Hark Now, Hear The Sailors Cry

Smell the sea and feel the sky

Continuing on with some of the pictures that I shot, while out in Milwaukee.

This series of photographs were taken in my sister and brother-in-law’s yard. As I get more into film photography, especially with B&W medium/large format cameras, I am wanting to get into botanical photography. I have been looking through the portfolio of Imogen Cunningham’s botanical photography, gathering inspiration (or, looking for ideas to steal).

I am not sure what the name of this flowering bush is, but I liked the blooms; here is the B&W version.

I am almost always partial toward the B&W version of a photo, and I much prefer the monochrome, in this instance. The veins, in the petals, are much more pronounced. There also seems to be a greater sense of depth in the B&W.

All of these pictures were shot with my Canon 5D, using the Zeiss Makro-Planar 100mm f2.

Again, not certain what the name of this plant is, but I love the texture, the swirling lines, both inside, and outside of the leaf. This was shot in the shade of the house, and the soft light worked nicely for B&W.

The leaves are fairly large. This leaf is at least 10 inches across, and 4-5 inches deep. I pushed the contrast a bit, and added texture. I used a tripod for these shots, and this shot required me to extend the tripod as far as it would go, and raise the center column another 6 inches. I had to stand on a step-stool, in order to focus the lens.

Can you say, “Symmetry”? I knew you could!

This must be an old leaf, it has plenty of age spots, wrinkled skin, and is covered with splotches of who knows what? Sounds kinda like me, now that I think about it.

You will not be surprised when I tell you that I like this shot better than the color version. I boosted some of the deep reds here (the joy of Digital editing), some extra texture, some extra contrast over the color version.

At the time, I really liked this framing, but as I look at it now, I think that I should have shifted the center a bit to the right. The 100mm didn’t give me much leeway top to bottom, but I think that I have a bit too much negative space on the left side of the frame. I do love the different shades of green, though.

I love the lines. However, I noticed that the appearance of the texture on the underside of the leaf seems to be lessened, over the color version. I am surprised.

I went for a shot that had more action inside the frame. I like the shot. I left the debris on the leaves. I wasn’t sure if I should clean up the mess, or leave it be, I went with the principle of least action.

I feel that least action, was the correct choice, here. How can you not love the swirling edges of the leaves?

For this shot, I used the advantages that come with digital photography and focus-stacked 9 shots. A nice range of shading seen; here’s the BW version.

Possibly, my favourite shoot of the morning.

And finally…

I thought that I had a colour version of this shot, but I cannot find it; monochrome it is!

This shot was also photo-stacked, in seven shots. I love that Zeiss lens for exactly this type of shot. Even beyond the previous shot, with the buds on the stalks, this shot provides a sense of three dimensions, in a two dimensional frame. A fairly classic treatment, but I am not adverse to going with a classic theme.

I was just wanting to get in a few botanical photos, while the light was favourable. I tried for a bee-on-the-flower shot, but the bee’s in Wisconsin, are not very accommodating. Alas.