At the Minot Rose Garden

Marbled rose was captured in one of my favorite flower photography locations in Brookline, the Minot Rose Garden. It is just a 5 minute drive away from my home and you may find me there in the early morning hours during May and June. I especially enjoy exploring the garden after an early morning rain shower. This morning, the roses were lit by the beautiful morning sun while still covered in rain drops after a midnight shower. The sunlight had not reached the background of the particular marbled pink rose, leaving it in the shade and dark for the most part. All I had left to do was to compose a floral photographic image that left any distracting highlights in the background out of the frame. My photographic goal was to draw full attention only on the main subject of the pink rose. Additionally I decided to apply limited depth of field so I laid the focus on a section of attractive raindrop covered rose petals. A large aperture provided the intended limited depth of field and a polarizing filter enhanced color saturation and minimized reflections. Metering the sun-lit rose in combination with the large aperture setting granted a desired fast shutter speed that in return limited the light on the shadowed background, therefore further darkening the background. In the post-processing steps I removed any dust spots, minimally enhanced contrast and color saturation and lastly applied sharpening of the flower photograph.