Search Results for: mallow

Mallow and Friends

July 25, 2019 by Harold Davis | 1 Comment

I like the way this light box image, never before blogged, shows the translucency of the rose petals with the mallow coming through, diffracted but loud and clear!

Mallow and Friends © Harold Davis

Posted in Flowers

Matilija Poppies and Mallows

June 23, 2017 by Harold Davis | 2 Comments

You got to love the Matilija Poppy, a California native, with its wonderful huge yellow center and puffy white petals. The poppies are of the Romneya genus (so are neither Papaver nor Eschscholzia), and grow on bushes from mid-California south into Mexico. In this image, I combined a central Matilija Poppy with some humble mallows, arranged in a crescent shape to create a subconscious sense of a circular sweep in the photo.

Matilija Poppy and Mallows © Harold Davis

Posted in Flowers, Photography

Mallow

May 12, 2015 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

Like Clematis this is a single blossom, photographed on a light box, inverted to black in LAB, and then converted to monochrome using a virtual Infrared filter. The steps are shown here in inverted order (last is first, and first is last).

Mallow in IR © Harold Davis

Mallow on Black © Harold Davis

Mallow on White © Harold Davis

Post-production is so much part of my photographic art that I felt desolated when my production machine gave up the ghost last week. Admittedly, I’ve lived with it for many years, and made it mine. But it has taken me quite some time to get my new computer configured the way I like it—probably worth it, as it is up to handling the enormous files and sizes that I find myself often editing deploying.

Posted in Flowers, Monochrome, Photography

Mallow into Fabric

July 21, 2011 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

Mallow Unfurling © Harold Davis

Briefly noted: Photographing this mallow blossom unfurling, I was reminded of fabric. Ignoring issues of scale and context, this flower could be the bottom portion of an elaborate and stylish dress!

Posted in Flowers, Photography

Mallow

October 10, 2006 by Harold Davis | 1 Comment

Mallow 3, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

This is a mallow flower from a minature bush mallow that I planted in our garden. Here are other mallow images, and my mallow set on Flickr.

When I first started cross-processing this photogram in Photoshop, I was mainly attempting to get a transparent effect with the flower petals. But as I went along, I became more interested in the colors themselves, with the issue of transparency strictly secondary.

Posted in Flowers, Photograms, Photography

A Weakness for Mallows

July 2, 2006 by Harold Davis | 2 Comments

Mallow, photo by Harold Davis. View this photograph larger.

I have a weakness for mallows. Not because the plant supplies the mucilage in marshmallows—or, it least, did before the dawn of this synthetic age—and marshmallows are so sweet. Although marshmallows toasted on an open fire on a fragrant Pacific beach on a windy night would be a good reason, come to think of it.

No, I’ve come to love the variety of the mallow flower, its wonderful colors, translucency, and complex center a/k/a the flower’s sexual organs.

The photo above is handheld using a Vibration Reduction zoom lens with an extension tube. The closer-in macro below I took roughly a month ago with a conventional tripod and macro setup.

View this photograph larger. Here’s the original story about this photo.

Posted in Flowers, Photography

Heart Like a Mallow

June 12, 2006 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

Heart Like a Mallow, photo by Harold Davis. View this photo larger.

Mallows are annuals or perennials of the Malvaceae family. Spreading from their origins in Southern Europe, they’ve given us fiber and marshmallows.

Often considered a weed, a number of the varieties of mallows are grown in gardens for their wonderful flowers. I’ve come to appreciate the wonderful baroque shapes and curliques made by the pistils, stamen, and anthers of this flower, as well as the transulence of the flower itself.

View this photograph larger.

I photographed the mallows shown here using a handheld vibration reduction lens and a short, low depth-of-field exposure in sunny, bright conditions.

Here’s an earlier photo of a mallow spiral using a more classical technique that I like.

Posted in Flowers, Photography

White Mallow

June 3, 2006 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

White Mallow, photo by Harold Davis. View this photograph larger.

I was caught up in photographing the spiral deep inside a pink mallow. Then I looked up and noticed this white mallow nearby. I took the extension tube and close-up filter off my 200mm macro lens, and exposed a couple of further-back versions of the white flower.

I like the luminous quality of the sun coming through the flower.

You can see the pink mallow peeking around at the upper left.

Posted in Flickr, Photography

Spiral in a Mallow

June 2, 2006 by Harold Davis | 2 Comments

Mallow, photo by Harold Davis. View this photograph larger.

This is a photograph at fairly high magnification (about 8:1) of an annual Mallow flower, Lavatera trimestris. I photographed it today at Blake Garden, which is near my home, because I like the spiral inside the flower. I think it is well worth looking at larger.

You may have noticed a new design for my photo blog. I hope you like it. Here’s the full story behind the change.

