Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: Balloon Flower

  1. #1
    Ron Conlon
    Guest

    Default Balloon Flower

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    A balloon flower in the midst of opening. I have wanted to capture these blooms in the process of opening, and was pleased to find that they did well as cut flowers, and they opened slowly. Letting some of the leaves go out of frame seemed to relieve some of the artificiality in appearance...
    21 images acquired by turning the focus ring, DMap stacked in Zerene.
    Shot in a lightbox with remote flash, tripod, D5100 200mm 1/200s f6.3 ISO 100

  2. #2
    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Cheshire UK
    Posts
    17,015
    Threads
    2,604
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Well Ron you will be pleased to know I don't have one of these in the back garden!
    I like the slightly muted colours, the flower looks great, the leaves, well some of the edges are a little indistinct. Purely from a compositional point of view, I find the leaf a little dominant, it seems to pull my eye from the lovely flower. I may sound a little critical but having said that I think it is a very pleasing image indeed.

  3. #3
    Ron Conlon
    Guest

    Default

    Thanks, Jon. Critique is why I come here--I have learned so much from it. I was mindful of the leaves' impact on the eye and composition, and had shot versions where I had trimmed the leaves off. While I love the lightbox, I find the results sometimes to be a little sterile, mugshot-ish or bloom-on-a-stick-ish. The less than ideal leaves (compositionally) I thought made it look a little less contrived (and it is plenty contrived with them in). I will continue to work on alternate approaches, thanks.

  4. #4
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    3,065
    Threads
    1,300
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Beautiful image guess you could say a captive flower

  5. #5
    BPN Member Steve Maxson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Bemidji, Minnesota
    Posts
    5,801
    Threads
    818
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Hi Ron. Love the soft light and the colors! The stacking worked very well here. I'm not that fond of the leaf on the right as it tends to lead my eye out of the frame. Other than that, this is just about perfect!

  6. #6
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Santa Rosa, CA
    Posts
    9,587
    Threads
    401
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Lovely work on the flower! Maybe just a tad on the bright side??

    I think if the two leaves were darkened a bit they would seem more natural -- the very low contrast grabs my attention. Or you could crop from the bottom and clone out the remains for a different presentation. It does feel a bit crowded to and sides, for my taste. Easy to add canvas.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Web Analytics