Winter arty plant photos

[Jupiter]

We've just enjoyed a beautiful, sunny and unseasonably warm weekend here in Adelaide and I had time to wander around the garden with my camera (in between jobs).

Mid winter in Adelaide is roughly equivalent to early spring in England.


Nicotiana langsdorfii


Melianthis major, new leaves unfurling


This Fuchsia is a cheery site in a hanging basket by the front door


Euphorbia cyparissias with morning dew


Cyclamen coum


Brugmansia arborea cv.


Tropaeolum peregrinum bud macro
Tr_peregrinum-bud-detail by Plants In The Path, on Flickr

Galanthus S. Arnott is Otto's favourite. I am starting to understand why.

[Matt T]

Lovely photos as always Jamus, but I'm struck by the strange combination of plants you have in flower at the moment. You show plants that for us would be distinctly winter or summer flowering but would never be seen in flower together. Just shows how adaptable but also how variable in their response plants can be in different climates. Fascinating.

[Gabriel B]

Lovely photos. I appreciate how they show the natural beauty of the plants. Hope you'll post more as you take them.

Your photos remind me of some photos I took of a weed in the borage family, Virginia stickseed (Hackelia virginiana), with spiral flower clusters. The seed is like burdock or cocklebur, with hooks that attach it to hair or clothing, and the flowers are tiny, but if you look closely the young flower clusters have lovely structure.

[Jupiter]

Thank you Gabriel, photography was a hobby of mine before I was fully lost to gardens. It's something I enjoy immensely, especially that it helps me show others how I see the World. That's why I'm drawn to macro photography; I like to remove the distractions and guide peoples attention down to appreciate the character of each species.

Matt, our climate does do odd things to the life cycles of temperate climate plants. Summer here imposes a forced dormancy completely 180 degrees out of sync with natural winter dormancy of plants from cold climates, so when autumn arrives it's akin to spring. Since winter here rarely brings freezing temperatures it's a pseudo-spring for over eager perennials. Spring is about equivalent to a uk summer, and summer is... well, it's off the scale.

[Jupiter]

Galanthus Sam Arnott.

[meanie]

Fantastic studies Jamus!

I assume that the background in the latest photos is natural? At my last house where I had conservatory on wet days I would mess about with backgrounds using cheap white paper and artists pastilles. Here's a link to a pleasing result .............

https://www.flickr.com/photos/35724365@N05/5135816130/in/dateposted-public/

[Jupiter]

Hi meanie, I love the colour of that Salvia patens, almost Meconopsis blue. Actually this is a pot of Galanthus S Arnott, which I kept back in a pot when I put most of them in the garden. The backdrop in these pictures is the wall in the hallway, a sunny spot by the front door.

[Gabriel B]

Jamus, it's lovely how the snowdrops in the background echo the one that's in focus. Here's a fameflower picture where I did the same thing. It's a good way of showing the effect of a group of flowers in a macro photo.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/erutuon/18990112308/

[Jupiter]

Thanks Gabriel, I like the flameflower and I'm enjoying browsing your flickr stream. I followed you, I hope you don't mind?

[Gabriel B]

Jamus, I'm delighted to see you're on Flickr, and I'm always glad for another follower. Thanks! I followed you back.

[meanie]

I've just looked at some of your Flickr photos and I'm jealous. Is the S.discolor planted out?

You're correct about my lens (and camera) - old and basic Nikon D40. The trouble is that it has been so very reliable. I keep looking and then I think that I'll wait and before you know it what you were looking at is obsolete. Pre digital I was into photography in a big way - I would carry three Canons each loaded with a different film. As a result I still shoot manually and don't manipulate images except for cropping and the occasional brightness tweak.

[Jupiter]

Yes meanie, Salvia discolor is easy outside in the garden in Adelaide, as are nearly all the salvias here. Don't be jealous, there's plenty you can grow that we can't.

ps. tweaking in photoshop is equivalent to dark room processing of film. If you are happy with the automatic machine processing leave it as it comes off the camera!

[meanie]

Yes meanie, Salvia discolor is easy outside in the garden in Adelaide, as are nearly all the salvias here. Don't be jealous, there's plenty you can grow that we can't.

ps. tweaking in photoshop is equivalent to dark room processing of film. If you are happy with the automatic machine processing leave it as it comes off the camera!

You're right on both counts of course. Neither can I deny the satisfaction that I get from getting tender/borderline hardy plants through the winter outdoors. I think that what irritates me most about photoshopping is that it is all too often used to fix lazy composition (ie unwanted shadows) on portraits and studies.
Of course, it is entirely possible that as I get older I am just becoming more of a grouch 

[Jupiter]

I understand meanie, I have a nice pan of Crocus sativus here which just doesn't get enough winter chill. It went from three flowers, to one, to none, this autumn just past. Lots of leaves but no flowers! I may resort to buying ice... Or dig them up and pop them in the freezer or something... Madness. Here in oz we use the term hardy to describe a plants ability to cope with extreme heat and drought!

Regarding photoshop, I use it and see it as part of the creative process. I tend to view the taking the photograph as capturing the maximum amount of information with which to work in Photoshop and produce something pleasing. Cropping is a waste of pixels so I don't do much of it either. I don't think you can make a bad photograph good with PS, but you can certainly make a good photograph into a great one!