Pretty pretty flowers

by Matt Stratton on June 14, 2009

As of yesterday, Carrie and I are members of the Morton Arboretum. We went on Saturday with our friends Brian and Angie (and their daughter, Charlotte). I managed to get in a few great flower shots, and I look forward to taking more pictures there now that we get in “free”.

Light Violet

24/365 - Poppers

Purple Seashell

  • http://curiousillusion.com/ Ari

    Ack, didn’t see these til now, it showed up on my google reader after bedtime. These are gorgeous, and that’s cool that you became a member so that now you can go for “free”… very sweet!

    I love the dof in the pics, especially in the 2nd one with all the other flowers in the background.. and I like the raindrops on that purple flower!
    .-= Ari´s last blog ..Movie review/goal update =-.

    • Matt Stratton

      The raindrops are my favorite part of the “seashell” picture too. Here’s a pro tip from Scott Kelby, on that subject…keep a small misting spray water bottle with your gear – then you don’t have to wait until after it rains to take awesome flower pics!

      (Not that I do that…these were actually from the rain. But it’s a great tip!)

  • http://stackedblog.com Christina

    The “sea shell” photo seems photoshopped almost! Love it though – the colors really pop. I’m quite intrigude by the second photo – loving the contrast of one in-focus/one out-of-focus right next to each other.

    Also, welcome to the world of being a member at a garden place – Three more visits and I’ve made up my membership fee at BBG – really easy to do if you go every week or so – which is easy when there are pretty things to look at and smell.

    • Matt Stratton

      I was really excited to see the huge list of gardens/locations that have “reciprocal” benefits…for example, we get free parking at the Chicago Botanic Gardens now (admission is free, but they charge for parking…we used to get in free by riding our bikes there when we lived in the city). I get that BBG has a recipro with the Morton, so next time we go to NYC we can check it out.

      • http://www.stackedblog.com Christina

        Probably – BBG has a huge list of recipro gardens. And if not with Morton, depending on when you’re here I can always get you in with my guest passes.

        I’m guessing it will be too cold to check out CBG in November when I’m in town :(

    • Matt Stratton

      Yeah, it can be really fun to play with depth of field when you’ve got a fast enough lens to do it with. I took several photos in the second series, alternating which flower was in focus and which was blurred…this was my favorite. Believe it or not, all three of these pictures have very minor Photoshop work.

  • http://dillydallylollygagger.blogspot.com molly

    I LOVE these photographs! And I can’t believe that I still have not made it to the Morton Arboretum. One place I do love to visit is the conservatory by Lincoln Park Zoo. Always something cool growing in there.
    .-= molly´s last blog ..rain check. =-.

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