All Over The Photographic Map

Dear Reader,

Well, since the last set of posts I have been all over the photographic map. Some of this has been driven by my online course with David duChemin, and some has been driven by dumb luck and curiosity. In the coming days, beginning with today there will be flowers, a visit to a hidden gem, back alleys, and a series I’m calling the Start.

First to the flowers. The assignment was to put together a body of work (ie a series). Now you know I love the whole idea of a series. It would have been a cheat to use an already existing series. I went into the garden. Last year or maybe it was the year before that, I bought a macro focusing rail as I had a grand idea, which was quickly forgotten. The rails sat until a recent after rain morning or two, when I tried my hand yet again (flowers and I have a long and difficult photographic history). These are all flawed, but they are not nearly as flawed as the ones that will remain unseen as “opportunities to improve.” So, what did I learn about flowers?

  • Flowers remain difficult subject matter and require a surprising amount of concentration
  • The part I enjoy the most about a flower is the edge of a petal.
  • Hard light makes flowers look plastic
  • Soft light gives life to the texture
  • Sharpness is not always necessary
  • The right light is fleeting
  • Flowers can teach me to be more aware of every visual element in an image

As always comments are welcome.

Cheers, Sean

2 Replies to “All Over The Photographic Map”

  1. Flowers are difficult. It’s only recently that I think I’m producing nice photos of them. Numbering L to R, T to B. 1 and 2 are similar shots, I prefer 2 slightly. Not sure why 1 isn’t ringing my chimes, perhaps the transition from purple to white is too abrupt for me. 3 is a winner in my books! Love the translucent petal look. 5 is all texture and that makes the photo, with the water drop as a bonus. There is much I like about 6, especially since you nailed the center bits, but that might have been at the cost of losing some texture in the yellow, especially in the upper right. 7, be still my heart! Wow! 8, texture is all. This kind of shot is really hard to get the background right. 9 is a tough one to comment on. It’s technically nice, but something is missing for me. This might be an example of the light being nothing special. 10 is another wow! Love these sorts of shots. Some buddies of mine love going to Reader Rock gardens to shoot flowers. There’s a great variety and the light is usually nice because of the trees.

    1. Thank you for visiting and your comments, and especially for pointing out the loss of texture in the yellow one. It is interesting how some images under the same light do and don’t work. I am learning that there is a very small margin of error when it come to composition and angle of view. 7 was so close to the elusive 5. It looses half a point because I wish that the back edge of the front petal was not visible. Yeah, I know I make it difficult for me to score my own work. Thank you for the idea of Reader Rock garden. Oddly enough, I drove by it the other day and told myself I should come here another day. Cheers, Sean

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