"Until the Last Petal Falls..."

Posted by
Ian Bramham (Manchester, United Kingdom) on 27 May 2008 in Plant & Nature and Portfolio.

The start of Summer or the end of Spring...I'll let you decide.

The water lilies are in flower at the moment. The lotus flowers and their circular floating leaves have such strong contrasting shapes and colours that I was curious to see what they would look like as a mono coloured photo.

NIKON D40 1/400 second F/5.6 ISO 200 82 mm (35mm equiv.)

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Comments (16)

Nataly from Santa Monica, United States

This is a very nice photo, Ian! I am glad you decided to do it in B&W. The contrast here makes the image! And indeed the composition is great.

27 May 2008 5:30am

@Nataly: Thanks Nataly, I now know why wedding photography is supposed to be so difficult and why so many of them choose cameras with high dynamic range - taking a photo of a white subject against a dark background makes it very difficult to get the exposure right.

Margie from Auckland, New Zealand

Just beautiful. I think you made a good choice with b/w.

27 May 2008 6:34am

@Margie: Thanks Margie!

Ana Lúcia from Leiria, Portugal

It is made of paper? It is just too pretty for words! A simple and very evocative composition.

27 May 2008 7:36am

@Ana Lúcia: Hi Ana...no it's a real water lily with it's lotus flower.

Lorraine from Gatineau, Canada

It is so superbly done Ian, the feeling is...celestial

27 May 2008 10:04am

@Lorraine: Hi Lorraine...thanks for that!

Alun Lambert from cheshire, United Kingdom

realy good in b/w

27 May 2008 10:33am

@Alun Lambert: Thanks Alun!

pierre from athis mons, France

The choice of b&w gives a special aspect to the leaves. The frame is perfect, with this flower on the left top. Delicate image.

27 May 2008 12:06pm

@pierre: Thanks very much Pierre!

Cheryl from Texas, United States

good choice for b&w turned out nice!

27 May 2008 12:08pm

@Cheryl: Thanks Cheryl!

IanSmith from London, United Kingdom

Hi Ian. I'm surprised you decided to convert one of nature's beauties to B&W? It reminds me of my time in Beijing's Summer Palace, where there were thousands of these in full bloom, and how beautiful the louts flower colour worked on the dark green foilage. Not to say your photo isn't very nice, it just contradicts my memories :o)

Take care, Ian

27 May 2008 12:37pm

@IanSmith: Hi Ian...yes I know it seems like an unusual thing to want to do but that was the whole point really - I've seen these beautiful flowers in real life and in colour photos so many times before that I'd started to take them for granted.

Converting this photo to mono made me look at the plant much more closely and in a more detailed way that I hadn't done before.

Japanalia from Yokohama, Japan

I like the pattern created by the lilypads, they are as beautiful in colour as they are in B&W. So, you have here waterlilies.......lotus flowers are quite different!

27 May 2008 2:44pm

@Japanalia: Hi Gabriella (and thanks for the correction!)

Viewfinder from Bradenton, United States

Magical; the water in BW looks so "wet" in the spaces between these lily pads.

27 May 2008 3:38pm

@Viewfinder: Thanks very much Glenn....it was that inky blackness against the white of the flower that I found really interesting!

Jim from United States

Lovely...almost looks like a piece of woven fabric.

27 May 2008 6:49pm

@Jim: Thanks Jim!

Oswegan from Lake Oswego, United States

Beautifully composed and treated Ian.

27 May 2008 7:45pm

@Oswegan: Thanks Scott!

MadScientist from Düsseldorf, Germany

Very beautiful subject and perfectly executed in B/W!

27 May 2008 8:30pm

@MadScientist: Thanks very much!

Anthony Lambert from Germany

I think that water lillies just cry out to be shot in B+W.I´ve posted one on this blog as well.The contrast between flower and leaves works wonderfully in mono.

28 May 2008 7:04am

Klaus from Augsburg, Germany

Ian, nice b&w, i like it

28 May 2008 7:11pm

GJC from Kyoto, Japan

I like the tones here -- reminds me very much of Edward Weston. Light is handled very effectively.

14 Jun 2008 4:52am

next day →

NIKON D40
1/400 second
F/5.6
ISO 200
82 mm (35mm equiv.)

Ian Bramham's Photoblog