Barb and I spent a most interesting day at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA yesterday. It is always nice to spend a winter day within the warm confines of the conservatory. This is pretty much the middle of their orchid exhibit. So between the orchids and everything else, there is really a lot to see. It was also an interesting day in other ways as well, not the least of which was that it turned out to be a kid’s days (my bad for not checking the events schedule more closely). And when we arrived about 20 minutes prior to opening, there were about 20 people with tripods standing around – a camera club event.
Despite these unforeseen challenges, I did get to do some shooting starting early on (before the kids arrived) with some wide angle HDR photography before progressing to some Macro and Lensbaby Soft-focus work. I will be presenting some examples of each over the next week.
This first image is a “make good” from last year when I tried to make this image and blew the composition, blew the image, blew the processing. You name it; I blew it. So I was hoping it would be back this year and I knew I wanted another chance. I approaching this image several ways but finally decided on the approach used for this image. I used my Canon 50D and 24-70 f/2.8L lens mounted on my tripod. I attached a Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter so I could control the shutter speed in order to get the silky water. Then I took a series of 5 images to use in an HDR composite. The five images varied in their EV (-2 2/3, -1 2/3, -2/3, +1/3, +1 1/3) and consequently their shutter speed. I created the HDR image using Photomatix Pro and processed the image using Nik filters (Dfine for noise reduction), Viveza (to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, structure) and a couple of Color Efex Pro filters ending with Glamour Glow. I finished up with a bit of Sharpening using Sharpener Pro.
And this is the result.
NOTE: You may have noticed the Adorama ad in the left column below my page listings. I am now an Adorama Affiliate. I will say more about this over the next week or so. In a nutshell, if you are interesting in making a purchase of any type (camera, lens, bag, card, binoculars, etc) and click through to Adorama via the link here on my website to make that purchase, it gets recorded and I credited with a referral. And you will have my deepest gratitude!
Lovely, Ed. Can’t wait to go there in April! Love the yellow touch!
Terrific composition. I’ll be there Saturday. Can’t wait.
Seeing the picture, I guess you enjoyed your time there. This is a terrific shot Ed… A pure marvel!
I really enjoy the depth of color in this and many of your other photographs. I have not tried HDR yet though a friend of mine has been talking about it a lot lately. I was curious about HDR and slow shutter on moving water, but this photo answers that. When I first found you it was because of some of your motion blurs and multiple exposure work which I found fascinating. I have just started experimenting with that because of seeing your work and posted an image the other day where I posted a link to your pans/blurs gallery. I wanted to stop by and thank you for what you do and for inspiring me to try some things I never would have come up with by myself. You certainly have an eye for beauty and know how to translate that into something you and others can enjoy.
There is a lot to like in this one, Ed. The composition is great and subjects displayed lovely. I like the water, especially by the feet of those stones, I like the bright yellow orchids and the papyrus (or what it is) behind the water curtain. All this makes it a great image but I think that what makes it superb is the light and vivid colours. Excellent work, Ed!
Sounds like a place I could spend all day in and be kicked out at closing time
I like this image a lot, Ed. The softness of the water, and the colors are so vibrant, but it doesn’t have the typical HDR look.
Luscious image, your treatment really works here. And isn’t overdone. Nice work! What a great place, would like to visit one day.
That is an out-of-this-world awesome image. The HDR and processing is superb! I just love this one. Gorgeous!
By the way, we have moved to our own website (been very busy lately) and have a new photoblog.
This shot is beautiful. I usually don’t care for water shots, but do like this one. I will have to look up Longwood Gardens.
Lovely scene and colors, nice soft light. Nice composition as well.
Beautiful job on this one Ed! It’s gorgeous!
Beautiful shots at Longwood, Ed….love the HDR and the soft-focus images, too!
Congrats on the “best nature blogs” award!