Peonies in Black & White

Queen of the Night (Part 2...

...for Part 1 see Photo of the Month for September.)

Last week I had the opportunity to record some images of an incredible blooming event. Our long-time friends and fellow Cereus enthusiasts, Ralph and Steve, gave us the heads up on the impending blooming of their Night Blooming Cereus.

The first photo shows the buds as they were beginning to open at 7:15 on the evening of August 20. At about 8:30, Ralph called to say that the blooming had started and that all six of the flowers were opening fast. I took the next photo of the almost fully opened blooms at about 9:40. The close-up shows the intricate details of the flower's throat.

Once again, the beauty of the flower and the perfume scent that it gives off is hard to describe. However, Ralph did a very good job of it on his blog. So I suggest you hop over there and take a look at his accounting of the evening (but come back of course).

(Click on photo for gallery view)

Question and Answer on Technique

Occasionally I receive a question from a viewer on the process I use in my floral photography. I'm not really disciplined enough to use step-by-step techniques that are appropriate for each image. I guess it would be much easier and less time consuming if I did. But, my processes are much more experimental and I will work hours on one image until I like what I see. Here is a recent question and my answer:

Q: Frank, I very much enjoyed viewing your online photo gallery. Would you mind sharing how you photographed the southern magnolia and ten orchids? How did you create the black background, the lighting, and the appearance that the flowers were suspended in air? That is, how did you set up your studio?

Kindly,Cheryl


A: Cheryl,to answer your question about my "Suspended" flowers, I shoot about 95% of my flower shots outdoors in their natural environment, still attached to the mother plant. I don't have a studio but on the few occasions that I do bring any flowers inside, my technique as far as capture is very uncomplicated. I put a piece of black foam core or felt beneath the subject and either shoot from above or if the flowers are cut and in a vase, I shoot them against the black foam core or an off-white wall. I try always to use natural lighting but if I need flash I use a wireless control on my Nikon and two remote flashes, one on either side of the lens. Each light can be removed and placed away from the camera and each can be turned off or on and the output on each can be adjusted if shadowing is desired.

I use Photoshop CS3 as my digital darkroom as well as several graphic software plug-ins to achieve the results I'm looking for or sometimes discover accidently. I experiment a lot with different techniques but probably spend too much time in processing and fine tuning on the computer. However, IT was my professional background and I enjoy the fact that I can now control my output from original capture to final print.

I have several galleries on PBase.com one of which is devoted to providing examples of how I get from an original image to the final print. The floating magnolia is shown at the bottom of the web page and I invite you to take a look at that as well as the many other images that you will find there. The gallery is titled "Transitions" and can be found at:
http://www.pbase.com/fzipperer/transitions

Example:

1. The Original Image

2. Original Marked for Cropping

3. Cropped and Converted to B&W
(There are many ways to covert to B&W and I use several different ones, but recently I have been using the B&W action layer in CS3 for most of my conversions.)


5. Removing the Background
(I used the eraser tool with the background color set to black.)

6. The Final Image
(After processing the image with the leaves attached, I decided to eliminate them to really draw attention to the beautiful bloom of the Southern Magnolia. I also print this image in sepia tone and color as shown below.)

Best regards and good shooting!

Frank

Photo of the Month for June

Photo of the Month for May

Ahhh, the beautiful blossoms and wonderful scent of the Southern Magnolia.

The magnolias will be in bloom again in about a month here in Virginia...and I'll be out looking for new images to capture.

Occasionally I go into my files and find a treasure like this bloom that I have never published before. I hope you enjoy this one.

Frank

Photo of the Month for April

Photo of the Month for March

"Black Coleus"

Photo of the Month for February

If you are familiar with my photography and my website, then you know that the paintings of the artist, Georgia O'Keeffe, greatly influence the way I approach floral image making with my camera. The Photo of the Month for February was made in 2005 and I would like to think it pays homage to her sensuous floral paintings. To see prints of Georgia O'Keeffe, click here.

Photo of the Month

"Poppy"
(Click on Image for Gallery View)

In the photograph below, which I categorize as Photo Art, I used a layering technique for which photographer Michael Orton is known. Several copies of the same print are processed and manipulated in various ways and then the layers are sandwiched together to create a painterly effect on the final image

"Poppy #2"
(Click on Image for Gallery View)

Picture of the Month for January 2008

The Peony is not a flower I was familiar with growing up in South Carolina, but I fell immediately in love with the huge ruffly blossoms when I moved to Virginia.

The colors range from snow white with just a bit of color, as this one has, to brilliant magenta and fiery reds.

Cut some and put them in a vase in your home and enjoy their perfumed aroma. Or just enjoy them outside with your camera ready.

This image was designated as an "Editor's Pick" in my online gallery at BetterPhoto.com.

~Frank

Photo of the Month for December

The photo of the month for December is a Calla Lily, one of my favorite flowers and one of my favorite subjects to capture with my camera.

This is actually a relatively straight forward photo. Obviously I removed the background, but the natural lighting and shadowing to the left and behind the flower called for very little post-processing in my digital darkroom. I hope you enjoy the view.

Frank

Photo of the Month for November

Well November is half over and I got behind in posting my blog. This month's image is one of my favorite subjects to shoot...the Southern Magnolia. I made this image in color then converted it to black & white and finally applied a sepia tinted finish. Then using the technique described in the August 1 entry "Another Transition", I applied the painterly effect to achieve the finished image.

Frank