On a Wednesday evening in June, I met with folks from the NRV Exposure Meetup Group to practice taking pictures of flowers.  We were lucky to have met; planning and attending outdoor gatherings had been difficult this year with the near-daily rain and thunderstorms.  About 15 people showed up.  Most of the participants carried large cameras that were connected to disproportionately-sized macro lenses.  Some of the lenses included oddly shaped hoods, others were bare.  As usual, I had the smallest camera in the group, which always leaves me feeling a step behind.  The rain held off just long enough that evening, allowing us to take pictures for about an hour.

During my interactions with the photographers, I learned how hoods reduce glare and lens flare that is generated by stray light.  I made progress with changing my depth of field and sharpening the background by adjusting the aperture (see the last two images in this set).  I also made a realization that it’s time to invest in a macro lens.

I took the first image below with a normal macro setting that left a burred background.  As you may tell, that’s my usual photo style with taking flower pictures.  With the second image, I increased the aperture so more flowers are in focus.  Unfortunately, the setting caused a change in the lighting.  I took a poll with my Facebook friends to see which image they preferred.  About half of the respondents preferred the first image because it is more artsy.  The other half preferred the second image because it is more realistic.