Salvia Salvation

I just bought this salvia yesterday and the hummer arrived when I put it out in the sun! This is a first picture hopefully I will get more!

This is a kind of Bird and the Bee shot!

Which salvia is that? I need a blue one like that. Great shots!

It's called Black and Blue. Check it out it's in the database.

Pretty effective plant I'd say! Which camera are you using, again?

That salvia appears to be a Texas native, too. Should be easy to find? :-D

Fuji S5000. Butterfly photo has the new upgrade the S5100. It has 4mpexl and a lower ISO. Check it out. Mine is the same as Magpyes.

You will find the hummers never leave now that you have the B & B. At least that's how it is around here. Great photos.

I have a salvia that is red, but in not the small one. It has a spice smell to it and in good soil it gets two foot tall. The hummers love it but it is invasive. Grows just like the small one in poor soil. What is it.

My "red" salvia is Salvia greggii. comes in "hot pink" and "coral" and the hummers do love it. Describe the invasive aspect of it to me, neighbor (Kingston).

monterey, I already bought the Canon S1. It came down to the Fuji and the Canon. Went with the Canon because of the image stablization. (Have a tremor in my left arm.)

Smart! I always tell people that you are using the camera and it should be tailored to your specifics. My friend likes my Fuji but wears glasses so he likes the LCD on the back I don't, just a difference, but important for each individual. I will read up on the Canon S1 and see if I can get you some cool secrets for shooting. Good luck. (take a shot of your salvia I am looking for the red today!)Tip for everybody. Most camera company sites let you download the manuals of their cameras. I knew how to use my Fuji before I got it. It also can show you why you don't want a camera!

As you can see it is as high as the railing on the porch; Has sort of a mint smell.

This was how it looked last year.

Here is my S. greggii, "Coral." The "Hot Pink" is not in bloom right now but, there are new buds about to open. I can't seem to get the flower in focus. Is that because its to bright? I read that the auto focus might have trouble with bright objects.

S. greggii comes in a white form as well. Combining the B & B with the "red" & white cultivars ought to give quite show, eh?

Check your macro switch when getting in close. Pull zoom all the way in and get as close as your manual says you can then pull back a bit. I took this in complete darkness using a flashlight to set the auto-focus. I had my MACRO switch on.

Camera does not have macro setting but, is able to focus as close as 3.9". This is S. greggii "Hot Pink" taken from approx. 12" out. Note that the leaves are in focus while the flower seems (to me) slightly out of focus. Is this something that is inherent with bright colors and thus, unavoidable?

TA: yours is prolly S.coccinea, known as Texas Sage (fancy that), Scarlet Sage, Tropical Sage...
http://davesgarden.com/pdb/showimage/27301/

A pair of Lesser Goldfinches have adopted the little stand of "Lady in Red" cultivar Blooms planted here this spring -- they must be eating the seeds -- have also seen Anna's hummer there. I can't find the pic I took showing how well the plants are doing, will have to take another.
~'spin!~

monterey, is that shot at night with existing light?

edited to say, crystalspin yo're prolly right about that there plant of the man from Kingston. :-)

This message was edited Aug 18, 2004 4:26 PM

No, it's flash but it is turned down and I zoomed in so it lessens the brightness. Like on this . This was at night Passiflora alatocaerulea reduced flash 5.5in.

Neat! Learned something, too.

If you ever have a question I can answer please ask. So many people have been kind to me at Dave's Garden and I would like to in some way pay everyone back. I like the give and take of these forums too. Is this what your new camera looks like?

Yep, thats it. What do you say about that focus question above? DG does seem to be a place where "dumb" questions are okie-dokie. (As in, "there is no such thing as a dumb question.")

The only dumb question is the one not asked.

That one, too! The focus question?

Any!

I mean the one earlier in this thread!

If you mean about the leaves being in focus but not the flower? I find that with optical viewfinders, they don't coordinate with what you are shooting when you get in close. The electronic viewfinder shows this better. The auto-focus probabliy picked up the leaves instead of the flower. Depth of field (what is in focus) is very short, in close distances. The flower went out of focus, it should matter on the brightness unless it is full really bright sun.

