Day 16 of the month long macro challenge and I am over half way there! So I thought I’d celebrate by showing you a little something that will hopefully tickle your fancy…
I have supplied two images today, both of the same subject matter – feathers.
I had a firm image in my mind of the shot I wanted to capture – ideally a lonesome feather protruding towards the camera, bathed in nice bokeh. For this, I used a variety of artificial light sources and experimented with the camera flash both on and off. The first image here is taken without the flash and at f/5 – enabling me to blur the background and focus on the single feather. I purposefully chose a less than perfect feather, wanting to create a shot that was not ‘typical’.
Then, using the flash, I was able to take the second shot provided below. At f/5 and 1/40 sec, I captured more of the detail in the feathers themselves and was able to structure a more composed and detailed background. I purposefully centred the image around the curve of a feather, creating a gentle and undulating leading line in the shot. What’s more, the curved feather effectively separates the image in two, and supports a tangible division in the image’s colour balance created by tilting the feathers in the forefront of the shot away from the artificial light source.
I hope you like these!
