~ Joy of Photography
One enjoyment of having a garden is the wonderful creatures that come around.
I have migrating Monarch and Painted Lady butterflies every Autumn, Red Admiral butterflies in the Spring, and occasionally I see giant moths like this Polyphemus.
Feature Image Story
Continue reading “Mish’s Garden: Painted Lady Butterflies in Autumn, Polyphemus Moth in Summer”
The ‘Waterlily’ Colchicum is a hybrid resulting from a cross of Colchicum autumnale ‘Alboplenum’ and Colchicum speciosum ‘Album’. The flowers resemble a water lily, hence the name. The fully double, lilac-pink flowers bloom in late summer to early fall on naked stems to 6″ tall.
Up to two-foot tall Leaves appear in the Spring and die back in the summer. The flowers appear out of nowhere, with no leaves in early Autumn. I plant them in beds with low growing groundcovers to add a touch of green leaves.
These are one of my favorite flowers. Deer generally don’t touch them.
I used a Canon 100MM Macro F 2.8 Lens for all of these images.
Following are more colchicum images.
Continue reading “Mish’s Garden: Waterlily Colchicums in Autumn”
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We have three crabapple trees in the front that have red berries and one in the back with yellow berries. This is the one will yellow berries. It looks like floating eyeballs.
I shot it from below, looking almost straight up.
I used a Canon 24-105MM F4 L Lens at 47mm, ISO 200 for 1/60 second at F18.
Following are images of the front yard.
Continue reading “Mish’s Garden: Crabapple Trees and Ornamental Grasses in Autumn”
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That is what our backyard looks like at the peak of Autumn. The maples turn late. It was early November.
I used a Canon 24-105MM F4 L Lens at 35mm for 20 seconds at F16.
It was after sunset.
In a rarity for me, I used fill flash to light the trees. The flash, the ambient light, and the light inside the house were all similar. Continue reading “Mish’s Garden: Colorful Japanese Maples in Autumn”
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I used a my Canon 100MM Macro F 2.8 Lens at perhaps 1/4 life size.
This is a scanned image from a shot I took years ago on film. There is no meta data for film so I cannot precisely say anything other than it was taken at 100mm.
This is a fixed focal length macro lens. It’s an excellent lens for butterflies, small insects, and flowers. Continue reading “Mish’s Garden: Frost on Ornamental Kale”
Tiger Lilies put on a long show in July and early August in my garden every year. They are not deer resistant. If I did not spray these flowers, I would not have any.
I made these images following an afternoon rain. For this type of image to work, you need deal calm and I do mean dead calm, not just for a second but for minutes.
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For this set of images I used a my Canon 100MM Macro F 2.8 Lens at perhaps 1/4 life size. Meta data does not capture that information so I cannot say precisely.
This is a fixed focal length macro lens. It’s an excellent lens for butterflies and small insects.
That’s a blend of 10 different images, each focused on a different rain drop or portion of the stem. Even with the varying focus spots the background is out of focus. That adds to the image, I wanted the key elements to be in focus and the rest not.
Focus Stacking
All of these images are focus-stacked.
I used Helicon Focus to blend them.
For comparison purposes, here is one of the frames, un-stacked.
Single Image – Not Focus Stacked 
The detail on the leaf at the right is missing and only one of the drops is in focus. Helicon focus did superb on this set, better and faster than I could do myself. For that I can thank the calm wind.
Here is a another focus-stacked image.
Depth of Field
Depth of field on close-up images is extremely shallow. The only way to get a completely sharp image is to focus stack.
Helicon Focus works best with stationary objects. Mountains don’t move but flowers do.
I took this set of images on a very calm day with little wind.
See links number 2 and 6 below for a focus-stacked Green Tree Frog and focus-stacked coneflowers.
More Mish Garden Images
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Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Purple prairie coneflowers are very hardy and mostly deer resistant.
They put on a long show in July in my garden every year.
Feature Image Details
For this set of images I used a my Canon 100MM Macro F 2.8 Lens at perhaps 1/4 life size. Meta data does not capture that information so I cannot say precisely.
This is a fixed focal length macro lens. It’s an excellent lens for butterflies and small insects.
Focus Stacking
All of these images are focus-stacked.
I took 12 shots in the composite above. Instead of blending manually, I used Helicon Focus to blend them.
For comparison purposes, here is one of the frames, un-stacked.
Single Image – Not Focus Stacked
The above image was one of the many used in the preceding focus-stacked image. I blurred the background a bit in the final focus-stacked image to make the seed head stand out.
Depth of Field
Depth of field on close-up images is extremely shallow. The only way to get a completely sharp image is to focus stack.
Helicon Focus works best with stationary objects. Mountains don’t move but flowers do.
I took this set of images on a very calm day with little wind.
See image number 2 below of the Green Tree Frog for another example of focus stacking.
More Mish Garden Images
Equipment List
Those interested in my equipment and recommendations can find it here: Mish’s Equipment List.
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If you like this article, please share by email or use one of the share buttons beneath the article.
You can also follow me on Twitter! I have both an economic forum and a photography forum.
MishMoments is a subset of MishGEA. Those interested in photography only should follow MishMoments.
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Thanks!
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Columbines are one of my favorite flowers. Unfortunately, the new hybrids tend to revert colors or die out over time.
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Canon 100MM Macro F 2.8 Lens at perhaps 1/4 life size.
This is a fixed focal length macro lens. It’s an excellent lens for butterflies and small insects.
Columbines and White Oak Tree
Columbines and Japanese Forest Grass
More Mish Garden Images
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Those interested in my equipment and recommendations can find it here: Mish’s Equipment List.
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Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Those with a deer problem may wish to consider deer-resistant plants. At the top of the list are Alliums, Daffodils, Bleeding Hearts, ferns, and Iris.
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Canon 24-105MM F4 L Lens for 1/6th of a second, F20 at ISO 125
Those are Siberian Iris in the foreground and purple-on-purple Bearded Iris further back. The round globes are Globemaster alliums.
Alliums are in the garlic family. Deer will not touch them.
Alliums and Iris will come back every year provided conditions are not too wet.
Bearded Iris and Globemasters
Purple Sensation Alliums
Purple Sensation Alliums
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Morte garden images coming up.
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Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Every year I make “perching baskets”. They are essentially hanging baskets except they are heavy and sit on 4×4 posts instead of hanging.
I make my own baskets rather than buying them. These baskets are in the shade. Anthuriums, bromeliads, or even geraniums make a good centerpiece. The latter do well in the sun too.
When I was weeding my garden a week or so ago a small green tree frog hopped on my shirt. I picked it up and placed it on one of my bromeliads and it sat there for a number of images.
Feature Image Details
Canon 100MM Macro F 2.8 Lens for 1/60 of a second F8 at ISO 1000.
I took 8 images, first focusing on the eyes as they are the most critical element, then the right and left feet, the nose and various other spots including the back of the frog.
This is very necessary. I was right on top of that frog, inches away and depth of field is razor thin.
Because of the leg extension, it looks much bigger than it is. There is very little cropping here, just a bit to center the frog perfectly. The frog, not counting the extension of the legs, is somewhere between the size of a quarter and a half-dollar.
I was very lucky this little guy or gal did not move much for a sequence of images. I blended the images keeping the sharp portions of each one.
Perching Baskets
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Mike “Mish” Shedlock
The images were taken in early February after a winter snowfall. The next set of images were taken on a different day. Light constantly changes.
On the following set of images, the sun was higher in the sky then went behind a weak cloud at sunset so the colors are not as intense.
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Mike “Mish” Shedlock