With the cold temperatures last week I resorted to some macro work indoors for a few days. The florist introduced me to this Eggplant or Black Calla Lily. Quite an exotic colour and one I hadn’t seen before; from a short distance I did think it was black initially. The light brought out the reds and the texture, making it even more of an interesting subject.
However, it also proved quite challenging to photograph. The dark colour made it difficult to distinguish the details of the flower through the view finder, although that just might be these old eyes. I wondered about it being coated it was so reflective itself – do they wax these things? I used the natural light of a large north-facing window with a small diffuser.
I tried a variety of backgrounds but none did it for me. I would love to try the flower again, but outdoors in even summer light with natural greens behind it; I think the results would be more satisfying.
All but the last image were taken with a Macro lens 100mm at f/4 – f/22. I didn’t find that the unique blur of the Lensbaby lent itself well to this particular flower; the last image is with that lens, plus the macro accessory at f/4. This beautiful lily is just not a soft flower…
by PatB
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