Flowers Anyone?

[Philippe Grunchec]

Great photo, as usual, but I prefer your "vintage lenses shots" -
BTW, I found today the right lens board for my newly acquired 4.5/210 Xenar on Compound! Tomorrow I'll drive to the country (Le Perche, Normandy) and hope my hydrangeas are not too thirsty: we had an extremely dry summer... and fall this year!

[Ken Lee]

... Comme Ça ?

Rose, September 2009
Sinar P, 150mm Braunschweig Heliar
4x5 TMY, Pyrocat HD

[Philippe Grunchec]

Maybe I'm getting old, but I find the super-super sharp trend rather boring!

[Ken Lee]

I find the super-super sharp trend rather boring!

I've long suspected that the part of our brain which deals with precise visual data, is less emotionally sensitive than the part which handles soft shades, tones, and shapes. The enduring popularity of the French Impressionist Painters may support this theory. It's as old as Yin and Yang.

Interestingly, Yin/Yang theory states that when reaching the extremes, Yin transforms into Yang, and vice versa. Some photos that are extremely realistic - when well done - take on a magical quality. Also, what we like initially, is not always what we like after having it around for a while.

In any event, it's always a fulfilling challenge to make beautiful photos, whether they are realistic, impressionistic, or some combination thereof.

[Ken Lee]

With regard to vintage lenses: So far, I have found the "best" lenses to be APO Nikkors.

The 2 lenses I have, are quite sharp of course. They also give the smoothest, most "natural" blur I have seen.

It's all a matter of personal taste of course. Here's a recent example.

Rose, September 2009
Sinar P, 240mm APO-Nikkor
4x5 TMY, Pyrocat HD

[Tony Karnezis]

... Comme Ça ?

Rose, September 2009
Sinar P, 150mm Braunschweig Heliar
4x5 TMY, Pyrocat HD

Beautiful Ken. I'm drawn even more to the beautiful bokeh of the vase.

[drew.saunders]

I got a bunch of funky sunflowers with dark centers for $1 at the farmer's market and tried my hand at indoor flower photography. Next time, I won't use a white sheet background, as it got just grey enough to completely match the tone in the yellow tips of the petals, making for poor edge contrast.

This one turned out reasonably well:


165/3.5 Zeiss Jena Tessar single coated, f3.5, for one Mississippi (a.k.a. 1 second). TMX developed in diafine.

[Jiri Vasina]

Bravo Maestro !

Thanks a lot, Ken. Such words of encouragement from someone I want to learn from...

(I've been away recently, on family holidays. Unfortunately without a LF camera... ).

Jiri

[csant]

Cyclamen.



Deardorff 8x10, 12" Spencer Portland, Fomapan 100. R09 1:40, 8 min @ 20°C. There's a bigger version over at Flickr.

[Jiri Vasina]

Orchids

I wanted to add something to my "For whom they are?" portfolio...

Chamonix 5×8″, Taylor Hobson Anastigmat 14″, 4¾×6½“, Wephota NP 15, Rodinal.