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Thistle blossom



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1 Comment | Report
JayneBug Platinum
 
JayneBug August 23, 2018
Talk about color....wow. Thank you for joining my challenge.
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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken near my home. This thistle plant had been growing by a railing along the sidewalk in front of the neighbors' house.

Time

I had just gotten home from work. I saw this opening bloom on the thistle as I walked up from the bus stop, so I grabbed my camera and went back out to shoot it, so this would have been late afternoon.

Lighting

The lighting here is natural sunlight. The sun was still pretty high in the sky and there was no reason to use a flash or any other artificial illumination.

Equipment

I shot this with my (new at the time) Lumix G-85 mirrorless camera, using an 87.5 mm macro lens.

Inspiration

I had been watching this bud develop on the thistle as I walked by it each day. When it started to open, I was struck by the contrast between the green exterior and the purple interior, and I thought it make a good photo. I also was still experimenting with my newly acquired Lumix G-85 mirrorless camera, trying to learn the various settings and built in digital filters. I took a number of different shots with different combinations of settings. In the end, this photo, captured with a 1:1 aspect ratio and using the "toy pop" digital picture was, by far, my favorite.

Editing

While this image was created using in camera digital filtering, I did not do any additional processing on the image post capture. This image is exactly how it was downloaded from the camera.

In my camera bag

My go-to set up includes a chest harness to carry my camera, which I generally carry with a wide focal range zoom lens for versatility. If I expect to need additional lenses, I'll carry them in a fanny pack, and lately I've added a zipper pouch designed to be carried on a belt to one of the harness straps to carry a set of optical filters, including a circular polarizer and a neutral density filter. I also try to make sure that I keep a tripod in the car, so that it is relatively close at hand if I need it.

Feedback

I think there are several factors that make this picture work. First, the square aspect ratio eliminates distractions, keeping the bloom the sole focus of the image. Combine that with the shallow depth of field provided by the macro lens and the extra enhancement provided by the "toy pop" filter, and the bloom almost explodes out of the image. I got to this combination by trial and error. Don't be afraid to spend time with your subject, trying different combinations of settings. And even when you think you have the perfect shot, keep shooting...you probably won't know for sure until you review your shots later.

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