Dark Eyes

[dawn campbell]

A group of dark pink calla lilies. I plopped them in a low vase to hold them over and then realized the way they had fallen had possibilities as an arrangement.

Shot with the Canon 5D Mark II, 20s at f/32, -1/3 EV, ISO 100 with the Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS macro lens on a tripod in natural window light against a black foamcore board aimed away from the window to keep the rich black.

Any comments/critiques welcomed!

I'm not exactly new, but have been lurking. Made a couple of comments on other photos so I figured I'd better put my money where my mouth is :p. I hope I posted it correctly.

regards to all,
dawn

[Anita Bower]

Gorgeous! Love the light, the black bg, the casual arrangement, the tight crop. Wouldn't change a thing.

[Allen Sparks]

Really like the composition and tones of this shot...well done.

[Susan Candelario]

Beautiful choice of flowers and BG, Dawn! I perhaps would have used a reflector to throw some light on the LHS. Nice arrangement and good eye.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Dawn,
Welcome to the forum! I do like the light but agree with susan that perhaps a touch of reflected light may do the trick. I do realize how difficult group flower imaes are....but the only flower nagging me a bit is the central low one....maybe because it merges with 2 flowers....as the RH one doesn't bother me at all! All in all very well handled with a very difficult subject!

[dawn campbell]

Thanks all for taking the time to look and comment. I did actually use a reflector but in post processing decided to make a vignette of sorts. I sometimes use the NIK Color EFEX filters, and in particularly, the Darken/Lighten one. It's not a vignette exactly, but has a similar effect. That said, I'll take another look at the RAW image and revisit that. Alas, it's too late to do anything with the lower flower. I did another image of the same flowers using a scanner to scan the actual flowers. I'll post that later to see if you prefer it to this one. ~~ regards to all, dawn

Hi Dawn,
Welcome to the forum! I do like the light but agree with susan that perhaps a touch of reflected light may do the trick. I do realize how difficult group flower imaes are....but the only flower nagging me a bit is the central low one....maybe because it merges with 2 flowers....as the RH one doesn't bother me at all! All in all very well handled with a very difficult subject!

[Julie Kenward]

I love these "unarranged" arrangements, Dawn. I agree with Roman that the bottom area could have used one fewer flower in there. That said, I love the rich, deep tones and the silvery shades to the purple. Beautiful and elegant image.

[dawn campbell]

Thanks Jules! I wish I still had them to try it over again. Alas my cats managed to knock the vase over, so the poor things were crushed. Most unfortunately, they were crushed with my camera on its way down to the floor as they knocked the tripod flying, however, much to my surprise, neither the camera nor the macro lens was damaged. Only thing that bit the dust was my battery grip, but I felt quite fortunate that was all. I will say that the cats lived thru the day, altho there was a moment there that their longevity was tenous ;)

I love these "unarranged" arrangements, Dawn. I agree with Roman that the bottom area could have used one fewer flower in there. That said, I love the rich, deep tones and the silvery shades to the purple. Beautiful and elegant image.

[Bob Miller]

Dawn...really beautiful image with rich colors and well handled bg. Agree there may have been one to many flowers ...but still superb. Hope to see more posts!

[Charissa]

Very nice comp, detail and colors. Like the image Dawn.

[dawn campbell]

thanks Charissa and everyone else! I appreciate the comments.

[Ed Cordes]

Beautiful image which has received many outstanding suggestions already. Only thing I will add besides congratulations is that a bit more room right and left would help. Not much just a bit.