Amaryllis buds

[Jerry van Dijk]

Can't wait for this beauty to flower! The weaving lines in the overcast light caught my eye. Taken in my windowsill with natural light. BG is just shadow on the wall.
D7000, Nikkor 200mm micro, tripod, remote w. mirror-up, ISO-100, f/13, 1/6 sec, -2 EV.

[Mitch Haimov]

Nice subject, Jerry. DOF works well, as does the simple comp with non-competing BG. I'm wondering how it would of come out with a small reflector such a a sheet of white paper kicking some light back into the shadow side--I think I would like it with enough fill to reduce the contrast somewhat but retaining the directional light. Hope to see more of this one once it opens.

[John Robinson]

Hi jerry
I think I agree with the above comments. The dark area opened up abit would certainly help. Be good for some stacking stuff when it opens.
Cheers
John

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks for the comments! I tried the digital approach to your suggestions with the shadows slider before I posted this, but didn't like the result. It counteracted the side light effect too much to my taste. I've been struggling with the position of the plant to get it just right, but this was the best I could do.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely quality I like the side lighting, I like the shadows - they offer relief but I think a little light bouced back to make them less dense would have helped considerably. I suspect you will still have the opportunity to experiment further as the bud gradually opens, I am looking forward to seeing more images.

[Jerry van Dijk]

By popular demand, here's a version with the shadows opened up, just a little bit. This is far as I want to go without compromising the nice side lighting effect I was aiming for :S3:.
Despite the subtle change quite an improvement IMO, so thank you very much for your input!

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jerry. I like the interesting mix of brights, shadows, colors, and patterns in the OP - but then I saw your repost and I like that even better. IMO, if you opened up the shadows any more it would take away from the dramatic lighting. This is very nicely done!

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks Steve! I tried different versions with shadows more or less open, and also different ranges of the shadows opened up, but this was the only one I liked.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Jerry I like the repost very much indeed.

[Mitch Haimov]

I, too, prefer the repost.