08 February 2016
Lens:
I. Taken with Camera+
1. White Lily, Lilium longiflorum ‘White Heaven,’ Longwood Gardens; Copyright © 2016 Sally W. Donatello All Rights Reserved
II. Taken with Camera+ and Snapseed
2. White Lily, Lilium longiflorum ‘White Heaven,’ Longwood Gardens; Copyright © 2016 Sally W. Donatello All Rights Reserved
Let me know which you prefer. Click on image to enlarge, which takes you to another page. If you decide to leave a comment, please return to this page.
Pens:
“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” ― The Secret Garden
Ode to White Lily:
Trace the lines of spiritual revelation. Glance silence. Brush sensation. Move inward.
Racing heart, sees brilliance. Determining a forever journey.
Notice. Be attentive. While piercing the actual, plunge into the possible. ~~ Sally W. Donatello
In the Lens section are my interpretations of the white lily–a lily often seen at the world-renown Longwood Gardens. Recently, on a blustery and wintry day that kept most people inside, my grandson and I were in our element strolling through the horticultural center’s conservatory.
The staff was busily preparing for the Orchid Extravaganza, which now fills their exhibition spaces. Orchids are seen in every imaginable way, including orbs that hang overhead and court attention. If you are traveling to the area (Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, USA), the extravaganza runs until 27 March. Click here for to go the gardens’ homepage.
I found myself charged with showing the white lily’s audacious interior. The center of its blooms are notoriously simple, and yet eloquently expressive. They are on constant duty to lure small creatures and humans to help spread their self-worth. I’ve posted two versions. The second has less detail and is a bit more abstract, but nevertheless recognizable.
Tip of the Day:
It’s macro week, which asks us to accomplish one of the most challenging feats for a Smartphone. There are so many hints to help accomplish those close-up and details usually not noticed by the naked eye. “We’re” told: not to use the zoom, be aware of lighting, use a tripod, get an add-on lens, and more. I found an article that summarizes suggestions to create an acceptable macro image, but it also has additional information that can be helpful. Jack Hollingworth’s How to Shoot Close-Up and Macro Photography with Your iPhone (2014) is worth the perusal (click here to view it). Hollingsworth’s gives a wealth of ideas to inspire your journey into macro photography. His points can be adapted to any Smartphone. Hope that you visit his site.
Jack Hollingsworth, “How to Shoot Close-Up and Macro Photography with Your iPhone,” 2014
View other entries for this week’s challenge:
https://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/sally-ds-mobile-photography-challenge-macro-sex
https://angelinem.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/sally-ds-mobile-photography-challengemacro-pop/
https://piecesofstarlight.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/quince-for-sally-ds-macro-challenge/
http://pilotfishblog.com/2016/02/09/sally-ds-mobile-photography-challenge-macro-alstroemeria/
https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/popping-up-like-weeds-thinking-about-growth-in-the-city/
https://chasinglifeandfindingdreams.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/storytelling-leaves/
Note:
As always I welcome comments about this post or any part of my blog. My photographs for the mobile photography challenge are taken with an iPhone 6.
If you’d like to join this Mobile Photography Challenge, please click here for details and history of the challenge. If you have any questions, please contact me. Below is a reminder of the monthly schedule with themes for upcoming challenges:
1st Monday: Nature.
2nd Monday: Macro.
3rd Monday: Black and White.
4th Monday Challenger’s Choice (Pick One: Abstraction, Animals, Architecture, Food Photography, Night Photography, Objects, Panorama, Portraiture, Still Life, Street Photography, and Travel).
5th Monday: Editing and Processing with Various Apps Using Themes from the Fourth Week.
Lens and Pens by Sally 
Lovely Sally – I prefer the first which looks more simple and clean to me. Have you looked at any of the macro lenses for the iphone? There are some wonderful, simple ones out there that are very reasonably priced.
Tina, I have the olloclip, but have only used it a few times. I have to take off the case, and it interferes with the screen saver. It’s just not convenient. Guess that I’ll have to try again.
Both beautiful in their own way but I like seeing more details and texture of the flower in the original shot.
Thanks os much for your comment and visit.
No contest here- it’s the original beauty, Sally! 🙂 Happy Sunday (and Valentine’s)
Jo, enjoy your today and always. Thanks.
Nice one, Sally… I like both photographs, but If I had to choose I´ll go for the first one….
Have a great weekend. Love, Aquileana 😉
Lovely to hear from you. It’s forecast for single digits tonight. Hope that you are where it is warmer. Thanks for your comment.
I like the first one best, as you get more dimension and texture. But I like the second one for the artistic merit. Cool.
Christine, thanks so much.
I love the interpretation on the shots! They’re both cute. Wished I could take up photography soon… 🙂
Seyi, lovely to hear from you. Hope that you get your wish. Thanks so much.
Both images are really pretty spectacular.
Charlie, thanks for bringing me such sunlight into my evening. I appreciate your comment and visit.
Wow Sally these photos are so precious and delicate. I am tired tonight but so glad I opened up my email and saw your post. It reminds me of the immense beauty in the every day if we just stop and take a look. It is hard to believe this was taken with a phone it is so intricate. Thank you.
