Fresh Ground Photography

Lightening Up

It’s lockdown and I’m not able to get out as much as I normally would … no one can. The thing is, it’s easy to get despondent and lose motivation for doing anything, even photography. I’ve spoken to many people about their love of photography and more than one has mentioned the positive effect it has on their mental health. And I can completely see that, it helps you to concentrate on something other, something outside yourself. So I gave myself a mini project the other day.

The weather has been so good lately with a low, strong Spring sun coming in through the windows. I saw the light coming in through a kitchen window and onto a mixed bunch of tulips and daffodils. I had a long lens on my camera because it had been my intention to take photos of birds but the shallow depth of field that the 300mm lens gave me allowed me to take some close ups of the petals in the sunlight.

I like how translucent the tulip flowers become. They really are my favourite flower for messing about with lighting techniques … either flash or natural light.

I spent a happy hour just snapping away at the bunch of flowers and then another, equally happy, hour selecting and post-processing the images that I’d taken. To be honest, I’ve done very little with the images … a little dehazing and some cropping in Photoshop but that’s it. And I felt much more positive. Photography is going to be my outlet during lockdown, just as it’s my outlet in normal times.

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