Its a Bank Holiday in the UK

[ST1]

Yes, it's a Bank Holiday in the UK and I don't (or try very hard not to) venture out and about, nothing to do with the UK Bank Holiday weather you understand

I decided to have a little indoor shoot to capture some cut flowers and an Orchid. I'm not sure what's going on with the orchid but... this year it has produced a lot of flower. The cut flowers are from our garden.

The bottle that they are displayed in was acquired by SWMBO in a New Zealand flea Market and survived all of the rest of out travels without damage.

I don't have a studio of the type that Mike Buckley uses so you will see reflections though the bottle in one of the images. The one that I added just so Mike could see the bottle .

So here especially for this forum my Bank Holiday afternoons exercise in still life.

As always your C&C would be most welcome.

#1 The Orchid



#2 Still Life Mk1



#3 Still Life Mk2 with a bit more bottle

[Kodiak]

The cut flowers are from our garden.

That was a nice way to spend a free day!
The only little detail I would like to bring up is that in your first take, the upper
flowers are more illuminated than the lower one… being in the shade!

This gradient is very ok when observed diagonally from Up L to Mid R. (this
being an effect of the inverse square law) but somewhat too noticeable when
the lower group is brought into the equation.

The other two shots are very nicely lit!

[Mike Buckley]

Very nice lighting and use of the gradient in the background. I prefer the treatment of the edges of the clear glass vase in photo #3 to the treatment in Photo #2.

In all of the photos, consider adding more punch but don't lose the nice delicate look of the flowers.

In photo #1, allow a little more space at the bottom and perhaps crop a little at the top.

In photo #2, add enough space to the top so the flowers don't exit the frame. Also try rotating a little to the left. The vase is straight but there's an optical illusion going on that makes it appear as if it's leaning slightly to the right. (As an example, the vase in photo #3 really is leaning to the left but the same optical illusion makes it appear as if it's straight.)

In photo #3, add a little more negative space at the top. Also either crop at the bottom a little or add enough to the bottom to include the entire vase. You've got some reflections in the vase that would usually seem very unappealing to me, though I rather like these particular reflections. It's important to know how to eliminate them even if you prefer displaying them in this scene. If you don't know how to eliminate them, review the fourth edition of Light: Science & Magic.

You've got a really great start on these!

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured, nice backgrounds, a bit of bright in the upper right hand corner though.

[bnnrcn]

Nice series, my best is #2, very nice colours and composition

[Nicks Pics]

I think that background shows the flowers very nicely.

[ajsmith]

Very pretty. I like #3 the best for the composition and the flowers stand out more. As Mike noted, the vase is leaning slightly to the left.

[ST1]

Thanks everyone for your comments and feedback on these images, they are all much appreciated.

For clarity I shall explain the environment in which the images were taken.

All in natural light within a bay window, I'm able to control this light but only by adjusting the window blinds!. The background is an A2 sized piece of black card. Two purposes for this card, one to hide the radiator and second to produce a reasonably plain background. The lighter area that can be seen at the lower portion of the card is the daylight falling on the curve of the card from the two side windows.
The blue reflection visible in the bottle/vase is caused by placing two A2 blue cards one at each side of the bay widow walls. The following image (sorry about the highlights) should give you an idea of how the images were set up, note that for the series the Vase/bottle were standing on the floor with the card curved up towards the windowsill. Note to self buy larger pieces of card.