A second confabulation

[chauncey]

A different take on the composure of this Another white on white

I've done a lot of perusing designer sites...have found none that use really dark backgrounds for flowers.
They look dramatic in your computer but not for a wall hanger...

Anyway this one has a darkish red background and pinkish orchid blooms

[zutty]

I experimented with a dark background with some sunlight. Not sure how I feel about the result though.
7100 Still Life-Flowers #1 HD2 by drummist53, on Flickr

[IzzieK]

William...maybe a darker background will work well here...not quite too dark and the flower seems to be imitating the flower??? what do I know, you more of an expert in this this...one of my orchids is starting to flower again. It has several buds and only one flower so far, so I guess I will try to shoot it or something...

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured, is the issue with the prints related to viewing distance/size of the print? I've had good luck with still life prints which have a black background when printing small, whenever I print large not so happy with the results.

[Max von MeiselMaus]

I like that dark background, but then I like the white background too. They both offer something different. The dark is bold and moody, like white is bright and optimistic.

I also like the idea of the shadow one. If you want crit (ignore this if you don't), that one could be strengthened with altering the composition slightly. At the moment, the flowers and their shadows are two, separate events, on the two sides of the frame. I would have brought them closer together. Not necessarily overlapping, but close enough to show that one is related to the other. That would also enable them to be read as one shape, rather than two bands. That might help you arrange them differently in the picture plane. I would go for flowers off centre, with shadows central, but you can play around with that. The light is a little harsh on the flowers, so I might have held something translucent up to soften it a bit. Not a full-on diffuse, but a net curtain or something similar, to soften the shadow edges without losing too much definition. Did you desaturate the background? This one is not a biggy, but the vivid flowers are further separated from their own shadow by their contrast with the colourless background. A cream/light buff background could have united them and reflected the yellow of the rose. But it is an intriguing shot, and tempting me to have a go with flower still lives. I like them.

[tao2]

A second confabulation

A different take on the composure of this Another white on white

I've done a lot of perusing designer sites...have found none that use really dark backgrounds for flowers.
They look dramatic in your computer but not for a wall hanger...

Anyway this one has a darkish red background and pinkish orchid blooms

So chauncey,

yer telling us that brain damage is causing these photos with variegated backgrounds ?

[chauncey]

yer telling us that brain damage is causing these photos with variegated backgrounds

It's taking the doctors some time to adjust/fine tune my medication.

[Acorn]

I experimented with a dark background with some sunlight. Not sure how I feel about the result though.
7100 Still Life-Flowers #1 HD2 by drummist53, on Flickr

I believe it would look a whole lot better if you cropped much of the left-hand side to delete the shadow, making it a vertical picture. It would be good to see the base of the vase as well as the top of what's in it.

[HaseebM]

The second image is amazing.

[xpatUSA]

As to background or indeed the subject, I'v always like prints from old botanical books, where said background is usually off-white or kinda vellum-looking. Here's one:



Another Phabulous Phoveon shot hits the Phorum, lol

[jcuknz]

The sunlight image emphasises to me the difference between a photo and real life ... in life one's eyes adjust* to the different tones that the camera doesn't and just simple reflector makes all the difference. Just a foolscap sheet of white paper would make all the difference.
*until they get old and loose the ability to rapidly do this.