HollyMae

Blue Borage

A single borage flower.

A single borage flower.
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SONY DSLR-A200

settings

Aperture f/5.6 ISO 200 Shutter 1/125 Focal Length 700/10

upload_date

Sep, 2015

Views

882

Likes

+28

Awards

Staff Winter Selection 2015

Superb Composition

Top Choice

Peer Award

Absolute Masterpiece

Outstanding Creativity

All Star

Superior Skill

Top Ranks

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Behind The Lens

Location

In my garden in South West Wales; we always grow plants that both look gorgeous and that can be eaten. This is a photograph of a borage flower, a furry herb that tastes a bit like cucumber (yes really) and we often put the flowers in salads or in a jug of Pimm's to make the cocktail look stunning. Borage end up growing everywhere if you let them go to seed - they're so hardy! - but the contrast between the fuzzy green leaves and the bright bright blue flowers make them a beautiful addition to any garden.

Time

This was a cloudy with sunny spells day, so even though I took the photo when the sun was behind a cloud, I had enough brightness to get a clear photograph with colours that popped, and no shadows!

Lighting

I very rarely use anything but natural lighting for my photographs, and this is true for this photograph.

Equipment

I used my trusty old Sony a200 with its kit 18-70mm lens. To get this close up I used a cheap x4 magnifying filter that I got from eBay... One of the best things I have bought for my kit.

Inspiration

Honestly, I was testing out my new magnifying lens filters. My first port of call when testing new equipment is the garden - I'll take photos of flowers, leaves and butterflies to test how capable my new piece of kit is at macro. I'm a fan of 'flower portraiture' as you'd be able to tell from many of my photographs on viewbug so many of my photographs feature a single closeup flower, however I always leave to flowers connected to the plant - I don't pick flowers for my photographs.

Editing

None at all.

In my camera bag

Usually not much; my magnifying lens filters, a set of coloured square filters that I just hold up in front of the lens, a glasses cleaning cloth for cleaning the lens glass and filters, and an LED torch just in case the natural lighting isn't quite right.

Feedback

Don't shoot when the sun is fully shining as I find this wipes out some of the colour from the flowers; try to avoid shooting on windy days; isolate a single flower without too much going on in the background; make sure you focus on the central part of the flower so there is enough definition to make sure the flower is recognisable.

See more amazing photos, follow HollyMae

HollyMae

HollyMae

Blue Borage

A single borage flower.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow HollyMae

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