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Three Dahlias
Three Dahlias
banmorn


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Multiple Light Sources II (Basic Editing)
Camera: Nikon D70s
Lens: Sigma 50mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro for Nikon
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Date: Mar 18, 2007
Aperture: f/ 32
ISO: 200
Shutter: 15 seconds
Galleries: Macro, Floral
Date Uploaded: Mar 20, 2007

 SO....I had a voice lesson Saturday. It was later than usual and the city was a mess from having gotten more snow than was expected on top of a layer of frozen rain and sleet that froze and walking around was a real pain. A 5-7 minute walk from my voice teacher's to the florists took a half hour or so...well I took pics for about 10 minutes, so really 20 minutes. Shoveled walks interspersed with unshoveled walks, the longest being a CITY RECREATIONAL CENTER that was practically the length of a block and the end of the block was cut off by a van stuck in a garage....oy....then more shoveled and un shoveled than a house being redone blocking the middle of the next block causing me to go over plowed mounds of snow and across the street to more plowed mounds of snow....and then to the end of the block close to my destination that was blocked by two large people just standing there and taking up the entire cleared area they were standing on....it was just a mess. I went into the 7-11, got some money, bought some stuff and went across the street to my florist Michael at Pure Design.......
....and then I walked in and I saw them....but it was the end of winter and almost spring....these are late summer or fall flowers....it could not be! So I asked Michael...'What are those?'....and he smiled, nodded and said rather coyly, as I recall...or maybe rather knowlingly...cause he knows I LOVE THEM...."Dahlias"....and I was still in a state of disbelief....so I said, "What?"....and he repeated "Dahlias" and I almost literally started to cry...well not really, I ain't quite that sensitive, but I faked it real loud...no one else in the store so it did not matter. So there you have it. NEVER expected it and I think Michael may have my shopping pattern down cause he sort of "knew" I would be in . SO I bought five and a few other things and then Michael gave me a spray of orchids off a dead orchid plant and a couple of other flowers as well.

So here are three of the dahlias. I lit them with three flashlights. They are all the same coloration in the same light but the back flower was lit with a regular incandescent light and the two front flowers were each lit with a small white LED lights. I un-raveled a wire hanger, straigtened it and put it length wise over a piece of poster board to hang the regular flash light. I had some long pipe cleaners. I punched holes with scissors in the poster board and put a pipe cleaner through and knotted it. Then I attached another pipe cleaner to it and then wrapped the bottom of the pipe cleaner around one of the small LED flashlights and positioned it to light one of the other two flowers.Then repeated the pipe cleaner LED light process for the other flower. The background is a large piece of green construction paper. I darkened the room and shot the flowers with just the three flashlights as light. Had the camera on tripod and used the manual remote and a pre-set white balance.

Post: Convert from raw in PSElements 3.0 with a +0.33 exposure compensation. Layer adjustments for levels, brightness/contrast and hue/saturation. Layer of curves adjustment. Sharpen. Crop. Resize. Sharpen.

Statistics
Place: 11 out of 159
Avg (all users): 6.6425
Avg (commenters): 7.7500
Avg (participants): 6.3469
Avg (non-participants): 6.7342
Views since voting: 1978
Views during voting: 339
Votes: 207
Comments: 21
Favorites: 1 (view)

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AuthorThread
Canon EOS-40D
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 10/09/2008 10:05:11 AM
I LOVE what you do with your flowers. I don't think I have ever seen anything quite like it. They are so full of colour and so nicely lit, I want to stick them in vases and put them on display in my house. Simply stunning.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark IV
Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 USM
 03/28/2007 10:30:33 AM
Wow! This has to be one of your best! And that's saying aLOT because all your floral pictures are breathtaking!

Great story too! I bet your florist does love you :)

  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-80D
Canon EF 35mm f/2.0 IS USM
 03/28/2007 06:47:54 AM
great finish, robert
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi
Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
 03/28/2007 04:20:29 AM
This was one of my favourites in the challenge, the lighting is superb. Well done, although I'm a little disappointed that it didn't ribbon.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-300D Rebel
Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical IF for Canon
 03/28/2007 12:07:33 AM
i LOVE Dahlias...one of my fave flowers! beautiful shot, hon...congrats on top 20! :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Nikon D700
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
 03/27/2007 11:11:53 PM
I love how the flowers glow, especially the top one which seems like a flame. Nice composition, good clarity, I'm only slightly disappointed by the green in the middle, I'm wondering if it could be less focussed or maybe a bit dimmer (or maybe I just don't like the shade of green). Nevertheless a high score from me. Good luck!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi
Canon EF 35-80mm f/4-5.6 III
 03/27/2007 07:51:33 PM
Very nice picture, I guess it could loke better with a black background.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-30D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
 03/26/2007 04:46:00 PM
One of the better floral shots I've seen in quite a while. The lighting is excellent. Well done!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-7D
Tamron AF 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC LD Aspherical(IF)Macro
 03/25/2007 09:30:13 PM
I really like this..I love the lighting
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon Coolpix 2100
Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
03/24/2007 10:17:23 PM
I would like this better if I didn't see shadows on the wall.
Nikon D300
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
 03/24/2007 01:13:15 PM
WOW! 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D700
Nikon AF Nikkor 20mm f/2.8D
 03/24/2007 12:07:46 PM
This is a really pretty image! Vibrant colors and excellent clarity and detail.
Sony Alpha a6000
Sony E 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 PZ OSS
 03/24/2007 09:58:07 AM
This is just beautiful!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-7D
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM
 03/23/2007 05:54:51 PM
They are just glowing, and the colors work well together.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS
 03/23/2007 10:08:08 AM
Beautiful... :)
 03/22/2007 09:59:27 PM
I really like the lighting on this one. The triangle with the shadows in the center is a little distracting. Bumping it to an 8.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark III
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM
 03/22/2007 02:01:10 AM
I like the effect, think it would really pop with a black background....
Nikon D80
Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 18-135mm f/3.5- 5.6G ED DX
 03/21/2007 01:41:20 PM
beautiful photo, very nice lighting.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
 03/21/2007 12:53:30 PM
Beautiful! I really this one! One of my favorites!
Canon EOS-6D
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM
 03/21/2007 07:23:00 AM
Nice shot of the flowers with their individual lights, shame about the harsh shadows.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS
 03/21/2007 01:46:48 AM
Good use of multiple light source, and effective....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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