Welcome to this month’s Wandering Camera linky party – the April Edition.  Thank you for sharing a little bit of your world with us by linking up in March.  I am also loving those photography and camera experiments you are doing.

I kept the link-up open for little over a week the last couple of months, but my wonderful friends posted about Wandering Camera even after the link-up was closed.  So, to give ourselves a little more time, I am extending the link-up to two weeks.  I can’t thank you enough for your support!

March was a month of rain and wind with intermittent sunshine.  Spring came early for us and I discovered the world of wildflower photography while enjoying being outside. However, by the end of the month, I was brutally reminded of my allergies.  It will get a lot worse as Spring comes into full swing, but I will try to keep myself distracted with photography as much as I can.

The latter part of the March photos is concentrated around wildflowers.  They are so pretty, you can’t blame an outdoor girl like me for admiring them.   Here’s my photo set from March in chronological order.

1. Lord Vader is unhappy with my Lego progress

2.  Brownies

3. First signs of spring

4.  Rain-soaked fence

5. Wine field in the rain

6. Street light reflecting on the wet sidewalk

7. Rain clouds make for beautiful sunsets

8. New pencil case with my little Viking penguin Olaf

9. Start of a herb garden

10. Charlie cuddled up on a rainy day

11. Downpour

12.  Flooded creek

13. Sitting beside my relaxed friend while listening to the patter of rain and reading

14. End of our walk

15. Pink wild radish

16. Redwood Violet

17. Spring Vetch looking like pink butterflies

18. Old Man Of Spring – I love his crazy “hair”

19. Home-made granola for those long hiking days

20.  Captured raindrop

21. Coming down again

22. March knitting

23. Strange red-yellow sunlight filtering through the clouds

24. Teasel

25. Yellow Owl’s Clover – they are tiny!

26. A happy and healthy Montague on his new quilt

27. Larkspur – I call them pixie hats

28.  Sun dog

29. Western Blue-eyed Grass flower

30. Painting of a Stone building

31. Found a duck pond during a lunch-time walk

Can’t help but share a little sneak peek at my new block

Spring has either arrived for some of you or on its way to the more patient among you, bringing more flowers in April and May.  I have learned a few things about flower photography over the past few weeks, so I thought I’d pass them on to you.

Wildflower Portraits

If you have just a few flowers blooming here and there like I had in March, it’s nicer to take portraits of them.

The Flower

Try to pick a flower that is unblemished and not damaged by bugs.

Lens – Zoomed-in

Start with zooming in to take a photo of a flower stalk, you can photograph pretty flower clusters that way.  If you wish to aspire higher, you could try taking photos of a single flower using macro photography.

You can set your point-and-shoot camera to the macro setting which is often marked by a little flower icon.  That will enable you to get closer to your subject, in this case the flower.

Lens – Macro

For those of you with cameras capable of using interchangeable lenses, you can purchase this Macro adapter from Opteka for approximately $25.00.  It screws on in front of the lens and turns it into a macro lens.  It’s a great and inexpensive way to get your feet wet in the macro world.

Even with auto-focus turned on, use your eyes to find the plane (surface) of focus while using this adapter.  Try to focus on the centre of the plane as much as you can.

Aperture

This one is for cameras with manual settings.  You want to use a really high aperture value if you want sharp photos.  Set your camera’s aperture value between F11 – F16.  Higher the better.

Shutter Speed

With manual setting cameras you can set the shutter speed as well.  When you are looking through your lens you will notice that the flowers move A LOT with the gentlest of breezes!  So you want to set the shutter speed to at least 1/250.

ISO

Since you are restricted by the need to set your aperture and shutter speed really high, the only thing you can play with to get brighter photos is the ISO value.  Move up the ISO if you need to.  In good light hours you can use 400 or even 800 to get nice photos without any noise or graininess.  (Read more about ISO on the March post)

Light

Petals are translucent, so you might battle with over-exposed flowers if the sun is behind the flower.  If the sun is facing the flower, then you will cast your own shadow on the flower since you are sitting between the sun and the flower.  Try to find a flower facing perpendicular to or at least at an angle to the sun.

Flowers in partly-shaded areas work well.  Overcast days are also great.  You will need to go up on ISO, but every angle is open to you.

Time

On windy days you will need to be especially patient.  There are pockets where the wind slows down enough for you to focus and take sharp photos.  Take multiple shots.  Many of them will be out of focus or the flower will have moved out of the frame by the time you press the shutter.

Use the zoom-in feature while reviewing the pictures on your camera to make sure you are happy with your work.

Now you should be all set to go out and capture those lovely colours and shapes of the Spring wildflowers around you!  Don’t get bogged down in the details, remember to enjoy the flowers and have fun!

Now it’s your turn to share your photo posts.  I always look forward to seeing them.  Every photo is special because it suspends a moment and everyone sees the world around us differently!  So don’t compare and contrast, just have fun and see the world that only your eyes can see!

Badge to share on your post and website

You can add any number of links to your posts from the previous month.  The posts should have photos in them, with a story or anecdote. Your project photos (quilting, sewing, painting, knitting, etc.) are most welcome.  You can also write a new post to link up.  Please do not link up posts that are older than the previous month, they will be removed.

Please make sure to include the badge or a text link back to this site on each post that you link up.  You can also add the badge to your blog. I am happy either way as long as you link back :-)

** Linked posts not including a link back will be removed in fairness to other participants. **

Spread a little encouragement amongst each other.

I will leave the link-up open for two weeks.

Wandering Camera is a monthly event that will run on the first Thursday of every month.  The next post and link-up will be on the 5th of May.  If you follow me via email, bloglovin or facebook, you will get a reminder.

Have fun!!