Ahh...Best $5.00 I've Spent in Weeks!

[Julie Kenward]

I simply couldn't take the drab, cold, overcast skies ANYMORE! Be gone winter! I walked into the grocery store today and saw a bouquet of three gerbera daisies and decided I couldn't live without 'em.

I feel almost like spring is back.

Only I'm still wearing three sweaters at once. :(

So for this little shindig, I put them in a vase, stuck the vase on top of my two large containers of bird food and stuck it in the middle of the breakfast nook floor. I put a chair behind the bird food containers with a piece of black poster board standing up on it for the BG. I had natural light coming in from the French doors on the right, tungsten light overhead from the light fixture and, to add even more fun, I turned on the flash. :D Hey, when I say it's overcast here, IT'S OVERCAST!

Canon 40D, 100mm f/2.8 macro lens
f8 @ 1/80th, ISO 800
Manual mode, pattern metering, dogs running underfoot while I tried to handhold the camera
Processed in ACR & CS4 where I pulled the black BG down even further and did a slight curves adjustment. I desaturated the yellows and increased the yellow luminance in ACR.
Noise reduction, sharpening, & kissing the screen because I got to photograph a flower again! A Flower y'all! Woo Hoo!!! :D:):D

[Ed Vatza]

Seriously... when I saw the title, I thought you were going to write something about duChemin's e-books.

But these aren't bad either! Love the flowers, love the color, love the detail, excellent placement. I might have gone vert (because they seem chopped off at the knees to me) but that's just me and this is your vision, your image.

And most importantly, it did what you wanted... made you feel better on a cold winter day. Can't ask for more than that!

[Julie Kenward]

Yes, Ed, I believe you're right about them feeling chopped off at the knees...I was standing back as far as I could while still getting some light to fall on that front lower flower and couldn't get any more stem. No problem...I'll give it another try tomorrow.

(I also bought four of the biggest sunflowers for $5.00 as well so images of them should be showing up this weekend. FLOWERS!!! Bring Spring!)

[Lana Hays]

Jules
These are beautiful....and I especially love the dark BG. Interesting that they are both sharp and soft/smooth...which is very appealing. I used to buy some flowers at the grocery last year during winter. I went out and bought "display board".......like kids would use to display a project. I bought some green, blue, and black poster board to cover it to use as my BG depending on what I had. It was a lot of fun.......but I had to finally shut the cats out of the room.....their curiosity was just a bit tooooooo much. Well done with this one.

[Vida van der Walt]

Beautiful image Jules. Lana said it so well with the sharp/soft comment. Love the orange tips on the ends and the yellow looks so great against the dark bg.:) I had to laugh when I read your set up info. It sounds so much like me when I worked inside my house with the shot of the jump. No fancy studio room for me either and it was just me sitting on the floor of my lounge, in front of the glass doors and using a coffee table and empty boxes.;):D

[Charles Wesley]

Jules,

Love the color and contrast on this one. You have very nice detail as well. I might have shot it a
little less tight or tried a vertical. Can't stop looking at the color....
____________________
Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL

[Julie Kenward]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Here's the secret to the sharp/soft thing: After I did noise reduction on the flowers (yes, at that ISO it needed it in places) I DIDN'T mask any of it out except the center. It left the petals smooth as silk. I then did a round of unsharp mask sharpening to crisp the edges and center and voila! Another good trick for the petals is to barely run a bit of zoom blur on them. Select just the petals and move them 5-10 pixels and see what you think. Usually leaves them in tact and smooth as a baby's backside. ;)

Lana, I bought black, white, gold and silver poster board but I'm also thinking of going to a local fabric store and getting some florals in 1 yd. pieces to see how they work for BG's as well.

And Charlie, if you love these colors in sRGB you should see what the ProRGB version looks like. Wowee! Cheers me right up every time I look at it.

Vida, we all gotta make do with what we have, right? My dream this year is to get rid of an old bed and clean out an unused spare bedroom that I can paint white and go to town in. At least that way I could kick the dogs outside so they don't keep trying to lick my camera. I wonder if the pro's have those kind of distractions???

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Julie, very, very nice composition! I love how you positioned the three flowers and both texture and color are amazing. Good to see that they cheered you up enough to make one of them your new avatar!
Do you have any idea why the center of the left flower looks OOF? It can't be DOF, because the flower in the back seems sharp to me and it's even further away...:confused:

[Barbara Kile]

I wondered about the center of the left flower too - but overall the comp and beautiful colors work for me! I love the 'sharp/soft' look so thanks for the feedback on that Jules. I've bought some fabrics at the quilting store - beautiful florals, marbles and watercolors!

[Anita Bower]

This image delights me! So cheery. I love the composition, the attitude of the flowers--with that one a bit larger than the rest, the sharp and soft look, the details, the colors, the perfect light. Glorious! I like the horizontal comp. Wouldn't change a thing! (Are the dogs a requirement for getting an excellent photo like this one?;))

[Julie Kenward]

My only guess on the soft center is the fact I am a hand holder. I am seriously thinking of inventing a tripod that has a gyroscope center for holding the camera and maybe THEN I'll elect to use one when I should!

Anita, I seriously doubt that the "two pug" requirement had anything to do with my getting a decent image. If anything, they are to blame for the 50-60 I threw in the trash!

[Anita Bower]

To clarify my comment about softness--it is in the petals--maybe a better word would have been silkyness. You do a fantastic job hand-holding your camera. I haven't seen it be a problem. There might already be a gyroscope-head for tripods! :)