Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — ¹/350 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100 — full exif & map
10 Gallons of Blossoms on a 5-Gallon Branch

Imagine taking 10 gallons of white and pink blossoms, and forcefully shoving them onto a branch capable of holding at most half that amount, and that's the feeling you currently get from two trees in my neighborhood.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/250 sec, f/8, ISO 200 — full exif & map
Approaching Critical Mass

I don't know what kind of trees these are. If they are cherry trees, they're blooming long after all the other cherry trees in this neighborhood.

Update: thanks to Aaron and Andy for identifying them as “yaezakura” or “botanzakura” cherry blossoms.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 170mm — ¹/400 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — full exif & map
Current State of Most Cherry Trees Around Here

These blossoms range from almost pure white to a mildly deep, rich pink, often the whole range being found on a single branch. Yet, they seem to congregate in cliquish bundles of like-minded blossoms, with one pom-pom's worth mostly one shade, and the neighboring one another. Perhaps they were high-school girls in a former life?

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 44mm — ¹/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200, P.P. boost: +0.20EV — full exif & map
White? Pink? Why not Both!

From afar, the trees look to be adorned with enormous, discrete puffs of pinkish cotton or pom-poms, as if these trees were populated by gaggles of 9-year-old girls fresh from the mall, invisible except for their hair decorations.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/180 sec, f/8, ISO 200 — full exif & map
Tree #1, From Afar

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 320 — full exif & map
An Edge of Tree #2

The individual blossoms are huge... perhaps two inches across (substantially larger, deeper, and more full than common cherry blossoms). Huge quantities of these two-inch blossoms are then grouped tightly to form pom-pom-like clusters. Close up, they appear quite fake, as if an overly crafty Martha-Stewart-type made them from vast quantities of the most pretty, delicate crepe paper.

The pom-poms seem to be more tightly bunched (if that's at all possible) on the second tree compared to the first. There's a definite difference in overall look and feel between the two, as can perhaps be seen when comparing the first two pictures on this post.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 95mm — ¹/250 sec, f/9, ISO 320 — full exif & map
Martha's Handiwork?

I tried some pseudo-macro work by interposing a Kenko 12mm extension tube between my D200 and my Sigma 30mm f/1.4. The resulting magnification doesn't quite reach the 1:1 ratio required to be called “macro,” but the blossoms fill the frame well enough.

Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 + 12mm extension tube — ¹/350 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100 — full exif & map
“I am Blossom. Worship Me!”

I don't have any experience with macro photography, except when I put a bunch of extension tubes on my Nikkor 70-200/2.8 the other day (see the last two pictures on this blossoms and buds post). The picture above was taken while I was straining to be three inches taller, on my tiptoes, holding the blossom steady with one hand, the camera in the other, and focusing by adjusting my distance from the blossom. Rube Goldberg would have been proud.

The result is not too bad for such a cheap solution. It had some pretty severe chromatic aberration in the upper-left corner, but that was tamed to a good extent in Adobe Lightroom by slapping both chromatic-aberration sliders to their max.

I took the pictures shown here yesterday. This morning on the drive to preschool, while waiting at a traffic light, I noticed that a roadside shrub right outside the window had the most wonderful, vibrantly red/pink flowers on them. I want to foster in Anthony an appreciation of nature and of beauty, so this short exchange ensued:

Ah, he knows me well. More blossom posts here.