tulip curl close
close up of a tulip curl during visit to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.
May, 2015Views
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Zenith Award
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at Longwood Gardens in Kennet Square, PA. Each year I have been part of a photography workshop which is called "Flower Dance Photography", which is a group of passionate flower photographers. We look for the dance, personality, attitude and/or conversation in the flowers.Time
This was taken around 10am, on an overcast morning.Lighting
The lighting was diffused by an overcast, cloudy morning.Equipment
For this image I used my Canon 180mm macro lens on tripod. I use back focus and live view in manual focus mode. I also shoot in manual for creative exposures. There I don't use flash with my flowers. If I need extra light, I would use a reflector (I carry a pocket size with me) for more natural light. My camera is a Canon 5D Mark IIIInspiration
I loved the way the curl of the leaf gave the tulip a bit of "attitude"! It's almost like she had her had on her hip. It showed personality.Editing
I shoot RAW, so I color corrected and slightly sharpened. That's it.In my camera bag
I carry two cameras, my Canon 5D Mark III and a lighter Canon Rebel SL1 (this is just a great little camera that is easy to have as a second for lighter lenses). I always have a tripod, pocket diffuser and pocket reflector, shutter release cable, polarizer, neutral density filter, lenses appropriate for the photos I expect to take (for flowers I carry my 180mm macro, 70-300mm L, 70-200mm II f/2.8, lens baby velvet, lens baby composer pro with the sweet 50 optic. Also cleaning cloth for the lenses and blower for dust. Extra batteries, portable battery charger, four 32gb San Disk compact flash card..Feedback
To me, everything in nature has a personality and a voice. If you stop long enough to look, listen and see, then you will find it! Your camera will allow you to capture the "conversation", the "moment", the dance, the love, the embrace...,something unusual about your subject. But, it takes patience and a willingness to understand what is being shown to you. Photographing familiar things in nature in a unique way, allows your audience to see how you visualize your world and how it affects you as an artist. Once you find your subject, make sure that you take a proper meter reading, decide on the aperture you want to use and photograph many aspects of the same thing until you "get" the photograph you were looking for. Many times subjects in nature will move every so slightly to give you the image you were hoping to capture. Several of my photography teachers have told me to "work the subject" and that is really some of the best advice that I can pass along.
