Tom McCreary, APSA, MPSA
May 2023 - Grape Hyacinth
About the Image(s)
These started blooming a couple of months ago, but it is hard to control the lighting when outside, and also my knees are getting older and harder to get up and down. So, I purchased these at the store. I was playing with depth of field to have the front flower sharp, and the back flowers out of focus so as to keep attention on the front flower. I did want three flowers in the image, to add more interest. It was taken with my OM-1 camera and Olympus 60mm macro lens at 1/4th second, f4.0 and ISO 200. I put it on by dining table with lighting from a north window on a black base and black poster board behind.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
9 comments posted
I often shoot my still life and flower shots just like your set up. You have nice lighting and great focus on you foreground flower. I have no suggestions to improve that, however, I think the photo would be more pleasing without the two background flowers, especially since your focal point flower is merged with the one behind it. Posted: 05/08/2023 11:32:45
I now see exactly what you mean. I should have moved the back flower on the left, more to the left so that I was not behind the front flower. I wanted the out of focus back flowers to add depth. Maybe I will try again next year. Posted: 05/13/2023 16:36:42
The front flower is perfect. I would play around with the composition a bit as well. I also like things in threes. Next time, you could either play with them in the vase or turn the vase (I do this a lot) or walk around the vase if possible and get different angles. You could also change your perspective. Sit a little lower, etc. Posted: 05/23/2023 09:13:50
Thanks, I will try again next year. Posted: 05/23/2023 10:02:51
Good choice of flower for your subject, nice vertical presence. Since this is a studio shot, you could get that soft background you're looking for by moving them further back, allowing you to use a higher f stop and gaining more DOF on your main subject. It looks there may be a little more life in the whites of the flowers, if you can brush over the first flower with a soft brush that has the white slider boosted, your could get some more contrast and separation between the whites and blues. Just a thought. Posted: 05/27/2023 18:46:43
Good idea about the brush, thank you. Posted: 05/27/2023 19:03:53
One thing leads to another. This shot is different in many ways like the complimentary colors and patterns. The background works well although there could be less of it. Did you try a shot from below? Looks like there would good patterns at different camera angles. Posted: 05/29/2023 22:04:50
No, that would be a good idea. Posted: 05/30/2023 06:52:02
Hi Tom - this is a beautiful closeup of your grape hyacinth. I agree with the previous suggestions and would experiment with both the composition of the three stems and shot angles. Posted: 05/31/2023 04:59:41