We've had some rain lately, it's good for the garden and freshens things up so I'm not unhappy about it. In between the sky-sprinkles I took the opportunity to take my camera outside with the intention of getting some waterdrop macro shots. Unfortunately, it was a total fucken failure not working out so well and I decided to give up before I threw my fucken camera over the fence shrugged my shoulders in resignation and moved on to other pursuits.
But...never one to give in to failure, I plucked a couple flowers and brought them inside thinking I'd see what I could produce in my lightbox. Here's some of those images.
For something different, and because the back of the flower seemed more interesting than the front, I decided to shoot it upside down and, I broke out my trusty water spray bottle to get some water droplets on there.
I didn't have much to work with, just the single flower you see and a yellow one which I may post about at some later time, so I tried to get creative by holding it in the palm of my hand for a shot and there's another with my middle finger inserted between the dripping wet petals...Someone said, oh, that one's a little naughty, when she saw it and I was like, yep, that was the aim.
The light-ring at the top of my lightbox is visible in the water droplets which I didn't like; I had wanted to just get the droplets without that interference but I have no idea how so I decided to simply like the reflection instead. I guess that's the thing with me and my photography...if it doesn't work out to plan I just learn to like whatever result I got; it's much easier that way.
Above, you can see that shot I mentioned earlier, my middle finger inserted into the most centre between the delicate petals that drip with wetness. This was a difficult shot to get as I had to keep my hand there, very still, and look into the camera screen and focus at the same time...and my arm wasn't long enough to get a good position...It worked out though and the flower didn't mind at all.
I've put the shot below into the post, despite it not being a very good one, to show the front of the flower that I used for the other shots. It's a little boring I guess, hence why I flipped it over and approached from behind. What do you think? Is it better from the front of from behind? What's your preference?
Taking these shots was pretty frustrating as it didn't really work out to plan, outside between the rain coming down or inside using the lightbox. It's ok though, I managed not to break my camera in anger so it lives for another day of photography with me, the knuckleheaded photographer, behind the lens.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default; tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind - galenkp
[All original and proudly AI free.]
Every image in this post is my own.
Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III and Samsung S22 Ultra were used to capture these images.
You learn to love the (still beautiful so there) results or if you can be bothered you learn how to rearrange the lightbox or the angle to avoid the reflection or you learn how to edit XD
I think it looked equally interesting from all angles, regardless of which way there's interesting colours and textures and shapes.
I'm not keen on editing my photos, and besides, don't really know how to use editing software with no intention of learning. I shot some watches yesterday and will post them tomorrow or the weekend...they would look way better edited but, nope. Lol.
I do this for fun, not to fabricate perfect images. I just learn to like the results and that's good enough for the old G-dog.
The greatness of creativity lies precisely in inventiveness despite the difficulties (I'm a Cuban, so trust me 😂). I'm glad the rain prevented your plans and "forced" you to take these interesting shots. It's true that the everyday becomes monotonous and boring, so from behind it looked great. The less explored is also more attractive to others. My favourite is the first shot where besides the flower upside down, wet and showing its changing petal colours, it rests on a steady hand holding it and I can even see some of its fingerprints. I am not a photographer, I am just giving my humble opinion. Anyway, I loved this session. 😍
Hey there, thanks for your great comment and for sharing which photo you like the best.
The hand ones are a little difficult as I said in the post but I get it done eventually. I have to wear reading glasses and use them to see the camera screen too and with my hand stuck holding the flower I can't get far enough back from the screen to see it clearly; persistence is the key, and luck.
As it turned out having to move my photography session inside wasn't a bad thing, I got a few good snaps and had some fun, so it was not a total bust.
Failure for nothing! I loved them and it was worth all the effort, because the result was great. Although the photo doesn't show your glasses and you can't see your hand trembling because of the coordination of the process, you can see the effort and that adds even more value. I think that if the destination is good, the difficult road travelled will have been worth it 😉.
Flower photo porn.😀 Seriously good shots.
Got the camera out and cleaned up. Can't find the charger for it though, so had to order one. Should be here Thursday. Then it will be my turn for some naughty stuff.
Thanks Joe, I'm happy with these ones. It's amazing what one can do with one single flower. 🤗
I took some shots of some of my watches yesterday, post coming sometime soon, and had a good time with it. It's all about that, the enjoyment I get from it.
I'm looking forward to seeing your shots; remember, just have fun with it.
I can't wait to see the shots of the watches. I sure will have fun with it.
I liked the results, much better that way, love that what we achieve, many times it is not what you expect, but it works. Glad the camera survived another day.
I like the shots, especially the last one. And the naughtiness with the flower in the middle, but it conveys delicacy, such as a man with knowledge knows he has to have. You accomplished your goals.
