Flowers

[Tom Kitten]

A little bit of color for a dreary November... I took these with my phone camera last week...right now it's the only camera I have that works!

Pot of Gazanias




These I took earlier during the summer when my echinopsis cacti bloomed. Several times in fact! Sadly the blooms only last a day or so. All in all I had five blooms. One cactus had two blooms at once!

Echinopsis





The phone camera is pretty impressive, you can get pretty close to an object. However I have noticed the blue washed out effect probably glare, I tried compensating for it with photoshop. Didn't do any color adjusting, the gazanias especially do get that bright!

[AndyS]

1. Make sure the camera lens is clean.

It's easy to put finger prints on it and that will result in the soft focus look. That's not always a bad thing and can be worth doing on purpose sometimes.

That said, nice pics!

[Tom Kitten]

3. Thank you!

Yes I think the lens might be cloudy maybe because I've got the phone in my back pocket a lot and it's probably wear and tear. I should take better care of my things, that's the reason my camera went kaput!

[AndyS]

5. We are kindred spirits in that regard. Hence the need for me to buy 'Pro' equipment.

I have a tendency to just toss the camera through the car window onto the passenger seat. Plus I kayak a bit and kayaks are 'get-wet' boats so if I'm chasing birds the weather proofing is a must. I buy cameras to take pictures not baby.

Now ya' gotta' tell the tale of your camera's demise! Wha' happin'?

[Tom Kitten]

8. It was kind of an anticlimactic way to go

It was a Sony DSC-WX80 point and shoot (my first digital camera, a pretty good deal for $160). That model had a pretty good lens, most pictures I posted here over the years were taken with it. Anyways, I liked to seek out and photograph unusual and abandoned sites and this one place I was climbing and leaned over too far and the camera was in my coat's breast pocket (it had a wrist strap otherwise it would have been around my neck) and it fell out, I juggled for it but it that made it sail away and hit the concrete ground about five feet away and three down...bam! Cracked the viewfinder in half and little gears and spring sproinged out of the top. As they say, kaput. I felt really bad. It wasn't perfect and an upgrade would be nice but damn! I liked that camera.
I have a telephoto lens I bought now I just need a body to put it on. Have to save up a little bit. There was a great camera store down here in Costa Mesa but they closed a few years back, so I'll have to find a good store too! Maybe after the holidays.

[usonian]

14. Good luck.

You can get a ton of information and detailed reviews from Ken Rockwell.

https://www.kenrockwell.com/

Ken lives near you! He recommends online stores, though you might find one nearby.

I started taking flower pictures with a Nikkormat, and a 55 mm. macro lens as my "normal" lens.

Still taking flower pictures (and more).

I have been using a Coolpix with enormous zoom range for years, and there is a lot to say for a single fixed zoom lens. For wide angle photos, phone cameras do a great job.

[Tom Kitten]

15. Thanks!

I checked out his site and like his photos a lot! I've bookmarked it and will contact him later. I appreciate your help!
I'm getting such an urge just to get out of the house and go shoot some pictures being pent up going on two years is just so damn tiresome.

[Diamond_Dog]

2. Wow! What beautiful colors.

Really brightens up a very cold late fall day! Thank you for sharing!

[spooky3]

4. Gorgeous! Thanks. Nt

[IcyPeas]

6. I think cacti flowers are especially beautiful.

[Tom Kitten]

9. Me too

They seem like such rare beauty. I want to get more cacti now! I lived most my life in Oregon (the wet side) and they just don't grow well there.

[IcyPeas]

10. my little thimble cactus is blooming on my balcony now

and from earlier in the year:

[Tom Kitten]

11. Those are gorgeous!

Beautiful pictures!All that energy going into something that lasts only a couple days at most. The yellow bloom and bud looks similar to the echinopsis only not as spiny maybe a different variety!
I will definitely get some more cacti soon, when the days start getting longer.

[IcyPeas]

17. can I show you a few more? these were all taken just with my samsung phone.

cactus sit around all year doing nothing then they surprise you with these incredibly big, short lived, gorgeous blooms - they are worth waiting for. I get so excited when I see buds forming. I'm in SoCal so they get lots of sun and lots of heat on my balcony. It gets so hot nothing else survives except cactus.

the yellow one (in previous post) is an Echinocereus subinermis.

the pink one is a Echinocereus ridgidissimus v. rubrispinus aka Arizona Rainbow Hedgehog.


this one is a Echinocereus reichenbachii var. albispinus aka lace cactus which reminds me of your echinopsis in color:



I don't know the name of this one but it gets a big gorgeous flower too:

[Tom Kitten]

18. these are beautiful!

excellent quality pictures from the phone~ do any of them have a scent?
I also live down here in So Cal now...the bluest part of OC, luckily. I'm working on a succulent and cactus garden. I have an aloe vera that bloomed last spring and something huge on the front porch. I have no idea what it is but the flower stallk is enormous! I'll have to post a picture of it.
The red bloom looks like a prickly pear to me... or some sort of opuntia. They were the only cactus I saw growing in people's yards when I lived in Portland.

[Heartstrings]

7. Stunning! Thanks, they made me smile!

[Bayard]

12. Really lovely shots

Thanks!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. Wow, my dear Tom Kitten!

These are just wonderful with all those brilliant colors!

I especially like the last one. The delicate color with the petals are just breathtaking.

Thanks for sharing!

[Tom Kitten]

16. Thank you Peggy

I took the gazania pics during the "golden hour" As if they needed more color! They're on my back porch. I live close enough to the coast it's often cloudy til noon so they're only open a couple hours a day. Plus the bees don't seem to care much for them, they spend all their time in my lavender. But they do put me in a good mood for awhile when they bloom like that.