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[OM] Poppies etc at 100mm

Subject: [OM] Poppies etc at 100mm
From: "Brian Swale" <bj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 08:09:42 +1300
Hi Les and fellow Zuiks,

Not much opium (if any) to be had from those ones. It's not illegal to grow 
opium poppies in a garden in NZ as far as I know, and they are a magnificent 
garden flower. They *used* to be moderately often seen in house flower 
gardens, but home-owners soon found that if they were grown within public 
sight, wandering idiots would harvest them. Which as I understand it is not 
the way to get the plant sap needed .. ... ... 

The thing that gets me about these particular poppies is their delicate papery 
petals and the way the colours grade from one area to another. To my eyes 
they are just beautiful.

The pity is that they last about a day before falling to bits (opium poppy 
flowers last OK for days - they are robust) or less if it's hot. So if you want 
to 
capture them on film you pray for little / no wind, and get shooting when the 
light is right.

The 100? Note that one shot is hand-held and is pretty sharp; (these are all 
scanned from prints) others taken that week were just not good. I know that 
the DOF for a stated focal length is supposed to be the same for all 35mm 
format lenses of the same focal length, but I have the feeling that this lens 
has a particularly shallow DOF. So I'm practicing with it to understand it - 
it's 
a challenge.

> I certainly enjoyed, and share your discomfort with the 100mm, f/2.0 for
> the same reasons. 
> 
> As a matter of curiosity -- and not because I expect it to be a little
> extra on the side for a naturalist's income [grin] -- what is one
> obliged to do when one finds poppies growing wild in one's garden? After
> seeing Traffik, I would  expect the gendarmes to descend in packs to
> obliterate the garden and  swoop one off to gaol. How common is it to
> find poppies growing wild in NZ, anyway?
> - ---------------------------------------------
> les clark / edgewater, nj / usa
> - ---------------------------------------------
Brian

...................................................
Zuikoholics, enablers, one and all.
Feeding fantasies, emptying pockets!
---------------------------------------------------
      Brian Swale, 140 Panorama Road,
      Christchurch 8008, N.Z.
      Tel +64 3 326 7447
      http://homepages.caverock.net.nz/~bj/photography/

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