I return to the conservatory for more flower pictures

[silverflight8]

I went back to the Gardens to take more pictures! Here's last time's post, for reference--almost exactly a week ago two years ago. (ETA: by which I mean when I started composing this entry, April 27, but it is clearly no longer April 27 oops.) They're wrapping up their Easter show--there were lilies absolutely everywhere. I wish I could bottle their essence and upload it onto the internet, because the whole conservatory smelled like lilies.

I think my photography has improved. I'm much happier with my photos, at least; I'm using the same camera which helps in comparison. I think a lot more about light, at any rate--everything is light, everything.

I came home with 200+ pictures, but after weeding out the blurry ones, the uninteresting ones, the duplicates or near-duplicates, here are the highlights! They're all flowers, and because I am a terrible botanist (or rather, not a botanist) I know pretty much none of their names. Look, I studied ecology and human biology in high school, we didn't do classification! (I wish we had though.)




Multi-coloured flowers! They're all like this, split blue and white. I also like this one because I retain a fondness for slightly darker lighting.



SUNSHINE!



Don't they look like faces? Dramatic penguin faces? That is 100% why I took the picture, they all look like they're making faces. Angry faces.



Again the sunshine! Looking at the flowers now, I see they're wilting a bit, but they're still so bright and cheery. I will never be tired of the whole "flowers are a cup of sunshine" theme.



SUNSHINE. FLOWERS AND SUNSHINE.



I googled "fuchsia" to check if that was the correct colour of the upper petals and...apparently this is fuchsia the plant. That was convenient! The grey part in the picture is a concrete thing, rather ugly but used in the conservatory itself. Out of focus I quite like how it goes with the bright colours.


The greenhouses had plants growing all over the place--next to the paths and level with us, but also climbing up and down from the ceiling.



This was such an endearingly strange flower I had to take several pictures. Why are the pistils and stamen like alien spaceships? The twirling vine behind it just reinforces the impression of weirdness. Also, look at the contrast of white and blue and then purple-black!



Even though there were so many lilies I didn't really take many pictures. It kind of looks like they're going... I did really like the smell though. Their scent was so lovely.



I like this picture because I really like how the lighting, the view, and my choice of depth of field all worked together. Hooray!



First picture of my favourite flowers at this conservatory, forever and ever. I also really loved them last time. You can see how thin and soft the petals are, how the light shines through them (instead of reflecting off, like the one above).



A bluer, darker version. I also really liked the way the petals go from blue into purple and then red, and then there's a little flash of yellow peeking out. These flowers are the prettiest.



I had to lean pretty far backwards to take these pictures (should've done more sit-ups) and I repeat: sunshine! flowers! From the front the view is not very interesting but from here the sun is magical.



Some things are so easy to photograph. This picture I only cropped; I didn't change anything else. I love how dramatic the colours are. Love it.



Same flower, I think, just slightly different colours. That pattern! That contrast! Oh my god!



One of the greenhouses was a cactus/desert one. I really liked the contrast of the brittle, dead-looking cactus leaves and the softness and pink of the flowers. Usually the leaves are not very interesting and I crop/change focus to avoid them but this one is really interesting. From the leaves the cactus looks almost dead, but it's blooming madly.



And again as before, I like how delicate the flower is next to the cactus. After squinting and some googling, I think the out-of-focus sign says "rat's tail cactus". I think. Actually, honestly, the cactuses that are not quite in the focused part of the picture look merely fuzzy instead of terrifyingly spiky.


And a very artsy photo of sunshine to round everything off. Really, it was the perfect day for taking pictures--sunny enough that inside the greenhouse everything was well-lit. It was about a thirty to forty minute walk there and then back (when I tried to time it I kept getting distracted, including buying tea so it's hard to tell) and what I was saying was that it was a really nice day for April. The sort of in-between spring day where your winter jacket is too hot and not warm enough kind of day, but with the sun out. I took this picture when I was one of the auxiliary greenhouses; it was much narrower and the plants were all in pots and not arranged for viewing. This is the view outside the greenhouse, which obviously failed but I like how it shows the sun. You don't want to see what the outside looked like anyway. It was just a parking-space in front of a brick wall and some chainlink fence--the back loading area.


*Though seriously, if you see a picture that you like and would like a full-size copy, I am more than happy to email you one (or more than one, seriously). I am not a professional photographer and I in no way will ever make money from this, and I basically take pictures because it makes me happy and I like sharing them. You all are welcome to use the images.

Comments

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

They are so amazing, they're like a preview of spring :D