Posted in Flowers, Photography

Mallow, Mucilage, and Bokeh

April 28, 2006 by Harold Davis | 1 Comment

Mallow, photo by Harold Davis. View this photo larger.

I’ve been watching my neighbor Brett’s mallow tree with great interest. Not because I covet a mallow tree, or his mallow tree. Not because of the mallow’s supposed medicinal properties. Which actually boil down to having high concentrations of mucilage, as in the marshmallow.

It’s a total tangent, but if you don’t know, here’s the defintion of mucilage from the Wikipedia:

Mucilage is a thick gluey substance produced by most plants and some microorganisms. Mucilage is an exopolysaccharide—a polymer composed of sugar residues and secreted by a microorganism into the surrounding environment.

Mucilage is what’s used by carnivorous plants to trap their prey, and we happen to have a couple of new carnivourous plants to the great delight of the kids.

Anyhow, to get back to the mallow, the thing that atracted me over the past couple of weeks is that about 5PM the afternoon sun is just at the right angle over Brett’s house to backlight the flowers on the trees.

My Nikon 18-200 vibration reduction lens with an extension tube and close-up filter makes an excellent way to get macros with a sharp center of focus and a nicely blurred background. Particularly into bright light (here’s another example).

An attractive blurred effect (usually combined with fully sharp image elements) is now fashionably called bokeh—I plan to write more about bokeh later.

The point for me of this mallow photo, which is perhaps best viewed larger, is the contrast between the sharp curliques of the flower center and the elegant angel wings of the less-focused flower itself.

Posted in Flowers, Photography

Mallow Star

June 21, 2005 by Harold Davis | 5 Comments

Mallow Star, photo by Harold Davis.

More close-ups from Blake Garden (here’s my first post about these photos).

I took a break from writing this afternoon. Phyllis, Julian, and I had a picnic in Blake Garden.

Here’s a photo of water lilies from today:

And a the heart of an Icelandic poppy:

Posted in Flowers, Photography

Harold Davis—Best of 2022

December 22, 2022 by Harold Davis | 3 Comments

2022—another “interesting” year! Travel brought me to Maine, Colorado, France (twice, once in the spring and once in the autumn), Spain, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Professional highlights included the publication of Composition & Photography, seeing my work as U.S. Postage stamps, and receiving the PSA Progress Award. Many flowers were photographed!

I’ve been making my “personal choice” best-of selections for many years, going back to 2013. These selections can be found here. My choices are idiosyncratic, based on no discernible criteria whatsoever, and simply are my personal taste. These selections are by no means complete. A more thorough catalog of my work can be found on Flickr, Instagram, and on my blog (but many of my images never get blogged even if I like them).

Starting in January, 2022, with Purple Tulip, I used my macro probe lens placed inside the outer petals of the floral blossom. Read more.

Purple Tulip © Harold Davis

Petal Dancer made me laugh, because the composition of this partially dried flower petal seems to resemble a high-stepping dancer.

Petal Dancer © Harold Davis

Speaking Truth to Power, created in March, 2022, is self-evidently an abstract work. But truth, justice, peace, and kindness can be in such short supply—and creating this kind of patterned abstraction helps to calm me in the face of the heedlessness of the world. The colors—Iris and Daffodils, with invading Tulips— are intended to bring those of Ukraine to mind.

Speaking Truth to Power © Harold Davis

About Calla Lilly Study #4, Scarlet Black on Flickr comments: “I love how this close up references subjects beyond the flower. Sun, celestial bodies, orbits and galaxy swirls step into the frame once imagination lets go of the calla lily. Even with that imaginative detour, the flower is nice to come back to.”

Calla Lily Study #4 © Harold Davis

Flowers Party Too! Yes. Well of course they do.

Flowers Party Too! © Harold Davis

I am always amazed at the the delicate intricacy of flowers in the Protea genus. My image is an attempt to render both the complexity and delightful delicacy of this flower in monochromatic, using a light box.

Proteus Monochrome Light Box © Harold Davis

Quantum Entanglement is only vaguely understood and seems pretty weird. In my image I hoped to echo this sense of scientific befuddlement using glassware, a light box, an LAB inversion, and compositing. Read more.

Quantum Entanglement © Harold Davis

In April I left for France. Spending some time photographing Paris with friends was great fun. Some of the images I made were from the footpath on the Ile aux Cygnes, and showed reflections in the windows of the buildings of modern Paris.

Parallel Reflections © Harold Davis

In my blog, I noted after arriving in Toulouse “the hubbub of the nearly perpetual marketplace in the Place du Capitole (shown below from a window in my hotel).” Read more.

