Blackberry Lily Seeds

[Anita Bower]

Not a true Lily. I love the seeds and dry pods that survive through the early part of winter.

Taken indoors with natural light. Nikon D300, f36, 2.5 sec., ISO 125. Used black foam board for BG, but somewhere during pp it turned brown. In the original image, the bg was not particularly dark.

PP: Lots of layers: curves, levels, color balance, solid color, high pass, Topaz Adjust mild details.

C & C please!

[Steve Maxson]

This is very nicely done, Anita! What's not to like - you have an interesting subject in great light, a nice diagonal comp, and the brown background works very well here (much better than a solid black background, IMO). Overall, the image has a nice moody "feel." :cheers:

[Dave Leroy]

It has a very soft and appealing feel to it.

Interesting how the clump of berries have highlights on both left and right helping to frame berries.

Bg compliments berries and stem nicely.

Dave

[Anita Bower]

It has a very soft and appealing feel to it.

Interesting how the clump of berries have highlights on both left and right helping to frame berries.

Bg compliments berries and stem nicely.

Dave

Thanks. There was light coming in from the window to the right, and reflected from a white foamboard on the left.

[Ken Childs]

Hi Anita, the name of this ex-flower certainly fits! Steve covered this pretty well and I agree with all of his comments. Whatever you did to turn the BG brown was a stroke of luck.....er skill. :D

Yesterday I tried an experiment in Photoshop and recorded an action for an entire edit so I could remember exactly what I did. The fun started when I applied this action to other photos....some of the results were very interesting! :D

[Anita Bower]

Hi Anita, the name of this ex-flower certainly fits! Steve covered this pretty well and I agree with all of his comments. Whatever you did to turn the BG brown was a stroke of luck.....er skill. :D

Yesterday I tried an experiment in Photoshop and recorded an action for an entire edit so I could remember exactly what I did. The fun started when I applied this action to other photos....some of the results were very interesting! :D

Thanks, Ken.

I have created an action once or twice. Your idea intrigues me. I'm not sure I do the same thing over and over again enough to create an action. I'm going to pay attention to my pp and see if there are possibilities. It might be something fun to do on these dreary days, when I'm not feeling particularly gifted or challenged photographically.

[Ken Childs]

Since every edit is mostly unique, it's fun because this action does some very strange things to photos it wasn't designed for.

I just applied it to a random photo that I probably would have deleted and it came up with a composition I never would have thought of so now that photo has become a keeper!

[Anita Bower]

Since every edit is mostly unique, it's fun because this action does some very strange things to photos it wasn't designed for.

I just applied it to a random photo that I probably would have deleted and it came up with a composition I never would have thought of so now that photo has become a keeper!

Are you going to post it?

[Ken Childs]

Are you going to post it?
Eventually I will and when I do, I'll be sure to note how I came up with the crop. It literally has a 'hand of man' element so I may post it in the OOTB forum.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Anita,

Great mood with this shot...............excellent lighting and BG.

[Aidan Briggs]

Well done Anita! Nice dark, moody image. Good composition and lighting too!

[Anita Bower]

Thank you all! :)

[Julie Kenward]

I saw this on your blog as well but you had it in a closer crop. I have to say I like this crop a bit better but the other does have a unique look to it. These berries are just superb! Look at the depth of color you managed to capture here and against that brown pod - wowee!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Anita,
First thing that caught my attention on this one was the super light!!! Great job there and overall you did a fantastic job.....even with the BG turning brownish! Often.....when some light hits the black BG board.....it has a tendency to go brownish......so just something to keep in mind if you want to try and recreate the color as it worked perfectly here!

[Anita Bower]

Hey Anita,
First thing that caught my attention on this one was the super light!!! Great job there and overall you did a fantastic job.....even with the BG turning brownish! Often.....when some light hits the black BG board.....it has a tendency to go brownish......so just something to keep in mind if you want to try and recreate the color as it worked perfectly here!

Thanks! Question--Did you mean when some sunlight hits the black BG board? Because light will always be on it. Any tips on how to get it to be darker?

[Roman Kurywczak]

Yes Anita,
Any sun that hits the Board makes it look brown.......shade it to keep the blacks -black.......or easy enough to select out in PP'ing....then use selective color and add black to the black channel.....or a million other methods. Putting the board further back.....also helps because the light fall off is so quick at f22 and up.....that even 6 inches further back makes a huge difference. Let me know if you try it out.

[Anita Bower]

Yes Anita,
Any sun that hits the Board makes it look brown.......shade it to keep the blacks -black.......or easy enough to select out in PP'ing....then use selective color and add black to the black channel.....or a million other methods. Putting the board further back.....also helps because the light fall off is so quick at f22 and up.....that even 6 inches further back makes a huge difference. Let me know if you try it out.

There was no sun hitting the bg. Moving the board back is a good suggestion. Thanks! :-)

[Ken Childs]

Anita, I angle the black board away from the main light source which works pretty well. When I'm using white, I angle it towards the light.

[Anita Bower]

Anita, I angle the black board away from the main light source which works pretty well. When I'm using white, I angle it towards the light.

Good idea. I will have to expand my little set up. :)