Springtime is a great time of year. Days get longer, sun gets warmer, and flowers blooming. After tolerating the winter's cold, the new season is welcome. Bring on the life, the warmth and color of spring and out with the cold, dank, and lifelessness of winter. As we move into spring one of the first flowers to bloom are daffodils, and they are great subjects to photograph,
Bright yellow, the natural color of the daffodil, is vibrant and often associated with happiness and sunshine. It's the brightest and most energizing of the warm colors. This flower is backlite by the mid-morning sun shining through the yellow petals giving our subject a glowing effect. The camera is set to f4.5, a slow ISO 100 and shutter at 1/400 so we have a soft focus and shallow depth of field by design and built into the shot.
Add a little Photoshop magic to accentuate what the eye sees and we are creating a visual contrast and adding dimension. Sharpening the detail and increasing the color of our subject while blurring the background enhances the camera settings. As a stand alone the background is an example of the Photo Impressionism, similar to the painting technique I love and used by Monet and other Impressionists. Our daffodil, while sharper and richer, is bold but still has a soft focus photographic quality. Combine the shot with post-processing and we have a one dimensional photograph looking more three dimensional that helps the image come alive.
Having grown up in the Graphic Arts business this is what Designers called "Pop". Working with talented creatives and art directors was a great experience. The state of the art technology of the time could do the work but with limitations, was expensive to use and was available through printers and service bureaus. Today's technologies offer more advanced capabilities and control at the creative level by photographers and designers. The change is welcome as I re-engage with photography.
Happy to hear comments at mike@piacere.site.
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