Greg Molyneux Photography

Tag: hyacinth

  • Home Again

    Home Again

    100mm macro photo of six pink hyacinth blossoms on a single plant. The image is cross processed and features soft focus and bokeh.
    Home Again — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/100

    No one needs me to explain how COVID-19 has left us homebound and siloed throughout much of 2020. Whether in isolation like me or hunkered down others, we’re riding things out void of the communal comings and goings we took for granted. Who would have thought sitting in cafe sipping on a fresh cuppa would no longer be a thing? Yet here we are. Chastened and changed, and I sincerely hope for the better.

    All this time home has brought with it both new and familiar things. Each appreciated in their own special way. The principle return to past glory is coming in the form of macro photography. I’ve discussed here before how formative macro photography was to learning The Way of the Camera back in 2012. I unloaded thousands—tens of thousands of exposures on the plants and flowers hanging about my yard. Sure hope they signed those consent forms. Anyway…

    All this time at the 2020 homestead is reconnecting me to my roots and my local plot of earth. I’ve lived in this home since July 1993 (bought it off my parents in 2009), and I am back exploring every inch of the property. If for no other reason than my own sanity. I use the term property loosely as it’s not a big yard by any stretch. Yet my parents being the hobbyist green thumb enthusiasts they are had this place teeming with extensive flora exquisitely maintained. I let it go over the years (understatement), but this year, banked by Covid time, I’ve been putting in work about the place. Setting to rights a decade of neglect. It’s still unworthy of its prime, but it’s no longer an unmitigated disaster and that is something!

    With the cleanup has come better conditions for flower and plant life to thrive. Giving me ample opportunity to make beautiful photos without having to break any kind of social distance mores. Insert win-win corporate jargon complete with stilted laughter here. It’s been years since I have spent this kind of time with my trusted macro lens. The 100 millimeters that have been there with me since the beginning. This old friend helped see me out of a heinous depression, and I will never forget how she’s here for me once again in my time of isolation. Thanks so much for teaching me patience, peace of mind, and self-reliance. And of course the ultimate thanks for gifting me a passion that keeps on exploring.

    Yet I cannot wait for my first real chase of a smoldering sunset out on the marsh. In its own way that, too, will be a trip home again.

    Interested in buying? Purchase

  • Color, Please

    Color, Please

    100mm macro photograph of a pastel pink hyacinth flower blossom with smooth bokeh.
    Color, Please — 100mm | f/4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/100

    I sourced this one to the people by way of Instagram story poll. A choice between black and white and color. For insight into my own proclivity, I immediately began hammering away a post built around the black and white theme. I did this despite suspecting color would would carry the day. As a humble yet unelected representative of the people I must render unto them that which their votes beseech. So hyacinth in color it is.

    Followers of my work may notice my macro photography always features targeted areas of focus. What is a targeted area of focus? Areas of the photo that have sharper focus juxtaposed to the soft blurry areas—referred to as bokeh. By shooting close in on your subject at a large aperture your lens produces a shallow depth of field. Thanks, physics! What is an aperture? Well that’s the diameter of the lens diaphragm that allows light to pass through into your camera and onto your sensor or film. Larger apertures have a bigger opening allowing more light to pass through. The result: a faster speed, shallower depth of field, and softer focus. Great for producing dreamy flower photos. Smaller apertures feature the opposite: slower speed, deeper depth of field, and sharper images. Ideal for producing detailed landscapes with sharpness throughout the image.

    Either your camera body or the lens itself features f/stop numbers. The lower the f/stop, f/2 for example, the larger aperture. Whereas f/22 is a very small aperture, something like a pinhole. Understanding this scale and building your feel for aperture and f/stops is essential to effective execution of your creativity. Now get out there and start experimenting with different f/stops. Even the latest smartphones allow you to do this. So next time you go for that banging selfie, lower the f/stop and achieve some of the algorithmically staged blur!

    I don’t write much about that how-to of photography, but if you found this helpful let me know and I can work more tutorial type posts into the rotation.

    Interested in buying? Purchase

  • Spring Hyacinth

    Spring Hyacinth

    100mm macro photograph of a pastel pink hyacinth flower cross processed and surrounded in green bokeh.
    Spring Hyacinth — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/125

    The hyacinth. Flower of great name and striking beauty. A moniker worthy of bronze age stories first told millennia ago in far off lands. This spring flower is always well met.

    Going back to childhood and my earliest memories the hyacinth stands out. Second only to the ubiquitous rose—a flower we seem to learn in utero—the hyacinth came to my consciousness early. Easter flowers is how my grandparents described them. Some of our first perennial flowers to blossom. Harbingers of springtime and warmer days, I thought. Beyond the history it was their color and form which always resonated deepest, well tuned with my small person soul. It’s a flower of imagination, fantasy, and hope. The kind of flower a concept artist would create when designing an idyllic alien world. I love them.

    Of course when my one hyacinth bloomed up proper this year I found justification in my excitement. This was my first opportunity to photograph this flower since 2014. Quite a long time. And so it was, today was the day I made some time for my macro lens, my hyacinth, and me to capture its beauty.

    Turns out my little opening is not at all far from the truth. A quick bit of research at the Online Etymology Dictionary revealed the following:

    Used in ancient Greece of a blue gem, perhaps sapphire, and of a purple or deep red flower, but exactly which one is unknown (gladiolus, iris, and larkspur have been suggested). It is fabled to have sprung from the blood of Hyakinthos, Laconian youth beloved by Apollo and accidentally slain by him. The flower is said to have the letters “AI” or “AIAI” (Greek cry of grief) on its petals. The modern use in reference to a particular flowering plant genus is from 1570s. Related: Hyacinthine.

    Awesome. Love me some etymology, you guys. History and words. The best.

    Interested in buying? Purchase

  • The brooding Hyacinth

    A low key black and white macro photograph of a lone Hyacinth flower. The shallow depth of field and stark contrast lend a strong mood to the picture.
    The brooding Hyacinth — 100mm | f/4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/200

    I’ve been waiting for this little guy to show up—one of my favorite early season flowers. At this point I was beginning to think it wasn’t gonna show this year. But finally, just the other day, this lone Hyacinth finally reared its welcomed head. Now ready for the camera, I spent some time this afternoon snagging a few macro photographs.

    Taking my first look at the shots in Lightroom, it became quickly apparent that sticking with color was going to be rather ho-hum. Fortunately, some strong contrast added to a black and white finish really stepped up the intensity to demand more attention.