Done
Jul, 2014Views
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Jaw Dropping
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
I saw a bouquet of flowers out in front of a garden shop, and it just looked like something that needed to be photographed.Time
We were just walking around town after lunch, looking at random things when a little ball of colour caught my eye.Lighting
I noticed the light was reflecting off the big glass storefront was being shone right through the flowers, there seemed to be a nice glow coming from the inside of the flowers, it would have been wrong not to take a few pictures.Equipment
I took this with a favourite camera of mine, a Sony DSC-F828. While its been long discontinued, its still a great camera, and having the adjustable viewing that you get, it makes it so easy to get angles that you would normally need to be a contortionist to get to. It gives you some really nice photographs, as cameras never actually stop giving you great shots even when they're putting out new cameras every few months.Inspiration
Just seeing the light coming through the many colours of the bouquet made this an obvious shot that just had to be taken.Editing
With this particular photograph, I needed to crop in to get the best out of this picture to be sure to have the best result. Using curves, I like to bring up the shadows just a bit, while keeping the blacks as well. Some dodge and burn, well, quite a bit actually was used to bring up the petals while keeping the definition between them in order to make sure the volume of the flower was kept. Its very easy to over work a picture like this and lose the depth in the petals, so (as I always work on a copy layer) you can keep checking back and forth between the original to see what areas need work. I wanted to make sure the centre of the flower had just a bit of a glow, so a little more work with the curves on the centre of the flower helped it to float up just a bit. I usually merge all the layers when I'm done except the original layer, then reduce the opacity of the top layer I've been working on about 10 to 15 percent to get the best looking final result, then flatten.In my camera bag
I aways have my F828 as its such a good camera and I've added a Nex 6 with a Canon mount adapter so I can use a number of Canon EF lenses I have. The adapter allows aperture function and auto focus which helps composing shots. I also have a Canon Powershot N that is an excellent little camera that I think gets overlooked but gives some great results and fits into a shirt pocket.Feedback
Go walking and always look for light coming from behind the flowers a bit to get that translucent effect thats hard to do otherwise. Bouquets are always great to use for this kind of result, just remember to take as many pictures from angles other than just standing in front of them. Its amazing whats hiding from you if you just bend down, or take a knee, although I have been known to almost lay down to get an unusual angle that is rarely seen. Remember, when you're taking photographs, you never see what you look like taking the pictures, so, have some fun!
