Missed last week because I felt my photo was simply too uninspiring to post. I know it shouldn't be an excuse, but quality over consistency has always been my motto regarding photography :) (The founder of Fifty-two Frames definitely disagrees).

      The theme this week is "Negative Space." I had a faint clue what the theme was, so I did a lot of research. I was instantly overwhelmed with the vast selection of photos I encountered during my search. Indeed, the shots seem quite easy to do, but the actual execution is quite difficult when one considers lighting, choosing an eye-catching subject, color hues and so forth. Eventually, i resorted to Googling single subject and orchid photos. I tried replicating an orchid photo of my own, but it didn't work as well as I wanted it to.

      Then it dawned on me to do something very simple. I stuck some flowers I'd been drying for the past six months in a glass filled with rice (to firmly hold it in place) and began experimenting. Initially, I shot the flowers against a purple wall. I wasn't quite pleased with the overall dull look of the wall, so I ironed and strung a black scarf to serve as my backdrop (note to self: whenever in doubt, use black backdrops). I started shooting again, and alternated between yellow and red roses for some variety. I used a Macro lens and an external flash throughout this shoot. This was my twentieth shot.

        I chose to use this shot after consulting with my sister for a second opinion, and because we both felt that there was a depth to this shot that the others didn't seem to capture. During processing & editing, I cropped the image to create more negative space on the left side of the image. Thereafter, I "vintaged" the shot by toning down the hues, playing around with the saturation and increasing the overall structure of the roses. Finally, I added some warmth to further colorized the delicate curves of the dried petals. Here's a before and after comparison of the shot.

       Since I took quite a few shots in this theme, I'll post a separate blog with a few more images to showcase the varying results I had. This has been probably one of the simplest and most surprisingly satisfying shoots I've done in a long time. Can't wait to see what the other Framers have submitted. You can view their work here.

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