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Photo of the Week - March 14, 2013

on March 14, 2013

Bird of Paradise with Waterdrops

W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory

Tacoma, WA

March 14, 2013

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Bird of Paradise closeup Conservatory macro Metro Parks Photo of the Week Strelitzia Tacoma W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory Washington Water Waterdrop Wright Park

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What does the f in f-stop stand for?

The f in f-stop stands for "focal length". Focal length is the length of a lens (18mm, 50mm, 200mm, etc.)

The notation f/4 is a shorthand notation for the diameter of a lens opening, where focal length is divided by 4. F-stops show a ratio of the relationship of focal length to lens opening.

Here is Ansel Adam's explanation, from his book, The Camera:
“The lens aperture is simply the diameter of the lens opening, expressed as a fraction of its focal length. Thus a lens of 4-inch focal length with a diameter of one inch has a relative aperture of 4/1, or 4. The aperture designation is expressed as f/4, indicating that the aperture is the focal length/4. Another 4-inch lens that has a diameter of 1/2 inch would be an f/8 lens.”
Adams, Ansel. The Camera. Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1980: 46.

Some examples:

A 200mm lens whose aperture diameter is 50mm has an f-stop of f/4
200/50 = 4

A 200mm lens whose aperture diameter is 25mm has an f-stop of f/8
200/25 = 8

An 18mm …

Full Moon rises over Mount Rainier at Sunset

Full Moon rising over Mount Rainier View from Tumwater, WA October 11, 2019
I have been to the top of Tumwater Hill many times to watch Mount Rainier as the sun sets. I have also been there several times to watch the full moon rise. And, each time I have been to Tumwater Hill to watch the moon rise, I have been disappointed. Weather, timing, atmospheric conditions and location have never been in my favor.
On Friday October 11, 2019, luck turned in my favor. Sunset was 6:32 PM. Moonrise was 6:14 PM. The two corresponded perfectly. The moon would be rising above the horizon just as the sun was setting. The day was clear and beautiful.
When the moon began to rise over the horizon, everyone at the park was amazed to see the moon rising perfectly over the left flank of Mount Rainier. As it continued its ascent, the moon moved up and to the right. At one point, it was nearly perched over Rainier's crater.
We were all thankful for our good fortune.

Depth of Field and Sharpness

For many photographers, depth of field and sharpness are synonyms. Although they share many characteristics the two concepts are not the same.

Depth of Field describes the range of an image which appears to be in focus. Lenses can focus on one distance for each shot. A photo taken with a wide, low-numbered aperture, such as f/2.8, will have a narrow range in front and in back of the focus point which appears to be in focus. The same photo, taken with a small, high-numbered aperture, such as f/22, will appear to be in focus over a much greater range. Several factors, including sensor size and focal length will determine the actual depth of field.

An example: a photo taken from 10 feet with my Canon 30D and 100mm f/2.8 lens
at f/2.8 depth of field would be from 9.84 to 10.2 feet. Less than .5 feet would appear in focus. at f/22 the apparent focus would be from 8.9 to 11.5 feet. The depth of field would be 5x greater - over 2.5 feet! By experimenting with different f-stops at different d…

Comparison of photos at different f-stops

All of the photos were taken with a Canon 30D with Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens on a tripod in bright sun.
The camera was about 1 foot from the subject and 1.75 feet from the bleeding hearts in the background

An Introduction to Purple Martins

We need your help!
To join Stream Team in monitoring our Summer resident Purple martins, visit our website.
https://streamteam.kinsta.cloud/hands-on-science/#purple-martin

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