One of the challenges of shooting Spring flowers is trying to create something unique so that the blossom stands out from the millions of other flower photographs that out there. And really that should be the goal of any artist – to stand out from the crowd. To create something from the soul that will draw the viewer in and reveal a little about what goes on in your mind and heart. To that end, I’m certainly not always successful (that is an understatement) but that is the goal.
So today while just outside my office window, playing in the back with my son, I spotted this tiny white flower in an otherwise mostly plant-free area. I thought it would need to be a macro shot and most likely need to be focus-stacked to ensure the majority of the blossom was sharp. But the dirt and leaves in the background were distracting, even with the narrow depth of field, and the flower was gently swaying in the breeze making focusing difficult.
Then it struck me the flower would have more impact isolated on a bright white background. It’s kind of counter-intuitive – white on white. But the shadows, the slight kiss of magenta on the petals, the yellow, orange, and green of the center, and the negative space created by the simple background, would make the flower simply pop!
Day 216 of my 365 photo a day project.
As a bonus, you can now watch how I processed this image in Photoshop (link here). And if you are wondering, the plugins used were Nik Color Efex, Topaz ReMask, Topaz Impression, and On1 Photo 10.
