About artificial backgrounds: To do a really good job with an
artificial background, the iris should be selected and made into a separate
layer. (I use Photoshop). At that point, one can use anything
for a background. An example from one of my ads is attached.
It is a somewhat tedious process, taking about an hour to carefully trace the
outlines of the flower. I've found that shortcut selection methods don't
meet the standards needed for publication. I usually only do this when
the original background is unsatisfactory- something distracting or
unattractive. I think Brock's ideas about creating a good
background with the camera are excellent.
My theory about the truth of photos: By stopping a
subject in time, a photo gives a different impression than we get with
our continuous perception. A good example is: when taking a number
of photos of a beautiful woman, there will always be a few in which she
does not look at all beautiful. But it is a true image. The
difference is that when we see her "live", we get an overall impression in
which those less flattering angles become unimportant. And yes, when we
select a photo of an iris to share, we should check to be sure it matches our
overall impression of the flower.
Lowell Baumunk
Colorado
It's way above my ability, I'm afraid. But I'll ask anyway. Does that
background have to be black? Would the program substitute other colors in lieu
of black? I'm asking because when looking at the colors on my monitor after
taking a photo it's more important to me that they display accurately. More
important than being pretty. The perception of what you see can be altered by
the background color. So using green, gray, white or other colors in addition
to black could shift what the eye perceives to a more accurate representation
of what you actually see using the naked eye. Photos are strange things. They
can fail miserably for catching some things; or they can enhance details out
of proportion to what the blooms really show. I wouldn't say they lie exactly,
but the truth is certainly altered sometimes.
Donald Eaves
donald@eastland.net
Texas Zone 7b,
USA
