A Macro Morning

Yesterday morning I stuck close to home for my photos – the front garden actually. I was too late to wander about looking for good light, and I don't think it had been all that special anyway. Besides, I do need my sleep sometimes. Yesterday, I slept-in until 5:30 and then tried for more zzz's. It didn't work, of course, and I was up 10 or 15 minutes later, just about the time that the sun was making an appearance.

I puttered around for awhile before going out to the garden because I needed the sun to rise a bit to get some light on the flowers.

My intention was to shoot handheld and, hopefully, get a lot of background softness, or even foreground softness for that matter. I was more interested in composition than the state of the blooms, so I don't mind that some were after or even before their best date.

I began with a photo from the daylily patch, but, being day lilies, most were not in prime condition from the previous day. I really need to get out and deadhead.

Our most ubiquitous flower is the echinacea, just that common and reliable one. They reseed and spread, and I am fine with that because I am mostly beyond putting a lot of effort into gardening.

The hostas are in bloom, so I tried a few compositions. Most of the flower stalks are big clumps, which are fine to look at, but I found they're too busy in photos. This was the best of the few photos that I tried.

I tried this ↓ weed, but it's very low to the ground, and I don't bend too well. I like the composition, but I should have lain on the ground to try to nail the focus. For some reason, I am reluctant to lie on the lawn in public, or at least I was on this morning. I have done so before, however.

I wasn't out there for very long, but on the whole I was satisfied by this little photoshoot.