A Fun Day with D800E (SF Flower & Garden Show)

Rosemary in Chinchih's garden. I love the bokeh of this photo.

A couple of days ago, I slipped and fell. There was no serious damage to me, but I got a bloated chin and a bruised knee afterward. I also walked with a slightly wobbly gait. My daily 10000 steps were stopped temporarily. So when my best friend asked me to go to the annual SF Flower & Garden Show with her, I was not very motivated. I had been there last year (also dragged by her). The flowers were amazing, but the indoor light was not ideal for photography. However, not to disappoint my best friend, I reluctantly packed my D800E and the Zeiss 100 Makro to go. 

As expected, the lighting condition made hand held shooting extremely difficult (I had to use ISO 3200), I knew all the indoor photos I took would directly go to the dust bin (ironically, the cactus photo survived). Disappointed, also thirsty, I went to the food court outside. There were a few cut flowers there for sale. Under the reflected sunlight, they looked just wonderful! With more light, I was able to use a smaller aperture (for more depth of field). I still had to use ISO 400 to make the shutter speed fast enough but I felt the quality was finally tolerable.

Tulips and roses are indeed wonderful subjects, unbelievably photogenic. You can never go wrong when you shoot tulips and roses.

Cactus, shot with X100.