Place du Capitole, Toulouse © Harold Davis

Along the Camino de Santiago, I made a grab shot into a mirror. Read more.

Dr Caligari’s House © Harold Davis

Back home after various adventures and misadventures, I posed the question “what if James Bond had liked flowers more than guns, gadgets, fast women, and cars?” in Too Many Tulips Are Not Enough. [Answer: the world might be a kinder, gentler, and more colorful place.] Read more.

Too Many Tulips Are Not Enough © Harold Davis

Flowers make such interesting patterns. One such is shown in Dodecagram Papaver Pod.

Dodecagram Papaver Pod © Harold Davis

What happens when you use my light box techniques for Photographing Flowers for Transparency without a light box? I decided to find out in Florista on White. Read more.

Florista on White © Harold Davis

Over my garden gate, the Clematis vine is thriving, provided we keep its “feet” moist. Two of the Clematis flowers bloomed together, and I cropped them to make this composition on the light box. Read more.

Clematis in Love © Harold Davis

As summer 2022 began, I created a bouquet. Read more.

Summer Bouquet © Harold Davis

Some flowers remind me of sea creatures, an idea I explored in Do Flowers Come from the Sea? Read more.

Do Flowers Come from the Sea? © Harold Davis

In Lavatera trimestris I used my macro probe lens to create a different view of a Rose mallow, with an idea to showing details and symmetry.

Lavatera trimestris © Harold Davis

I taught Composition & Photography at Maine Media Workshops in September, and had a great, small group of students. It was great fun getting to photograph “stuff” that I didn’t have to take care of, store, or own! One such collection is shown in Tripping the Glass Fantastic.

Tripping the Glass Fantastic © Harold Davis

From Maine I went to Colorado, where I photographed this steam train. Read more.

Steam Train © Harold Davis

Starting in October, I was in Europe. There was almost too much to photograph. One such sight was the Himbachel Viaduct. Read more.

Himbachel Viaduct © Harold Davis

In Heidelberg, Germany I made X-Ray and Fusion X-Ray images of flowers with my friend Julian Kopke. Read more.

Dahlia X-Ray © Harold Davis

Calla Lilly Fusion X-Ray © Harold Davis

Julian and I enjoyed the Tuscan landscape, particularly the early mornings wreathed in fog.

Morning Comes Softly © Harold Davis

In Orvieto, in Umbria, there was much to photograph, including the spectacular Duomo. Read more.

Duomo Window © Harold Davis

Duomo in the Morning Fog © Harold Davis

Duomo in the Clearing Fog © Harold Davis

Early Morning, Orvieto © Harold Davis

Closed © Harold Davis

St Patrick’s Well, or Pozzo di San Patrizio, is located in Orvieto, Umbria, Italy. There are 248 steps down (and up). The view in my image is looking up at the daylight at the top of the well. The whole thing is like a tower that goes down into the ground, rather than standing above it. Read more.

Well of St Patrick’s © Harold Davis

In Florence, I enjoyed an exhibition of work by M.C. Escher, and was surprised to learn how much he was influenced by the Italian landscape (one just doesn’t think of Escher in the context of landscape, at least I don’t)!

I moved on to Trieste, and photographed the hotel where I was staying, and contemplated Escher. Read more.

Mirror Selfie © Harold Davis

Hotel Savoy, Trieste © Harold Davis

Venice is one of the places in the world I most enjoy visiting and photographing. Of course, like everyone else, I always try to visit when no other visitors are there!

Gondolas © Harold Davis

Back home for the waning of the year, there are always flowers to photograph! With Floral Gestures, as the title implies, I was trying to create a composition where the image was gestural, almost as it one was having a conversation in the wild with a floral entity.

Every flower is unique, of course, which is part of what I enjoy so much about photographing them. This Chrysanthemum somehow makes their individuality very apparent to me, hence the title.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this overview of my 2022 photography Odyssey. This year has been not without challenges for myself and our family, but I always find it worthwhile to review what I’ve done artistically.

Most of my images are available as prints. If you are interested, please let me know.

Check out my self-selected bests from previous years in Best Images Annuals!

Posted in Best Of

Save the Last Dance

May 28, 2021 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

For this image, I framed essentially a portrait view of the mallow (upper left) and the poppy (along the right, purple and red).

For some reason, the Save the Last Dance song, melody and lyrics, went through my head as I composed and honed the image. So I used the song as the name for my image. Perhaps the poppy is addressing the mallow? Flowers are so ephemeral.

Posted in Flowers, Photography

Photographing Flowers for Transparency with Harold Davis | Weekend Workshop

Photographing Flowers for Transparency with Harold Davis (Weekend Workshop)

Where: El Cerrito, CA. (at ColorSpaceArts Studio)

When: Saturday August 6 – Sunday August 7, 2022

Tuition: $1,195; Register on Meetup (RSVP YES and pay tuition) or contact us to pay tuition by check or credit card.

