PAD 39 - Snowdrops

[Mike Farley]

Day 39 and a trip to Compton Valence in Dorset, which is well known locally for its annual display of snowdrops at this time of year. They were planted many years ago by one of the residents and line the lanes both in the village and on the approach.

Canon EOS 7D
EF 100 f/2.8 macro
1/160 sec
f/7.1
ISO 400

[davidc]

Interesting shot, I've never seen snowdrops in mono before. I'd be interested to know the decision process you went through to convert. Do you have a colour version for comparison?

The snowdrops in our garden are just through too and on my list for the weekend when I can shoot them in daylight.

[Mike Farley]

These days I routinely convert images to mono to see how they look. It is very quick with Silver Efex Pro 2 and I have built up a number of my own custom presets. Usually I find that one or other of these provides a good starting point, with very little further adjustment being necessary. My thoughts on the mono treatment mirror yours, that it is unusual, which is one of the reasons why I did it. It also occurred to me that a white flower is actually well suited to be shown that way.

I have included the colour image which formed the basis for the end result. As well as the mono conversion, I darkened some of the out of focus areas in SEP2.

[davidc]

Cool, thanks for sharing both versions. Trying to decide which I prefer, seeing them in mono is definitely unusual.

[Paul Heester]

I was planning to take snowdrops this week with the icy weather but my work shift meant I didnt get home in time for good light, hence my "cerberus" image

[Mike Farley]

For those planning on taking snowdrop images, there is an article in the current issue of Amateur Photographer. Unfortunately it came out after I had taken this shot, but it had some useful info which I might see if I can incorporate into a follow-up shoot of the snowdrops in my garden.

[davidc]

What do they advise?

[Mike Farley]

What do they advise?

It's a bit late now to go through a three page article and I am not sure how much time I will have over the next few days to write a precis. Why not pop into Smith's and see if it is worth buying the mag?

[davidc]

I did as you suggested and read the article in a WHSmith on the way to work.

The article, written by Heather Angel, seemed to be a rehash of her earlier macro work with much the same advice r.e. lighting, POV etc. In a nutshell her advice is -

Try wide angle shots of groups as well as portraits of individual specimens.
Get low to the ground.
Using diffusers/reflectors if lighting conditions aren't optimal
Try to get a snowdrop and a tree in the same shot to give a sense of scale (I actually laughed out loud at this, it seemed to me like she suggested an entire tree in shot with a tiny snowdrop). But perhaps a shot with the trunk of a tree in the background so it's recognisable would suffice.
Advice on using tripods that can get low to the ground, advertising a specific brand whose name I forget

Also some advice on the flowering times of other UK flowers too.

If I'm being honest I wasn't THAT impressed by her macro presentation last year OR this article, certainly not worth buying AP for in my opinion. Your mileage may vary of course, but I've not found AP to be of much value for some time now! I've actually been "in the market" for a good photography magazine for a while now if anyone has any recommendations?

I'll end the thread hijack here

[Mike Farley]

On the basis that you have already looked at the various magazines which are available in the UK and found them all wanting, what would they need to offer in order to persuade you that they are worth buying?