Of leaves, cameras, and comments

by Diana Studer
- gardening for biodiversity
in Cape Town, South Africa

I started with a Kodak Instamatic. Now with my third Canon the camera hears me - no, not the flower behind or in front, nor the twig over there, or the wall way behind! Disconcerted by a magnifying block - which checks politely - this leaf, in all its alarming detail??

Crassula and coral aloe
Crassula and coral aloe

For Pam @Digging's monthly Foliage Follow-Up the camera and I collected leaves for texture, colour, and interest. Autumn Fire flames on the Karoo Koppie are Crassula and coral aloe.

White variegated leaves
White variegated leaves

To light up the blue and purple flowers in Cornish Stripe I choose leaves with white variegation. Cyperus, Plectranthus madagascariensis, and Marble Chips Coprosma.

Silver leaves
Silver leaves

Silver leaves for the pink flowers at Spring Promise and the new camera captures the down on Dusty Miller, with Dymondia lawn, Santolina curls and nutmeg Pelargonium in blue grey.

Succulent selection
Succulent selection

Succulents on the Karoo Koppie. Red Aeonium and spotted Aloe. Teeth on Aloe marlothii. Golden new leaves on spekboom. Reindeer antlers on Cotyledon orbiculata. Glossy green on Pink Joy and my botterboom. Sansevieria live on the shady side of Froggy Pond, a lush formal rank (except where Thomas bowled them over!)

Grass seedheads
Grass seedheads

Seedheads on the volunteer sedge Ficinia out front, and the dwarf Cyperus fireworks in the pond.

Boophone
Boophone

Boophone a bulb planted for the rippled fan of leaves.

Shrubs and smalls
Shrubs and smalls

Almost invisible leaves on luscious garlic buchu. Feathers from Californian poppy. Each Pelargonium has leaves which bring their own charm of form and fragrance.

Trees and talls
Trees and talls

Huge fronds on Strelitzia nicolai and edible banana. Silver and green of Brachylaena. Dark mirrors on Diospyros whyteana. Berries for the birds on Searsia. Hibiscus tiliaceus hearts and Dombeya generous hands. Butterfly of Bauhinia. Delicate silver new growth on bietou.

On a beach walk I appreciate many focus boxes, which help me maintain the horizon, and to agree on what we are looking at - only this, or all of that? I SEE what is on the screen in bright sunlight.

Canon G9 PowerShot X was chosen as the best pocket camera of 2016. I don't want a dead weight burden, or lenses to change. It has a larger screen and sensor. Chosen by the Ungardener as he better understands camera tech. I will work slowly thru the manual, away from Auto.

Fish Hoek beach
Fish Hoek beach

Instead of writing on my watermark then reducing each image using ZoomBrowser Ex, I added the watermark with 50% transparency, and compressed to 700 pixels on the long side - click batch convert on FastStone and done.

Altho I have traffic from South Africa, I almost never get their comments. Thanks to ex-pat Desert Missus  and Dani at EcoFootprintSA for flying our flag on my blog.

I battle with Wordpress. With Google Plus comments which refuses to use my Blogger profile, or my active G+ profile. I will not login again to use Disqus or Livefyre or whatever. I won't use my personal Facebook profile to comment.

I blog for visible engagement, your comments. I make it easy to comment, even anonymous, but I moderate comments so there is nothing that I won't invite into my virtual home. 10 out of 10 to Amy at Small Sunny Garden who requires website and name, click click, and I comment.

I would like my comment on yours to let your readers come to my blog - as I expect to find YOUR blog when you leave me a comment. Encourage my readers find their way from your kind and much appreciated comment back to your blog for more of you.

I invite you to join us at Elephant's Eye on False Bay. Please subscribe as you prefer
via Feedly,
or Bloglovin,
or Facebook

Pictures by Diana Studer

Teal blue text is my links.
To read comments if you are in email or a Reader, 
first click thru to the blog)

Thanks for comments that add value. Maybe start a new thread of discussion? BTW your comment won't appear until I've read it. No Google account? Just use Anonymous, but do leave a link to your own blog. I would return the visit, if I could ...
I welcome comments on posts from the last 2 months
Danke für sinnvolle Kommentare. Die werden erst veröffentlicht nachdem ich sie gelesen habe. Es können auch Bemerkungen sein die in eine ganz andere Richtung gehen.

Comments

  1. Oh those lovely leaves! Very pretty!
    I use a Canon PowerShot SX520 HS, but sometimes I think my older Canon G9 (before the X model) gets just as good photos. The advantage of using the SX520HS is that it has a better (stronger) zoom lens, while still being a small lightweight camera.
    Hope you are having a great week!

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    1. We have a better zoom on his camera, as he is the one with the patience to capture pictures of birds and wildlife. In theory.

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  2. So lovely to see your world changing from summer to winter as ours changes into summer. Your photographs are always beautiful. xo Laura

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  3. Wonderful foliage. Beautiful photographs! Makes me wonder why I chose a big camera with lenses to change...

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    1. because your photos are seriously head and shoulders above mine!

