Share your early bloomers

This is Double Vision.

It should be fun to see the early early ones come.

Oh - - how I wish something was blooming!!! Still looks like it is still weeks away!! the cold, cold winter has pushed back the bloom season here I'm afraid.

~Margie

NOT FAIR!!!!!!
[jumps up and down stomps foot]
We still have Ice and snow
:(
A


lol

This is my first bearded iris bloom, and I am soooo excited. Thanks to Mitt for sending me a wonderful iris book, I'm hoping to get into these as much as I have my daylilies. This was "supposed" to be Prissy Miss, but after it bloomed and getting in touch with the lady I purchased it from, we realized it was "Waterworld". It started blooming last week and still has a couple of more buds to open on this stem.

Beautiful diamndsnjns -- how do you take the iris photos with the black background???

I have some blooming but they are of course the purple unmarked ones. Blatant is blooming and has been for a few weeks and Night Game is about to come up. The big garden has not one bloom in it. Doss, what kind of camera do you use? You and Margie take the best pictures! (Right Margie??? Still haven't gotten yours on the site.) Margie, you posted somewhere what kind of camera you use...would you mind posting again here for me?

Aaron's Rod is blooming also.

Weegy - I use the FZ20 Panasonic camera although they have replaced it with a newer model with a different number. It's not a SLR and it has image stabilization which are great for me. My hands shake and SLR cameras are heavier in general.

I just love the clear, crisp pictures you take. I'm going to go out and take a couple of pictures of my purple ones and post here to see how they compare!

Well I am about 3 weeks away from first bloom on anything and that should be the junos or the medians.
We are still receiving rain...too bad I can not do a rain dance to export this stuff to states that need it. One of our friends in La Habra CA said they have had only 4" of rain since Oct 1, while we have about 25"+ since Oct 1.

Take care

D

Ok, let me try this...how does this look? This is an unmarked purple I have.

...that's still not as crisp as Doss and Margie's.
Ok, here's Blatant.

I didn't use the flash on these...should I have?

They are fine but I think could be improved easily. When you are using macro it's better to take a plant from the side. I think on your blue stock the falls are in focus but the stands aren't. When you get that close depth of focus can be very small. The other one looks great I think - but i think that you would be happier again with a different angle.

So focus on the same spot but from the side? How do I get it brighter like yours and Margie's. Do you brighten them in your photo program?

doss - thanks - since the rest of my flower bed still looks pretty bad, I took a piece of black posterboard (the thicker kind with the styro foam in it) and stuck it behind the flower. It also helped with the lighter part of the flower because the bottom of our house is white and I figured it would show up better.

I've thought of doing that diamnd but I still like the greenery pictured also.

Sometimes I use my photo program but both of the flowers on this thread are undedited. Darker colors sometimes come out strange and then I color correct them and sometimes change brightness, and/or exposure and sharpen. I never use tint however because they always come out awful if you do that.

Don't take them when the sun is high in the sky and you'll get the best results.

Weegie,

Those are not bad photos...............in fact quite good. As Dorothie has said - some of the disappointment you may be dealing with is the angle. Also, with higher resolution photos you can "crop" more of the photo making the iris look bigger. Flash is not needed. Here is an article I wrote for a couple of iris newsletters...it is "tips" for photographing irises.
http://www.tucsoniris.org/articles/digital_photography/

You can brighten/or darken them up, and sharpen them (if need be) with a graphic program - I Do use the PSP program on many (but not all) of my photos. Best times for photographing irises is early morning and towards evening. Mid-day is the worse time to take photos of irises.

My camera is obsolete, (I'm using a digital camera that is about 4-5 years old now. it's a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S70 (it has a Carl Zeiss lens). The Carl Zeiss multicoating guarantees vibrant pictures with superior definition and natural color rendition.) So check out these links to see what others suggest are good cameras to buy:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/682570/
Or check out all the message topics on the main camera/photography page:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/camera/all/

Lastly - - experiment, experiment, and experiment. "Practice makes perfect" is an old saying, but so true - especially with photography. With your desire to find and get a good camera, and take great photos - - I'm certain you will. Sooner than you think. :-) Go Weegie!!

~Margie

Consumer's Reports is a great place to check out cameras. They have a report about once every year or two. Besides the grid of ratings, they usually do an in-depth report on what to look for, what is helpful, and what is not.

This one looks better to me. Taken with a Sony Cyber Shot. The others were taken with an HP Photosmart 945. The HP costs over 300.00 and the Sony was 50.00! Go figure.
Margie, Doss, thanks for the advice. Hey I thought it was "practice makes perfect but nobody's perfect, so why practice!" Yeah, my piano teacher didn't laugh either!
Anyway...here's Arctic Express.

Margie, I just looked up Arctic Express in the plant files and your photo is wonderful.

Weegy, try coming down to the level of the iris - instead of taking the photo from above it. Many times it can make a world of difference. Then take the picture from it's BEST side. Piano teacher, huh? I'm leaning towards wanting a piano and take lessons one day myself.

Great advice Woodspirit.

~Margie

Sigh. No blooms or even green tips here yet. Gotta wait for the snow to melt this weekend. But I can dream--keep the pics coming!

Thanks Margie, I will come down to take the picture then. I'll try again tomorrow.
If you do get a piano, I'll be your teacher! FOR FREE!

Here's a Pacific Coast Iris that survived the year. I planted a lot in the winter of 2005 but only a very few made it.

My first iris of the year is Jurassic Park which started blooming today but it is raining. Here is last year's picture.

Just love it! Could anything have more ruffles?

My first bloom here in Georgia is an old purple Heirloom that has been in my family for over 100 years...here it is...took this today...I love the ones you have blooming and all of the pictures are great! Doss I really NEED Double Vision in my collection! LOL

How lovely to have an heirloom iris! Double Vision isn't ready to divide or I'd send some to you.

I can't remember the name of my Iris, it's pretty short and all I can remember is that it's named after a woman... Edith maybe??

Louise your Arctic Express is beautiful!
Wow, love those white ruffles

Dovey, thanks! That's my first bloom of the season in the garden. I'll bring you some to the RU!

This was my first to bloom this season. I'm told it's Eleanor Roosevelt (thanks, Wanda.)
:)
Deb

This one also surprised me showing up ahead of schedule, too.
Lousiana "Easter Tide".
Deb

I can see why that one's called Eastertide. It looks like a sunrise.

You will?
Woo Hoo!
I was looking at it (drooling) and thinking I really need to add some white Irises to my garden
That's so exciting
Thank you

I will Dovey! I'm the iris lady!

I was surprised to see this one open, much less a flower this morning. This is one of the many that I got from Gaylams last year. April Jewel (that is if I didn't screw up the tags)

I think that there might be some tag mixup
http://davesgarden.com/pf/search.php?search_text=april+jewel&Search=Search

Very pretty though. It's so unique. When I looked at April Jewel I wasn't sure it wasn't Coral Point for a minute.

ugh.. I hate that when that happens.. thank you doss. I will send Kay a picture of it and see if she can't figure out which one it is suppose to be.