Photo of the Week 104 & 105 – Irish Wild Flowers

With all the madness of upgrading to SnowLeopard and my failed upgrade to Aperture 3 I’m now one day away from being three weeks behind on my Photos of the Week posts. To catch up I’m going to post a double post today, and a single one tomorrow. As always with multiple posts, I’m going to pick a theme, and this time I’ve chosen macros of Irish wild flower. Both these flowers are small and delicate, so you may miss their subtle beauty unless you take the time to look closely.

The first shot is of one of my very favorite flowers, Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum). It’s a wild variety of Geranium, and there’s lovely detail in it’s small pink flowers. It’s very common in Ireland, but it’s hard to get it with and uncluttered background as it usually grows in crowded hedgerows. I’ve taken many other shots of these little beauties, but I really like the clean bokeh in this one.

on Flickr – Full-Size

Camera: Nikon D40

Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm

Exposure: 1/400 sec

Focal Length: 200mm

Focal Ratio: f/5.6

ISO: 800

Camera Mode: Aperture Priority

Exposure Bias: -0.3ev

The second shot I’ve chosen is of an absolutely tiny flower I found growing on some waste-ground near Leixlip Louisa Bridge railway station. These little guys are Eyebrights (Euphrasia officinalis agg.), and there are many different varieties in Ireland. Each of the different markings have subtly different coloured markings, and petals that are of slightly different shapes. These little guys are so small and so short that I literally had to lie flat on my stomach with the camera touching the ground to get this shot.

on Flickr – Full-Size

Camera: Nikon D40

Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm

Exposure: 1/1600 sec