The Dolomites

[ranunculus]

Fourth (and final) Set of Gallery Fourteen.....
31 Santa Croce.jpg
 32 In crevice.jpg
 33 Paris.jpg
 34 Rhodo view.jpg
 35 Super silene.jpg
 36 Super skyline.jpg
 37 Screes.jpg
 38 Arabba view.jpg
 39 Papaver in river bed.jpg
 40 Under Piz Boe.jpg

[Paddy Tobin]

Cliff,

Gallery 14 has maintained the extraordinary high standard of photography of the previous thirteen and it a great compliment to your photography and choice of subject that despite the large number of photographs my interest was just as keen to see gallery fourteen as it was to see gallery two.

Many, many thanks for several nights of great enjoyment.

Might I impose on you to comment on your photography - did you use a macro lens for the close up shots of individual plants, for example? Do you generally use a tripod for your shots? I imagine you must for those with a great depth of field but do you use one for close up work, or your general shots?

Great treat, loved the show. Many thanks. Actually, I have seen more flowers of the Dolomites than when I went there myself.

Paddy

[ranunculus]

 
Hi Paddy,
Firstly, the thanks....I'm so pleased that you have enjoyed the postings.....hopefully I have even managed to save the best until last as I will conclude with another batch of fifty images..... the last ten of which I am truly delighted with.  It is such a shame that all these photographs were taken with a 3.4 megapixel camera so the files are not 'large' enough to print in a 'professional' manner....some of the pictures were almost good enough for possible framed sale prints, calendar or even book images....this is one of the main reasons that I have now gone a tad 'up-market' and purchased a digital SLR, so that any future images will at least be of use to printers, publishers, etc.
As I have written before I am extremely pleased with the images produced by the 3.4 megapixel Nikon 995...if only they would produce the same camera with 10 or 12 megapixels then I would order one instantly.
Every image posted on this particular subject on our fabulous Forum was taken with this little swivel-lens gem....every image was hand-held, even the macro shots and all the landscapes.  I do possess a tripod but haven't used it since Arthur Askey was weaned onto honey.  You may have noticed that some of the images exhibit slight darkening in the extreme corners of the shot....these are a sure sign that I screwed a Nikon WC-E63 wide converter onto the very tiny lens of the 995, my only concession to having any human control over the shot.....I always took pictures on 'auto' and simply learned by experience what might 'work' and what wouldn't....I can assure you that I have a very sizeable batch of pictures that wouldn't please or impress you.  So, in conclusion, the lens and the swivel format of the Nikon 995 are perfectly suited to plant and macro photography...(oh that they could be convinced to reissue this amazing little camera with a far meatier capacity), and it is not always necessary to use a tripod in the field....I will be very reluctant to use one with my newly purchased Nikon D80 and none of the images posted on the Forum (from California, Tandle Hill or Cowm Quarry, etc.) have been taken with one....though I have been known to use a handy fence post, wall or boulder.
Please look out for the final posting over the next few days and many thanks once again for your kind comments....!

[Armin]

Cliff,
I was off a while and just explored this field trip picture series.
Thanks for this great treat.

[Paddy Tobin]

Cliff,

I know you had given this information on your photography previously but imagined that it must have referred to other photographs as I did not think it possible you could have obtained such high standard results with your old little Nikon. Some of those "alpine plant with scenery" were especially outstanding, great detail in the flowers and great depth of field and clarity in the scenery. Regardless of the new SLR I think you should hold on to your old one.

I have an old Fuji Finepix something-or-other, a compact, 6 megapixels,  purchased about 7 or 8 years ago which cost an arm and leg at the time and though I have used another Fuji - that flip screen model Ian the BulbMan used for so long - and now a Nikon SLR I sometimes feel that I haven't taken shots as good as I did with the compact. There was something about it that made it very easy to use and get the results I wanted, particularly with close ups of plants. The SLR is far more complex to use and although it can do far more than the compact it doesn't do some of the things quite so easily.

I shall live and learn, I suppose.

Looking forward to the coming issue of Photos from the Dolomites, especially as you declare yourself very pleased with them.

Paddy

[Lvandelft]

 
Every image posted on this particular subject on our fabulous Forum was taken with this little swivel-lens gem....every image was hand-held, even the macro shots and all the landscapes.  I do possess a tripod but haven't used it since Arthur Askey was weaned onto honey. 

Most impressive.... and fabulous!  Thank you!

But no idea who is Arthur Askey?

[ranunculus]

Hi Luit,
My humour (?) and, I now realise, a certain lack of respect shown to SRGC Forum members from across the seas (and from across the age divide), led me to use a reference to a diminutive Liverpool comedian (1900-1982) who was famous throughout the United Kingdom during the '40's, 50's and 60's.  One main focus of his act relied on a 'silly song' about a 'buzzy, buzzy bee' performed with all the arm and leg movements of an insect on 'speed'.
The reference was used simply to indicate the enormous age of the writer and, by suggestion, the age of the readers (hands up all those of you who understood the quote - Brian Smethurst, where are you)?

If you have a strong constitution (and a strong stomach), then dare to access the following link.......

[Lvandelft]

Hi Luit,
My humour (?) and, I now realise, a certain lack of respect shown to SRGC Forum members from across the seas (and from across the age divide),

Hello young Mr. Ranunculus. Thank you for the explanation. I liked your link, there were some other fragments
there too of mr. Arthur Askey, which I liked too.

[ranunculus]

Just prior to posting the final galleries in this Dolomite 'War and Peace', can I add a couple of image adaptations to test the opinions of such enthusiastic plantspeople?

I was privileged to Chair a meeting of the East Lancashire Group of the AGS last evening at which Rosemary Cox from York presented a superb lecture entitled; 'Alpines through an artist's eye'......a very thought provoking theme that was both an inspiration to and a kick up the backside for any of us with the merest pretension to an artistic leaning....

This Forum should be and is a 'shop-window' for the talent inherent to our Club, not only the ability to grow, propagate, exhibit and photograph our beloved plants but also for the writers, painters, cartoonists and embroidery experts in our midst....please display your artistic efforts and talents on these pages and bring pleasure to nature lovers across the globe. 

 

[Maggi Young]

This Forum should be and is a 'shop-window' for the talent inherent to our Club, not only the ability to grow, propagate, exhibit and photograph our beloved plants but also for the writers, painters, cartoonists and embroidery experts in our midst....please display your artistic efforts and talents on these pages and bring pleasure to nature lovers across the globe. 

Couldn't agree more! And your artistic efforts need not be Dolomite related!!

[ranunculus]

O.K. folks .... you have either been very patient or simply damned glad of the rest from Dolomitic images.....(Don't answer that please)?

The observant among you may have noticed a lack of images of both Eritrichium nanum and Cypripedium calceolus in the galleries posted so far.....so before I finish my posting with a bumper crop of other plants, landscapes and ephemera I will make amends with a photographic tribute to each of these magnificent plants.....

Starting with the King of the Alps....the decidedly ungrowable Eritrichium nanum....a must-see for many visitors to these magnificent mountains......

[ranunculus]

Final batch of Eritrichium nanum images.....

[Paddy Tobin]

So much gorgeous blue. BEAUTIFUL.

Paddy

[Lvandelft]

Cliff, cannot find more than one word:


                   Heavenly

[Katherine J]

I agree with Luit, though I would be even happier if the pics weren't so big.
Or maybe my 19 inch monitor is too small