This is a blossom branch of the Woolly Snowball. The official name of this shrub is Viburnum Lantana.
The branch was photographed in the studio with flash light against a white background. I set up the lighting so that there was no big contrast difference between the left and right sides of the subject.
In post-processing, I chose to convert the photo to black and white. In black-and-white photo's, your image actually becomes highly dependent on the contrast present. So here the contrast is not in the left-right direction, but in the dark leaf against the white blossom and in the position of the leaves and how much light they catch depending on that position. Therein lies the story of this photo.
A photo is not just about the subject, but about everything that can be seen within the frame. In post-processing, I therefore added extra grain so that the background also joins in the image. Finally, I accentuated the liveliness of the overall image by giving the highlights in the photo a light orange glow and the shadows a blue glow. This is almost imperceptible, but without this step, the image would look much more like a grey.
To me, the image evokes the atmosphere of a Japanese print.
Kees de Winter is my name. I know myself as a curious and creative person. That is exactly why I became a photographer. For me, photography is exploring, probing, discovering and being surprised by beauty.
I was a pastor for more than twelve years. When I noticed within..
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