I wanted to get the details of the seed head whilst showing it in context with the bright, sunny flowers.  I also wanted the contrast in the colour and difference between one and many.

I am not sure if this would have been improved if I had reduced the depth of field or not – s0metimes it does make the subject stand out a lot more, but then there is nothing more likely to ruin a photo than a bright out of focus object right at the front of the picture.

I had my much loved and new favourite (move over macro lens) 50mm lens on the camera, set on aperture priority.  The settings therefore used were ISO200, 1/250mm at f/14 ( I made the decision to go with a large depth of field).

The woods (Woodland Trust’s Everdon Stubbs) are full of bluebells and stitchwort, but this one flower stood out, probably because of the way that the sun was lighting it.

I have cropped the picture in so there are fewer distractions and think that the tall thin crop reflects the elegance of the flower.  I like the way the sun catches the petals, but also the simplicity that comes from just having green and white (plus a tiny hint of yellow) in the photo.

I had my macro lens back on (although only briefly) and the settings were 1/800 secs (on aperture priority) at f/5.0 (to blur the background) at ISO200.

Anyway, unlike most of my attempts at dew drops this has come out pretty sharp (although I have sharpened it a touch in Lightroom).  What I liked about this however, was not the dew drops, pretty though they are, but the shadows they cast on the other leaves.  The drops at the top and bottom of the picture are linked by an s-curve, and the picture retains a degree of simplicity by the fact that there is only one type of leaf and only one colour against a black background.

I decided to make the picture a little more abstract by cropping out quite a lot of the picture.

This picture was taken handheld using my EOS 400D equipped with macro lens, ISO200, 1/125secs, f/13.

I didn’t go far – it was cold and I still had an assignment to finish writing.  These crocus are planted in grassy sections between cherry blossom trees a 5 minute walk from my house (I will be back in a month or so for the cherry blossom).

I loved the way the sun caught the crocus, it really made me think that Spring was coming (although I changed my mind when I realised how cold my hands had become).  I originally took this in portrait, wanting to show the way the crocus weaved between the trees, but I like the cropped shot more as the emphasis is on the flowers, whereas the original had too much grass.

In order to improve the photo I would need to have more depth of field, this would have allowed me to have a less severe crop and have more crocus in the foreground as a lead in – unfortunately they were not sharp enough and had to go.  This was not possible when handholding, and I don’t think I could have go my tripod down low enough even if I had taken it with me.  The alternative is to use a different, possibly image stabilised lens, or, possibly my 17-40mm lens which would have let more light in and therefore allowed a smaller aperture.

The shot was taken with my macro lens (100mm) at ISO200, f/14, 1/125secs.  The settings were to maximise the depth of field, unfortunately I could have done with a bit more.

However, I digress.  Why do I have such an issue.  For starters, they come out in February when the light is not always kind to photographers.  Secondly, they are quite low growing, so it can be a bit of an effort to get to the correct level  and not a) get covered in mud or b) squash lots of its friends (and without cheating and picking the snowdrop).

Then there are the other problems – they are quite small, so having sufficient depth of field to get the snowdrop sharp, without having an irritating background, or needing a tripod (difficult again due to their low growing habits) is a task in and of itself.  Then, the biggest problem of all – they are white.  Yes, I know, that is why they are called a snowdrop, not a yellow drop or sky drop, but anyone who has ever taken a picture of something white, and relied on the through the lens metering of the camera (TTL) will know just how difficult a task getting the exposure right on a white flower is.  So, what to do.  I tend to hedge my bets, start off with -1/3 exposure compensation (even my Ixus allows for this) and work it down a couple of notches and hope that one of them will work.

The picture I have chosen, whilst far from perfect, is my best to date, and, I am particularly proud of it as the weather was mainly dull with only 10 minutes of sunshine at any one time.  First, the positives, I am pleased with the lighting on the snowdrop, I like the crop and the dark background (this is a result of setting the exposure to the flower – everything else is underexposed).  I also like the square crop.  However, I would have liked the image to be sharper, and there are parts of the petal that have lost detail because they are overexposed (particularly the petal on the right).

The picture was taken with my macro lens (100mm), set at ISO400 (due to poor light), f/6.3 (due to poor light) and 1/125 secs.  In the future I may try a tripod down low, better lighting and reducing the exposure compensation more than the two notches as I don’t think that this will particularly underexpose any other parts.

At the bottom of the garden I found that our winter flowering Viburnum was starting to show signs of Spring, so I tried a few shots.  I had originally been tinkering with the idea of finding some contrasting backgrounds to brighten my pictures, but I think the muted background (an almost out of control ivy) sets off the light greens and pinks of the viburnum very well.

As I was handholding the camera and the light was low I had upped the ISO and reduced the aperture, the latter being responsible for throwing out the background so well.  I wasn’t very hopeful of getting a decent shot with such a wide aperture, but I am particularly pleased with the fact that the furry texture of the opening buds was picked up.  I also think a square crop works well with this picture and allows the subject to move across the diagonal.

On to the technical bits – ISO400, 100mm macro lens, f/5.0, 1/100 secs.