Apr 19, 2010

At the Boston Arnold Arboretum

Last Saturday I took some time to check on the spring blossoms at the Boston Arnold Arboretum. The park was in mid to full spring blossom bloom. After spending a couple of hours strolling along the many paths and fields I discovered a large field of early bright blue spring flowers in front of yellow Forsythia bushes. It immediately struck me as a wonderful color composition of the two complementary colors of yellow and blue. I located a blooming flower in the field that stood out in height and started composing around it. The first images were taken in harsh sunlight that blew out some of the blue colors. Soon though clouds blocked the sun awarding me with more even light that minimized bright sun spots and allowed for better color saturation. I fired a couple of rounds before adjusting my camera gear for macro flower photography. My tripod with camera was already at flower level and I switched from landscape to portrait to fully fill the frame with one of the blue flowers. Eventually the clouds passed and I was challenged once again with the harsh sunlight. Luckily I planned ahead and brought a white dish towel that I spread between the floral and the sun. The blocking towel evened out the light around the flower while the background of the yellow Forsythia bushes and green grass was fully lit by the sun. I used the camera self timer which allowed me to better adjust the towel and control the light towards the flower. The final flower photograph was taken at f/5.6 and 1/60 of a second. I overexposed by 1/3 of a stop to provide better detail and light in the shaded flower.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks Alison ... glad you like it!

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  2. Great photo! I think these are the same little blue flowers as the ones that grow in our lawn, but I'm stumped as to their identity. Do you happen to know what they are called?

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  3. Thanks so very much for commenting on my impressionistic flower photography from the Boston Arnold Arboretum Gary ... glad you like this floral photograph from my galleries! I am not 100% sure what they are called but I posted it on my facebook page and asks if anybody knows ... if you have the time please check the post over there but I also will follow up here to let you know. Happy Monday, Juergen

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  4. Not sure if you had a chance yet to check out my facebook page for fine art photography ... some of my friends replied and identified those flowers as siberian squill or Scilla siberica ... so glad you asked and I asked since we now both know what the name for these little blue flowers are! Greetings, Juergen

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