Peony Pollinator Surprise

[dewsweeper]

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My Paeonia 'Coral Charm' bloomed today, and became the subject of my weekly "shoot with the wrong lens" challenge.

 

 

[ATTACH]317108[/ATTACH]

 

 

Leica m9 | 50 Summilux-M ASPH | Cropped to about 25% of original

[pauledell]

Hi, Welcome to the forum. An excellent crop with lovely colors, sharpness and detail. The bee is a welcome addition.

 

Paul

[leicamann]

Lovely shot, loev the Bumble bee coming in for a landing, good timing.

 

 

There are colour saturation issues here as must be assumed with ALL digital in bright light, this is what CCD and CMOS censors do.

The " Coral' colour is lost due to that, nothing personal, just something all digital cameras do, even the $25,000 S2.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Cheers, JRM

[dewsweeper]

Lovely shot, loev the Bumble bee coming in for a landing, good timing.

 

 

There are colour saturation issues here as must be assumed with ALL digital in bright light, this is what CCD and CMOS censors do.

The " Coral' colour is lost due to that, nothing personal, just something all digital cameras do, even the $25,000 S2.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Cheers, JRM

 

Thank you for the feedback, no offense taken. Do you have a routine workflow for modulating saturation to your taste? How would you approach this image.

 

FWIW, the light was overcast, the blossom (just opened) is nearly dayglo pink in spots, and will not tone down to its true coral color for a few days. A few days after that it will fade to peaches and cream: a truly stunning flower.

 

The bee startled the living daylights out of me by popping out from between the petals. I had one chance at him, and this was it.

 

Thank you for looking!

[leicamann]

Thank you for the feedback, no offense taken. Do you have a routine workflow for modulating saturation to your taste? How would you approach this image.

 

FWIW, the light was overcast, the blossom (just opened) is nearly dayglo pink in spots, and will not tone down to its true coral color for a few days. A few days after that it will fade to peaches and cream: a truly stunning flower.

 

The bee startled the living daylights out of me by popping out from between the petals. I had one chance at him, and this was it.

 

Thank you for looking!

My approach is..

1) what do I want.?

a) what I see?

a characterization of what I see?

c) Fuji Velvia Juicy Fruit colours?

d) as close to what I see as possible.

 

If your trying to be the best ambassador for the flower, then its best to memorize the colour and then, look at the review and go, aha...thats what the camera is doing!!

Once in Photoshop, I look at where the highlights and detail is "blown"..whats causing it?

Usually the answer is " saturation".

Now in Adobe RAW, we have much more subtle approaches, like Luminance, Saturation and Hue that helps you" dial in" the proper colour balance.

 

This is specifically for images such as red , pink, purple and yellow flowers of intense colour value.

Lastly, I try to avoid harsh sunny days, that make this issue even more exaggerated.

Eventually you "get to know" that the camera has a certain way , a certain colour bias, and you get to know how to rein that in.

The most common false assumption is this: its a Leica M9, whatever I point at and shoot, thats it..its perfect because Leica makes perfect cameras.

The second assumption is, " If I pull back the saturation and do all this Photoshop stuff, I've ruined the purity and " Sanctity Law" of "not touching" the image..... and if I have, its a form of lying visually, a form of deceit and artistic dishonesty.

Now some of this is true when it comes say, to slide film, really you had to get the exposure perfect in order to draw out the virtues of the film.

But we know from today that CCD and CMOS sensors have certain proclivities, exaggerated saturation is a very common one, no matter what the price tag.

 

 

 

Cheers, JRM

[dewsweeper]

Thank you for your thoughtful response.

 

FWIW, I have been shooting professionally (4x5, and down) since I was in my teens, shooting digitally since 1998, and working with computer graphics since 1978. I do like punchy color, but not usually Velvia because it gums up my shadows. An early photography boss & mentor once referred to my color as bullet-proof, so, yes, your critique is a familiar one for me.

 

I am new to Leica digital, and I'm shooting for one year for personal pleasure only while I adjust to the characteristics of this new system and workflow. It helps me to hear your perspective. I shoot digital because I must. I don't think I like digital, yet, but Leica is bringing me around.

 

Each shutter-click is a balancing act, and your list is a good one. It misses "what I feel", and "what I want my viewer to feel". In this case, the flower itself is hyper-saturated, and the image, side-by-side with the flower, is somewhat subdued by comparison. (Much like some sunsets.) I wanted the viewer to be as knocked over by the color as I was. I actually felt it might not be punchy-enough! In a week, I will photograph it again, and capture its gentle side.

 

My intent for this image started with capturing the delectable edges, mottled exuberant petal color, and vivid yellow of the stamens without losing any of the texture, and without the "right" lens. The bee startled me, and if anything I switched in that instant to be an ambassador for the bee rather than the flower. It is the quality of the extraordinary M9 & Summilux that permitted me to crop, yet still see the bee's little feet. This is a good thing to know about one's equipment!

 

I'm glad you found some elements in the image that pleased you, and I appreciate the time you took to look and give me feedback. Thank you for sharing your take. I hope I won't offend you if I choose to be enthused, rather than dismayed, by my camera's saturation proclivities. But feel free to keep poking me about it, because my real intent is to get folks to respond to a moment of seeing, and if saturation is getting in the way, then it really must go.

 

Warm thanks,

-Dawn.

[leicamann]

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Hmm..what do you feel.. funny..for me thats already an assumed, being an artist that is by default in the whole flow of the photographic process, everything else really is in "service" of that..so all the technical stuff, including my own mental clutter, needs to be set in order and present for the magical moment.

I find that when viewing the shoot in Bridge, I see that I ' missed " the very thing that drew me into it.... I missed that Zen moment..so its back again ..

 

Cheers, JRM