San Angelo, Texas, is proud to own one of about only five certified International Water Lily Collections. It contains four separate large pools of Water Lily specimens from all over the world. I hadn’t been down to see them in several months, so Sunday morning I decided it was time to make a visit. We weren’t disappointed, as even though the temperatures were approaching the 100 mark again, the blossoms looked beautiful.
We had to wait until late morning to see the blossoms. Most of these blossoms close up at night, so we had to wait until late morning to get these photographs. By then, the sun was high and bright. Consequently, I had to adjust the EV quite a bit. I hope you enjoy the images. Click on any one of them for an enlargement.
- Canon EOS 7D
- Canon 100-400mm zoom lens
- 1/250 sec. @ f11 – minus 1.3 EV adjustment
- ISO 100
- Lens focal distance – 200mm
- Metering – Partial
- Aperture priority
- Canon EOS 7D
- Canon 100-400mm zoom lens
- 1/800 sec. @ f11 – minus 1.3 EV adjustment
- ISO 100
- Lens focal distance – 190mm
- Metering – partial
- Aperture priority
- Canon EOS 7D
- Canon 100-400mm zoom lens
- 1/800 sec. @ f11 – minus 1.3 EV adjustment
- ISO 100
- Lens focal distance – 340mm
- Metering – Partial
- Aperture priority
- Canon EOS 7D
- Canon 100-400mm zoom lens
- 1/800 sec. @ f11 – minus 1.3 EV adjustment
- ISO 100
- Lens focal distance – 200mm
- Metering – partial
- Aperture priority
Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller 
These are absolutely exquisite. Very interesting about the EV settings. I’m just learning about that. When I got my camera I was advised that it tends to overexpose, so it’s usually set to -0.3 or -0.7. I haven’t tried to pump it up or down even further unless I’m bracketting. Do you worry about clipped blacks?
Thank you so very much, Cindy. I have been doing this stuff so long, I actually think I do it by feel. I kinda fly by the seat of my pants, so to say. 🙂 It was late in the morning, the sun was high and very bright. There was a lot of glare off of the lily petals, plus the glare of the water played tricks on exposures. So I just knocked the EV down about a stop and a half. I also like the way that darkens the water, and makes the blossoms pop. I then make minor adjustments in my editing. But bracketing is a good idea. I probably should do more of it, but I just never think of it. Or maybe I am lazy. 🙂 That doesn’t make me sound like a very smart photographer, does it? But anyway, after I get it into my computer, I just tinker until I like what I see. 🙂
Absolutely gorgeous!
Thanks, Linda. I tried to do something a little different from birds for a bit. 🙂
great photos..they are fabulous and the lighting is amazing…
Thanks, Syl. The light wasn’t great, but I managed to make it so. I reduced my exposure to make up for the bright sun. It took the glare off of the petals and also darkened the water so the blossoms had more pop.
Beautiful lilies! Looks like the lighting was really nice for these flowers.
Actually, as I explained above in my edited version of this post. The sun was high and bright, and I had to adjust the EV accordingly. Thanks for the comment, Shelly. 🙂
Stunning! Must have been a pretty bright day outside? I noticed your EV is -1.3 with ISO 100. Bees certainly were getting around!
I agree with you about the brightness of the sun. I have edited this post to explain the drastic EV adjustment. And, yes, the bees were all over the place. Thanks for the compliment, Holly. 🙂
lovely images Bob – that first one is very exotic looking!
Thanks, Sheila. That first one was my favorite. 🙂
Bob these are so beautiful and I love how they seem to glow from the center! Amazing!
Thanks, Lynda. I appreciate it. 🙂