It was in really bright sun. I will try again in late afternoon or early morning. Its raining pretty hard today and supposedly tomorrow as well. So will try changing the time of day asap. Thanx.

Put an umbrella or something over the plant and let it get dry , or even take a shot when the plants wet . The thing that you are trying to find out is what's important , not the actual shot. See if the problem occurs in the lower light.

Keep me posted on your camera. My brother wants one in the price range. You have one that looks good for his needs. It doesn't look like a hard camera to learn , but at the same time the features look nice.I don't think if I had him buy the Oly 8080 he would get that much more out of it. The most basic cameras are way ahead of the knowledge abilitys of most non-pros. That can be learned. The point I harp on is shoot all the time . I put each time I shoot all the shots under the date I shot them. It doesn't always matter about the date, but it gives a reference point for finding and filing the pics. It is nice when you need to find a shot ,or pick one out to put in the database, to know which one. A lost shot is no shot!

We're having the same problem focusing on the flowers, but hubby finally got a perfect shot of the greggii flowers last night, even caught their little dimples on the bottom lip. Check it out. Don't forget to trim those greggi's back about 1/2 inch into the wood each time they finish flushing buds. This will help them put on more branches and become bushier, and will get you more blooms. mine flush every 2-3 weeks, and have done this continuously since March.

monterey, I will. I think this camera will give me the opportunty to learn unlike my old 35mm days. With the 35mm I was reluctunt to "waste" film. (kinda like the olden days of long distance calls). With digital there is no film! Plus the processing time is so short.

spacecowgirl, sounds like we share the same experience with the same flower. Your deadheading tip has been noted. Glad you found this thread. I was headed back to your thread to give you a hyperlink to here. :-)

Hey! SCG I got a Monrovia Navajo" Rose" S. greggii look familiar? I liked its fullness vs the Navajo "Red", it looked more spindly. Check out the site!

Close up! John I had that focus problem happen to me. The plant's in focus , I take the shot ,when I check it, out of focus. I think it's the intense red. I pulled back and shot it focusing on the brown center part. I think it's called calyxe and it got the focus. Most be a digital camera thing, so it's not you .

Let me see if I got right. You did not focus on the red color but, focused instead on the nearby brown color? I'll try that!

I can't remember the differences between calyx, bract, & sepal! Can you clarify? I got a cheat sheet around here somplace. :-(

I was in about 3.5 in. from the flower and the camera would not hold the focus. I got back about a ft. and zoom ed in to where it would focus and focused on the brown part where the flower comes out. I had it on spot metering and covered that spot. it was all in the same line so the focus was the same . It wasn't having to overcome the red influence. Gardenwife said that reds can throw off the auto-focus in the cameras. That might be why on the hummer feeders I have a long zoom problem sometimes. They are all red.

Ok, I have been wondering about that brightness factor. Learning as I go! I've been taking lotsa shots of less bright subjects and I still make focusing errors. Something is not sinking in. e.g., depth of field, estimating distance, etc. Just glad there is no film costs! I'll get it, ....eventually.......

Since I got my camera I have taken 4400 shots. How much film would that be( 8 months). I also would never have tested things out. Remember if you go auto instead of aperture the camera will use a low f stop like 2.8 or f 3.5 ( for a faster shutter speed). To get max depth-of -field use the highest f stop you can, don't make the shutter speed too slow they are related. F 3.5 at 60 of a second is the same light as2.8 at 120-125 of a second. the light coming in is the same 120-125 stops action better but will give less dof. The 1/60 will have the depth, but you might see more movement. Coin flip!

I have the rosa and the salmon red, and apricot. I want the white and purple, but no one around here will even entertain the idea of selling more. I took up a rosa to a local garden center, stupid me, so they could use if for a mother plant and sell them for $7 a gallon. I should have sold them myself. Not that I would ask nearly that much either. Now where to find the white and purple ones...i have to have them.