Re: Siberian Photos
From: Mike Lowe <mlowe@worldiris.com>
Arnold Koekkoek writes...
>I just checked out the Siberian photos Mike put on the HIPS page, and
>it was interesting to see if what I had corresponded to the pictures.
>Generally I think I found confirmation that I have the correct names on
>my tags, but the big exception is PERRY'S BLUE...
>The photo is definitely not blue, either falls or
>stds. So what are we to think, Mike?
After Arnold's comments I spent about half an hour looking for the best
article ever published on photographing blue color in flowers...and haven't
come up with it yet. The article provides the most understandable
discussion on filters that I have seen, without it I will be forced to wing
it.
When I am in front of a clump of Siberian iris, with intent to shoot a
photo, my primary question is: 'Do Siberian experts consider this cultivar
to exhibit blue coloration -- either on the red/blue or purple/blue side?'
If the answer is 'Yes' I filter. I use one of three gel filter packs, all
of which raise the color temperature (in degrees Kelvin) in a range of plus
100 degrees to plus 300 degrees. The three filter packs are also cyan
passers/magenta blockers from moderate, (Kodak CC20C) to a bit more, (Kodak
CC30C).
The end result is to reduce the reddish/pink/magenta cast that
blue-to-the-eyes flowers present to film and also to enhance the blue that
winds up visible in the finished print or transparency.
There are some flowers that have been described as 'blue' and that
aficionados claim to see as 'blue' that film refuses to capture, regardless
of the artifice used.
In 1912, irisarians were forced to use much more imagination in writing
catalog descriptions than we perhaps do today and many a rosy magenta
flower was perceived as 'blue.' 'Perry's Blue' definitely falls into this
category, and when I reviewed my photo log I see that I used the maximum
'punch-up' to blue that I will resort to -- all of which did not give much
visible enhancement in the transparency.
It all boils down to: 'Blue is tough to photograph and old blue is super
tough.'
Cheers,
Mike, mlowe@worldiris.com -- http://www.worldiris.com
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