SUNFLOWERS 2019

Recently, my wife and I acquired a small bunch of cut sunflowers.  We're hoping they last for some time before fading.  Meanwhile, I decided to try my hand again at capturing their essence in photos.

These were not the monster-sized specimens one might find in a field of sunflowers.  They were all in the range of 4-6 inches across.  Here is the "cast" in a group shot I took in full sunlight against a black background.

I liked the way the sun was backlighting the petals, but I thought the bright sunlight may have created too much of a contrast to my taste.

Although the flowers on a collective basis create a better appearance from the front than from the rear, on a single flower basis I thought frontal shots lacked a little interest.

Still, not bad.  I particularly liked how the petals appeared a little softer in this shot, which was taken in sunlight that was filtered and indirect.

As in the past, I found the backsides of the flowers more interesting on an individual basis, I think because of the complexity presented by the whiskery sepals.  This first shot was taken with the petals being  backlit by strong sunlight.

Again, I thought the use of filtered light, along with including more of the array of sepals, created a more pleasing look in the petals and more interest with respect to the sepals.  In post processing I also lightened up the sepals a bit, which showed off better their three-dimensionality.

Perhaps this is a question of individual taste.

Armed with my macro lens, I took a few closeups from the sides of individual flowers, which I particularly liked.

One technical point that I might point out:  To increase depth of field, so as to keep as much of the image in acceptably sharp focus, I used a very narrow aperture, ranging from f/36 to f/51.  I also found myself underexposing the images one to two f-stops to bring out the texture of the petals.

John