Category: Photos to share

Autumn Color Isn’t Always Leaves

Published on by tbeckerphotos2 Comments

When most people think of fall colors, red, orange and yellow leaves on trees comes to mind. What about flowers? Do all flowers just fade away and go to seed? Autumn color isn’t always leaves.

About a month ago my limelight hydrangeas started showing signs of pink petals. A sure sign that autumn color was starting. The view from my kitchen window late in the afternoon, during golden hour was beautiful. The limelight hydrangea tree planted intentionally in full view of my kitchen window, was stunning. Each day I kept telling myself to grab my camera and go outside and make some images. Finally one Sunday I told myself to get outside before missing the beautiful different shades of pinks on the delicate petals. The golden light in autumn is so warm and soft here in southeast Iowa making the shades of pink really pop.

Using only nature light, I was able to make several images. Moving around the tree made it possible to have sidelight, backlight and even full shade. There are three limelight hydrangea bushes in my front yard too and a few of the flowers still had pink petals. Some of the flowers had already lost all color due to some cold nights. The top of one flower still had creamy petals that were backlit during the golden hour and looked as if they were being kissed by the sun.

With a strong sidelight, you can darken the background and show off your subject as in the photo below.

The warm golden hour light amplified the autumn color of the petals. Some of the petals were past peak color, creating more warm color.

At times the clouds moved in creating a natural diffuser and I took advantage of the soft even light.

My favorite image was even light on the hydrangea flower and the background lit by the warm late afternoon light.

Do you ever notice autumn color of flowers? Do you notice that autumn color isn’t always leaves?

Coneflowers, Black-Eyed Susans & Cosmos

Published on by tbeckerphotos7 Comments

It is November 3, 2024 and my flowers are still hanging on and blooming. The sky is overcast making for a perfect day to photograph flowers. Flower photography being my favorite genre of photography. However, it is also rainy and windy. When the rain stopped I went out and cut coneflowers, black-eyed susans, fizzy white cosmos and bicolor cosmos.

Had I put on my rain gear, it would have been possible to photograph outside although the wind would not have been my friend. Photographing flowers right after rain is always fun to capture those tiny raindrops with reflections of the flowers. However, the wind had blown off the raindrops so those type of photos were not possible. My next idea was to photograph the flowers inside. Having cut the flowers I was able to arrange the flowers the way I wanted, not necessarily how mother nature chose. In a south facing window, I placed my largest diffuser. Why? It was perfect to make high key photos inside. Not to mention the background outside would have been distracting. Besides, why not?

First up, I photographed the coneflowers and black-eyed susans. A single image did not fulfill my need to be creative. There is a photographer, Pep Ventosa, that created an amazing technique. Typically this technique is created by taking several images around your subject. The images are layered in post processing creating an impressionist image. Instead of moving around my subject, I turned the vase of flowers several times, making an image after each turn. Using Photoshop, I layered all the photos and reduced the opacity of each layer so that each layer was partially visible.

Purple Coneflowers and Black Eyed Susans

Purple Coneflowers and Black Eyed Susans Pep Ventosa Style

Using a different vase, I arranged Fizzy White Cosmos and Bicolor Cosmos. I started with a single image and then turned the vase multiple times and made an image between each turn.

Fizzy White Cosmos and Bicolor Cosmos
Fizzy White Cosmos and Bicolor Cosmos Pep Ventosa Style

I then added all the cosmos to the vase with the coneflowers and black-eyed susans. Again, a single image and then multiple images as I turned the vase.

Coneflowers, Black-eyed Susans, Fizzy White Cosmos and Bicolor Cosmos
Coneflowers, Black-eyed Susans, Fizzy White Cosmos and Bicolor Cosmos Pep Ventosa Style

Highly unusual to have these flowers still blooming at this time of year! The cosmos still have unopened buds on them. My summer was so busy with my garden, I wasn’t able to photograph all the flowers in my yard as I had hoped. Thankfully, Mother Nature was giving me one last opportunity to photograph a few of my flowers.