I Was Chiefly Speaking of... Flowers

My wife and I went out for a little walk yesterday and a spring walk for a photographer holds all kinds of delights.  The challenge is to find new and interesting ways to present them.  I decided that I wanted to play with large open areas of sky in my compositions To make the flowers a counterpoint to the large blocks of blue colour.  In this image I liked the contrast between the blue block of colour on the left and the dark branches on the right that still hold just the budding promise of the coming spring.  The flowers hold the middle ground in this image.  In Lightroom I increased the structure and the contrast then I took the image into Photoshop and used Content Aware Spot Healing Brush to remove three power lines.  Then I took the image into Viveza and darkened the blue sky on the left. 

-Russell Berg

www.seeingberg.com

A canopy of cherry blossoms against a blue sky.  Fuji XE-2 XF 14mm 2.8 at f/6.4 1/400 ISO 400

Possibilities Not Boundaries

Tender spring Magnolias in Nanaimo. Canon EOS XSi EFS 75-300 f/4-5.6 at 160mm f/20 1/200 IThe tender heart of spring pushes itself from the rank mouldering earth and reminds of what life is.  We see it again in new ways and we feel our own hearts become younger.  And even though spring is delicate, even though it is fragile it gives us hope and allows to break free from the serious contemplations of winter.  It is the place and time where journies begin again and we see possibilites not boundaries.  

“Let us be like a bird for a moment perched

On a frail branch when he sings;

Though he feels it bend, yet he sings his song,

Knowing that he has wings.”     

-Victor Hugo

I went out on a spring morning a a couple of years ago to walk around Nanaimo and photograph some of the wonderful flowers that were springing to life and I came across a series of Magnolia trees in Bowen Park.  The petals had recently emerged and had not yet finished growing.  I was immediately struck by a flower that had a wonderfully disorganized look to the petals.  It seemed as though they were in a hurry to get out and had burst out of the tree before they could get themselved organized.  The long focal length threw the background out of focus nicely yet helped to establish the setting.  I also really like the way that the fuzziness of the seed pod brings texture to the image.

-Russell Berg