High Key Parrot Tulip

[Anita Bower]

Taken indoors with natural light. 105mm macro.
Processed in Elements 10, plus Color Efex Pro: Tonal Contrast; Viveza.

[MiroslavMaric]

Hi Anita,
Well done indoor shot. I like the composition. If mine I would add not more than 10% room (left & top) and consider to add a bit vibrance to green color. TFS.
Cheers,
Miro

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beatiful shot just a tad tight in the frame for me, the thin black border works well containing the image. The greens look just a tad pale to me too, I think Miro has a good idea.

[Anita Bower]

Thank you, Miro and Jonathan. I've darkened leaves--good idea. The border makes it a bit difficult to add canvas, but I may try it. Appreciate comments.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Anita if you think necessary just clone out the border then add a new one!

[Anita Bower]

Anita if you think necessary just clone out the border then add a new one!
Good idea. Why didn't I think of it?

[Anita Bower]

I added space to all sides except bottom, and darkened the green.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beautiful! Quite apart from the flower head there are lovely details in the leaves and the white edge looks gorgeous, taking my eye straight to the flower.

[Anita Bower]

Beautiful! Quite apart from the flower head there are lovely details in the leaves and the white edge looks gorgeous, taking my eye straight to the flower.
Thanks for your help and comments.

[Diane Miller]

You can always add a border on a separate layer, making it easy to change later. If it's the only element on a layer that is in a blend mode (such as Darken or Multiply) then you can re-scale that layer to fit an enlarged canvas, without having to redo it. A line is easy to redo but a more complex border can be some trouble.

[Diane Miller]

Forgot to say, it's a gorgeous image! I'm only on my iPhone again today (traveling) -- look forward to enjoying it properly this evening on the laptop.

[Anita Bower]

You can always add a border on a separate layer, making it easy to change later. If it's the only element on a layer that is in a blend mode (such as Darken or Multiply) then you can re-scale that layer to fit an enlarged canvas, without having to redo it. A line is easy to redo but a more complex border can be some trouble.
Right. Good idea. I almost never use borders, so I hadn't figured this out. I'm glad you like the image. Thanks for your help.

[Diane Miller]

Finally got to this on the laptop -- love it! But I don't see borders or mention of them above -- did I respond to the wrong post or did it get edited? No matter - lovely image either way! I'd also be inclined to add a little more room top and sides.

[Anita Bower]

Finally got to this on the laptop -- love it! But I don't see borders or mention of them above -- did I respond to the wrong post or did it get edited? No matter - lovely image either way! I'd also be inclined to add a little more room top and sides.
Thanks, Diane. There is a thin, dark red border.

[Diane Miller]

I normally use the Capt James dark gray BG and I can't see it there. Switching to BP Light shows it. (Was getting worried about my eyesight!) It is a nice subtle touch.

[Don Railton]

This is a sweet image Anita... Simple & sweet, and the RP lifts it further.

DON

[Anita Bower]

This is a sweet image Anita... Simple & sweet, and the RP lifts it further.

DON
Thanks, Don

[Ron Conlon]

Anita, this is very nicely done. I like both versions. Finding the right tonality is hard (for me, at least) in high key, and both of these work. After looking at these over several days, I find my preference between the two isn't stable, but maybe that speaks to my own instability ;)
The colors of the bloom work well for high key, and the diagonal keeps it dynamic.
I am curious as to how you light it, given that you are using natural light. What's the background and how are you getting enough light from the front?

[Anita Bower]

Anita, this is very nicely done. I like both versions. Finding the right tonality is hard (for me, at least) in high key, and both of these work. After looking at these over several days, I find my preference between the two isn't stable, but maybe that speaks to my own instability ;)
The colors of the bloom work well for high key, and the diagonal keeps it dynamic.
I am curious as to how you light it, given that you are using natural light. What's the background and how are you getting enough light from the front?

Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I, too, go back and forth between the two versions.

I took this picture, and most of my indoor flower shots, in a room with lots of East facing windows. I put the flower about 2 feet away from the window. I put a white foam board down on the surface underneath the flower, and stick the flower in a flower arranging frog or kenzan or Plamp or vase. The background is another white foam board about 1 1/2 feet behind the flower, angled a bit towards the window. Depending on the light and the flower, I use a 12" diffuser between the window and the flower to remove shinny spots. I use a 12" reflector or a piece of wrinkly aluminum foil to shine light into the darker areas of the flower. I find I can take pictures even on cloudy days, since I use a tripod and remote trigger, allowing for long exposures. For high-key, I over-expose. I also make some adjustments in processing, lightening the bg in RAW conversion, using contrast/brightness, levels, etc. in Elements 10.

Hope this helps.

[Ron Conlon]

Thanks, Anita, that does help tremendously--I learned a lot. Thanks for sharing.
Good light doesn't come easily.

[Anita Bower]

Thanks, Anita, that does help tremendously--I learned a lot. Thanks for sharing.
Good light doesn't come easily.

You are welcome. It really isn't difficult, or I wouldn't be doing it. :bg3:

[Ron Conlon]

It sounds like it might require adjustment each time. Does it?
Although I like the idea of natural light I have a flash set up for high key. The good thing about my set up is that it doesn't require adjustment, at least not usually.
I want to push myself to create series or sets of related photos. Some of my reading led me to the idea that high key is an easy path to a set or series of visually and tonally related photos. Black background is another...

[Anita Bower]

It sounds like it might require adjustment each time. Does it?
Although I like the idea of natural light I have a flash set up for high key. The good thing about my set up is that it doesn't require adjustment, at least not usually.
I want to push myself to create series or sets of related photos. Some of my reading led me to the idea that high key is an easy path to a set or series of visually and tonally related photos. Black background is another...

What do you mean by "require adjustment" each time? If you mean the position of each thing--flower, reflector, etc.--and the settings on my camera, then yes, these are different each time. With a flash you have more control. I don't use flash, so don't know how I would set it up to get the white bg.
Your idea of a series sounds great.

[Ron Conlon]

After struggling to do high key, I stumbled upon this site http://meetyourneighbours.net which has as its basis a goal of everyone taking high key photos to share our world. All the high key photos then make a matching series. They offer several ways to make high key photos in all sorts of enrivonments, but the basic idea is to have a diffused flash behind a white plastic sheet behind the subject to provide the white background, and then light from the front. What I discovered was that in the studio I could get all the light I needed from the front by jamming my lightbox up against the white background--giving a nice even light. One flash only, the one behind.

[Anita Bower]

After struggling to do high key, I stumbled upon this site http://meetyourneighbours.net which has as its basis a goal of everyone taking high key photos to share our world. All the high key photos then make a matching series. They offer several ways to make high key photos in all sorts of enrivonments, but the basic idea is to have a diffused flash behind a white plastic sheet behind the subject to provide the white background, and then light from the front. What I discovered was that in the studio I could get all the light I needed from the front by jamming my lightbox up against the white background--giving a nice even light. One flash only, the one behind.
Gorgeous images on the site you linked. Wow!