JACK LARSON PHOTOGRAPHY
Daffodil Blur
Posted by john4jack (Corvallis, Oregon, United States) on 2 April 2009 in Plant & Nature and Portfolio.
In the Pacific Northwest, it seems that the daffodils are right behind the crocuses. There is an orgy of them in the Corvallis area. Actually they were in full bloom over a week ago, but my Coast Series delayed my flowers.
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A number of people in responding to my suggestions yesterday mentioned 15 day trials (some are 30 day trials). Almost any decent piece of software has a free trial period. It doesn't make sense to use anything without trying it first. (PS - I learned that lesson the $200 hard way.)
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"Leaving aside the mysteries and the inequities of human talent, brains, taste and reputations, the matter of art in photography may come down to this: It is the capture and projection of the delights of seeing; it is the defining of observation full and felt." Walker Evans
Jean-François from Les Issambres, France
magnifique +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2 Apr 2009 5:27am
Toni from Eastern Washington, United States
Beautiful, Jack! We had snow today. Lots and lots of snow. It's mostly gone now, though, thankfully.
2 Apr 2009 6:19am
Anthony Lambert from Bielefeld, Germany
A lovely soft shot of my favourite flowers !!
2 Apr 2009 6:29am
Scott Schilling from San Martin, United States
Wow - I love the color on this and the blur around the edge really focuses me in the flowers - beautiful!
2 Apr 2009 6:36am
Anna.C from LA ROCHELLE, France
lovely daffodils ! nice blur effect around, very soft !
2 Apr 2009 7:40am
"Marie" :-) from perth, Australia
Very delicate looking, vibrant and well captured.
2 Apr 2009 7:50am
kerfendal from Paris, France
nice shot, these flowers are really nice and you gave all their beauty
2 Apr 2009 8:14am
Véro from Peisey-Nancroix, France
de quoi illuminer une journée sans soleil ! Très joli flou .
2 Apr 2009 9:02am
Elena Kotrotsou from Drossia, Greece
So beautiful flowers! Look like the have light in them!!
2 Apr 2009 9:04am
Judy from Brooksville, Florida, United States
I like your focus on these beautiful daffodils ... heralding spring!
2 Apr 2009 10:54am
mo.langel from Courtelary, Switzerland
J'aime bien ce petit flou! Une belle image de printemps!
2 Apr 2009 10:56am
vu@granby - Wolfgang from Granby, Québec, Canada
Here the climax for daffodils is around May 10, I have several hundreds in my garden.
2 Apr 2009 11:32am
@vu@granby - Wolfgang: Around here, Wolfgang, they will be long gone by May 10. It is about time for the tulips to begin.
Kyle from Manhattan KS, United States
Nice blur, a very beautiful image. My daffodils were hammered by the snow of all things.
2 Apr 2009 11:39am
Peggy M. from somewhere in, France
Magnificent light and color here. Flowers perfume your photos, very beautiful !
2 Apr 2009 1:02pm
dogilicious from Millerstown, PA, United States
Wow! Another daffodil! I am going to have to wait and post mine later. I had it slated for tomorrow but next to yours and Jerry's I think I'll wait. Great work.
2 Apr 2009 1:11pm
@dogilicious: Daffodils are wonderful. My problem was how to make a daffodil shot a little different, but not too different. I easily took 50-60 daffodil shots from every conceivable angle and from singles to clumps, plus different varieties of daffodils. I tried them in B&W, sepia, antique, etc., etc. I never did get something with which I was totally satisfied; however, I simply wouldn't be spring without a daffodil shot.
Tracy from La Selva Beach, United States
Very pretty treatment with the Blur! It makes the flowers really stand out :) Beautiful!
2 Apr 2009 1:19pm
Viewfinder from Bradenton, FL, United States
What a rich set of warm golden yellows in this excellent shot. Great bokeh, too. When we lived in places where they could thrive, I always looked forward to their debut as the surest sign of Spring's arrival.
2 Apr 2009 2:19pm
@Viewfinder: Absolutely; better than any brass band.
Diane Schuller from Hythe, Canada
Jack these daffodils are beautiful and I really like the composition here. The blur added to the edges is well done to avoid any distraction from the background -- fine work yet again.
2 Apr 2009 2:19pm
EYES WIDE SHUT from The library of my soul, United Kingdom
Astoundingly beautiful, almost coming out of the screen with vibrant glory. This is a magazine quality shot, Jack, utterly mesmeric
2 Apr 2009 3:05pm
@EYES WIDE SHUT: Paul, your post today is one of those that bears going back to spend some time with. The sunset is so gorgeous that it is easy to miss all that is in it. I look at the distant hills and wonder if that is one of the San Juans? The building on the right provides superb framing. And on and on.
@k@: Siblings; just like you and me, right??
Susan from Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States
Wow Jack, this is gorgeous also.... You and Suzanne today, with the beautiful flowers!!!! Did you use the focalpoint on this one????
2 Apr 2009 3:36pm
@Susan: Probably used Focal Point. I did such a humongous amount of playing around with daffodils, I don't have a real clue as to what I ultimately did. You are going to love LR; the non-destructive editing that you can do, and the lack of needing layers for selective editing, is incredible. It is so photographer oriented.
Nicholas from Shah Alam, Malaysia
I love how the daffodils seem to be synchronised or is it symmetrical? :)
2 Apr 2009 3:46pm
don from Spokane, United States
This is a wonderful flower shot. I like the way you managed the limited plane of sharpness with the rest of the image transformed with an appealing blur. Excellent color and detail.
