Gimmie Sun!

They were quiet about their plans, and said absolutely nothing to anyone. After all, stealth is their middle name. They plotted and they schemed, going over their plan time and again until they had it absolutely perfectly. For, after all, they would have but one chance to get this right and they could not mess up their chance.

They waited for the perfect opportunity, daring not to barely breath, trying to hold in their excitement and curb their anticipation. Suddenly, they saw their opportunity! Quick as a flash they broke through the new failed Spring Snow and burst out to freedom! At last! At last they had found the sun again! Their daring plan to break free of the snowbank went off perfectly and the two daises once again were free to drink up the warmth of the afternoon sun.

Gimmie Sun became a rallying crying for all daisies and soon after more of them broke for the sun, following in the footsteps of our intrepid heros.

OK. So, that might be a wee bit melodramatic, but this was taken on the first day of Spring and naturally, it snowed. That didn’t stop me from taking a picture of a daisy though. Spring is here! Gimmie Sun!

Drama Daisy, originally uploaded by ifringe.

Daisies, as it turns out, are a whole lot of fun.

They are patient. They don’t wiggle or squirm or fidget or even move while you try to work out the shot you want. They don’t fuss when you move them this way and that. They don’t complain at all when you stop for a moment and are exactly where you left them when they come back. All in all, daisies are a whole lot of fun to work with.

Which brings us to this particular shot. I was looking for bold and dramatic; something vibrant and bold, something vivid and something that popped off the background. Once again seizing upon the daisies as the perfect subject, it was time to see what I could do. And, all in all, I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. I ended up using a ton of lights to get the effect that I wanted (including a flashlight, but we won’t talk about that. I was desperate, OK?) which, I am sure, has made the local power company really happy with me today. The things we do for a photograph.

And here is the final result…drama daisy.

A Matter Of Perspective, originally uploaded by ifringe.

It’s a matter of perspective, I suppose. This shot has no post processing work on it, save for the routine stuff that I always do (like a touch of vignette. For some reason, I always add a touch of vignette to every photo I do. Why this is, I do not know, but it is something that makes the photo inherently “right” to me, and so I do it. Anyway, I digress).

Like I was saying. There is no post processing work on this photo. The reflection is as-is and comes right from the camera. And, all in all, I think the photo hits the effect I was looking for.

Here’s what I did and how I created this shot. First off, came the daisies. Those were the most important bit of the entire photo. They were dyed, I think, and that dye leached off into the water, giving the vase a nice ruby glow. Couldn’t have asked for better. Next, I took the daisies outside and stuck them on a mirror. Yes, a mirror. An everyday, household mirror that one moment was peacefully hanging on the wall, minding its own business, and the next moment was sitting outside. Funny how that happens. Finally, I stood at right angles to the sun on a cloudless day, made sure my own reflection didn’t appear and took the shot.

It was that simple.

I imported it into Aperture, added a vignette (did I mention I like vignettes?) and loaded it here. OK, OK. I had a spot on the mirror that I didn’t notice until I was about ready to upload it. I did blend that out. But that’s it. Promise.

So, all in all, I ended up with a very pretty bunch of flowers with a reflection floating on a blue space, all without post processing. Amazing what you can do with a mirror, isn’t it?