The littlest and largest individual flowers in the garden (so far this year...) - Common Cleavers (AKA goosegrass and other local names) and Rosa Rugosa (AKA Japanese rose). The cleavers is a crop from a 1:1 shot with the Irix 150mm macro (and no tubes...), the rose is 8+ft above ground in a hard to reach place and needed the DA*300mm + 1.4TC to get a decent angle on it. If nothing else, it justifies having a wide range of lenses.

Comments welcome as always.

Common Cleavers



Rosa Rugosa



Steve

Another excellent set. Clearly a good weekend for macros across these islands!

Love the snail. I'm always amazed at how fast they seem to move when they're in a viewfinder. Not as easy to get a good shot as it might appear.

Weed or flower? Your call. A weed is just a plant growing somewhere that you don't want it to. My father once paid good money at a garden centre for a weed that was growing rampant between the bricks of my front garden wall.

Steve

Thanks for that. I was wondering about the new fence that next door put up last year. However, I want to remain on speaking terms with them...

Getting rid of bindweed is never ending chemical warfare. I want to know why it's never seen in TV gardening programmes.

Got rid of the golden rod a few years ago though . Brambles have taken its place.

Steve

Any suggestions for how to train a couple of hop plants in the garden? One of the children gave me a couple for Father's Day. Apparently they grow 30ft per year (cut back to ground level every year too, thank goodness). Got to do something permanent soon, I heeled them in at a temporary spot but they're growing rapidly and have just encountered bindweed...

Steve

Yesterday evening I made a quick visit to one of the legacies of the 2012 Olympic sailing - a new road to Weymouth (after 30 years of arguing!). The local authority had insisted that the sides and top of a cutting through a chalk hill were sown with wild flower seed. The result is a riot of wild flowers every year that is home to a huge variety of butterflies and other insects.

Evening was too late for butterflies, thick cloud (after a sunny day) meant poor light, wide aperture and very shallow DOF, and a light but gusty breeze made focus and composition difficult. Here are some that weren't total failures - with a 'What is it?' challenge at the end.

Taken with K3 + Irix 150mm macro - and no tubes!

Comments welcome as always.

1. Wild carrot, flower starting to open



2. Wild carrot and soldier beetle.



3. Crop of 2 (for members of the Bug Club)



4. Bee orchid (the main reason for the visit)



5. What is it?



Steve

That was a wander well spent. A lovely set with a distinct style (although I couldn't explain what it is!). No favourites, they're all good.

Seeing the picture of the chilli flower first time was interesting - at first quick glance I thought 'snowdrop'!

Steve

Totally agree. But you've got the compromises spot on with this set. I like 'em all, with the first two having the edge for me.

You must have had rain recently in Sheffield. I had to top up my pond yesterday, not enough water for a paddling frog at one end, let alone a grass snake.

Steve

An interesting set! Imaginative processing has produced some striking images. I particularly like the poppy seed head - bold, dramatic, strong lighting.

Amazing how often a fair breeze turns up to help when you're photographing flowers...

Steve

And here is a set including the Irix 150mm macro. Sorry about picture overload, but had to use a more easily reached flower so new pictures with the Sigma 105mm and F50mm + tube needed. f2.8 series first then f8.

Do they make anyone change their mind?

Irix 150mm, f2.8



Sigma 105mm, f2.8



F50mm + tube, f2.8



Irix 150mm, f8



Sigma 105mm, f8



F50mm + tube, f8



Steve

Have you tried opening the same thread in more than one tab in your web browser and scrolling to a different picture in each tab? You can then flip between pictures by changing tab. It works for me in Firefox. Not quite the same as putting images side by side, but it's surprising how good the eye/brain is at noticing small differences when you flick from one picture to another and they're at the same place on the screen.

On the other matter, Irix 150mm comparison coming to this thread soon...

Steve