Narcissus winners Down Under

[mark smyth]

Kirby W. Fong, pictured, has kindly allowed me to show his series of Narcissus photos from shows in Australia and New Zealand

[mark smyth]

Here they are in order of name

'Abracadabra'
'Acumen'
'Bandit'
'Cameo Sun'
an oddity with a closed cup
'Cool Crystal'
Dijk's poeticus
'Elphin Dell'
'Flight Path'
'Flying High'

[mark smyth]

Hamilton Poeticus
Helen O More or maybe Helen O'More
Hokorawa
can this be a Narcissus?
Kiwi Carnival
Kiwi Happy Prince
Lehiam
Lemon and Barley
Lemon Spice
Lesley

[mark smyth]

seedling LQ21
No Worries
Omenomy
Polar Gift
seedling G707
seedling GBF 29.07
seedling GM 9870
seedling JAH 6294
seedling M65-8-7
seedling M69A7

[mark smyth]

the last
seedling M69A7
seedling M69B7
seedling M69C7
seedling M6567
Snowy Morn
Temple Splendour
Toowaiwai
Trumpet Warrior

[mark smyth]

The observant among you will notice something about one of the names. If you are a daffnet lurker dont spoil the fun

[Maggi Young]

Mark, what absolutely stunning pix... will you pass on our thanks to Kirby for his kindness in allowing you to post these pix here? 
Some weird and wonderful creatures but lots I would enjoy here!
Cameo Sun is the most yellow yellow I remember seeing in a long time... vivid isn't it?
Of course, I have a soft spot forthe cyclamineus  and triandrus types and Lemon and Barley is a real cutie.
Lots of daffs new to me and great to see them.

[annew]

Thanks, Mark and Kirby for showing these. Some real oddities too!

[mark smyth]

I asked Kirby about his techniques. He says

Part of convincing people I'm a good photographer is to post only
the good photos of good specimens.  The harder part is to get a high
percentage of good photos.  Most of the pictures I posted to Daffnet
were taken with a flash and with my camera mounted on a tripod.  The
flash keeps the exposure short and the tripod keeps the camera still.
The tripod also allows me to focus carefully.  This gives as sharp
an image as I can get.  Nevertheless, because of the way digital
cameras work, all digital photos need at least a little bit of
sharpening in Photoshop or some other image processing program.
This is an artificial sharpening done by making the light side or
an edge lighter and the dard side darker.  It can be overdone,
leading to unnatural halos around the edges.  Another issue is
exposure.  Daffodils that are all yellow have a tendency to trick
the autoexposure into overexposing.  To be safe, I usually
underexpose my flash pictures of daffodils and then brighten them
up with Photoshop.  If the picture is overexposed at the time the
picture is taken, it is usually the surface texture of the perianth
segments that loses detail.  Once lost, it cannot be recovered.
Notice that I typically hold the flash to the right and above the
flower in order to capture surfce texture and form (from the shadow
cast by the corona).  Flash from directly in front would give a
flat, textureless appearance to the perianth segments.  I would
prefer to use two light sources - a strong one to the right and
above the flower and a weaker one to the left of the flower to
soften the shadow cast by the strong source; however, when
traveling by plane, I am limited by what equipment I can carry
on as cabin luggage - hence, a single flash for my New Zealand
pictures

[Armin]

A very beautiful picture series. Great!
Thanks for posting (Mark/Kirby)

[Lesley Cox]

That last picture in Reply # 2 is especially fine and beautiful

[annew]

I wonder why you think that, Lesley?

[mark smyth]

ohh, yes!

[Maggi Young]

Ha Ha Ha! But it IS pretty, isn't it  she? 

[Lesley Cox]

There is a lovely song - one of Robert Burns' - called "Oh Saw Ye Bonnie Lesley?" At age 15 or thereabouts, I had a pretty decent soprano voice and I sang it in a school competition. Sang it jolly well too. I didn't win the competition and the judge, one of the local music teachers, said (to the whole school who were attending the finals) that it was a great pity the quality of my voice wasn't matched by the strength of my conceit. I never did like her much anyway.