Our daughter got us admitted to the annual open house at the production greenhouses for the US Botanic Garden. They raise the orchids and other showy plants seen in the conservatory adjacent to the capital building on the mall.  The staff was very excited to have a day to show what  is normally invisible to the public.  It was also a nice way to celebrate our 46th wedding anniversary too.  We ended up spending a lot of time with the master gardener for the orchids.  Wonderful experience.

I used the open house to continue my exploration of the iPhone camera, this time comparing it to my Canon G9 point and shoot camera.  This is a typical photo with no editing.  The blooms are nice, color is good but the mesh under the pots just doesn’t compliment anything.  My first observation is that busy backgrounds were difficult to hide the iPhone wide angle lens.

There were situations where I could move around and get so close that the greenhouse did not show, and then the result could be good. I think the color is nice and rich in this example.

But, when the subject is larger, the wide angle often  could not miss showing the overly bright sky or a maze of plumbing and framework. Then the zoom on the G9 had a clear advantage. It could find just the right amount of focal length.

This photo has good color and excludes most of the busy background to deliver a more pleasing result.

I’ve posted a more detailed text in my personal blog at:

http://birds-n-blooms.blogspot.com/

I simply have found it easier to create the layout I need at this alternate site, and I know you will find the result  more informative.  Hope you check it out.

Paul Schmitt