Nicole, I continue to be amazed and grateful for humanity’s ingenuity. I appreciate your comment.
Both beautiful but prefer the simplicity of the second one.
Malcolm, thank you for your comment.
Loved the first one, I was attracted like a bee looking for nectar, I felt the crispness of its white petals. I leave the second one for the experienced eye…
Just a question : Is “White Heaven” part of the Longwood Gardens?
Doda, “White Heaven” is the Latin translation for the flower. I appreciate your comment.
Is it? What a name to describe its pure white colour! So many thanks for the illustration, dear Sally.
My pleasure…
Beautiful Sally. I like the first one, white flowers have so much detail. I’m really happy with the Camera+ app, although it’s still not as user friendly as I would like it.
Maria, each app needs a lot of experimentation until we can feel we have a grasp of its possibilities.
I see. The editing in the app also falls short of many adjustments that the proprietary iPhone camera app has! Another situation is the iPhone editing app will not edit TIFF files.
Unlike the chemical darkroom where everything can be done, in my experience there is not one app that does it all in the digital darkroom.
What a wonderful winter wander!
The second Lilly has an interesting abstract quality. The first provides a dive into a new and unknown world. I’ll vote for 1 today.
Thanks for the poetry and Jacks macro lesson.
Carol, my pleasure…thanks so much for your comment.
A touch choice as both are absolutely lovely Sally-but I find myself leaning more towards the second image-it has a more ethereal quality about it. I have Camera+ but have not done much with it-and thank you for sharing the video-I definitely want to do more macro work with my iPhone-
Meg, thanks so much.
I like both, but to me, the second one, artistically speaking, fabulous – fine art quality, love love love it Sally.
Macro photographing opens up a whole new world for the the viewer. Great work Sally.
Connie
Connie, your response to my work has brought a smile that will last for quite a while. Thanks so much.
I love the simple and tight composition in both photos. There is such a dynamic feeling to it. As for choosing between the two versions, I think I prefer the first one, for its more subtle tones and transitions between the tones.
Otto, thank you.
Beautiful macro! This one gives me some idea of taking macro with my iPhone. 🙂
Great… the inner details of a flower often astound. Thanks for your comment.
I like your photos this week, especially the first one. The subtle detail on the left side adds a lot to the overall composition in my opinion. Thank you for the link to the video tutorial. I have not been using the macro mode in either Camera+ or ProCamera and I am inspired to do so now.
Ω
Allan, my pleasure…Camera+ is a marvelous tool for macro with the iPhone. I appreciate your comment.
I really like the almost full view of the first photo with the leading lines into the flower accentuated by the green color saturation; it seems more dramatic in that first photo.
I’ve posted an entry for the challenge today from an iPad I’m learning to use. I wasn’t able to link to your post, sorry about that and hope to figure this out soon.
Angeline, recently, I also got an iPad, and do not know how to post from it. I can reply to comments. We’re both on a learning curve. I appreciate your comment.
SUPER!
Lovely to hear from you. Thanks.
They are both wonderful images.
Raewyn, thanks so much.
Good morning, Sally. I love the delicate beauty of the first/original shot. Thanks for the link. I’ve saved it to look at later. I’m always interested in ways to do better macro (or any other) photography with my phone. I hope your week is filled with beauty.
janet
Janet, hope that you enjoy the article. Thanks so much for your comment. Keep warm and sip some delicious tea. Thanks, Sally
Hi Sally. Both your shots show exquisite color and detail. I love the “sculptural” look of them. And the Hollingsworth video was terrific. Great tips and great post! Happy Monday–
Patti, you brought a huge smile across my morning. Thanks.
Your words “plunge into the possible” reminded me of the epigraph that Camus used for “The Myth of Sisyphus.” It was a line from the Greek poet Pindar: “Ô mon âme, n’aspire pas à la vie immortelle, mais épuise le champ du possible.” “O my soul, do not aspire to immortal life, but exhaust the field of the possible.” (I don’t know Greek, so I’ve translated the French, which is the version I first encountered.)
Steve, my emotions surfaced as I read your response to my words. You’ve touched my heartstrings. Thanks.
I really like the detail of the first photo and the brightness of the second. So…I guess I like them both! Thanks for the article link. I have the Camera Plus app, which I purchased from one of your earlier posts. I have really enjoyed it but didn’t realize I could manual focus. I thought I had tried everything. I remember shooting the ice on the windshield pics and the phone app could not figure out where to focus and I was getting frustrated with it. Now that I figured out where and how to manually focus (because of this article link), I am hopping for more frost this week! Thanks:)
Nato, my pleasure…we have to experiment with new apps. It helps to have a tutorial to give us the basics. See you soon. Thanks so much.
I love the somewhat muted details in the first photo, Sally. Now I’m going to go check out that article. Thanks and have a great week.
Linda, hope that you are settling into your new home and begun to explore. Thanks for your comment.
Thanks, Sally. The real explorations begin when the temps go up and the snow goes away! HA!
Then the fun begins.
Hi Sally 🙂 I love the first picture…it seems more real to me 🙂
Cristina, that’s the original. Lovely to hear from you. Thanks so much.