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Jun
11

YouCapture: Flowers

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I’ve been having a bit of trouble with taking pictures of lobelias and other intensely blue flowers. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong, or if the chip in my camera isn’t up to snuff any more, but the very blue wavelengths just aren’t picked up properly. The lobelia photos I took all look purple, almost magenta, instead of the electric ultramarine of the living flowers. Post-processing the photos to adjust the color was hopeless. I tried in gimp, photoshop, lightroom and got bizarrely unnatural looking shots.

This afternoon I thought I’d have another go with the addition of my polarizing filter. The results were a little better – at least I could post-process them to some vaguely realistic looking point.

As it happens, this week’s YouCapture photo challenge topic is Flowers. I thought I’d take this opportunity to participate. YouCapture is the idea of Beth of I Should Be Folding Laundry. Each week, she posts a topic for photographs, and bloggers interested in participating take photos, and post links at her blog. Click on the YouCapture logo above to see links to all participating blogs this week.

Lobelias. The butterflies weren't cooperating, so it isn't the most interesting of shots. But with the polarizing filter, I could get the color to approach reality. Well, at least on my screen.

For some reason, the delphiniums are more cooperative with the camera.

I could get these delphiniums to look ok without the filter, but the filter certainly improves matters.

The butterflies may not have cooperated, but the bumble bees were very happy to be photographed.

So fuzzy.

Lucky shot.

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10 comments

  1. suzanne says:

    June 12, 2011 at 00:34 (UTC 1 )

    Your photos are amazing.
    The lobelias color looks true. I have some in my yard,but not as lush as yours.
    The bumble bee in flight is wonderful.

    1. TheHighPriestess says:

      June 19, 2011 at 18:58 (UTC 1 )

      Thanks a lot! My lobelias are newly planted, so I think the credit for their lushness goes to the nursery!

  2. Anne says:

    June 12, 2011 at 20:11 (UTC 1 )

    Whoa, the pictures with the bee are amazing! Your camera seems to be more than up to snuff :)

    1. TheHighPriestess says:

      June 19, 2011 at 18:58 (UTC 1 )

      Thanks! :)

  3. Terry says:

    June 15, 2011 at 03:20 (UTC 1 )

    WOW. You inspire me to do better!

    1. TheHighPriestess says:

      June 19, 2011 at 18:59 (UTC 1 )

      Thanks!

  4. Jess says:

    June 16, 2011 at 07:11 (UTC 1 )

    Hmmm… did you check your histogram. Even if it didn’t look overexposed to your eye, you might have blown out your blue channel. If that’s the case (and if you shot jpg) you wouldn’t have been able to recover much in editing.

    You captured some fantastic detail and interesting shapes in your second photo!

    1. TheHighPriestess says:

      June 19, 2011 at 19:04 (UTC 1 )

      Thank you sooo much for this comment. You nailed the problem, and it makes so much sense! That second photo is actually my favorite out of this set – thanks!

  5. MCH says:

    June 17, 2011 at 11:20 (UTC 1 )

    Funny, we have similar photos. And next week’s You Capture is about purple so you and I shouldn’t have a problem with that!!

    1. TheHighPriestess says:

      June 19, 2011 at 19:04 (UTC 1 )

      Neat! That French lavender is so architectural, it sort of begs to be captured, no?

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