Common Zinnia (Zinnia elegans)
James Ranch Garden, Xenia, Ohio
"Like Japanese haiku poetry, sometimes more is less; and in nature, beauty or meaning need not be on a large scale." - Jim Brandenburg
Up until this point, my macro flower style had been largely the same. I would typically use an external flash set at a low power to fill in shadow areas. Shooting either handheld or on a tripod, the composition would have a top-down perspective. This worked for the majority of floral subjects I encountered, yet I was seeking something different on this morning.
I set the camera to similar settings I'd use for the aforementioned photos. The one difference here is clearly the composition as I got down to eye-level with this orange zinnia. Letting the backlight illuminate the subject helped the orange pop against the shallow and dark background. Centering the subject would normally be frowned upon, however I chose to fill the frame with it and allow the tilted look of the flower to be displayed in the image. There is a calming yet energetic feeling from how this image turned out!
© 2019 Ryan L. Taylor Photography. All Rights Reserved.
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From Wildflowers
