daffodil

[Ron Conlon]

I am very fond of these narcissus/daffodil which grow in our garden.
This was taken indoors, with two remote flashes, one behind the white translucent background, and one in a diffuser to the left. 35 through focus images were acquired with Helicon Remote tethering software, and the stack was made into a composite with Zerene using a depth map. I then retouched the composite in Zerene to replace in-focus tepals and stem with (mostly) out-of-focus frames to draw the eye to the corona.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

The colour of the corona is gorgeous, and on a white bg it looks very beautiful. I like how the petals fade to a soft blur. I wonder about a less tight crop as a possibility.

[Ron Conlon]

Thanks, now that you mention it, a looser framing seems obvious to me, d'oh!

[Dennis Bishop]

You set this up very nicely in terms of perspective and lighting. Very effective processing, too. I can see Jackie's point about looser cropping, but -- with the lightness of the petals -- I think it works well as it is.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Ron, this is gorgeous - the flower, your stacking technique, the background. I like it the way it is. I hope to see more!

[gary ellwein]

Ron, this image is striking. I particularly like the way you have blended the out of focus and in focus areas of the image as well as the colors.

[Hazel Grant]

Beautiful. I can see stacking is something I need to learn more about.

[Anita Bower]

Beautiful, beautiful work! Perfect in focus and blurred areas. I like the white bg. Beautiful daffodil. I, too, would like a little more space around this beauty.
Your method is similar to one used by some to photograph wildflowers in the field. Here are some examples. http://paulwiegman.wix.com/botanicals?hc_location=ufi

[Anita Bower]

It would be easy to add canvas to this image.

[Ron Conlon]

Thanks, Anita, I agree that more canvas would help, and regret not seeing that from the start. But it should be easy to correct, as you say.
I developed my technique by modifying methods described on such a web site, which I can't seem to locate any more. It had various methods for capturing high key photos in the field--the idea was to have many photographers capture plants etc around the world. The point of collecting all of the photos in high key was that diverse photos would have a visual continuity or coherence. I tried using some such equipment just around my flower beds and I soon gave up--partly because of the wind, partly because of the shortcomings of my lighting equipment, and partly out of worrying what the neighbors would think of someone they already think is beyond the pale ;

[Anita Bower]

Thanks, Anita, I agree that more canvas would help, and regret not seeing that from the start. But it should be easy to correct, as you say.
I developed my technique by modifying methods described on such a web site, which I can't seem to locate any more. It had various methods for capturing high key photos in the field--the idea was to have many photographers capture plants etc around the world. The point of collecting all of the photos in high key was that diverse photos would have a visual continuity or coherence. I tried using some such equipment just around my flower beds and I soon gave up--partly because of the wind, partly because of the shortcomings of my lighting equipment, and partly out of worrying what the neighbors would think of someone they already think is beyond the pale ;

I, too, saw that website some months ago. I didn't even try because i never use flash, and don't even own one for my camera. I know what you mean about neighbors.

[Ron Conlon]

I used to be dedicated to natural light, and never thought I would use flash. Now look where I am! It poses challenges, but the advantage for me is that I can better fit flower photography into my schedule. My wife became tolerant of bloom harvest once the photos reached a certain level ;)