It's a good feeling when the snows and the cold of winter finally pass and spring comes. One of its first signs is the early spring flowers popping out of the ground and opening. Since it's now that time, I thought I would welcome in springtime with a photo of the first flower of the year for us.
This particular photo may feel like you've seen it before. You may even feel like you've seen me do it before. You would be correct. I've taken photos of purple crocus flowers just like this in previous years. If fact, there's not much difference between this new photo and those from previous years except for how I got the shot.
I purchased a new macro lens last year and I've been itching to try it out on crocus flowers. Sadly, I had to wait several months since I purchased the lens in November and the crocuses don't appear until midway through March. So, when March reached its halfway point and tulips started sprouting, I knew it was a matter of a few days before I would see the first of this year's spring crocus flowers.
Why crocus flowers? Especially since I've done them before. That's a good question. Mostly this was a test of my new lens. I wanted to check out how it would stack up against the macro setting on my telephoto lens which I had used on previous crocus photos. Also, there's the fact that crocus flowers are small and close to the ground. They were perfect for a field test.
As usual this time of year, the wind was making its presence known. The wind is still cold enough to cut right through you. The smallest breeze is enough to send these flowers dancing for several minutes. Since macro photography has an exceptionally narrow plane of focus, a small puff of breeze is enough to ruin my shot. The wind and the photographer in me are old enemies at this point.
When my attempts at capturing a flower while hand-holding the camera didn't pan out, my spouse came to the rescue with setting up my tripod for a low-to-the-ground shot. We even found a piece of unused glass panel to block the wind while letting the light in for my shot. It was a genius move.
If you would like to compare this year's spring crocus flower photo with one from the past, here they both are below.
What do you think? There's some obvious differences like how the photos were processed and what stage of open the flowers are. How does the new dedicated macro lens compare to the telephoto lens with the macro setting? Leave your thoughts down in the comments below.
This particular photo may feel like you've seen it before. You may even feel like you've seen me do it before. You would be correct. I've taken photos of purple crocus flowers just like this in previous years. If fact, there's not much difference between this new photo and those from previous years except for how I got the shot.
I purchased a new macro lens last year and I've been itching to try it out on crocus flowers. Sadly, I had to wait several months since I purchased the lens in November and the crocuses don't appear until midway through March. So, when March reached its halfway point and tulips started sprouting, I knew it was a matter of a few days before I would see the first of this year's spring crocus flowers.
Why crocus flowers? Especially since I've done them before. That's a good question. Mostly this was a test of my new lens. I wanted to check out how it would stack up against the macro setting on my telephoto lens which I had used on previous crocus photos. Also, there's the fact that crocus flowers are small and close to the ground. They were perfect for a field test.
As usual this time of year, the wind was making its presence known. The wind is still cold enough to cut right through you. The smallest breeze is enough to send these flowers dancing for several minutes. Since macro photography has an exceptionally narrow plane of focus, a small puff of breeze is enough to ruin my shot. The wind and the photographer in me are old enemies at this point.
When my attempts at capturing a flower while hand-holding the camera didn't pan out, my spouse came to the rescue with setting up my tripod for a low-to-the-ground shot. We even found a piece of unused glass panel to block the wind while letting the light in for my shot. It was a genius move.
If you would like to compare this year's spring crocus flower photo with one from the past, here they both are below.
Dedicated macro lens Telephoto lens with macro setting
What do you think? There's some obvious differences like how the photos were processed and what stage of open the flowers are. How does the new dedicated macro lens compare to the telephoto lens with the macro setting? Leave your thoughts down in the comments below.
