11/8/2010 2:24:32 PM

So beautiful colors ,tone ,lighting and capture .

11/9/2010 3:47:46 AM

Thank you very much, Patrick and Salwa, for visiting and taking the time to comment!

11/12/2010 12:11:07 PM

CONGRATULATIONS on this incredible finalist, Monica! WTG!

11/15/2010 1:27:04 PM

Congratulations on your finalist, Monica. Amazing light and color.

11/15/2010 1:49:45 PM

Congrats on this Finalist!

11/15/2010 3:58:54 PM

Thank you, Patrick, Bojan and Carol, for your kind wishes! They are greatly appreciated.

11/16/2010 1:57:21 PM

Delicately soft and pretty, Monica!! Many congratulations on your gorgeous finalist!!

11/16/2010 4:30:17 PM

Congratulations on your finalist, Monica! You have a very beautiful gallery!

11/17/2010 4:03:15 AM

Thank you very much, Freddy and Patricia, for your generous comments!

11/17/2010 2:43:19 PM

I would personally like to congratulate you on your winning photograph for October, 2010 and wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. Merna Nobile

11/18/2010 5:06:45 PM

Thank you very much, Merna, for taking the time to stop in and leave a note. I appreciate very much your kind words. My best wishes also for you. Have a nice Thanksgiving day!

11/19/2010 3:51:02 PM

Monica I had the honour of you leaving a comment in one of my pictures. It's nice to meet you. I have just checked your gallery quickly - will go back again later- and I am amazed at the beautiful pictures you have taken only using a 55-250 canon lens.

This one specially is outstanding. I love the colours and the gentleness of the blurred pink background. How did you create that? It is also very helpful to see all the settings you used.

Do you use a tripod to take your photos, or at least the close up ones? Hope you don't mind me asking all this questions. I am beginning to learn and I am so curious how people get shots like this one.

Congratulations.

Fernanda

6/29/2011 1:32:54 PM

Thank you, Fernanda, for visiting my gallery and taking the time to comment.
I really love my 55-250 mm lens. Although I bought it for taking bird photos, now is my favorite lens for flower and plants photography. At 250 mm (eq. to 400 mm with Canon 40D) I can get photos as close as 1.1 m, and the narrow angle of view is great to exclude background distractions. As this is a stabilized lens, I can take many photos without a tripod, although I use a tripod when there is not enough light, and sharpness or depth of field need to be maximized.
The technique that I used for taking this photo is known as “shooting through”. I’ve learned about it in this web article:
http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0709/nb0709-1.html
There it’s very well explained.
I usually don’t use a tripod when shooting through, because I spend long times changing camera position looking for the best angles, through the viewfinder. When I found one that I like, I immediately take the photo; otherwise I take the risk to lose the photo I’ve seen because of the messy foreground that makes the blur effect. Also, usually a tripod is not needed, because it’s better for this technique to use the lens aperture wide open.
I wish you the best with your photographic learning. I’ve began in 2005 and I’m still learning a lot, … and enjoying it very much!
Have a great day!
Mónica

6/30/2011 5:50:01 PM