David_S85
Jul-07-2008, 12:05 AM
This past Sunday, a few of us Dgrinners from the Midwest and Central (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=26135&page=6) area gathered at the Chicago Botanic Garden (http://www.chicagobotanic.org/) in Glencoe, Illinois.
Cat (Shima) and her husband Joel, Cat's photographer friend Cindy, stuffjunkie (Kevin), David_S85 (me) and Diana arived when the sun was high, and sought the better light as it was getting lower throughout the afternoon.
Small bugs and flowers were abundant, but we were without the expert macro shooter this day; our buddy Gluwater (Nick) had planned to join us, but just couldn't make the afternoon shoot due to some new job committment (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=865731). :dunno Next time get that boss of your's to give you the entire day off to go shooting, eh? :deal
We began our tour with the water lilies in the Circle Garden...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081103_3jynU-L.jpg
Dragon's were also abundant. We shot these guys for maybe a half an hour...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081085_aaAtP-L.jpg
(this was a real test of my new Kenko extension tube set for use with my 400 5.6. Dragonflies, I own you now! Bwahahahahaha! I was stunned the 40D autofocued so quickly through the 36mm tube. Shot full frame from 6 feet away)
There are no shots of the ice cream that I know of, but that was next and a requirement for some of us. The Waterfall Garden followed...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081159_8MUAs-L.jpg
Our small group was among several thousand other small groups populating the gardens, so getting serene shots like this next one, sans people, took a lot of waiting...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081210_eUGkh-L.jpg
The two Japanese Garden Islands are among the most popular destinations within the park. The majority of our shooting time was spent there.
The bridge over to that spot. Cat is at left...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081343_3pUhF-L.jpg
Cat and Cindy shooting not the same subject...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081221_moWvY-L.jpg
Members of our group wandering off spontaneously, while not encouraged, was also understood and later accepted. Diana was located resting by a lake. OK, she was actually strategically posed there by some photographers, but she did enjoy the view and water...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081282_HZEPa-L.jpg
Zen garden steps...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081258_i92jy-L.jpg
The sound of flowing water soothes the restless spirit. Here it was barely trickling...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081332_zB9Fq-L.jpg
Manipulated pines appeared as large bonsai trees and played an important role amid the Japanese gardens...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081320_5bDsM-L.jpg
We spent a short time within the English Walled Gardens. It was getting late so we didn't get all what we had hoped for, but almost anywhere you looked, there was something interesting.
Much of the flowering plants' glory had passed months ago. Luckily, like the Energizer Bunny (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energizer_Bunny), many of them keep giving and giving through the seasons. They were there, so we had to shoot them. Many were familiar...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081423_n4hGi-L.jpg
Others weren't...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081409_d4jdE-L.jpg
Hunger set in for everyone. Luckily, there's a restaurant on the grounds. I was too busy eating to play with cameras. Cat has a good shot of us I trust she'll post in here later.
No shootout would be complete without a pano. This overly-quick set was almost ruined when the photographer forgot to bracket and then overexposed by two full stops. An hour later he chimped the set noticing a mostly over-blown blinking mess in all 8 frames. It has been said countless times and is still true - RAW is your friend. A view of part of the Japanese Islands...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081432_FMPnh-XL.jpg
The enormous CBG grounds (385 acres) was too much to take in all in one shoot. We agreed a second visit in the near future is necessary to hunt more good light.
Cat (Shima) and her husband Joel, Cat's photographer friend Cindy, stuffjunkie (Kevin), David_S85 (me) and Diana arived when the sun was high, and sought the better light as it was getting lower throughout the afternoon.
Small bugs and flowers were abundant, but we were without the expert macro shooter this day; our buddy Gluwater (Nick) had planned to join us, but just couldn't make the afternoon shoot due to some new job committment (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=865731). :dunno Next time get that boss of your's to give you the entire day off to go shooting, eh? :deal
We began our tour with the water lilies in the Circle Garden...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081103_3jynU-L.jpg
Dragon's were also abundant. We shot these guys for maybe a half an hour...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081085_aaAtP-L.jpg
(this was a real test of my new Kenko extension tube set for use with my 400 5.6. Dragonflies, I own you now! Bwahahahahaha! I was stunned the 40D autofocued so quickly through the 36mm tube. Shot full frame from 6 feet away)
There are no shots of the ice cream that I know of, but that was next and a requirement for some of us. The Waterfall Garden followed...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081159_8MUAs-L.jpg
Our small group was among several thousand other small groups populating the gardens, so getting serene shots like this next one, sans people, took a lot of waiting...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081210_eUGkh-L.jpg
The two Japanese Garden Islands are among the most popular destinations within the park. The majority of our shooting time was spent there.
The bridge over to that spot. Cat is at left...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081343_3pUhF-L.jpg
Cat and Cindy shooting not the same subject...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081221_moWvY-L.jpg
Members of our group wandering off spontaneously, while not encouraged, was also understood and later accepted. Diana was located resting by a lake. OK, she was actually strategically posed there by some photographers, but she did enjoy the view and water...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081282_HZEPa-L.jpg
Zen garden steps...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081258_i92jy-L.jpg
The sound of flowing water soothes the restless spirit. Here it was barely trickling...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081332_zB9Fq-L.jpg
Manipulated pines appeared as large bonsai trees and played an important role amid the Japanese gardens...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081320_5bDsM-L.jpg
We spent a short time within the English Walled Gardens. It was getting late so we didn't get all what we had hoped for, but almost anywhere you looked, there was something interesting.
Much of the flowering plants' glory had passed months ago. Luckily, like the Energizer Bunny (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energizer_Bunny), many of them keep giving and giving through the seasons. They were there, so we had to shoot them. Many were familiar...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081423_n4hGi-L.jpg
Others weren't...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081409_d4jdE-L.jpg
Hunger set in for everyone. Luckily, there's a restaurant on the grounds. I was too busy eating to play with cameras. Cat has a good shot of us I trust she'll post in here later.
No shootout would be complete without a pano. This overly-quick set was almost ruined when the photographer forgot to bracket and then overexposed by two full stops. An hour later he chimped the set noticing a mostly over-blown blinking mess in all 8 frames. It has been said countless times and is still true - RAW is your friend. A view of part of the Japanese Islands...
http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/327081432_FMPnh-XL.jpg
The enormous CBG grounds (385 acres) was too much to take in all in one shoot. We agreed a second visit in the near future is necessary to hunt more good light.