Flower Photography Archives - Induced Chaos Photography

Around The Yard

This set of images is really all about light for the most part. However, they were all shot around my Mom’s house in Fort Myers, Florida. I really never left her front or back yards. Well, one shot was technically on the neighbors but he doesn’t have a fence so it counts! Plus you can see my Mom’s fence so clearly it was around the yard.

These images were shot on 2 cameras. The Sony A7ii using a 16-25mm 4.0 and a Canon 55mm 1.2 that just showed up in the mail while I was in Fort Myers. The other camera a Sony RX100iii. The images were shot over different days.

Enjoy

Tulips – Part 2

This is the second set in the series of tulips I shot this spring.

When I am pressed for time I love doing flower edits. They are quick and easy and can be knocked out without a lot of effort going into them. When I first started processing photos I would just use Lightroom and now I use Photoshop for the majority of my work. I can quickly just do what I want and dodge and burn as needed and call it done.

One of the things that I can get away with since I now live in Thailand but publish on a East Coast of America time is I edit the same day. When I need to get out and do something I can quickly do these edits and then out the door.

I more or less explained how editing was done. Mostly gradient work to get the flower into focus then a bit of dodging and burning.

Enjoy.

Tulips – Part 1

I shot this series of images when the tulips were in full bloom. The series was shot between Brookside Gardens in Maryland and Meadowlark Gardens in Virginia.

When I was taking these image I didn’t have a filter that fit my lens. I would have used a 3 stop neutral density to cut down on some of the light since I shot them just before midday. You can fix some of it in Photoshop but it’s never going to look as good if you had a filter.

None of these were shot with a macro lense. I just used my Sigma 24-105 on the Nikon D5500 and went wild. I was still learning how to use the camera so I there were a few misses but for the most part the images came out decent.

Editing wise I just did the Lightroom to Photoshop workflow. I always add my contrast in via a curves adjustment and do local work with dodging and burning as needed.

Enjoy.

Vertically Natured

Since I was in the archives with the Portland, Oregon photo from yesterday I figured why not see what else was there. For the flower lover(s) out there I clicked on the stuff I shot at the Portland Rose Gardens.

It’s strange what I will and will not let through anymore. I know these images aren’t great. Still, I figured why not. Sometimes you need to let go and just go with what you want. I know there are flaws in these images but most people looking at them will never pick them up. It doesn’t mean I just rushed the edits and said to hell with it. It just means, I’m not going to worry about if it’s an epic masterpiece or not. I have shot them and edited them. Sometimes you just edit and publish image because people like it.

These were shot on either a Sony A7R or a Sony RX100M3. They were processed the same way. Camera defaults applied in Lightroom, then gradients and other fun stuff. Then into Photoshop for a curves adjustment for tone and contrast. Local working with dodging and burning and done. Sometimes one more white balance in Camera Raw and and a hue/saturation depending on what I was looking for.

Enjoy.

PS – If they look crispy it’s because they are. I am now just applying the sharpening in full res and letting Photoshop sort it out when I down res it for the web.

PPS – If you are looking at sky and wondering why there is so much variation. It really did shift that much in the couple hours I was there shooting.

Flowers For Valentine’s Day – Part Two

I’ll finish up the set of flowers for Valentine’s Day. Normally I like to break these things up but my schedule has been hectic and these are already edited and ready to go so I’m going with it.

This set is actually when I first started to shoot the US Botanic Garden Conservatory. When I bring stuff into Photoshop it goes from the last photo I brought in to the first. So I work backwards. I was too lazy to sequence them yesterday since it was a quick upload. In the end it works out as these are the ones I really struggled with getting the camera tuned in and the flash to work.

Editing wise nothing special. Usual local adjustments with dodge and burn. Put the tone curve in to add contrast and done.

Enjoy.

Flowers For Valentine’s Day – Part One

I had a request for flowers. It turns out I had recently shot some while I went on an adventure to the US Botanic Garden Conservatory.

