Warning… photography talk ahead!
A week or two ago, I noticed the wizened, remnants of three cone flowers that had grown up last summer close to the back wall of our garage.
As I went about life I mulled over ideas on how to make a photograph of these stems. Many ideas stewed in my brain. Eventually, I decided that the three stems lit with harsh light and positioned close to the background (to get nice shadows) might make an interesting photograph.
This afternoon I headed outside with scissors in hand and brought the three cone flowers and a nearby sprig of goldenrod into my studio.
Placing a subject close to the background creates problems in that it is impossible to throw the background out of focus while keeping the subject in sharp focus. This means that every small flaw in the background sticks out like a sore thumb.
I initially and unsuccessfully tried a piece of light gray craft foam that I often use as a background. Every speck of dust showed and worse yet, the texture of the foam was evident in my first test frames. I switched the background to a sheet of hot press (i.e. very smooth) watercolor paper. This seems to have worked well.
Here are the final photographs.
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The goldenrod shadow makes me think of a woman in a knee-length dress hurrying to cross the street.
Comment by Pat Nelson — 11 April 2022 @ 3:06 AM
After reading Pat’s response I went back for another look. In the shadow I saw a skater gliding across the ice with great form. Thanks Pat for the thought process and Frank for the thought=provoking image. Mission accomplished with the “Three.”
Comment by Joe Kennedy — 11 April 2022 @ 6:49 AM