Congrats! You came up with an entry just in time! And a wonderful one it is, too!
Very, very well done.
Can you share with us how you pulled it off?
(BTW: Since Philly seems to be busy elsewhere this week, I guess I'll have to do her job of saying, "Finalist!"
This is just beautiful Endre!!!
The lighting and background all contribute to a stunning shot.
We won't see these for another 3 months here in the north east.
-Nick
Thanks so much, Louis. I always appreciate your kind comments and i'm glad you like this one.
I wasn't going to post anything until I suddenly thought of this today, so I rearranged my morning schedule to get it done, which was good because shooting it turned out to be a lot more difficult than I had anticipated.
All best wishes,
Endre
Louis Simpson wrote:
Oh my! I can't say much more about it other than... I love it!
Thank you so much, Carrol! You always have such kind words to say about my shots! Much appreciated!
I thought this would be fairly easy to do so first I set up my big lightbox on a table in the back yard, thinking I'd use diffuesd sunlight to light it against a black backgound. Then I had to find a little vase to prop the Dandelion up in. When I found that, I set up my tripod and camera (my 70-200 lens with an extender ring to get a macro shot) using some other kind of flower as a standin and then my two younger daughters and i set off hunting for nice Dandelions. There were a lot more of them that I had anticipated but still, most of them are in the yellow flower stage still so we had to drive somewhat far afield to get six nice specimens. When we got back, I discoered that the vase was too tall so that the stems wouldn't show properly. So I had to stuff something into the vase to hold them up higher. Then, the light was too dim inside the lightbox to get a fast shutter speed and still get any DOF so I wound up turning the box into the sun but then the black background got all grey. I decided to angle the box so that the background was still in shadow but the dandelion was in full sunlight. Then I had a hard time figuring out the right exposure since the earliesst shots metered for the whole scene, which overexposed the Dandelion. While i was figuring that out, the little girls started complaining because they were still carefully holding the remaining 5 Dandelions in their hands so as not to hurt them. It was very hot out in the sun and they were getting really impatient to blow the Dandelions all over. Ultimately, I took a lot of shots to finally get one I liked, and we used up all the Dandelions doing it.
All the best,
Endre
PS. :worried: So far, Philly, is the only one here whose use of the "F" word doesn't automatically constitute the "Kiss of Death" so I hope in her absence you have also taken over her abilities as a prognosticator. BTW, she hasn't been around for quite some time. I hope all's well with her.
Carrol wrote:
Congrats! You came up with an entry just in time! And a wonderful one it is, too!
Very, very well done.
Can you share with us how you pulled it off?
(BTW: Since Philly seems to be busy elsewhere this week, I guess I'll have to do her job of saying, "Finalist!"
Thanks, Tom, my friend! I'm happy that you like it. We seem to have had our annual rain a coupple of weeks ago so now the flowers are all out everywhere.
Fond ragards,
Endre
Tom Basore wrote:
Really nicely done Endre. For those of us trapped on the frozen tundra this is a nice reminder of spring/summer. Well shot indeed!
Thank you, Nick, my friend! I'm delighted that you like it and that it reminds you of spring. the big problem here in LA this week was the utter stillness of the air - no wind at all, so the Dandelions had to be blown by my little girls.
Fond regards,
Endre
nlamendo wrote:
This is just beautiful Endre!!!
The lighting and background all contribute to a stunning shot.
We won't see these for another 3 months here in the north east.
-Nick
Thanks for the very sweet comment, Chad. When I started posting shots to the WA I was a complete amateur, so I've learned a lot from my wonderful colleagues here. I do my best every week to post up something good so I'm glad you like my work.
All best wishes,
Endre
Chad Schulz wrote:
Man, there you go again. Making many of us look like amateurs Come on couldn't you just screw up a shot, out-of-focus and under exposed or something?
Nicely done. Very crisp. The detail is just amazing. You can almost feel the sharpness of the seed points. I really like how you show the depth of field with the smaller seeds in the background. Good luck.
You are too kind, Adam! I'm so glad you like it. Now I've got a double "Kiss of Death" so we'll just have to see what happens. Thanks for your vote of confidence.
All best wishes,
Endre
Adam Woodyatt wrote:
Brilliant Endre. Just brilliant. I knew this was yours as soon as I saw the thumbnail. "F" word and high chance of "W".
Thanks so much, Karen. I really appreciate your kind commentsw and am glad you like it so much.
All best wishes,
Endre
Karen Gilligan wrote:
Endre,
Nicely done. Very crisp. The detail is just amazing. You can almost feel the sharpness of the seed points. I really like how you show the depth of field with the smaller seeds in the background. Good luck.
Come on couldn't you just screw up a shot, out-of-focus and under exposed or something?
