Charles Bartolotta
July 2024 - Orange Lilies on Black
About the Image(s)
This image of three orange daylilies from our garden was taken with window light from
the left and a silver foil reflector on the right. The bottle wa painted with flat black paint
as was the plastic pedestal. All items are on a sheet of black glass and the background
was hand-painted by my granddaughter. A lot of the powder (pollen?) from the flowers
dropped onto the glass which required a lot of cleanup in Photoshop. The image did not
require a lot of processing: a little exposure, sharpening, and Aurora HDR at default
settings to give it a bit more ⬓snapâ¬.
Camera: Nikon Z8
Lens: Nikon 24-120 mm at 70 mm
ISO: 100
f/10 @ 20 seconds (tripod mounted)
-1 exposure compensation
RAW mode
This round’s discussion is now closed!
12 comments posted
beautiful image. I would be picky and remove the white dots on the back round. Posted: 07/08/2024 14:34:18
Nice catch, Michael. You've got a good eye for detail. Posted: 07/21/2024 23:54:31
A very nice image. The orange flower stands out from the background. Posted: 07/21/2024 15:59:09
Thanks, Stuart. Glad you like it. Posted: 07/21/2024 23:55:10
Susan Lurie
Hello Charles -
This is quite an eye catcher. Only two colors, orange and black, make it very distinctive. It still would have been dramatic if there were more colors; however, I think that the simplicity forces makes the image. The different textures in the black objects, from smooth to detailed to rough, helps the lilies stand out. Beautiful. Posted: 07/21/2024 17:22:32
This is quite an eye catcher. Only two colors, orange and black, make it very distinctive. It still would have been dramatic if there were more colors; however, I think that the simplicity forces makes the image. The different textures in the black objects, from smooth to detailed to rough, helps the lilies stand out. Beautiful. Posted: 07/21/2024 17:22:32
Thank you, Susan. I entered a similar composition in the Still Life competition using orange slices instead of flowers and I liked the color combination. (Orange and black are also the colors of my 1970 Camaro Z28.) Coincidently, my image with the orange slices won first place in the PSA end-of-year still life competition. Posted: 07/21/2024 23:59:04
Susan Lurie
Just wanted to say congratulations on your award! Posted: 07/23/2024 18:43:27
Thank you, Susan. Posted: 07/23/2024 21:36:09
Hi Charles - the image is gorgeous, but now you've got my curiosity up on the pollen and how the picture would have looked with it or some of it remaining as a natural cycle of the environment. Posted: 07/21/2024 20:54:35
Thanks, Sharlana. That's an interesting suggestion. I usually remove those tips from the stamen to keep the pollen off the black glass. As it was, it took a lot of spot removing to get what did fall removed from the glass. Posted: 07/22/2024 00:01:59
Outstanding photograph.
The straight line transition from the black glass to the hand-painted backdrop bothers me, but I don't have any suggestion on what to do about it.
Congratulations on first place in the PSA end-of-year still life competition.
I occasionally try to do product and still life photograph on black seamless paper. The transition in the background from horizontal to vertical (black glass to gray hand painted) usually bothers me. Other than moving my subject away from the vertical backdrop paper and making a smooth curved transition from horizontal to vertical with the backdrop paper, I don't know how to handle this. Perhaps I should research still life photography on the PSA and Royal Photographic Society websites. Posted: 07/28/2024 00:04:01
The straight line transition from the black glass to the hand-painted backdrop bothers me, but I don't have any suggestion on what to do about it.
Congratulations on first place in the PSA end-of-year still life competition.
I occasionally try to do product and still life photograph on black seamless paper. The transition in the background from horizontal to vertical (black glass to gray hand painted) usually bothers me. Other than moving my subject away from the vertical backdrop paper and making a smooth curved transition from horizontal to vertical with the backdrop paper, I don't know how to handle this. Perhaps I should research still life photography on the PSA and Royal Photographic Society websites. Posted: 07/28/2024 00:04:01
Thanks, Keith. I've used the seamless background paper when I was doing product photography, so I know what you mean. It's difficult to get the lighting the same on both planes of the paper. But with digital, you can always remove the background an replace it with something that has no transition to it. As far as still life photographs, unless it's shot from above (a flat lay composition) there will be the transition from the supporting surface to the background. Posted: 07/28/2024 12:09:13