One of my favorite shots from last summer. Like the Calla Lilies image posted below, it was not a composed still life but a found shot with an amazing top light that just made the whole composition.
Be sure and look for the little lurking bug on one of the petals.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
I spied this bunch of Calla Lilies during breakfast on Sunday in a hotel restaurant, so I went back Monday during the lull between lunch and supper to see what I could get out of them. There were some workmen there but they pretty much just ignored me while I snapped away getting the exposure right. Much to my delight, the image came out more luminous than I could have hoped.
Some detail:
This image was developed from a single image composited twice using an HDR technique. An initial RAW file was adjusted to to bring up the low key color and detail in the stems and bases of the flowers and saved off as a photoshop psd file. In the same way, another psd file was created, this one bringing down the high key tops of the callas. These two files were then combined to create a single merged version of the image with a much broader range of exposure than would otherwise be possible in a single image. After cropping the image to a square format and some rather careful levels and curves processing, the resulting image was converted to black and white. A few passes of burning and dodging brought out more local detail in the tops, sides and stems of the flowers. Finally, the image was then Platinum toned, and sharpened.
This image and the top-lit sunflowers image made last spring at Pike Place Market are inspiring me to take a look at how top lighting highlights flowers in novel ways. The luminous effect one sees is rather unique.
Some detail:
This image was developed from a single image composited twice using an HDR technique. An initial RAW file was adjusted to to bring up the low key color and detail in the stems and bases of the flowers and saved off as a photoshop psd file. In the same way, another psd file was created, this one bringing down the high key tops of the callas. These two files were then combined to create a single merged version of the image with a much broader range of exposure than would otherwise be possible in a single image. After cropping the image to a square format and some rather careful levels and curves processing, the resulting image was converted to black and white. A few passes of burning and dodging brought out more local detail in the tops, sides and stems of the flowers. Finally, the image was then Platinum toned, and sharpened.
This image and the top-lit sunflowers image made last spring at Pike Place Market are inspiring me to take a look at how top lighting highlights flowers in novel ways. The luminous effect one sees is rather unique.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
After two years in the making, it finally blossomed this month!
The flower is indeed a deep velvety black and the white face is truly stark against the petals.
More properly known as Asarum maximum, this lovely little flower is native to China where it is an endangered species in the wild. Fortunately, it grows well in the Pacific Northwest, although this particular specimen grows slowly in a pot in a cool but sunny location in the garage.
The flower is indeed a deep velvety black and the white face is truly stark against the petals.
More properly known as Asarum maximum, this lovely little flower is native to China where it is an endangered species in the wild. Fortunately, it grows well in the Pacific Northwest, although this particular specimen grows slowly in a pot in a cool but sunny location in the garage.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Stubborn
Seen on the terrace of the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Miami, this tough little plant is determined to compete and thrive in the cresent of soil between the stair rail post and the brick paving. An amazing act in a solid concrete non-natural sort of place.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Taken out the window of an Airbus A-319 at about 35,000 feet somewhere over the Dakotas with a Canon G9 on 7 April 2008.
I'm not sure everyone will anthropomorphize this pattern of frost filled cracks in a airplane window into a witch riding a broom, but it popped out at me after studying it for a while.
This image grew out of frustration trying to take aerial landscape photos out the plane window. However, on older planes, the windows craze and scratch a bit from the expansion/contraction cycles and ablation that take place during flight. At high altitude, frost begins to form in the scratches and pits forming random designs. After fighting trying to take pictures through the frost, I finally decided to see what could be done taking pictures *of* the frost against the deepening color of the sky above the ground surface.
The new G9 is an amazing little camera but one that takes some learning. When you get it working, you can just keep diving down and down into the image and it stays sharp. All in all an astounding little camera.
I'm not sure everyone will anthropomorphize this pattern of frost filled cracks in a airplane window into a witch riding a broom, but it popped out at me after studying it for a while.
This image grew out of frustration trying to take aerial landscape photos out the plane window. However, on older planes, the windows craze and scratch a bit from the expansion/contraction cycles and ablation that take place during flight. At high altitude, frost begins to form in the scratches and pits forming random designs. After fighting trying to take pictures through the frost, I finally decided to see what could be done taking pictures *of* the frost against the deepening color of the sky above the ground surface.
The new G9 is an amazing little camera but one that takes some learning. When you get it working, you can just keep diving down and down into the image and it stays sharp. All in all an astounding little camera.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
White on White
Spring is late and long in coming this year. Last Saturday night, it snowed a little more than 5" of heavy wet stuff followed by rain on Sunday and hail and thunderstorms on Monday. It took until today (Friday) to melt the last of it away. The amazing thing about the snowstorm was that there was absolutely no wind - the snow even stacked on 12 gauge wire fencing, to say nothing of branches and larger features. When it finally began to melt Sunday morning, it came down in cascades of miniature avalanches from the high tree branches and tops.
This little bit of decorative Kale presented an interesting black and white conversion problem and so seemed worth posting here.
This little bit of decorative Kale presented an interesting black and white conversion problem and so seemed worth posting here.
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