click photo to enlargeYesterday I went with a group from the local garden club to view a selection of church flower festivals. As well as seeing some fine arrangements of flowers based on themes, and having the opportunity to look around churches that are usually closed, this is also a chance to grab a few close-up shots of flowers. The LX3 is a good camera for this. The dark interiors of churches need its bright f2 lens, the image stabilisation allows hand-holding and renders the tripod redundant, and the excellent macro facility makes securing the images relatively easy.
I took quite a few shots, some of which will be used on the garden club's blog, and a couple that I'll feature here. The churches usually display their flowers for a week, and our visit was a little later than in the past two years. Consequently some of the blooms were starting to wilt. Coming upon a display of dusky pink roses I noticed that they'd been misted with water in an attempt to prolong their radiance, so I took the opportunity to feature the water droplets that were glinting in the light from a stained glass window. The cold light from the shadows gave the rose a cool tint that quite appealed to me. This isn't a fresh, bright, joyous "first rose of summer": the coolness gives it a melancholy feel, but it's a touch that I quite like.
photograph & text (c) T. Boughen
Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 5.1mm (24mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2
Shutter Speed: 1/80
ISO: 160
Exposure Compensation: -0.66 EV
Image Stabilisation: On
