Sunday afternoon, about 5pm, I had just come out the front door and spotted these brave little crocuses (crocii?), raising themselves after a record cold and snowy winter. It was a sight to behold! Shot with my Nikon D90, at f5.6, 1/200 sec, focal length 200mm. The sun was low and setting behind me, and I wanted this full side view. But in order to not cast a shadow, (and if you know me, I cast a big shadow), I had to back far enough away, hence I relied on the maximum reach of my Nikon 18-200mm zoom.
This top-down shot was taken at f7.1, 1/80 sec, focal length 120mm, same camera and lens. I was taking a chance shooting at this focal length/shutter speed/aperture combination, but I needed that aperture to get the desired DOF. Since my shutter speed was below the rule of thumb of 1/focal length, I had to hold steady and wait for the slightest breeze to subside. I could have upped the ISO and probably should have to allow me to coax that shutter speed up some. But I was pleased with the results.
Both images are straight out of camera (SOOC) except for crop and frames added in Picnik.
What do you think? – Posted by Ed
2 Guys Photo 
These are beautiful!
Gorgeous stuff. I think the rule of thumb with 1/focal length gets relaxed a couple of stops with VR or IS, don’t you?
Yes, Nikon claims 4 stops but I think that’s very optimistic. But I also have read that when using a crop sensor, you need to increase the focal length and hence the shutter speed accordingly. So if 200mm is really 300mm equiv, then you should shoot at 1/300. So I think of that as offsetting the gain of using VR. Thanks Art, Ed
Nice shots, Ed. Very hard to believe these were straight out of camera… particularly the second. Super sharp and bright… and it looks as though there’s been a saturation boost. Seems as though that Nikon sensor paired up with the more than capable 18-200 were up to the challenge.
Rey