My springtime Phals!

[sciencegal]

I love Phal blossoms. It's inspiring to see these since mine are all grumpy this year. They all have good excuses - lots of rescues that I have never seen in bloom - and other reasons. I'm looking forward to a great show next year.

[catttan]

Nice collection! Whites are difficult to photograph well.

[Carolla]

Mine were grumpy last year, I feel your pain!

Oh, do you have any tips for photographing the white orchid? It'll be blooming for a while yet, though I waited until it was nice and open, I'd love to get a really good picture of it, now that I have a digital SLR (even an entry level camera of this sort is so much fun!)

[78Terp]

Does your camera have any special preset settings you can use? Mine has back light and front light help. Experiment around with some of the other modes. You may find the help in the camera for it. Perhaps a 'snow' setting would be helpful.

[Carolla]

I'll take a look through the manual - so far I've had plenty of fun with some very basic ideas given on the CD that comes with it. I might look through those topics again too, haven't used it much this later winter, but now its time for lots of pictures - going to an Orchid Show tomorrow!!! I have a budget for ONE orchid, looking for a Phrag to try, or a cool Paph or a really cool Phal or small Cattleya! Just one... and its a small show, if I don't find one of those, I might buy something for my yard, its at a commercial greenhouse! Anyway, lots of opportunities to get some really good pictures tomorrow.

[78Terp]

I use the manual to learn how to access the feature I want to use, but I definitely experiment with settings to see if it is a viable solution to what I am working on.

[JDT]

You might want to also check out YouTube there are a lot of info for the different types of camera's and how to use video's, I learned a lot by watching them for my D3300.

[Carolla]

Good idea, though personally I've been really pleased with the basic functions of my camera, if nothing else the improvements in the optics of a nicer camera make a huge difference. I do have two lenses with it and expect I'll be looking for a closeup one eventually. Right now there are SO many things to spend money on, we have a long list of minor home improvements we're excited about - remodeling our guest bathroom, painting a large portion of the interior of the house, a new floor for our study (get rid of that carpet under our desk chairs!), things like that...

[JDT]

Good idea, though personally I've been really pleased with the basic functions of my camera, if nothing else the improvements in the optics of a nicer camera make a huge difference. I do have two lenses with it and expect I'll be looking for a closeup one eventually. Right now there are SO many things to spend money on, we have a long list of minor home improvements we're excited about - remodeling our guest bathroom, painting a large portion of the interior of the house, a new floor for our study (get rid of that carpet under our desk chairs!), things like that...

With the introduction video on mine I learned a lot of things I did not know you could do that are easy! The work never ends.