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As I begin to recover from the perfect storm of a cold, I am slowly starting to play with making photographs using flowers as my subjects. Unable to find fresh flowers that inspired me, I bought a blooming pink begonia plant and have been playing around with macro shots and close-ups.

As I’ve said many times before in this blog, creating good flower photos is much harder than one would think it should be. When I look at a single flower, a blooming plant, or even a bouquet of flowers, my eye sees beauty. But when I try to express what I see using my camera, the beauty is often elusive and difficult to capture.

Today, I used an extension tube with my 24-105 mm lens to capture close-ups of the soft pink flowers of the begonia.

I spent time making test shots, moving the lens slightly this way or that way, shifting a flower or leaf that was distracting from my main subject out of the way, changing the f-stop for shallower or deeper depth of field, adjusting the color balance, magnifying the view so that I could fine-tune the focus, and adjusting the exposure lighter or darker.

When I downloaded the photos, I was disappointed with most of them. The photographs did not capture my sense of the depth and beauty of what I see in my mind.

Sometimes, a photograph is good but it needs additional processing to bring out the vision that lives in my mind’s eye. Today, I found one photo that I liked—sort of.

Initial version of photo

Initial version of photo

I liked the main flower and the light and shadows of the petals. I loved the center of the flower and the shapes of the petals. I loved the soft texture of the flower petals.

But the corners of the photo pulled my eye away from the blossom and distracted me. The shapes of the petals got lost in the softness, the shadows were darker than I liked and the texture did not stand out enough.

Cropped to eliminate distracting corners

Cropped to eliminate distracting corners

I cropped the photograph to eliminate the distracting corners and played with sharpening, contrast and color balance, trying to express the soft beauty I saw.

I resisted changing the photo to black and white, because I loved the soft pink shades in the photo and the subtle yellow center of the flower. But I could not find a way to emphasize the lights and shadows, the softness, and the texture.

Finally I tried a black and white treatment and “Voila!” Although I hated to lose the color, it perfectly expressed my mind’s eye view of the flower. It captured the light and shadows, shapes of the petals, texture, softness, and perfect center of the flower.

“Metamorphosis is the most profound of all acts.”
Catherynne M. Valente, In the Night Garden

Metamorphosis!

_39A5547-Edit-Edit-EditMetamorphosis = Inspiration + Vision + Skill + Persistence

 

Categories: Photography

Marilyn

Photographer sharing beauty, grace & joy in photographs and blog posts. I live in the Twin Cites in Minnesota, the land of lakes, trees, and wonderful nature.

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