The Shape of Things to Come

[Julie Kenward]

Despite the very mild winter here in the Midwest it's still going to be a few weeks before we see any flowers pop up so I broke down and bought a half dozen white Dutch Iris yesterday. I bought myself some indoor lighting equipment over the Christmas holiday and am just now trying to learn how to use the stuff.

This image was made indoors with two light stands and an on-camera flash with a black board set up behind it. I corrected the WB in pp and then added just a tiny bit of the low key filter in Color Efex Pro to give the whites a little more depth. I also adjusted the yellows a tiny bit to keep them from going neon on me. Note: the center of the flower has a purple tint to it - thus, it is not supposed to be as white as the rest of the petals.

Canon 40D, EF 100mm macro
f4 at 1/80th, ISO 400
Evaluative metering, Average WB and ETTL flash

[Steve Maxson]

Beautifully done, Jules! I love the detail in the whites, the nice yellows and the subtle purple! Very nice sharpness, the black background works well, and I like the diagonal of the stem and the way it starts to fade out at the bottom. You have a winner! :cheers:

[Brendan Dozier]

This turned out great, Jules, for all the reasons Steve mentions. Excellent work!

[Hazel Grant]

DOF puts the sharpness right where it needs to be. The purple actually adds a bit of depth, too. Great shot. and a good thing to look forward to in the future weeks----spring!

[Ken Childs]

Very nice, Jules! Your new lights appear to be doing the job. The only change I would suggest would be to even out the colors of the stem....as it is now, my eye is giving it more attention than it deserves. :S3:

[Bob Miller]

Hi Jules....Nice work here....Your whites are Right on....i will have to try using Color efex low key on my whites .....I also Like the purple tint! .....I agree with ken's point about evening out the color in the stem

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Very nicely composed! The whites look great and the black BG works perfect. Beautiful.