Workshops: Workshop Thumbnail View

Register

Side-by-Side Top-Bottom
Actual Image

The camera never lies... (39)
AdrianW Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 131 W: 131 N: 105] (307)
They say the camera never lies... They're right of course, cameras aren't that clever just yet ;) However a photographer can easily create an image that doesn't show things as they were...

No Photoshop trickery here, just a little sleight of hand. We had some snow here today, and it settled for a couple of hours - so I had to go out and photograph something. Since I wasn't feeling particularly energetic I went into the back garden ;)

At first glance you'd think it was glorious sunny day with a clear blue sky when I took this, unfortunately in reality it was a nasty grey overcast day. It doesn't look like it though does it?

So, why does the image look so different to the reality? Well, there are two main things here - the first is the use a sky blue background, in this case a cushion off the sofa. The other thing is the nice warm light, which was generated by an off-shoe 550EX flashgun with a warm stofen diffuser on it :) I've now posted a Workshop of the overall scene, which I hope explains the setup a little better!

Now for a bit about the subject itself - for those of you who didn't recognise it instantly it's a daffodil. The daffodil is the national flower of Wales.

The scientific name for the daffodil is Narcissus pseudonarcissus, which is derived from the Greek god, Narcissus who fell in love with his own reflection.

Daffodils can also be deceptive in their own right, and unfortunately have been occasionally mistaken for onions. I say unfortunately because the mistake is almost always fatal, since Daffodils contain very high levels of an alkaloid called Iycorine.

Tech:
Aperture priority, f6.7. -2 stops FEC.
Canon Speedlite 550EX, off-shoe cord 2, Stroboframe flip, stofen warm diffuser.
100ISO RAW converted using DPP. USM and Curves applied in Photoshop.
Altered Image #1

AdrianW Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 131 W: 131 N: 105] (307)
The reality...
Edited by:AdrianW Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 131 W: 131 N: 105] (307)
As you read in my note I used a cushion to create the blue sky, and an off-shoe flash with a warm diffuser to create the illusion of sunlight.

Here's the actual scene - I took this one today, so the snow has melted away a bit more, but in reality there was only snow left on the plant pots anyway!