Well, three more days and they are going to be officially open. For now, free entry and a chance to see all the gardeners taking care of last arrangements before the big day. I meant to stop by, get a picture and get out today. Instead, I spent 1.5 hours there just staring at the plants. Thousands of tulips. Thousands of daffodils, and many of them haven't even come up yet. It's almost too sad we are going on a trip next week, I hope all the spring beauty will be there when we are back.
I think I am having trouble with the shots where a considerable portion of the foreground should be in focus, while the background is rather blurred out. It was hard to decide where exactly to focus and how to make sure the tulips are sharp, and the palace is blurry-ish. I also now think that I could have fit in more sky on the top of the frame.
As always, I am very happy to read any kind of feedback, comments, critique and suggestions. Thank you very much!
Ludwigsburg!! I have so many relatives there and got a "happy jolt" when I saw this picture! It's been a while that I've been there seeing as I live on the other side of the world...
If you want your pictures as sharp as possible, front and back, close the aperture. Put it on f/16 or even f/22. Only works on bright days, or on a tripod (unless you up the ISO)
I'm sure there will still be plenty of spring colour when you get back! Those tulips are beautiful and the focus works I think - but yes, it would have been good to have a bit more of the beautiful blue sky
@roulin Я думаю, это потому, что я очень близко к этим тюльпанам была, а дворец далеко - там еще газонов между нами куча. Но я так и хотела, чтобы цветы в фокусе, а дворец немного размытый. Я могу вам для сравнения еще сложить F32 и F4.8 в Dropbox. Я там экспериментировала.
Thank you all so much for stopping by and commenting! I am sure there are plenty more pictures of flowers and parks coming this way :). Maybe as early as tomorrow, as I have been starving for all those flowers to be in bloom. Thanks!
@irisn Thanks, Iris! I was trying to experiment with different settings there, but it was quite hard as the tulips have been just watered thoroughly and I was trying to take pictures from very low to the ground. Need to wash my jeans now :)
Let me know if you will visit Ludwigsburg - it would be great to meet someone from 365!
Tony, the flowers that are in full bloom now have been planted just for this season already in bloom, I believe. Here is the picture of the formal part of the castle grounds from the birds' eye view (not mine). All the "curvy" flower beds in front of the castle (the ones that have funky shapes) are the ones they put in just for the beginning of the season and fill with flowers that are already blooming. As I saw today, the "permanent" tulips all throughout the garden ground are just coming out of the ground and are not likely to bloom for a a couple of weeks yet, I believe. They really make sure that there is constantly something in bloom, and currently, those are the myriads of tulips and daffodils in front of the palace. http://www.lokalmatador.de/storage/11/e254d8356b634a96bb7168c83abe62b5_l.jpg
Vera, I see you already got some useful feedback regarding the DOF. I think that for this shot in particular you could have also taken the path of making the background even blurrier (maybe with the help of PS). I that case I would have considered squatting down even more or perhaps even lying down to make the tulips an even more prominent part of the picture. Does that make sense?
It does! I did take a couple of shots with the fully sharp background (rejected as "too boring and really like a postcard", and with a very blurry background, which made it harder to have more flowers in focus (since I wanted to be on their "height" and this stretched them from "very close to me" to "pretty far away"). So, I was not happy with both of those shots. And it was also hard to compose the shot as I happened to be there right after the watering vehicle went by, soaking all of them and the ground around them with many litres of water :) So, even kneeling on the ground was problematic. I am sure I will be back there to practice more, since we spend a lot of time there once it's open. Maybe what I am trying to do is not possible at all, and I should try some other perspectives or just have "one layer" of flowers in the foreground (as you suggest, really making them the main subject) with the castle in the background. Thank you for your input and the ideas, they all help to think and try to sort things out :) @whimsicalgrateful
@irisn I will keep it in mind. We will be traveling too throughout August, as it is school vacation, but I am not sure about the specific dates. But we will be here at some point for sure between the travels! We can keep in touch about August! :)
@spooling@777margo
Thank you! Yes, Sheryl, the spring is everywhere, especially because the whole town is also decorated with blooming daffodils, and all kinds of other things are just popping out of the ground everywhere! :)
Ute, there is no way of hiding away from the spring anywhere in town now. It is all beaming with flowers - to the most part, the ones planted by the city just to mark the opening of the season. It is so bright and nice - rows and rows of daffodils along the major roads, tulips blooming and some other things popping out of the ground here and there. The city is officially in the spring season.
If you want your pictures as sharp as possible, front and back, close the aperture. Put it on f/16 or even f/22. Only works on bright days, or on a tripod (unless you up the ISO)
@lindacarol @monty147 @klarinettegal @susanalena @karenhealy @isimo @danette @seattlite @dmcoile @kimdavis @julienne1
Let me know if you will visit Ludwigsburg - it would be great to meet someone from 365!
Tony, the flowers that are in full bloom now have been planted just for this season already in bloom, I believe. Here is the picture of the formal part of the castle grounds from the birds' eye view (not mine). All the "curvy" flower beds in front of the castle (the ones that have funky shapes) are the ones they put in just for the beginning of the season and fill with flowers that are already blooming. As I saw today, the "permanent" tulips all throughout the garden ground are just coming out of the ground and are not likely to bloom for a a couple of weeks yet, I believe. They really make sure that there is constantly something in bloom, and currently, those are the myriads of tulips and daffodils in front of the palace. http://www.lokalmatador.de/storage/11/e254d8356b634a96bb7168c83abe62b5_l.jpg
@flowerfairyann @tonygig @novab
Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a comment. I am glad you enjoyed the picture.
Thank you! Yes, Sheryl, the spring is everywhere, especially because the whole town is also decorated with blooming daffodils, and all kinds of other things are just popping out of the ground everywhere! :)
Ute, there is no way of hiding away from the spring anywhere in town now. It is all beaming with flowers - to the most part, the ones planted by the city just to mark the opening of the season. It is so bright and nice - rows and rows of daffodils along the major roads, tulips blooming and some other things popping out of the ground here and there. The city is officially in the spring season.
@californialover @ray_milsted