2 Apr 2009 3:47pm
Richard_Irwin from Belper, United Kingdom
I always have found Daffs so awkward to photograph well, but this shot proves it can be done, excellent.
2 Apr 2009 3:59pm
@Richard_Irwin: You are right; my goal to get a daffodil photograph with which I felt ok was incredibly difficult.
Steve Rice from Olympia, United States
Lovely flowers, lovely treatment. We are on the same wavelength today.
2 Apr 2009 3:59pm
@Steve Rice: Yep, and not all that far apart geographically.
Alivia from Saint-Etienne, France
un duo de jonquilles, un trésor de lumière niché au creux des feuilles, le jaune que le printemps distribue à profusion.. quelle douce et tendre image, toute en délicatesse dans le flou des pétales..
2 Apr 2009 4:36pm
ordinaryimages from Kentucky Bluegrass, United States
sweet...you ol' softie : ] best...jerry
2 Apr 2009 5:01pm
@ordinaryimages: Yep.
Manel from Girona, Spain
Absolutly five stars macro with an incredible backgraund. Great shot John !!
2 Apr 2009 5:14pm
Michael Rawluk from Williams Lake, BC, Canada
I was going to put on my angry voice and say "Listen, Mister. It is snowing right now. April. Snow."
But I won't. That is a lovely bit of colour to blast away this Spring/Winter blues. Gorgeous.
2 Apr 2009 5:16pm
@Michael Rawluk: Thank you, Michael. Sorry that Spring is so late for you folks.
Suzanne from Huntington Bch, California, United States
Gorgeous. Did you use your lensbaby here?
2 Apr 2009 5:37pm
@Suzanne: Thanks. No; haven't used the LensBaby in months. This was all done in post-processing.
Ajay from Pune, India
Beautiful flowers and that blur is really making them stand out.
2 Apr 2009 5:59pm
JJ from Jersey City, United States
What a sweet shot of these gorgeous flowers, love the composition and warm colors
cannot wait for mine to bloom
2 Apr 2009 6:14pm
marc battault from clermont ferrand, France
beautiful depth of field! Here, a macro sublime!
friendships jack!
2 Apr 2009 6:30pm
PD from Overland Park, Kansas, United States
Great shot. So you used Light Room for processing?
2 Apr 2009 7:21pm
@PD: To be honest, it's been awhile; so I don't remember. I generally begin in LR, but I probably did the blur with onOne's Focal Point, which is a plug-in for PS. Oh my goodness, I just did a double check and realized that I can access my onOne plug-ins directly from LR. I know that I haven't done this, but I will. Thank you. PS - this an addition; you have to have PS for the onOne plug-ins that get installed in LR to work. For example, if you want to use Focal Point, it gets sent over to PS, where everything is done and then it comes back. FocalPoint works fine, but I have found that PhotoFrame 4 Pro is a disaster; I'm much better of sending the file from LR to PS, doing the PhotoFrame and then saving it back. Others may not have this problem.
Magda from Vancouver, Canada
Simply beautiful! The colour is outstanding! Wow! Love the post editing
2 Apr 2009 8:36pm
@Magda: Thank you. I try to do as much work in-camera as possible. That tends to work with landscapes; most of my two Coastal Series didn't have much post-processing. However, when it comes to close-ups and macros, I do find myself using some of the incredible software that is available. onOne's FocalPoint is excellent.
@Sheidaa: Thank. Please don't listen others too much right now; get out there and take photograph.
Lee from Fort Frances Ontario, Canada
It was well worth the wait Jack. Very well done. Excellent workmanship.
2 Apr 2009 10:06pm
observing from North West, United Kingdom
Gorgeous example, and the soft edge focus enhances the image too. Cool work Jack.
2 Apr 2009 11:08pm
Linerberry from Sumner, Christchurch, New Zealand
Wonderful composition and soft focus!!!
3 Apr 2009 12:33am
akarui from Kagoshima, Japan
I didn't know the name of those flowers. Beautiful yellow colors and treatment. (taken with the G10)
3 Apr 2009 12:43am
@akarui: Yep, with a G10; I had forgotten that; it was on a trail walk. The daffodils are great abundance in the Western US and are one of the major harbingers of Spring.
Fishit from Tealtown, United States
I like the dof, but not sure about the blur, nice color and light.
3 Apr 2009 1:23am
khadi from New Delhi, India
Beautiful. I like the soft glowing effect on the daffodils -- what a lovely yellow.
3 Apr 2009 3:11am
Photosanity from Folsom, United States
Beautiful! the softness around the flowers and the perfect light make it outstanding! Thanks for sharing.
3 Apr 2009 3:57am
Barbara from Florida, United States
Magnificent color and softness. After all of the angles you attempted the composition of these two together are stunning.
3 Apr 2009 1:29pm
Isabelle from Liège, Belgium
Wonderful ! Very nice colours and lovely composition!
3 Apr 2009 5:42pm
Anita from West Nottingham, United States
Beautiful!!! Love the bright yellow flowers with the soft surround. Excellent!
3 Apr 2009 10:37pm
bluechameleon from Vancouver, Canada
wow....this is so unique and brilliant in colour and composition.
6 Apr 2009 3:50am
Canon PowerShot G10
1/100 second
F/8.0
ISO 200
25 mm