Silver and Gold

[Julie Kenward]

My gerbera plant is finally in bloom again after taking some time off. Tonight I made a few images of the pale yellow flower and this is the first version that I came up with.

To see what I did next, head on down to the 'Out of the Box' forum where you can view the silver gelatin version (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=126530#post126530)of this lightly golden beauty.

Canon 40D, EF100 f/2.8 Macro
f4 @ 1/100, ISO 100
Center Weighted, handheld
AWB, evening light

Processed in camera raw & CS3 with levels and curves adjustments and a small crop.

[Aristotle Georgiou]

Nice work Jules, a fantastic look flower. I like the composition, dark BG looks nice, but a little more DOF would set this off and really like the silver gelatin version.

[Ed Vatza]

Good morning Jules,

First off, I have really been enjoying your gerbera series and am glad to see them return.

The detail in the near petals is excellent and they look beautiful. I'd really like to see more. I know you must tire of hearing it (so maybe I should stop saying it :)) but I think a little more dof would help here. I guess its just a matter of personal preference. Also for some reason this composition seems a slight bit "stiff" to me particularly in this color version. I think the petals folded down help soften the composition a little but not quite enough. But they do make me want to have a peek inside. I hope that makes some kind of sense. I do actually prefer the silver gelatin version.

That said, I love the way you folks explore different angles, perspectives, etc. Every time I look at your images I come away with ideas. So a big thank you for that, Jules (and others).

[Mike Moats]

Hey Jules, very nice image and this style with the shallow DOF is more an artistic look which I like.

[Julie Kenward]

Ed & Aristotle: as for the DOF issue, I agree that stopping down would have brought the entire flower into focus. I find when I am looking at a flower to photograph that a certain area or 'part' will jump out at me and I tend to try to put the focus only on that one area as opposed to photographing the entire flower. In this case, I wanted the front and back petals that were still to unfold to be the area of focus and to let the ones that were open (on the top and the bottom) to be more OOF, giving the flower a particular sense of depth. Also, the flower petals that are still to unfold are stiffer - they are tighter and more rigid than the ones that have already "let go" and unfolded - and I wanted to show that difference as well.

Ed, as for your wanting to take a peek inside...that's the best compliment you could give me! That was my main goal...to make you want to move around the photo and see if you could see "inside."

[Amy DeStefanis]

Hi Jules,

I saw the version in OOTB first - it is quite striking. This is, too - I love how it appears that the petals are kind of sliding off the flower. It kind of gives the "still" image implied motion.... Interesting.

Amy D.