Hey there, thanks for your nice comments, it's always good to get some nice feedback on my shots, it adds to the enjoyment of taking them.
You are truly your worst critic.
Your images are beautiful, soft, and alluring in all the right spots, and the water drops bring it to another level. Flower pictures are lovely to look at, but, adding the water? A hundred bonus points.
I used to be annoyed with the slightly out-of-focus parts of my flowers and now, I purposely try for a little. Of course, it is a different kind of blur or focus, but, then so is the way I look at it now.
Thank you Swigs, these shots came out well I think. I'm not one to talk myself up though, never have been, and because I believe there are so many examples of better photography than mine I play my own down. Like I say often, I do this for the enjoyment of the process, the creativity, innovation I have to find to make things work with the limited equipment/knowledge I have and the satisfaction of getting a reasonable result.
Adding the water drops worked out well right? These shots feel calm to me, soothing, and that's sort of nice. The blur effect you mention, I think it's nice, highlights the boats you want to pop out. I did a shoot if some of my watches, that post is for Saturday, and I used that technique on some.
Anyway, thanks for your comment, as always.
I hope your week is slipping by with ease, and productivity is being attained.
These are lovely shots Galen, as always! I think frustration is always there, no matter what the conditions are, there's always something that is not right. Yesterday I took a bunch of photos and had no idea what I'm doing as the light was so strong. The photos turned out ok, regardless of what I saw on the screen 😂. Who said photographing is easy, right?
Thanks Erikah, I appreciate it.
I feel your pain with the light being wrong and not really knowing how to account for it, that's why I've shifted my focus away from seeking great photos and more towards enjoying the process of getting bad to average ones. Lol.
My problem was the light on my screen. Basically you can't see what's on your phone screen, but it's ok as we don't work with film or paper, so the delete button takes care of it 😃
Oh yeah, that's an issue for sure. I wear Oakley wrap-around sunglasses all the time when outside and they're prescription lenses too so looking at my phone of camera screen is problematic. I generally make it work but get annoyed when I think I've got the shot, leave and come home, then realise I haven't got a good one. Sucks.
It sure does. I came in the room, downloaded the photos and was looking to see if I have to go back and do some shooting again. Luckily these scenes are here tomorrow as well, but when you're traveling, you don't have that luxury. Win some, lose some I guess, as it happens with everything in life.
I one dropped my whole camera when on holiday in Byron Bay, northern New South Wales. Just in case you are thinking to give it a try...don't. I would have been happy to have some bad photos instead of dropping the whole damned thing. Oh well, lesson learned.
The second photo is my favorite. What a delicacy, @galenkp.
I also had other readings done...somewhat sexual, perhaps but also very delicate. Very nice shot.
-edit- nope, it's the third 😅
I like that third image as well. I only had a single flower to work with for this shoot the purple one - there was a yellow one but I'll post about later. So I tried to get creative by adding the water drops and my hand. I think it worked out ok.
Galen, you never disappoint do you. I was already saying that that middle finger picture reminded me of something and of course, you pointed out that it was intentional. Really nice photos you've got going there. Creativity with a sprinkle of naughtiness. Perfect.
One must keep up one's standards. Lol.
Sometimes it's best to be direct.
Thank you for your comments on the snaps, I enjoyed creating them. More coming soon.
Very necessary indeed.😂
I'm looking forward to more of your
naughtycreative snaps.Lol...Well then, I've another one planned for Saturday...Photos are taken, just putting them into the post over the next day or so. It's not that naughty, just a little bit in the title.
Yeah, I've noticed the thing you do with the titles. I always laugh and be like, "Galen is back again..."😂
So, I'll wait for Saturday's banger as well.
Patience is a virtue.
You could experiment with different kinds of filters between the light source and your subject within the light box. It might be able to help diffuse the reflection of the light ring. Overall, i think most viewers would be caught up in the clarity, detail, framing, and awesome color of this set of photos than negatively critiquing the reflection in the water drops. Excellent shots, even if you don't like them. hahaha
That's a good idea, an opaque film of some kind. I tend to get creative with the light I use, blocking glare and all. I took a heap of photos of some of my watches yesterday (99 photos) and will share them probably Saturday in a post here...trying to reduce the glare on watch glass was a challenge. I think I went ok with it, others will be the judge though I guess. That's my Saturday post.
Thanks for your comment...I'm actually happy with thee snaps, I mean, I know they're not the best ever, but the process of getting them was fun and that's what counts. I'll just keep bumbling along.
I see beauty, the drops of water that signify life, it gives that touch of beauty. The flower in all its stages is beautiful, because it is itself in life at every step.
