Self-indulgence is good for the soul (and mine too)!
Indulge away Devo, very cool shots.

Oooh...yummo Andrew! I so enjoyed my breakfast of arty-farty alcantarea! Thanks :)

My faves are pics 1, 3 and 8. Sensational!

Cheers,
K

Very nice, Andrew!

I like the same ones as Kerry, but the snail tracks are cool too. I took a whole series of ones like that on Heliconia caribaea. You can find art anywhere if you look for it!

Very cool - the first one is particularly arty to us, as is the contrasting shot from red bracts with blue skies behind Hurrah for blue skies!!

Wonderfully captured!
I particulary like pic no. 3. Good subject of photography. Have anyone tried on foliage Vrieseas before? I think they have wonderful intricate pattern to play with too.

Stunning Andrew! It is always very nice when people really open their eyes and look at what they see - and you have captured it beautifully!!

Japie

Devo,

Great work, can we get any full size Alcantarea shots?

I know you have some lovely plants hiding in your back yard.

Rick

Thanks everyone for your encouraging comments. IÂm glad you enjoyed the picÂs.

But waitÂthereÂs more ;-)

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Pic # 3 in the first post shows an Alcantarea imperials Rubra ÂAjax with flower spike forming, so as it develops, IÂll post a few photos of the whole plant, IÂm hoping it will be in full flower for Christmas. And I do like the idea of using foliage VrieseaÂs in this wayÂmaybe they could be good subjects for another post.

Cheers, -Andrew.

I see you're using a S5500. Has that been a good camera for you when taking close up pics of broms? I was looking at the new S2000HD today and thinking about getting one when they come out later this month. My current camera is a pain to use since it often picks the wrong object to focus on in macro mode.

Wow...
Good job Andrew

Show us your Alc's everyone!

Andrew, you are an artist! The second lot is almost better. Especially picture #2 and #4. The balance, composition, colour, lines and just everythig about those two picters are outstanding!!!

Japie

Thanks Devo, great photography - I mentioned in a previous post that I thought Kerry and Stephania should get together and do a photo book or a DVD with all their various shots from mother nature. Why don't you join them and make it a trifecta? - All the best - Nev

Thanks again for your positive comments, I must say I did enjoy this journey into creative photography.

All of these photos were tweaked in one way or other via Photoshop, & all were then cropped to achieve the final look I wanted. I do find it easier to enlarge & crop via the computer than on the camera.

Yes, bromadams, youÂre right, I use the Fujifilm S5500, & IÂve been very happy with it. Before digital, I used SLR film cameras, so I wanted the SLR style of digital, not a compact. Also, the fact that it takes standard or rechargeable AA batteries is a big plus, I can always have a spare set, & after owning the camera for over 3 yrs, IÂve never had the issue of not being able to take photos at a critical time due to flat batteries.

The macro function is not as good as I would like, & combined with the fact that the camera is 4meg I do miss out on some detail with macro work, however the camera can be set to centre focus mode, & the lens quality is good, so I do not have too many issues with images being out of focus.

IÂve just read up on the S2000HDÂsounds like a neat camera, packed with bells & whistles. The wide angle lens, larger LCD & 10meg are all attractive featuresÂbut I would really like to play around with photos on wide screen HD format! I will be keeping an eye out for the cameras release down here.

Cheers, -Andrew.

This is supposed to be an oderata.

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