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Monday, January 16, 2012

flowers in winter

I enjoy taking photographs of flowers. 
Last weekend I spent the morning photographing a beautiful orchid my dear friend had given me for Christmas.  I don’t have a very green thumb, well maybe an aqua colored thumb – but not a green thumb.  So I am happy that the orchid still looked as nice as it did on Christmas.
My dear hubby gave me a tripod for Christmas.  I set up the tripod and experimented taking photos in different rooms, with different lighting and different backgrounds.  Close ups and from a distance.  It was early in the morning and I was the only one up and about and I was easily lost in what I was doing.
My only frustrations were that I hadn’t taken the time to think about the light coming in the backdoor and casting shadows on the orchids.  I eventually opened the backdoor – but it was cold outside! 
I love photo editing.  I’m pleased when I have a nice sharp and crisp photo to start with. Often times the results are soft and muted.  I ended up editing a lot of the photographs, but I went with the flow and that’s where it led me.











15 comments:

  1. They are lovely photos! I can easily see them used as note cards or on a calender! Great job!

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    1. Hi Barbara. Note cards and a calendar would be a lot of fun! Maybe someday!

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  2. Following the flow served you very well indeed. Gorgeous...especially for an aqua thumb. :)

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  3. These are just lovely. Did you get the different backgrounds from a photo editing program? Interesting how the background really changes the feel of the image.

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    1. Hi Joanna. I took the photos in my dining room, which has pale yellow walls, and in the mudroom, which has soft greenish aqua walls. I didn't use different backgrounds for editing. They were just the end result of the editing process.

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    2. Wow--I really love the look of the colours on the wall. It looks like a painting.

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  4. I love your series of orchids, they are such graceful flowers to have as subjects. I appreciated the different backgrounds and how they brought out different elements in the actual flowers.

    My favourite photograph is the second one with the soft green background. It really brings out the natural beauty of the bloom and I like the processing on this one too - just the right amount to make the flower and the background become part of each other.

    I get a feeling of peace and serenity looking at these shots. Beautiful!

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  5. What wonderful photos. I hope you plan on printing some of them! I love how soft and calming they look. You did a fantastic job!

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  6. Beautiful pictures - I agree with everyone else they would make a lovely picture or postcard.

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  7. Wonderful photos! I especially like the one with the orange background gradation, it just makes the orange in the flowers pop. Isn't it interesting how different the flowers can look in different settings and light? It looks like you learned a lot from this photo experiment. I'm glad you spent the time to explore and play!

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  8. Nice, I love the different background colors! I like the pink one the best, the petals look luminescent :)

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  9. The different backgrounds really show off the grace of the flowers. Very nice.

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  10. Wow Phyllis all your images are simply stunning, i agree that they would make great cards & calendar. I love all of them but my favorites are the 2nd, 3rd & 6th images. Great work!!

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  11. Lovely photos of a lovely plant. I especially like the color of the first one (which I see was edited into black and white at the end - interesting) and in the fifth the way the shadows on the wall contribute to the compososition. I have the impression from your post that you have a fairly busy household - I hope you're able to have enough open-ended time to yourself to photograph without distraction.

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