Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

Beautiful, great shot! :)))

Wow , it's beautful Meanie !

Thanks chaps!
Given myself the day off, so I'm messing about with the tripod and backgrounds.....

wonderful plants and beautiful photos

thats fantastic. great use of a day off ~ can you try this one with a black background ~ please?
its a stunning colour and shape.

see what you mean Sticki, it wiuld like nice with a black background

Thanks!
I deleted the black ones - they weren't as good (to my eyes anyway)
I'll try again after tea..

oh, sorry! does the black not work? im sure you will know better than me ~ it looks a stunning flower but i would love to see it against black thats all.

The other two flowers should be fully open tomorrow, so I think that I'll try again then.

lucky you! 3 such gorgeous flowers. why did you delete the black ones ~ didnt they work?

They didn't really - the velvety nature of the petals means that there is not a great deal of definition in the red of the petals. The effect of the black background was to make this even less apparent (although there was actually no difference, it was just the way that my eyes "processed" it) if that makes sense.
Also, the end of the stigma was practically lost in the black background. Again, it was there but you had to seek it out.

yes i understand that ~ all to do with texture and colour. black and red dont always work do they?
im having trouble getting a good shot of my camellia cos its deep red and the details dont seem to show up.
the definition on your photo is just superb and it would certainly be a shame to lose that. perhaps grey would work?

Have you tried a night shot of the Camellia?

no! ~ with the flash? i can have a go ~ macro or normal?

With the flash in as many different modes as you can muster - there are no developing costs with digital photography (just the recycle bin)!

when i get round to deleting!!! im not good at that ~ i have thousands of photos on this poor computer! had to get an external hard drive.
i will have a go ~ its cold and dark out there!!

Stunning.......

well ive been out ~ as instructed!!! in the dark ~ dont know where i was treading ~ hope the plants in the flowerbed have survived my feet!! i have taken a few photos ~ hard to find the flowers in the dark!!!
got to look at them on the computer now to see if it has worked. some in macro and some normal!

The one drawback of night photography Sticki.......

Thank you Milky!

i shall find the footprints in the morning!!!

And the damage!!!!
Should have kept my mouth shut!

i will put a photo on tomorrow if i have just trodden on my prize winning and very rare orchid!!???

Disclaimer: I accept no responsibility whatsoever for any dumb-assed ideas that I have!!!

now you tell me!!!

i dont have any rare orchids.

im putting one of the photos on now!

happy with it?
It's a colour that my camera struggles with if left to it's own devices......

not really ~ i like the leaves but although the colour comes out beautifully i think the edges of the petal have dissolved into the red? i could cheat and say thats the effect i was looking for ~ but that wouldnt be true!!

As you say, it's difficult to focus in the dark! If you look at the leaves, they appear to be where the auto-focus was working. It's all trial and error.

have to go out with the torch next time!! it might help!

Or get a camera with a built in light.....

that would definitely be better ~ i was surprised that the area didnt light up when i focussed on it.

been out today taking more ~ all different settings ~ but i should have written down which they were!!

Meanie:

Great close up! It looks like Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'San Diego Red'.

Thank you Delonix!

Meanie:

You're welcome! :>)