Robert Schleif
About the Image(s)
A bunch of these thistles recently appeared as a table decoration in my retirement facility and I couldn't resist photographing them. An image of a single thistle felt too empty, so I used three. Nothing worked as a background, so I decided to avoid any detail in the background and generated this image along with a variety of others with and without a vase.
As might be expected, this was a focus stack. Because this had to be taken from about six feet rather than two feet has been usual for my flower pictures, the depth of field of each shot was greater than usual, and only 20 images were required to encompass the thistles and their stems. This was processed as usual.
7 comments posted
But think this is really gorgeous and I'm going to try this sometime!   Posted: 10/04/2025 01:30:51
I tried using a light grey background and this image displays an affect that I have occasionally seen where the physical size of the displayed image or the print affects the way it feels. In this case, with a smaller image, the near white background is good with the leaves feeling sharp and crisp. Making the background grey seems to detract from the leaves' crispness. For a larger rendition, say more than a foot across, the leaves seem to retain their crispness, and the image feels less stark than with a white background.   Posted: 10/06/2025 23:39:01