To bring the positive out of that which seems to have none is a great thing and you did it. I love it!
Every approach, every effort you put into it, enhanced its value.
For me they are excellent photographs.
The hand holding life, the beautiful, symbol of nature. It's great! Thank you!❤️
I like that hand one too, a moment of brilliance on my part? Or...maybe I was getting desperate for a decent photo and was happy to try anything. Lol.
I'm glad you like them.
Noooo, desperation is not good 😂
It came out excellent, that's my way of seeing it, maybe someone else has a different point of view... I like to see the little big details of things.
I never portray myself as a photographer, I'm just an average man all round, nothing overly remarkable, but I enjoy the process of getting these snaps and that's all that really counts. It's like my writing...I do it for me, if others like it or relate to it, then great...if not, also great because I enjoyed the process.
Anyway, us average, unremarkable men need our sleep...time to go.
Night. (Have a good day.)
Have a good night's sleep!
I loved the pictures, they are beautiful.
And I laughed a lot with the post.
Now, regarding the question I think it's better from the front 🤭.
Thank you, I like the colours and the way the drops form on them, just brings another dimension to the shots.
Lol, front huh? Well, I don't disagree but some variety is always nice, hence why I flipped the flower over.
Hahaha I see. Galenkp prefers to flip the flower. Also interesting 🤭
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Your creativity is beautiful and full of positivity and the images are beautifully taken 👌
Cheers, I appreciate it.
Flowers are naturally beautiful. The droplets of water increased the beauty of it. And your photography skill made it more beautiful.
It was a fun shoot and the results are about as good as I could hope for.
your flower shots this time are really very beautiful, the details are so clear especially there are some water spots that make them even more perfect
Thank you, it took a while to get these shots but I think the time was well spent. Thanks for your comment.
waterdrops are great as a complement to the nuances..i like Flower images with dark background..
Thank you for commenting. I like the dark background also, it helps the flower to pop a little more and sort of isolates it. I'm not very good at photography so get things wrong a lot, but I think these ones came out ok.
I think this is good enough, I also take pictures using a smartphone.
I use a camera for shots like this mainly, but use my smart phone now and then also.
Sorry they didn't work out the way you wanted. They still look pretty awesome as far as I am concerned. I think you could edit out the ring in the one water droplet where it is really clear, but the other ones where it is kind of fuzzy might be harder. I've never been good at editing, so I probably wouldn't try it. :)
I don't ever edit my images, I'm always just happy with what comes out of the camera, somehow editing isn't really photography to me...it's editing. I don't care if my photos don't look perfect, they're real as is the process of creating them and I'm happy with that.
I can appreciate that. I don't edit my stuff either. Mostly because like I said, I suck at it. There is an art to it though. Some of the things people can do with Photo Shop is quite impressive.
I used photoshop years ago but was terrible at it, probably due to disinterest.
I think it can create lazy photographers. I understand the desire for perfection when it comes to shots for marketing or commercial use, but in reality life is flawed and never perfect and I'd rather present my photos with that in mind, more honestly, I guess I mean. Sure, there might be some imperfection in the shot, but accepting that life holds such things, flaws, seems a more realistic for one such as I who does not have a commercial use for my images. The media do a good enough job in presenting falsehood, lies and propaganda, I don't need to add to it.
Besides, hours in front of a computer screen editing perfection into a photo? I'd rather be hunting and shooting, or anything else at all. Life is too short for that.
What I really respect is the way they used to have to retouch photos before Photoshop. I remember my dad actually had to send some senior photos and wedding shots in to an artist to have them finished manually. Crazy stuff.
Yeah, now that's a skill for sure! Sort of like those people that restore famous artworks. Respect.
greetings here in my country Venezuela winter also arrived, your photos were definitely incredible
Thank you mate, I appreciate you saying so, and taking a look in the first place.
This post is a perfect example of how creative you are, you have created a complete post, just using picture of this tiny flowers and some waters drops on it.
It was a challenge to create a post using one single flower, it came out ok huh?
Perfectly okay.
Hermosa flor y grandes fotografías, gracias por compartir ✨☁️
Oh no, I don't speak Spanish so don't know what this says, but thanks for leaving a comment anyway.
Beautiful flower and great photography, thanks for sharing.
(I think, still learning XD)
Thank you...what can I say, my averageness is at an all time high. Lol.
Looks very focused even though the first objective flow failed you have switched to a natural setting that looks very beautiful.
Beautiful 🌺
Thank you. 😊
This is creativity at its peak. You just took a flower and made beautiful pictures with it. It looks like an original photoshoot. You're indeed unleashing a talent here...
One must unleash talent, mustn't one? Cheers, thanks for your comment.
Thanks, I appreciate it.