17/365 Flower I

I spent most of the day in the kitchen. Making bread, homemade cereal, breakfast, lunch and dinner. I tuned the radio to NPR and got an ear-full of culture while mixing ingredients for this or that. Car Talk with Click and Clack; followed by an opera; then an interview with a playwright and finally musicians sharing their original compositions on Prairie Home Companion. When I am immersed in the arts it causes me to want to do more/be more, kwim? All of these folks were good in their respective fields and those skills most likely did not develop overnight. Although I realized that they had to practice diligently to get where they all are now, I had the grand idea that I would create something great my first time out with a macro lens.

I backlit the flower and that means you can't see the beautiful green in the very center. It took me several minutes just to figure out the logistics (how far the flower should be from the background and then how far I needed to be from it). After setting up the background stand and loading it with paper and then pulling out the tripod I was not about to set up a reflector, nor did I want to hunt down my flash in order to use it to fill. Before it was over, I had spent close to 2 hours shooting these two flowers. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, but it was so cathartic for me. Just doing my thing--alone.

So this is my first attempt. Not bad, but not where I want to be. This week I'll try different backgrounds, angles and alter the direction of the light.

Lesson: Proper planning prevents poor performance. Have all of your gear at hand when you shoot. You never know what you may need. It's better to have it and not need it....

Tomorrow: People pictures or Plan B: More macro