Jasminum officinale (Jasmine)

Jasminum officinale (Jasmine)

Written by Webmaster Saturday, 08 November 2008 02:01

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""Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jasminum officinale – Jasminum cultivar (Family: Oleacae, Common names: Common white jasmine; Jessamine)

Its name comes from the Persian – Arabic “yasmin” which means “white flower” although I think that “divine fragrance” is a far more appropriate name. The white flowers (pink-white in the case of the cultivar shown here, too) are a delight to see and a nightmare to shoot. They are just that – all white. Fooling all camera meters, all flash units. In my opinion, the only way to shoot this flower is in manual mode. In the photos shown here there is only one in which I used the flash and this photo shows the bud of the cultivar which has much more pink than white. The other photos are lit by the sun. In the first photo, the flower of the genuine white jasmine is lit by the setting sun. Long shadows by the leaves of the plant as well as the petals of the flower emphasize the delicate texture while preserving detail in the white parts. In the first photo of the cultivar’s flower, the sun passes through the leaves of the plant creating a similar effect. The pink is there and the white is far from overexposed. However, in the last photo, the white is truly on the borderline. Although the two flowers were less than a meter apart, this one was not shaded by any leaves. I decided to shoot the back of the flower since some of the light would be filtered by the flower itself.

Photos by George J. Reclos

Shooting Data:

1. Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Tamron 180 mm f/3.5 Macro
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/640 sec - f/8, Manual mode
Flash: Nikon SB-800 in TTL/FP high speed synchronization mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS3, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized.

2. Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: AF Tamron 180 mm f/3.5 Macro
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/160 sec - f/8, Manual mode
Flash: No flash
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS3, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized.

3. Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: AF Tamron 180 mm f/3.5 Macro
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/160 sec - f/8, Manual mode
Flash: No flash
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS3, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized.

4. Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: AF Tamron 180 mm f/3.5 Macro
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/250 sec - f/8, Manual mode
Flash: No flash
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS3, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized.

 

These photographs are the property of MCH Portal and cannot be reproduced without the written permission of the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

 

 

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