In Search of Summer

Gallery: FloraPosted August 20, 201099 views14 comments

I'm still searching for that perfect shot for Summer in my 4-Season Bougainvillea series. And I think this almost cuts it. I'm happy with the color, the luminosity of the petals, and the way the branch disappears, but I would have preferred to shoot with a less narrow f/stop and have that background petal just a tad more in focus. Guess this experiment will continue ...

No luck today because of the winds. Before I moved to Austin, I read that the average windfall was 9 MPH and it is ...

D700
70-200mm lens with Canon 500D CU lens @ 135 mm
f/4
1/160s
ISO 400
Full frame
Spot meter
Hand-held

The bulk of the processing was accomplished in Camera Raw and included cropping to 4:5 for composition and to eliminate part of the vine that I managed to capture on the left side of the image.

Comments are more than welcome and I thank you all for your generous support of Spring.

Carol

Comments

14 comments

Comment posted by Pat Sampson on August 20, 2010 at 10:17 PM

I love this Carol. The processing is really superb but I agree with you about the dof. My suggestion would be to bring it indoors and stack it. I'd love to see this all sharp with this process on it. Strong comp, excellent bg - really fine original work for my tastes.

Pat

Registered on May 19, 2007, 953 Posts, 15989 Comments

Comment posted by Bruce King on August 20, 2010 at 10:42 PM

Very creative Carol, I like it. I'm with you and Pat regarding focus but your artistic vision here trumps any minor nits.

Registered on January 14, 2010, 276 Posts, 2212 Comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on August 20, 2010 at 10:45 PM

Excellent concept and implementation. Also like the high key effect and the detail in the petal. A little more dof would be nice, but the image would print nicely as is.

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Kennedy on August 21, 2010 at 1:40 AM

Carol, I think this is a super image. I really like the DOF here - I think this more narrow DOF is better than a deeper DOF. The softening focus supports the way the stem disappears and brings it all together. The detail in the main petal is excellent as well. Great capture!

Registered on March 9, 2009, 79 Posts, 676 Comments

Comment posted by Miro Susta on August 21, 2010 at 8:05 AM

Very intersting, most creative combination. Very well done Carol.

Registered on August 18, 2006, 719 Posts, 3736 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on August 21, 2010 at 2:55 PM

Carol: This is elegant and excellent. Having everything sharp would be nice but this works very well for me as is. Superb presentation.>=))>

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments

Comment posted by Ramamohan Pai on August 21, 2010 at 6:49 PM

Very artistic, Carol

- great high key effect. DOF does not bother me here but using more will of course make for another nice photo.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 550 Posts, 9037 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Benner on August 21, 2010 at 9:10 PM

Quite different and wonderful high-key image. Great job.

Registered on December 8, 2003, 482 Posts, 1868 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on August 21, 2010 at 10:20 PM

A different and very creative take on this great plant. Minimal and quite alluring.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Smith on August 22, 2010 at 12:39 PM

Carol, I like both the colors and transluscent light at play. Creative and attractive qualities. I too, would like increased dof...and to outline the frame w/a micro-line that shows your placement of the subject. I always like seeing something new and different like this. Well done!!

Registered on September 5, 2008, 449 Posts, 2444 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Pederson on August 22, 2010 at 1:01 PM

Very delicate and subtle, nice luminosity. I'm curious about how you isolated this against the background, or absence thereof. Nice work.

Registered on August 12, 2010, 29 Posts, 108 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on August 22, 2010 at 6:54 PM

Hi carol

Very creative and well composed. the Hi-key B.G. is very effective against the light pastel color of the leaf. how was this B.G. crafted? Agree with pat, would love to see this leaf inside, with more detail on it. Is there a law in texas against bringing leafs inside

Just kidding Carol.

Albert Darmo. Canada

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Yeoh on August 22, 2010 at 10:06 PM

Lovely hi-key comp. The texture on the petal is astounding. Very well done.

Registered on September 1, 2009, 588 Posts, 8184 Comments

Comment posted by Larry Lynch on August 27, 2010 at 10:46 AM

Love it! Beautifully crafted and presented.

Registered on September 16, 2006, 773 Posts, 9940 Comments