Special Feature: We will follow-up with a Zoom webinar approximately two weeks from the workshop to showcase and critique participant work (and to help with any problems).

Workshop size: Maximum of 14 photographers.

Photographing Flowers for Transparency with Harold Davis

Master photographer Harold Davis is well-known for his often imitated—but seldom equaled—digital images of luscious transparent and translucent flowers.

In this unique workshop offering, Harold Davis shows the techniques he uses to create his floral masterpieces. Arrangement, composition, photography, post-production will all be covered, as will Harold’s special techniques for shooting on a light box.

Who is this workshop for?

The workshop is intended for photographers of all levels with an interest in flower photography.

There is no better way to learn the floral transparency techniques that Harold Davis has pioneered. The multi-day format will give participants the chance to complete their imagery using the techniques that Harold will demonstrate, with input and help from “the master”. We will follow up with an online Zoom session for further critique and help with work.

Curriculum – Subject to modification

Saturday August 6, 2022

9:30AM – Workshop orientation

10:30 – Glory of the translucent petal (understanding translucency and transparency)

11:30 – Introduction to Floral arrangement and composition

12:30 – Lunch break

1:30 – Advanced floral composition

2:30 – Shooting on a light box

3:30 – Understanding high-key hand HDR post-production

4:30 – Advanced HDR topics

5:00 – Review, wrap-up and Q&A

Sunday August 7, 2022

10:00AM – Day 1 recap

10:30 – Individual post-production guided practice

11:30 – Backgrounds and Textures

12:30 – Lunch break

1:30 – LAB Color effects

2:15 – Individual practice

4:00 – Fine art botanical prints

4:30 – Review, wrap-up and Q&A

Here are some comments from previous Floral Transparency Workshops:

“Loved the pace, in-depth instruction and generous sharing.”

“EXCELLENT PRESENTATION AND COVERAGE OF MATERIAL. MR. DAVIS WAS PATIENT TO ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS.”

“Harold, thank you for the time, expense and effort it took to put on a great workshop….You are a wealth of information and share it so graciously.”

“Outstanding workshop!”

“A very packed weekend! Harold is very clear and organized; an outstanding photographer who is also an outstanding teacher.”

What to bring: Your creative imagination and sense of fun, a love of flowers, your camera (preferably capable of shooting in RAW and with a manual exposure mode), camera manual, tripod, and a way to make notes!

If you’d like to follow the post-production examples please bring a laptop loaded with Photoshop, and HDR Efex Pro from Nik Software (trial versions of this software are available for free download).

About Harold Davis: Harold Davis is an artist, photographer, educator, and the bestselling author of many books, including most recently Creative Garden Photography from Rocky Nook. He is the developer of a unique technique for photographing flowers for transparency, a Moab Master, and a Zeiss Ambassador. He is an internationally known photographer and a sought-after workshop leader. His website is www.digitalfieldguide.com.

“Harold Davis’s Creative Photography series is a great way to start a photography library”—Daniel Fealko, PhotoFidelity.

“Harold Davis’s ethereal floral arrangements have a purity and translucence that borders on spiritual.”—Popular Photo Magazine

“Harold Davis is a force of nature—a man of astonishing eclectic skills and accomplishments.”—Rangefinder Magazine

Refund & Covid Policy: Refunds are available up to 90 days before the workshop (less a $100 cancellation fee). After that, no refunds unless we are forced to cancel the workshop. Please protect your investment in the workshop by buying travel insurance to cover the workshop fee and travel expenses. Covid vaccination is required to attend. We follow all health protocols in place at the time of the workshop.

Matilija Poppies

May 15, 2021 by Harold Davis | 1 Comment

The Matilija Poppy (Romneya coulteri) is native to California, with a range from Mexico through northern California. This is a drought tolerant species that can be somewhat invasive once established—but, lordy, does one love being invaded by the Matilija with its big, translucent white flower petals, and yellow stamen cores that have been likened to a hard-boiled egg yolk.

Two other fun Matilija facts: the sap of the Matilija is highly poisonous, and the flower (genus Romneya) was named in the Linaean taxonomic system for Irish astronomer John Thomas Romney Robinson (1792-1882). There’s clearly an interesting tangent here, because Robinson was a good friend of Charles Babbage, and there is some evidence that a conversation between the two of them may have helped to spark the idea for Babbage’s Difference Engine (a forerunner of the modern computer).

Tangents aside, I love to create images on my light box that overlay the translucent Matilija with more colorful flowers, as you can see from the sequence below, and also in Matilija Poppies and Mallows and Matilija Poppies and Friends (among many others).