordon l wrote:
Great images. thanks for the info too. I figured you must shoot with a longer lens to blur that background so nicely. These are excellent and I'll bet you get some sales from this collection.
