Pat bought some simple sunflowers for the table yesterday. As I was getting out of bed, and fumbling for my first coffee, I couldn't help but notice how beautifully the morning sun was coming in through the dining room window. So, after a quick caffeine break, I grabbed my camera.
The scene could be set in so many ways - I could've arranged the flowers & draped a sheet or towel to create a neutral background, so the flowers were the focal point. But I decided to do what I could in-camera. No tricks, just pure photography.
This is the first image I took. It is dark in all the wrong places, and it almost looks like the vase full of stems was the focal point. But this is how it looked when I noticed the warm vibrancy of the sunlight. And look at the shadows on the apples - I really love the sense of depth.
This is the same image, gently re-touched. I'm not a huge fan of overdoing post-processing. I believe that the best photos happen in the first 2" behind the camera - the photographer's eye.
The image I captured has been cropped to 16X9, because I love the feel of that aspect ratio. I brought the exposure up about 2/3 of a stop, and played a little with the blacks & whites.
Some may feel that the vase now looks blown out, and that is OK. I like how it looks. The apples still have a nice sense of depth, but more of their colours are showing.
I could have messed with the saturation of colours in the flowers & stems. I could have, but I didn't. They have wonderful tonality (really... I did just say that !) that also gives them depth.
Rule of thirds, golden ratio, bah ! A nice, simple capture of something that caught my eye first thing in the morning.
It truly was the "golden hour".
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