Galanthus January 2009

[KentGardener]

I find black doesnt give a good contrast especially in very bright light. When the weather improves I'll experiment and show the difference unless someone else happens to have sunshine soon

Hi Mark, I may get the sunshine first - but I don't have the coloured card to experiment.   

If you have the time I would be very interested to read a thread on the results you obtain from a 'scientific' experiement (same plant, situation, location, light, camera settings, etc - just a different backdrop.  Maybe 'black', 'light colour', 'white', 'green', and 'sky' - possibly with lamps as Paddy has used and natural light as a comparison).

I have often deliberated over what would display the astonishingly white petals of a galanthus at their best when I am taking pictures - and out of every dozen photographs I take at least 11 are fit for the bin with complete 'white outs' on the petals that are unusable by showing no detail whatsoever.

Hopefully you could find the time, but if you don't I may try to visit an art shop to purchase some sample cards and see what I can come up with for some comparison picture.

Maybe a new thread idea for anyone else willing to give their photographic skills a go?... 

Kind regards

John

[mark smyth]

I work also John!

'Pat' was taken yesterday.

When I get home and the sun is out the vertical blinds are pulled, old place mats are lined on the inside of the window, as shown yesterday, and I run around collecting everything that needs photographed. As I photograph one it goes back out and another comes in. I can take 100+ photos in an hour.

I have experiemnted with black, white, grey, cardboard and au naturel. A photo in situ like Jo has shown makes us want to know what's that one, what's that one... The tight close-ups I take show the finer details that would normally be missed when standing 5 or six feet away.

[Maggi Young]

I am really looking forward to seeing Paddy's photos when he again has better internet access - I think these snowies on the black background are very elegant.... and show the wee green bits very well!

John, can I suggest you have a look at Ian's Bulb Log  No. 4 of 2006... he covers the subject of grey , black, cards etc there.... http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/log2006/250106/log.html     

[KentGardener]

I am really looking forward to seeing Paddy's photos when he again has better internet access - I think these snowies on the black background are very elegant.... and show the wee green bits very well!

John, can I suggest you have a look at Ian's Bulb Log  No. 4 of 2006... he covers the subject of grey , black, cards etc there.... http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/log2006/250106/log.html     

Thanks Maggi

Do you know - at work today I did loads of SRGC searches as I was sure I had seen this before - and yet I failed to find the brilliant bulb log example you have linked to.  (Is the bulb log on a different search from the main forum search - that could explain why I came to the conclusion that it hadn't been covered in detail after all  ).

Thanks for the link to an excellent example - just what I was looking for.

Regards

John x

[mark smyth]

Yes thanks Maggi.

I now also click auto contrast on Photo Shop which helps.

[Maggi Young]

John, the bulb log index is here:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/index.pdf

The Old and New forums have their own search engines.

...here  are some links to pages that may be of help to you.....

http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=54.msg18312;topicseen#msg18312

http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=209.msg4141;topicseen#msg4141

http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=223.msg4845;topicseen#msg4845

http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2503.msg58865;topicseen#msg58865


http://www.srgc.org.uk/discus/messages/321/23334.html  in old forum


 and this Photographic thread....http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=54.0

[art600]

This is proving to be a very good year for Snowdrops with me.

Currently in flower or bud, I have:

Three Ships
Yvonne Hay - £6 from TileBarn Nursery
Lady Beatrix Stanley
John Gray
Diggory
Modern Art - bought at the Mid-Anglia Bulb Sale for £15, proved to be 2 flowering size bulbs 
gracilis
Robin Hood, Bertram Anderson, Sam Arnott, Hippolyta, Bill Bishop, Merlin, Mrs Macnamara, Magnet, imperati
Augustus, plicatus

This is not the full extent of my collection, only those in flower/bud now.  Considering that I only caught the fever last year, I am very pleased with the results.

Here are photos of

Three Ships
Yvonne Hay

[Anthony Darby]

Here is an unlabelled (label is blank) snowdrop growing in a pot in the greenhouse. Interesting to see what it looks like open?

[mark smyth]

Galanthus fosteri

[steve owen]

Maggi

This SRGC search facility looks a powerful one. How can one use it?

[Anthony Darby]

Galanthus fosteri

Probably. The leaves are twice as wide as the fosteri in the other pot, but it can't be anything else.

[Maggi Young]

Maggi

This SRGC search facility looks a powerful one. How can one use it?

Both this Forum and the old forum have individual search facilities, Steve.... both similar.... for this forum, see the list of buttons at the top of each forum page...
 looks like this: Home    Help  Search  Admin  Profile  My Messages  Calendar  Members  Links  Logout    
 Just click on the SEARCH button and follow on....   try a search for fosteri, for example: comes up with 24 items in this forum  not all Galanthus...     ( out of interest, there were three (Galanthus) results  for fosteri in a search of the old forum!)   If the search doesn't come up with excatly what you are looking for, try altering the search type and so on... I'm not saying it's a perfect system, but it's not bad!

[Brian Ellis]

Well done Art, aren't these little white things a joy

[Paddy Tobin]

Regarding the black background for photographing snowdrops - I am happy with the results, good contrast to the white petals and, as Maggi says, it does make the green markings stand out well which is a benefit as they are regularly used to distinguish cultivars. Having said that, I still prefer shots taken outdoors. It is just that the bad weather here has prevented that and I wished to take a set of shots of the snowdrops as they flowered this year and so was forced to take them indoors.

Mark,
I wonder if your comments re lack of contrast when using the black background refer to your camera's readings. Certainly, the camera can have difficulties focusing on the white against the black as there is, surprisingly it might seem, a lack of contrast but if you focus your camera manually this is not a problem. In Photoshop, it might be a better option to use "Auto Levels" rather than "Auto Contrast".

Paddy

[mark smyth]

Paddy none of my 'Dionysius' have green tips. Are all of yours like this?