Day 91 - Spring Flowers

Despite the fact that Fredericton is expecting to get more than 20 centimetres of snow today, I'm still firmly convinced (in a kind of desperate way) that spring is here.

Patti has supported this belief by bringing some beautiful cut spring flowers into the house: daffodils from the Cancer Society and tulips (a dutch treat) from the flower shop. Under her care, they have all burst into bloom at the same time, making our dining room a colourful, happy place.

These photographs are as close as I'm going to get to studio shots. To get these pictures, I moved the vase filled with daffodils into the light from the dining room window and even got out my tripod to steady the camera.

I took about thirty shots of the daffodils, trying different compositions and different camera settings. The shot I chose was one of two photographs that are exactly the same but for the size of the Olympus' aperture and the shutter speed.

With a larger aperture (f3.4) and a faster shutter speed (1/30th), I got a lovely shot wherein the burgundy curtains in the background were significantly blurred and the flower on the bottom right of the bunch was also slightly blurred; the shot I've posted, however, was taken with a much smaller aperture (f8) to increase the depth of focus and a slower shutter (perhaps 2 seconds). The curtain is still somewhat blurred but the increased depth of focus means the flower on the lower right is crisp.

The tulips were even more fun. I left them in the dark corner and ended up having to set the shutter anywhere between 8 and 15 seconds to get enough light. I love how rich and deep the colours turned out and I'm pleased with the composition of the shot. All in all, a very pleasing effort!