Amaryllis farm

Last spring I took pictures of backyard flowers to send to the the missing gardener. I made a post out of them and included a couple shots of amaryllises. The amaryllis farm is operating again, and I have a new lens.

There are four pots, each with more than one bulb. Each bulb sends up one more more stalks, and each stalk usually has three or four blooms. Some stalks are still growing, and the missing gardener estimates 41 blooms in all, much to her delight.

 

I now have that macro lens that eluded me earlier this year so I can get shots like these without cropping:

As I used the lens for the first time, I wondered how the heck I was going to take pictures of bugs. The depth of field is so thin that I could not hold the camera steady enough to maintain manual focus on the flower's stamen. The borrowed tripod came to the rescue, though. (Manual focus is recommended by whichever expert's advice I read.)

f/8, 1/500s, ISO 560

The depth of field can be changed by changing the aperture. Above, the aperture is f/8, which is toward the middle of the range. Below, the aperture is f/19, which is fairly small.  A larger f-number means a smaller aperture and a smaller aperture means a larger depth of field. Below, background is not in focus, but it's more in focus than in the photo above.

f/19, 1/90s, ISO 560

To maintain the same exposure when shrinking the aperture, a slower shutter is required. In this case, the shutter went from 1/500s to 1/90s.

I don't know how this will work with moving insects, tripod or handheld, manual or automatic focus, but it will be fun to try.