Yesterday My wife celebrated another birthday. My hope was to pamper her for the entire day to show her how truly special she is to me. Unfortunately, she woke up before me and headed downstairs, so I wasn’t able to beat her to the punch and cook her up a delicious breakfast-in-bed. But the roses I had picked up the night before were still a possibility, so once she zonked out on the couch, I pulled out a vase and placed the rose bouquet inside before setting it on the kitchen counter for when she woke up.
Canon 60D | 100mm Macro Lens | 13″ | f/2.8 | RAW
But, before I used the flowers for the method they were intended, I took a few moments to photograph them in the basement for a Facebook challenge I saw – The color red. I also thought the roses were beautiful, well formed and a deep, dark red. I wasn’t disappointed in the photo I ended up with. I also wasn’t disappointed in the fun pampering I was able to do for my wife that evening – a little shopping at the makeup counter at Nordstroms at City Creek, some clothes shopping at American Eagle, and a very filling and delicious dinner at Cheesecake Factory. I am lucky and honored to have Amanda as my wife and these flowers were the start of a great day.
As for the photography side of things, I used my macro lens so I could get in close. I didn’t want to add any flash that would destroy the detail, so I went for a long exposure time of 13 seconds. I will admit that the water droplets on the rose were added by me. I have added a small little squirt bottle to my photography gear. Any added light reflected in the water on the rose and made it too bright in those areas, so I held a thin fleece blanket around the flower to help eliminate any direct light onto the flower. I think that covers the How I Took It portion of this post.
~signed, Carltonaut
Carltonaut 