Hi,
You said it, not me .... trite.
One of the things that's seen so often is a natural result of using a 35mm
SLR camera. The photog stands there, camera to the eye, frames the shot,
and there you go. Another one of uncountable shots from the same
perspective. Use a wider lens to get that vista, cram lots of info into
the frame. And while the results may be OK, they are just that, OK.
Try another perspective. Lay on the ground, shoot up a bit, include just
one or a few flowers, grab some blue sky and nice fluffy clouds. Look for
patterns or relationships between the sky and the flowers. Look for a
framing that creates a little tension, or brings one element strongly to
the foreground. Use a wider lens than you'd usually use. Try working with
filters. How about flowers in B&W? Everyone uses color, but instead of
color as the focal point of the photo, look at shapes with B&W. Perhaps a
red filter, a wider lens than usual, a few red tulips creating a strong
foreground, a dark, dramatic sky with contrasting clouds. The tulips will
come out closer to white, and you may end up with something quite dramatic.
Or soft focus, also from a low perspective. Shoot early or late in the
day, when the light is soft, enhance the soft light with a soft filter or
soft lens (don't overdo it though). Or get real close with a long lens, or
long lens and an extension tube, blur the hell out of the background
(choose a background with a complimentary color), and do something close
that's not (another cliche) macro shot.
Avoid sharpness. Go for extreme sharpness. Combine disparate elements.
Think outside the box, as they say. Add an old shoe alongside a beautiful
flower. Look for a delicate flower alongside a large, rough rock or tree
trunk. Use the contrast to your advantage. Make the flower out of focus
and the background sharp as a tack. Add a hand, as if a flower is about to
be plucked.
Work with a section of a field, filling the frame completely with flowers
of just one color. Use back lighting. Use high contrast lighting and
expose for the highlights. Let the shadows go dark or even black. Think
more of adding some mystery to your photo rather than the straight
documentary that appears here.
Get up high and shoot straight down. Get up high and shoot at an angle.
Just get your feet off the ground.
Think! Think about photos that have moved you, regardless of their
subject. Can something from those photos be used to transform a photo of a
field of flowers from the mundane to the marvelous?
Watch your backgrounds and al the elements around the frame of the scene.
Distractions are often found there. You don't need the people and the trees
in the background in the first photo. They add nothing and take away much.
The burnt out sky in the other photo diminishes the impact of the flowers,
although the soft, hazy background and the trees is a nice touch.
Unfortunately, you didn't work to include those elements in a positive way.
Moving a bit to get rid of the awful cinder block building on the left (if
that's what it is) might have given you a better result.
Hope this helps.
Shel
[Original Message]
From: Daniel J. Matyola <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 6/22/2004 7:45:15 AM
Subject: Re: PAW - Poppies
After seeing the PAW last week with the wonderful field of poppies, I
went back to some of my attempts to capture similar scenes:
http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=2463333&size=lg
http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=2463334&size=lg
Somehow, I find it hard to capture fields of flowers in a way that isn't
trite while finding and keeping a point of interest. What should I have
done here (besides getting a better scan)?
.
