Flower Friday

Made this image rose during my Intro to Digital Photography Class for BATC on Monday. Being our first day shooting for this block, I don't get to shoot much because I'm helping everyone get used to their cameras, and set up their shots, which is great: it's fun to see people get aha! moments with their cameras, like E. here. So, while I was helping E. get her shots, I looked down and saw this image sitting there and had to make it for myself real quick. I started shooting at f/5.6, but changed that upward to f/8.0 in order to get a little more sharpness on that foremost sepal. A little curves adjustment in Lightroom drops the darkest parts of the picture to create a very natural vignette. I like this image. But I must say that I'm impressed with the one E. made, too.

As much as I enjoy my students' aha!'s, I'm still very excited about my own--especially when I'm sharing them with my students. I feel like the creative atmosphere is penetrating everyone in the room at those times, and it's a feeling like discovering something new inside yourself that you hoped was there, and realizing that it is there is liberating.

 I've got two wonderful classes this block, and I'm so looking forward to shooting with them for the next several weeks. Next week we have an industrious young woman coming for Senior Portraits. I wonder what we'll discover together.

Nikon D700, 55mm micro f/3.5 lens, f/8.0, 1/80s, ISO 800. Ideally, a tripod would have really set this one apart and guaranteed sharpness, but I had one hand on the shutter, and the other holding a flower for someone else! The high ISO saved this image by allowing me to have a fast shutter speed, and I'm so happy with the performance of this new camera. As it is, I'm happy, but I'll explore this setup again and see if I can't make something really stunning...