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  4. So much leafy variety and interest in your garden! I agree with your observations about how hard it is to comment on some blogs that require you to register or use an approved log in. I rarely comment on those because of that extra step. Thank you for having the Name/URL option on your blog, which makes it very easy!

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  5. Love those photos of leaves. Not sure how easy it is to comment on my blog. Love looking at blogs from different countries. I am in Australia.

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  6. Oh, Boophane! It's a plant I covet but the only one I've seen locally was priced at nearly $100 as I recall. Maybe I can find the bare bulb somewhere. You have a beautiful collection of foliage to share. I'm going to look into your Canon camera too - I have an older version of the PowerShot and perhaps it's time for an upgrade (especially as my birthday is coming up).

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  7. Lovely to see all your plants, and they must be surviving your drought, I wonder how it is affecting the Cape? ... it has been going for such a long time.
    I do find it hard to comment on your blog, but usually do it through Bloglovin'... I hope mine is okay.
    I have a PowerShot SX710HS and I love it, and the model before one before was very good too. So nice to have something light to put in your pocket.

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    1. 1st June we move to Level 4 water restrictions.
      I will blog that in my end of the month garden post.

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  8. PS ...It was much easier to comment this time!

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    1. I recently discovered the Open ID option for blog commenting.
      Using your blog URL.
      Try that?

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  9. Amazing foliage, and your combinations/collages are exquisite. Great idea to add the watermark into the camera settings. How did you do it with the collages? Sounds like you have a great new camera!

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    1. Collage or single photo - FastStone batch converts happily.

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  10. I have a Canon Powershot SX 510HS which I love to bits. Don't know how to set / use it 100% though. Also - use Irfan View to edit the pic / place my watermark.

    I agree - although my blog is a referable history of our journey, comments from readers make blogging worthwhile. I HATE leaving comments on blogs where the blog owner doesn't reply to anyone at all. My reasoning is if someone takes the time to comment, the least I can do is acknowledge it with a reply ;)

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    1. I reply to comments - here on my blog, if answering a question - or there, on yours, if I haven't visited for a while, and definitely if it is a new to me blog ^^ like Penny in Australia.

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    2. PS I did once hint gently to a blogger - that she should sometimes answer a comment, or it looks as if she doesn't see / read them. Netiquette. She had never thought about it, and she cherishes every comment! And even answers now and then.

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    3. Diana, I'm so pleased you've opened up a discussion about comments. Since I changed the theme I've had very few comments and some I had disappeared, and I'm not sure why. But I'll try the open id option and allow anonymous comments. I never thought before what the plus signified in Google Plus. It's obviously angst.

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    4. Ah good, now I can comment on yours again.

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  11. so often foliage gets blind-sided by buxom or bombastic blooms - takes time to appreciate the form and colour of leaves so this post a real pleasure- not just the various shades but all the folds and veins.
    As for cameras I miss my Ricoh point and shoot since it broke and I moved into DSLR - am still in the market for a pocket size ;)
    And as for comments - wish WordPress and Google could sort some sort of closer assimilation to make commenting on either side easier. The new WordPress reader does none of us any favours - your blog comes out white so I always click 'visit' see EEonFB in full glory

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    1. Full glory :~))

      When my Feedly explodes I read the vanilla version, black and white, text and pictures, IF the blogger allows a full feed.

      Amy has built her own customised friendly comments.

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  12. You and your new camera must be compatible soulmates: the results are stunning. My camera is so much smarter than me that it's frustrating. I keep threatening to work on figuring it out.

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    1. Thank you.
      Still on Auto. I looked at the manual, in horror. I need a Photography 101.

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  13. Great photos of choice foliage. It's the skill of the photographer, not the camera. I always wanted to take photos and digital made that possible--the chemical development was so expensive and my photos so bad it never seemed worth it. Digital made it possible to practice, and practice, and practice.

    I am sorry to hear your extreme drought continues--best wishes for getting through it.

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    1. I remember my father developing his own photos. His makeshift dark room in our family bathroom.

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  14. Love your photographs, Diana. I have a Cannon Rebel with lens changes and am still struggling to move out of Auto. I'm thinking of taking a class at our wonderful photography store. About foliage -- more and more I believe it is as important as flowers -- maybe more important. Love all the colors and textures in yours. P. x

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    1. Once I have fought thru the really basic things, I will look for some lessons.

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  15. Hi Diana, I really enjoyed this post! All the wonderful foliage is a delight to see. I have always enjoyed these types of close-ups. For some reason I was especially drawn to Boophone, though variegated foliage almost always wins my heart.
    Regarding comments: This was a hard one for me when I started blogging. I cherish every comment, but I wondered just how many people actually come back to view a reply. I always respond to direct questions, both on the blog and via email. I think it would be easier to reply if Squarespace allowed me to reply directly under a comment like yours and so many other blogs do. As it is, there may be several other comments between a particular comment and my reply.

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    1. Threaded comments do make a conversation easier to follow.

      If the conversation is lively enough people do return. If the question matters, I certainly return to see if the answer is up yet?

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  16. You're always such a great source of techie information. I'm especially interested in FastStone as a more efficient substitute for ZoomBrowser Ex. Thanks for the tip. -Jean

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