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Hairy Bittercress, cardamine hirsuta, in natural light.

Hairy Bittercress, cardamine hirsuta, in natural light.

Hairy bittercress is a shade-loving plant, just like the mosses it grows amongst.  So I have now decided that it should be photographed in the shade, that is in natural light.  Overall the light was better than it was at the beginning of this series, so the conditions were not quite so demanding, and I could concentrate on trying to capture the true nature of the flowers.

Hairy Bittercress as a Subject

Hairy bittercress, cardamine hirsuta

Hairy bittercress, cardamine hirsuta

Last weekend I took some photos at high magnification of hairy bittercress, cardamine hirsuta, which were more or less satisfactory, except for the fact that they were set against a dark background.  This accentuated the white flowers, but rendered the image 'low-key'.  I was hoping that there would be enough sun this week-end to cast light into the recesses of the moss garden and alleviate such problems; no such luck.  So I have created a light background by stuffing some garden fleece into the cavity behind the flowers.  Some results are shown.  As images they are not bad, although the leaves of the plant itself are very dark, which again has the effect of reducing the key.  But I am reluctant to stray too far from 'natural photography', and I don't want to get into the habit of carting white sheets around the countryside, even though this is still using natural light.  I am going to have to find a more acceptable way of illuminating subjects.      

New Attractions in the Moss Garden

Hairy Bittercress, cardamine hirsuta

Hairy Bittercress, cardamine hirsuta, emerging into the Spring sunlight. 

Hairy Bittercress, cardamine hirsuta

Well, its Spring now and the flowers are coming out, competing for attention with the mosses in the garden.  The first to appear was hairy bittercress, cardamine hirsuta, which displays a cluster of small, pure white flowers.  It appears to favour the shady cavities in the moss garden, so we are again going to need high magnification, and we will still be short of light.  So accurate focussing will still be a problem, as there is still no prospect of using a tripod, and shutter speeds will be slow.  In response I am trying out my Mark II miniature camera support.  It appears to offer an improvement, but I have still to achieve the sharpness that I think is necessary.           

Another Moss at High Magnification

Peristome of Cyphaea Heteromalla

Peristome of Cryphaea Heteromalla

In trying to find a another moss with a photogenic peristome, I came across Cryphaea Heteromalla, which grows only on trees.  I was hoping that this would mean that it would prove easier to get a tripod up close enough, but this proved illusary, at least to start with.   The key difference was that the light was better, and I got some reasonable images.


So I think I have established that it is possible to get acceptable images at magnifications of 5X, but the difficulty of getting attractive enough groupings of subjects remains.  I expect that it will mean examining possible subjects very closely before setting up to take images.    

The Peristome of Homalothecium Sericeum: Presentable Images at High Magnification

Peristome of homalothecium sericeum, magnification 5X

Peristome of homalothecium sericeum, magnification 5X.

Following on from my last attempt, I have now mounted the camera on a heavy wooden block with screw-mounted legs, to give adjustment in two dimensions, retaining the focussing rack for the third dimension.  The result is images that are just about acceptable at low definition.  I am not sure how much better images are possible 'in the wild ' at a magnification of 5X, short of spending a lot of money.  (perhaps someone will enlighten me).  The problem remains:  are these images anything more than curiosities, or is it going to be possible to make something that is satisfying from the standpoint of design or art?  The next step must be to get more than one fruiting head in the frame, and it doesn't have to be homalothecium sericeum.

Mosses 'In Flower'

Peristome of Homalothecium Sericeum

Peristome of Homalothecium Sericeum

The sun was out this morning, and that makes all the difference when photographing 'in the field' at high magnification.  The moss homalothecium sericeum has been shedding spores for some time now, but I haven't had the opportunity to take any photos.

As we're about to find out, a magnification of at least 5X is required, and that requires high light levels.

The mosses look somewhat as if they are in flower, but things are much more advanced than that;  they are actually shedding spores now, and the function of the peristome is to slow down the release.  Fertilisation took place some time ago.
I am very glad to have taken photos at 5X magnification 'in the field', but the images are far from perfect.  It is very difficult to 'find' the subject at these magnifications, and I was reduced to shooting hand-held at whatever I could find in the view-finder - clearly not satisfactory.  Somehow I have to find a device that will scan the camera accurately in three dimensions, given the completely uneven surface of the moss-garden.

There is also the problem of 'composition'.  Is there enough in these images to constitute a satisfying image?  It would be better if I could find a pair of heads, but both the width and the depth of the subject is less than three millimetres here, so the prospects are not good.  Cropping the image is always possible, but I am reluctant to dip much below 12 mega pixels per image.

One of the positives to come out of the day is that I have found that it is practical to shoot with ISO at 3200, use my normal level of noise reduction in the Canon software, and then remove any residual noise by hand.  I am using the Canon 550D here, which is my usual habit when I am trying to 'work something out'.  I will revert to the Canon 7D later.

Back to Basics

I was having a frustrating time getting images that I saw as good enough (ie outstanding).  One of the reasons for my disquiet was that I had no idea what should be possible, given indifferent light.  So I found some bryum capillare 'in fruit' in a situation where it was possible to set up a stable tripod, use a focussing rack, use LED light, and keep the wind off.  The best of the results are shown.  I think these represent the present limit of what I can achieve with my cameras.

The aperture here was set at f/16, and the shutter speeds achieved were typically 1/60 sec.  This suggests that I was already near the practical limit in my original images of the moss garden.  To do better I would have to wait for better natural light or use flash.

This doesn't absolve me of the need to get good photographs of the moss garden - the whole ethos of the current project is to provide an artistic photo-record of the field and the wood, which includes the moss garden.  I want to prove that this small patch of land can provide everything needed for a one complete photographic portfolio  

Trying Another Tack

 The miniature tripod improved performance (slightly) but destroyed spontaneity.   So I am now going to try a bean-bag.  The light was still very poor, so I again resorted to illuminating the subject with LED light.

I couldn't achieve an improvement using the bean-bag.  The images are OK, but not up to previous standards.  So it's back to the drawing board.