The Completely True Adventures & Lamentations of OctoGal & OctoPup in Highlands

Black & White Flower Challenge

WOW…what were we thinking? This was hard!!!!! To see past the intensity of the two tone tulips or the variations of pink in the light colored tulips was a true challenge.  I started to process the light differently.

Here are three two toned tulips…

I photographed these first.  Looking back on them I am very disappointed with composition.  I think I was caught up in the novelty of the idea.  So, when I approached the light tulips, I really tried to position each blossom in a composition that showed the unique feature of the flower.

 

 

To see everyone’s flowers please visit KD’s excellent blog.

shrewspeaks

8 responses to “Black & White Flower Challenge”

  1. kanniduba Avatar
    kanniduba

    You know what? I really like that first grouping as well. The softness of these are lovely…I think my favorite is the seventh one, the base of the flower and stem. It’s a classic capture of the tulip. Beautiful!

    Reply
  2. thedailyclick Avatar
    thedailyclick

    These turned out beautifully! My favorites are 3, 4 and 7.
    Were these yellow tulips? I had some myself recently, and the inside (yellow as well) was tough to photograph.

    Reply
  3. shrewspeaks Avatar
    shrewspeaks

    Thanks! This was a real struggle.

    Reply
  4. karma Avatar
    karma

    What was the struggle for you – composing the picture or processing in black and white? I found the hard part for me (maybe emotionally!) was removing the color and still be satisfied with the result. I really like the look of the first two after your comments in the middle of the post. I love the look of the light through the petals.

    Reply
  5. shrewspeaks Avatar
    shrewspeaks

    Great question Karma. For me it was trying to edit the color from my mind as I was shooting the flowers. Usually, I make the choice to make an image B&W in the post-processing phase not in the shooting phase. I had to be much more purposeful of what I was doing, how I was composing. The exercise did what it was meant to do; it made me look beyond the obvious feature of color for the story of each bloom.

    Reply
  6. renae Avatar
    renae

    Funny you mention that Shrew. I was going to bring that point up to the group. I went back into my vast flower archive and found that most of my shots simply do NOT work in b&w. I wonder if I had thought about shooting it in b&w at the time, how I would have shot it. So now that I have missed the boat with this challenge, I will have to revisit it this summer when I have access to blooms. It seems to have been a great exercise for everyone!

    Reply
  7. dalia Avatar
    dalia

    These really turned out great!!! 3 and 11 are my favorites! I love the softness in these.
    I wonder if I would have struggled more with colored flowers. I used white flowers because thought I would get the most contrast.

    Reply
  8. dalia Avatar
    dalia

    P.S. are you in Joisey too??

    Reply

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