click photo to enlargeQuite a bit of my spare time recently has been in the garden taking up a paved area and some concrete, as well as removing some low walls. There's a couple of weeks hard labour left in substituting some new work, making borders, and planting them. Consequently my time for blogging and taking photographs has been drastically reduced.
Casting around for a snap or two the other day I settled on the indoor plants - see yesterday's post. One of the house plants that we invariably have on display is the cyclamen. In fact there are usually several in a range of colours. I've tried to photograph these interesting plants before, but, from my many attempts I've only posted one shot. I seem to have had a photographic block as far as the cyclamen goes, and I can't really explain why. It has delicate, colourful blooms, with petals that are twisted rather like the blades of a propeller, and the leaves are marked with attractive patterns. It should make an easy subject. However, with past experience in mind I approached the plant with no expectation of achieving anything worthwhile.
But this time I did produce one image that I like. It's a close-up of a single bloom reflected in a mirror. That reflection makes for a subtle symmetry that appeals to me, and also gives greater emphasis to the twist of the petals. But, the thing that improved the shot most, to my mind, was going closer and framing it with the edges of the petals cut off. Unlike yesterday's shot the outline is not something that catches the eye, rather it is the spaces that are left at the edge of the frame.
photograph & text (c) T. Boughen
Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 35mm macro, (70mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/20
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: +1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: Off
