Monday, March 19, 2012

Crocuses Next Door

[Aperture Priority-f8, 1/160 sec, ISO 200, bright sun]
I visited my neighbor's crocuses repeatedly this week, taking pictures under different weather/lighting conditions, and trying to replicate whatever it is that Svetlana (smile) and others of you do to get great flower pictures. I like the what the bright light does to these first two pictures, and the way that the yellow and orange (and also white reflecting highlights) accentuate the purple. Then, green and purple look great together.
[Aperture Priority- f8, 1/200 sec, ISO 250, bright sun] 

[Aperture Priority, f18, 1/200 sec, ISO 1600, overcast]
I like the wet look too, and the colors made by the water droplets--kind of pink-ish. I like the way that the "salad" leaves--whatever they are--contrast with the crocuses above. I photoshopped it a little to make the green leaves brighter. I tried to do the same in the picture below to make the greens brighter, but that dorked up the color of the crocuses, and I love those just the way they are. I'm still figuring out how to get them to look REALLY good, but these satisfy me for now. And doing this kind of feels like making jam. You know how when you do that you are taking fruit that is good at one tiny point in time so that you can have Spooners' strawberries all year? This is homemade Spooners' jam for the eyes. 
[Aperture Priority, f8, 1/200, ISO 640, overcast]

3 comments:

  1. I especially like your last image because it's a little more abstract, which accentuates its attention to line, shape, form, color, and contrast. I also like the fact that you used a fairly narrow depth of field so the focus is on the crocus.

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    1. I do not think of f8 as a narrow depth of field. I keep trying to get all of the flowers and/or flower parts in focus and I fail. Is this happening because I am shooting so close to the subject?

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  2. I like the first two images the best. Probably, because of your use of the complementary colors. The first image has a nice implied diagonal line with the two colors. I also like the second image because the angle creates lots of different abstract shapes and provides a different view most people don't show when shooting flowers.

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