Ever since my first frozen flower experiments, Rich whispers “Freeze me!” in my ear every time we pass a clump of African Irises.  On a recent rainy day (we’ve had plenty of those!), I took a flower inside and did some more experimentation.  This time I didn’t freeze the flower.  I set it up in my living room and played with lighting.  I’m primarily a bird and wildlife photographer, so I’m used to working with the available light.  I’m still learning about flash and lighting.  So I got out my flash and some lamps, and set up some shots on my glass table.  I’m not sure if I achieved the effect that I wanted, but I had a blast.

I love the big, beautiful files that my new 5D Mark III produces!  I’m also surprised how much I notice the increase to 22 megapixel images.  It’s not such a jump from my 18 megapixel 7D body, but I do enjoy the extra pixels.

For the next image I played with the post-processing and filters.  I added some Nik Color Efex, and a slight white vignette to soften the edges.  Then I downloaded some textures from Shadowhouse Creations.  I really liked the effect of using the Emboss filter on the texture.  The embossed texture gives the image some extra depth while keeping the clean lines that I really like in this image.  Again, I had a great time experimenting.  This was the image that I finally kept.

Next time I need to use a lamp with a white-light bulb!  For the second image, I had a lamp shining up through my glass table, through a piece of white paper, and the yellow cast of the light bugs me. :)

That’s what’s so great about photography – there are so many things to photograph, so much light to chase, so many things to experiment with and techniques to try.  Perfect for a rainy day!