Photoblog 2.0

Hellebore on White, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

The image above was the first version of this photo. I used a flourescent light table as my illumination source, and overexposed for transparency. I combined three different exposures, each with a different shutter speed but the same aperture, to get the effect I wanted (see exposure details below).

Lately, I’ve become interested in photographing flowers either on a white background (because backlit transparency of flower petals is beautiful) or on a black background (because the high contrast with the flower makes color values pop). When I can, I’ve created both white and black versions. Sometimes photographically, but more often using Photoshop inversions, as with the hellebore inversion of the original image below:

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[Both images: Nikon D300, Sigma 50mm f/2.8 macro lens (75mm in 35mm terms), three exposures (3 seconds, 5 seconds, and 8 seconds), all at f/32 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.]

Some other black and white flower pairs: Faerie Bouquet and Faerie Rose on Black; Anemone Japonica and Anemone on Black; Dawn Chorus Poppy on White and Black.

Capillarity in Green, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

This is a greener version of Capillarity, shown in an earlier post on black and on white.

Petals, image by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

We were proofing a 176 page book–Light and Exposure for Digital Photographers from O’Reilly–on our Epson 4800 printer using rolls of proofing paper. A time consuming, tedious, and exciting process. I took an art break, and captured these alstromeria petals (on white below), then played in Photoshop to come up with the version on black (above).

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Hellebore on Black, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

Mike said he wanted to learn a little more about how I post-processed photos. So he drove down the freeway in the squishy weather and we spent a fun and happy hour or so transforming this photo of a hellebore, originally shot straight down on a light box with my 85mm perspective correcting macro lens.

[Nikon D300, 85mm PC macro (roughly, 127.5mm in 35mm terms), 2.5 seconds at f/57 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.]

Bay Leaves, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

With this photogram of bay leaves, I wish you and yours a taste-filled and happy New Year!

Snow Peas on Black, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

These snow peas started on white (below) and ended up manipulated for effect on black (above).

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Shitake Mushrooms, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

I blasted light through these shitake mushrooms, photographed the group from above. In Photoshop, I inverted the photo to get it on black, and then cross-processed the heck out of the composition.

Star Anise, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

Star anise is a spice used in Chinese, Indian, and Vietnamese cooking. The star anise is the fruit of the Illicium verum, a fir tree native to southwestern China. In the seven-pointed star anise shown in this photogram, you can see the fruit seeds nestling in a couple of the spokes of the star.

I give you this bright star anise by way of saying, “Have a happy, colorful, and tasty New Year!”

Anemone on Black, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

Here’s a photogram made from an anemone Japonica from our garden that I’m just getting around to blogging.

Dragonfly in Green, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

This dude is an even greener version of the already pretty green Dragonfly 4.

Helleborus on Black, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

Here’s an interpretive version of the Helleborus on White. I think the effect is like a glowing, stained glass flower: exciting, even if realistic rendering has gone by the boards.

Related story: Trio of Hellebores.
Related link: my Flowers on Black set on Flickr.

Double Hellebore 2, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

The original photo of this triad (immediately below) is a double hellebore blossom. It’s one of the first blossoms from the second year blooms of these special hellebore plants, hybridized by Barry Glick of Sunshine Farm and Garden, the self-styled “Hellebore King.”

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The more or less accurate colors of this flower (above), photographed in my studio, are pretty nice I think. But Harold being Harold, I couldn’t resist playing in the digital darkroom. Here is the capture info for the photo: 200mm f/4 macro lens (300mm in 35mm terms), 1 second at f/36 and ISO 100, tripod mounted using a Kirk Mighty Low Boy.

I often get asked about the techniques I use to get effects like these (top and bottom). I’ve no desire to be mysterious about it. But the precise steps I use are different every time. It’s a process, when it’s working right, that feels like the image is calling out to me, and revealing the steps as I go along necessary to reveal the inner image. You could say that I am the image’s therapist.

There is some commonality in the techniques I usually use. I start by photographing (or scanning) for high depth-of-field and transparency. I then work on the image in Photoshop using a variety of blending modes with duplicated inversions of LAB channels.

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Dragonfly 5, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

Here’s another pair of dragonfly photograms!

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Dragonfly 4, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

By popular request, here’s a predominantly green version of the third dragonfly photogram.

Related images: Dragonfly; Dragonfly Variation; The Third Dragonfly.

Mint Leaves, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

Mint grows wild in our garden, particularly at the edges of the few grassy areas. I photographed this sprig of mint to emphasize the patterns in the leaves, and for transparency, then added color in Photoshop.