I waited all day for the bright harsh sun to dim. Then just after 8 p.m. I was finally able to walk into my garden with camera and flash to photograph the July flowers.
June was, as usual, pretty wet and full of bloom, but I was waiting for the hot summer to present a change in the plants and flowers so I could continue with my photographs of the garden in all seasons.
I am not so much impressed by flowers as I am by the shapes of them. To me the colour is only part of what I want to capture with my camera, and I don’t really care if I am photographing in the spring, the summer, and fall or in the cold of winter. Dry, wet, or covered with snow. It’s the shape and plays of light that intrigues me.
I don’t like bright, contrasty sunlight. I prefer overcast or, at the least, the lower light at day’s end.
I wandered out with my camera, macro lens attached, tripod, light-stand and flash fitted with an umbrella in the still bright, but certainly not as glaring as mid-day or early afternoon light.
Regular readers know that I always employ a flash. The flash gives me control over direction and intensity of the light. Some photographers may say they prefer “natural light”. I will just say, “naturally, I add light.”
With digital came high-speed sync. High-speed sync gives me the opportunity to increase my shutter’s speed dramatically when using a flash. Even up to 1/8000th of a second. That increase in shutter speed means I can use a wide aperture even in the direct sun.
It also means that I can control flash exposure with the shutter speed instead of the normal way photographers control their flash power, the aperture.
I choose my well-used old 200mm macro. It’s from the time of manual cameras and doesn’t have the option of auto focus. I like it because I can select any point along its focal length when photographing flowers.
My flash was a big 800w battery powered, wireless off-camera strobe. I use it in manual power mode and, of course, High-Speed sync.
I under exposed the ambient light 4 or 5 stops so the proper illumination would come from my flash.
The garden, designed by my wife when she was alive, continually blooms from spring to fall. Its colours, and shapes change with the season.
All I have to do is choose what interests me all year long.
I have never talked to my neighbours about all the photography I do in my yard, but I wonder what they must think about the bursts of light coming from my bushy property at all times of the year.
My garden photo session ended as the light dropped at about 9:30 p.m., but by that time I had wandered all over and photographed shapes of flowers, some alive and some only memories of their glorious and colourful spring blooms.
The hot, drying July heat is now with us and I wonder what will survive till next spring for me to photograph.
These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net. Stop by Enman’s Camera at 423 Tranquille Road in Kamloops. I sell an interesting selection of used photographic equipment. Don’t hesitate to call me at 250-371-3069.
