Botanical drawing

I don't know what it is either, but I have a image of one of these (or a relative) in the amazon jungle.
Soft and subtle, and very effective.
Nice!
Sandy

Gary, its difficult to achieve dual goals of artistry and technical specimen display. This works very well - both the comp and the technique. I particularly like the artistic, well designed comp, and the subject is beautiful. Personally, I find the flower a little soft for my tastes, probably due to being imaged through glass. I don't know whether boosting contrast would help, or maybe thiner/different glass. Just my opinion. Others may well prefer the softer look.

I like the high key effect you achieved with this Gary. This would make a wonderful wall hanging in my opinion.
Bob

Gary,

For my tastes this is very fine technique and superb result. And as much as I like the effect created, it's the balanced composition that makes the image work.

I do have some reservation like Scott about the low contrast and if I had this in LR might bring the clarity up a bit. Although, I think you could do the same thing in PS with levels, in the mid grey levels. I wouldn't do much but maybe a little.

I like this very much as posted. I hope you'll do more of these.

Do you actually shoot through the glass or just use it to press the plants? If you shoot through it, how does the setup work? I'd love to experiment with this technique.

pat

Nice, nice, nice!!! Very artistic presentation Gary. I love this style, and your insight into your technique.
Hope to see more!

Gary, ID is Bleeding Heart Vine OR Bleeding Glory Bower. Scientific Name : Clerodendrum thomsoniae. Tastefully done and thanks for letting us know the technique.

Gary, it doesn't look too clinical to my eye. The washed out effect gives it a more artistic quality, opposed to a documentary. The transparency adds a wonderful effect to the overall comp as well. Very nice.

Thanks everyone for your comments and Ram for the ID

Pat:
Yes, this is taken through the glass. The flower is sandwiched between 2 pieces of glass which are held together by 4 bulldog clips. A length of plastic tube/hose is laid along the sides and bottom near the edge to prevent the flowers from been crushed. The plastic tubing also forms a water-tight seal and I filled the set up with water. You can see the air bubbles on the curve stigma of the left flower (not water droplets). The reason I filled this with water is to try to minimize the refractive change from air to glass then to air (flower) and glass and air again. However, the refractive of plain water is not the same as glass but better than air.

BTW I did play around with increasing contrast with image but I decided on less contrast (ala Harold Davis style)

Scott:
You may be right about the focusing through glass. I think I used autofocus in this image and the glass may interfere with correct focus. I will use live view focus in future.

Morgan:
I am glad you like the washed out effect.

Gary, your focus looks spot on. By soft, I meant lacking clarity or having a very slight haziness. I think Morgan referred to this a a "washed out" appearance, which he liked. I'd personally like a less washed out look, especially in the leaves, but that's clearly a personal preference. Thanks for all the details on the technique. I think it has lots of potential judging from this first post using it.

interesting technique, Gary and great composition...well done

Brigitte

Pefect title! and the image is pure art!

Wow this is a nice & unique way to capture an image
these kind of techniques from u guys makes me want to setup an studio in my place :)

Very creative Gary and a very nice concept. Awesome.

Gary: Absolutely beautiful work. I can see Pat's point about increased contrast but for me the high key is preferred. Wonderful concept and superb photography. >=))>

It looks surreal and botanically illustrative but I love it !!
I want to try this. (And thanks for the guide !! )
Superb stuff indeed in my view.
JohnR

Hi Gary never too late to comment on inspired a nd artistic work
Albert Darmo