The entire reason I went to Botanic Garden Conservatory was to test out a couple lenses, a camera, and a flash I own. I had purchased a Sigma 24-70 2.8 and I had a Sigma 50mm macro to test. So I put them on a recently acquired Sony A7ii along with a Newer Flash for Sony I had bought last year. The inside can be dark and I the A7ii with it stabilization mixed in with the flash seemed to be a good test.

I wasn’t sure how these images came out. The flash absolutely struggled the entire time. It got so hot it just shutdown. I had to let it cool and then fire it back up just to shut down again. I was far from stressing it too. Might be good for periodic use but sustained use it was all but useless.

I won’t blame some of the motion blur in these images solely on the flash. The A7ii is just smaller and lighter than my A7R or my Nikon D810 so balance with the flash was interesting. I’m mainly going to use it for video work but I will get a battery grip for it. The lenses performed fine and for being adapted lenses I was pleased with the results.

Editing wise nothing fancy. Just curves adjustments and dodging and burning for local adjustments. They are flowers, I don’t want to go too wild on them.

Enjoy.

Winter Flowers

When I was in Florida I was informed that I would take pictures of flowers in a garden. I like to think I fulfilled my obligation with these images.

I only took my Sony RX10 with me to Florida as it was a quick trip. It was also a test of my new mobile workflow which means just a smaller external SSD drive and a Lightroom library to dump images to. When I return home I then import the images into my normal library and edit if I haven’t already. Worked well.

Still playing with my new editing workflow. Seems to do well and I’m happy that I was able to bang these images out quickly. It’s just one simple curves adjustment in Photoshop, some dodging and burning, then sharpening. Much faster for when I’m busy and need to be on the run.

Enjoy.

Summer Remnants – Part 2

I’ll finish up the last of the flowers for this post. Everyone seems to love my flower photos. Me? I could pass.

Interesting thing about editing these images is that before I would just crank the contrast on a flower image. Then I would boost the saturation and and the blacks and call it done. I also had weird bokeh effects that really drew the attention away from the flower. Now that I use a tone curve adjustment to add contrast I have a much more control over the contrast. I also don’t get massive color shifts like before either.

To add effect I just use localized dodge and burn to get the right light on the flower and I get a much smoother transition from flower to background. In all, they are much better images now than before.

Enjoy.

Summer Remnants – Part One

I really have no idea why I am going through my back catalogue other than I can. It’s not like I am not sitting on tons of unedited images that I have recently shot. I just am generally shocked on the stuff I never edited for one reason or another.

These are from Oatlands Plantation when I visited out there which is now 3 years ago. I was still shooting micro 4/3 cameras and wasn’t fully into landscapes yet. So I was just wandering around sticking my camera near flowers and calling it a photographic.

Nothing fancy going editing wise. It’s a flower and sometimes some bee’s. Typical dodge and burn and called it done.

Enjoy.

Flower Squares – Part Two

Here are the second half of the flowers I published yesterday. These were all taken in Portland, Oregon at the public Rose Garden. If it wasn’t for people I worked with wanting to get there I doubt I would have ever taken the photos.

There is a bit of a story behind editing these images. It almost didn’t happen. My hands were hurting from lugging around my tripod and Nikon D810 earlier in the day. While it’s not super cold, my tripod is aluminum so all that cold goes right into my hand. So when it came time to edit my hand was screaming in pain. While it only takes a few minutes per image by the time I was done doing 16 I was ready to call it quits.

Enjoy.

Category: Flower Photography

Around The Yard

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Tulips – Part 2

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Tulips – Part 1

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Vertically Natured

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Flowers For Valentine’s Day – Part Two

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Flowers For Valentine’s Day – Part One

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Winter Flowers

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Summer Remnants – Part 2

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Summer Remnants – Part One

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Flower Squares – Part Two

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