Patterns of Nature

We had a CMPG outing today at Brookside Gardens, in Wheaton. The folks there were nice enough to let us, as a group, come in an hour before opening time so that we could use our tripods in the conservatory (during regular hours, no tripods are allowed inside) and give us great access to the plants — without us causing a hazard to the general public.

Anyway, since it’s the “holiday season,” the place is flooded with poinsettias. I mean, the things are everywhere! So, rather than taking sweeping overall pictures, or even typical macro shots, I decided to concentrate, as much as possible, on patterns.

The patterns of nature never cease to amaze me.

Looking at the picture above reveals simple patterns, but if you click on it to enlarge it, look closely. There are even patterns within the patterns!

Another purpose of today’s visit was to get familiar with new gear. I spent most of the day shooting with my new Tamron 28-85mm f/2.8  lens. It’s a really nice range, and tack sharp — or it would be if I were a little better at using it! It’s really tempting to shoot a lot more wide-open, but the depth-of-field sacrifice is huge! I found that I really had to stop the lens down to get more than a couple inches in focus, especially when 1) zoomed in and (2) focused really close.

Of the 177 pictures I took today, I’m only really happy with about 15 of them, which you can see in this new flickr set.