Dahlia

[deeky]

As I said in my post in the b&w forum, I made a bit of a mess of my kitchen setting up these shots, but I think made the most of it. I spent a fair amount of time playing with the processing. The first is pretty much true to the actual flower. The second, well.... I just pushed it.

As always, comments welcome.

#1
IMG_8838a1 by breckmiller, on Flickr

#2
IMG_8813a by breckmiller, on Flickr

 

[echoyjeff2221]

Nice detail - do you have any with different comps? This one is a bit static.

 

[katsrevenge]

Lovely colors in both images. They are a bit stark.. but I like the effect.

These are some of my favorite flowers for the color variation in the petals.

 

[WesternGuy]

Interesting images. For me, it would be interesting to zoom in and fill the entire image with a part of the flower, just for comparison.

WesternGuy

 

[tirediron]

Very nicely done. I agree the composition is static but I think it works very well. I think it might be interesting to see these with the stems cloned out and just the bloom on black.

 

[Derrel]

Very stark. It's interesting to see just how far the shot was able to be pushed. I think these are interesting as "studies". It might be fun to do other flowers in the same vertical framing with the same black background and then mount an odd number's worth of them and display them that way, with five or seven different flower types side by side in the display. The starkness, the blackness, the single, solitary blooms of each variety of flower would really have a lot of impact that way. You got a really good, solid, deep black backdrop on these.

 

[Clay Olmstead]

From the beautiful to the sublime.

 

[deeky]

Thanks for the comments.

Darrel, it will end up being a bit of a study. I have a variety of Dahlias in my yard and plan to capture each as I get a good bloom.
I also found a late calla lily today that may end up getting shot tomorrow. I struggle between cutting them so I can shoot like this or keeping them on the plant so they live longer.

I also need to get a piece of black foam-core so I don't have to keep hanging a black king-sized sheet as a background. These are big flowers at around 6 inches across, but not that big.

Here's one I shot today. I have the matching comp to the other one as well as a bit more of a profile shot.

1.
IMG_9000a1 by breckmiller, on Flickr

2.
IMG_9016a1 by breckmiller, on Flickr

 

[Derrel]

NICE! I like the side-view shot!

Get a large take-out pizza. Eat the pizza. Spray paint the outside of the pizza box with black paint.