And now the cholla bushes are coming into bloom

[ellarien]

DSC08056
Originally uploaded by ellarien.

I've had a lot of trouble with this particular bush over the last couple of years; the flowers are small and glossy, so that the autofocus tends to lock onto the spiny stems instead. This time, I think I nailed it.

This lunchtime the weather was so beautiful that I bought a new memory card for my camera rather than miss it because I left the others at home.

Comments

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

How did you nail it? I'm having trouble with white and pale flowers, mostly: the details get lost. There's even a setting on my camera for white flowers, but it doesn't actually help.

[ellarien]

It's just the usual full-auto macro mode. I think the reason this one worked is that the stamens gave the autofocus something to lock on; it doesn't like smooth shiny surfaces if there's something sharp -- like prickles -- in the vicinity.

White flowers are tricky -- I think part of the trouble is that they're often brighter to the camera than to the human eye, because of the UV, and very easy to overexpose. Sometimes it works better to go for shade rather than full sun; I suppose you could try cutting down the exposure time, if your camera lets you do that, or using a UV filter if that's possible.