Droplet on Pink

I haven't posted for a while here, so here we go. This is my latest photo. Taken in the garden, a few droplets on a new pink daisy plant. 

I kept a very shallow depth of field, to keep the focus and clarity on the foreground droplet, that acts like a magnifying glass to reveal the texture of the flower's petal. I didn't crop the photo to leave the yellow heart of the daisy in the image, I think it creates a balance in colour, and is soft enough not to be too distractive

"Droplet on Pink" (c) Gilles Royer 2015

As always, this photo is also available through my +500px page, at the following link: https://500px.com/photo/123716041/droplet-on-pink-by-gilles-royer

And now you can also look at my new Facebook page (and share a like or comment) at: https://www.facebook.com/AustralianLightSeeker

Thanks for stopping by!

"Pink Cornflower" posted on 500px.com

This is taken today, under a beautiful early autumn afternoon light, in the garden. My wife planted a few of these, with multiple colours, so I can enjoy taking photos of them (plus, they really look nice in the garden!). This one is pink. Keep looking for other colours as I'll post them over the coming days / weeks

"Pink Cornflower" (c) Gilles Royer 2015

Hope you have a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

The Story Behind... Coeur de Rose #2

I posted another macro image of the heart of a rose, titled "Coeur de Rose #2", on my 500px portfolio (http://500px.com/photo/63838513) - the first one posted a few days ago is also available here (http://500px.com/photo/63352323)

Coeur de Rose #2 (c) Gilles Royer 2014 - Nikon D200 / Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro / f/5.6 @ 1/160

This continues my series of macro shots taken in the garden. This one is from a bush of old-style white roses - as the roses were already planted when we arrived in the house, I'm not sure what exact species these ones are. I guess they are a type of Hybrid Rugosa, but can't be certain - please send me a note if you know.

As usual, I shot this one handheld, and under natural light, in the late afternoon sun.

I really enjoy shooting those macro pictures, where the subject is a detail of a flower (or another object, for that matter) - here, the stigmas (centre) and stamens are the stars, providing a sharp contrast of orange / yellow colours against the softer white background of the petals.

I tried a few different angles, and ended up with this one, looking from the side into the flower, (with the couple of petals in the foreground completely blurred out by a f/5.6 aperture. This also lets the sunlight hit directly the centre, and illuminate it.

I did a bit of editing in Aperture (which is the Apple software I use for both cataloguing my photos and doing most of the post-processing, where required) - I first cropped the shot a bit, to remove some of the green background (still a bit can be seen on the right-hand side), and then adjusted a few parameters; mainly increasing the definition and saturation, to enhance once again the centre of the shot, and magnify the details.

Thanks for reading!