Something a little different.

[jeeperman]

For me anyway.
This experiment gave me a huge headache so I may be slow to get back and respond.
These are a plant I am told are called Silver Dollars. They are paper thin and see through.....that is until you hit them with a little light and they become reflectors. One is lit from the bottom and side with two white-ish lights and the other hit from behind to the side with one colored light. Your thoughts?

[tbob]

The one with the coloured light works better for me as I prefer the warm glow to the starkness of the effectively black and white study. I do think both have merit as studies of the subject; interesting and nicely minimal

[jeeperman]

Thanks Trevor.

[Geoff F]

That plant looks very similar to the UK one commonly called Honesty.

And two very different images just by varying the light. Both good.

[Amit More]

I prefer the one in warm tone than B&W.... I like the light specially on right side bunch of leaves.

[Dave Humphries]

Another vote for the colour version Paul.

In #1, is it possible to not alter the subject colour at all, but neutralise (de colour) the background though?

Cheers,

[flashback]

I'd love to see it in B&W, I like the starkness. The leaves have an iridescence similar to mother of pearl which I think, in B&W might be striking.

[jeeperman]

Thank you everyone! This has been a a fun little experiment. Now Dave wants me to work miracles! lol

Well Dave, I gave it a go....How's this?
Jack, I will see what I can do.

[jeeperman]

Here ya go Jack. I think all of these look best large in the lightbox.

[Kaclarity]

Paul I like the 2nd orginal. Gave me more of depth of field feel. I fealt like I was almost there. Please dont tell me you shot it with that lens I want to steal JimC

[jeeperman]

Yes I sure did Jim....and thank you.

[Dave Humphries]

Thank you everyone! This has been a a fun little experiment. Now Dave wants me to work miracles! lol

Well Dave, I gave it a go....How's this?
Jack, I will see what I can do.

Yes, I think it is better, what do you think?

Miracle achieved

Cheers,

[jeeperman]

I fully agree! I did not have a large enough black background and made due with a cardboard box! lol Even though I was carefull not to light it...it was still brown. The flowers and light really pop now. Thanks for the nudge.

[flashback]

Paul,
Now I'm totally conflicted...I like them both. I think your first choice (with the adjusted background) sings to me more. Great shot and I can definitely see it framed and up for sale in a gallery.

[Momo]

Oh wow... I have not seen one of those plants since I was a little kid. I think my mother may have had one at some point in time. The golden color works best for me. Nice job!

[Bobobird]

How did I miss this??

Beautifully done.

[jeeperman]

Thank you Jack, Darren and Bobo. Oh and yes in the final...the light spots in the right side have been fixed, incase anyone saw them.

Darren I don't see many of these but being that I am in several yards a day I do come accross some good stuff on occasion.

Bobo, I don't know. Promise I didn't hide it.

[DanK]

Very nice indeed. Excellent lighting. I agree that neutralizing the background helps.

Even with a black background, it is hard to get a true black without postprocessing if there is too much light falling on the background surface. Placing the background farther back helps. I often deal with this by selecting based on color in CS5, cleaning up the selection a little, turning the selection into a mask, and pushing levels to the bottom for the mask. it's very quick after the first time or two. the wisteria seed I posted today was done that way. the seed and pod were held about 7 cm above a black plastic notebook. That created an irregular gray background because there was no way to avoid light hitting the surface.