Denise McKay
December 2019 - Cream Rose
About the Image(s)
Because of the cold weather, I've been doing a lot of indoor flower photography. I have an indoor lighting set-up I use that includes color balanced LED lightbulbs that I shoot through a white diffusion umbrella. I then use white foam core boards to bounce light around as need.
I shot this cream colored rose with my Sony A7r III using a Lensbaby Velvet 56 lens at f 11, 1/3 sec, ISO 100, on a tripod. I did a little spot removal and cropping in Lightroom, but that is all. The Velvet 56 lens has a very close minimum focus distance that allows you to get "macro-type" focusing.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
7 comments posted
(Group 95)
Those lensbabies are a lot of fun to experiment with! So, to my eye, it looks like the best focus landed slightly to the left of center. I am feeling a bit disturbed in my viewing by the focus in the center, which is increased by that sharp angle to the right of it. I do like the grey tint (not sure if that is intentional?) but it leans slightly toward blue. On a personal level, I would like to see it a bit warmer with the blues reduced slightly, but that is really just personal to me. I love that you can see some of the veining in the petals, even though it is very subtle. Posted: 12/11/2019 13:18:47
(Group 77)
Thanks for your feedback! Posted: 12/14/2019 09:33:04
(Group 57)
Never have used a lensbaby....lens but have heard good things about the Velvet 56. It's hard for me to judge where it would be best to place a narrow focus field, it's a subjective call but I agree with Carol that maybe the center of the rose should be the sharp point. So maybe turning the rose counterclockwise a little, laying the focus on the middle and reducing the impact of that curved petal with shadowed blue tint. The cream color of the rose is nice and the blues do, I think reduce the impact of that soft color. Posted: 12/13/2019 15:11:43
(Group 77)
Thanks for your feedback!
Posted: 12/14/2019 09:32:45
Posted: 12/14/2019 09:32:45
So, my first reaction to seeing the image, before reading your description, was, ha! Denise has another soft, pastel flower for us. Then I found out there's a Lensbaby in the mix. I know as much about Lensbaby as I know about NASA projects - nothing. So, to my unknowing eye, the image is another in a series of good flower images - interesting, nicely composed, pastel, with a focus that appears, to me, to be sharp in lower right and begins to become soft as my eye moves toward the top. I like it! Posted: 12/16/2019 12:43:16
(Group 77)
Thanks Bill! Lensbaby lens are a bit of a different animal. Although the Velvet 56 and Velvet 85 kind of act like normal, prime lens, but the focus is primarily in the center and falls off a little faster. So depending on how you are angling your camera, that really affects your depth of field. Plus, they are a completely manual lens, so you've got to have good eyesight for the manual focusing, LOL. That's something I'm still practicing! Even with some helpful tools built into my camera, like manual focus magnification and Focus Peaking, it's still a challenge! Posted: 12/16/2019 13:58:48
Interesting. The manual focusing part wouldn't bother me since I, more often than not, am manually focusing when I shoot macro images. And, come to think of it, my early cameras were only focused manually. Posted: 12/16/2019 14:46:15