Borage (Borage officinalis)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Canon 50D Canon 180mm Macro & Digital polariser filter. Tripod and mirror lock up with self timer (left the cable in my other jacket!) ISO 100 1/13 sec f11.

I was hoping to get some shots of buzzards today but they weren't playing so I sulked and decided to get a few images in the back garden. I recently bought a Hoya polarising filter designed for digital photography - I have to confess I can see very little difference when rotating the polariser, when I used to shoot transparencies I used a circular polariser - it was thicker and the effect was much more pronounced.

All comments welcome.

[Mike Moats]

hey Jonathan, excellent details of this great looking subject. Good comp, colors and BG. Well done.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thank you Mike - glad you liked it.

[denise ippolito]

Jonathan, Fantastic! The details,composition and colors are all pleasing.

[Julie Kenward]

I agree with the others...very nice details and you did a great job on cutting the frame at the bottom so the entire leaf was included.

[Anita Bower]

Lovely image. The subtle colors stand out nicely against the blurred BG. Great details. I like seeing the little hairs and water drops. I suppose that f11 with a 180mm macro allows for the blurred bg?

[Ken Childs]

Jonathan, I also agree with the previous comments. The colors look very natural in this shot.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely image. The subtle colors stand out nicely against the blurred BG. Great details. I like seeing the little hairs and water drops. I suppose that f11 with a 180mm macro allows for the blurred bg?

Yes the 180 mm has a different angle of view to a 100 mm so the background appears to be more diffuse but depth of field is related to magnification i.e. if you have a subject at a given magnification on a macro or a zoom or a super telephoto the depth of field would be the same, Although "perspective" is not really the correct term I think it conveys the differing appearances with different lenses.

[Anita Bower]

Yes the 180 mm has a different angle of view to a 100 mm so the background appears to be more diffuse but depth of field is related to magnification i.e. if you have a subject at a given magnification on a macro or a zoom or a super telephoto the depth of field would be the same, Although "perspective" is not really the correct term I think it conveys the differing appearances with different lenses.
Jonathan: Thanks. I'm not sure I completely understand the middle part of your answer. I've assumed that the dof of a 180mm would be narrower than that of a 100mm at the same settings.

[Jonathan Ashton]

An image take at magnification say half life size i.e. 1:2 on either lens will have the same depth of field but you would have the impression this is not so because the 180mm lens will have a differing angle of acceptance and therfore the background at that magnification would appear more diffuse. It would make you think the DOF is less but it is not but you would get a smoother more diffuse background with the longer lens.