Iris 3-2-04

This is one of my earlier photographs, and it has a special significance for me. I had set up a small studio of sorts, consisting of a card table and a single Photoflex studio light. I obtained this iris from a local florist, and I placed it in a small vase with a piece of black poster board as a backdrop. My Canon Digital Rebel was mounted on a heavy metal tripod, and I experimented with angles and lighting by rotating the flower and repositioning the light source. In this photo, the light was to the left, angled from above and slightly behind the flower. If I were shooting this photo today, I would use a reflector to bounce some light onto the right side of the flower to fill in some detail in the shadows, especially those of the stem. But I really didn’t know about such things back then, and I didn’t yet know how to see a subject the way the camera sees it. I will never forget what happened next. After I finished this set-up and looked through the viewfinder: I gasped. Yes, it was an audible gasp. There I was in this dark room breathlessly admiring the luminous beauty of this flower, and I had yet to press the shutter release. Since that time, I have experienced similar rushes when composing a photograph that I knew was going to be special. But this was the only time I gasped, and I will never forget that moment. This is what I saw, with very little manipulation in Photoshop. Canon Digital Rebel. Photoflex light. f/22 0.3 sec. ISO 100 28-200m lens @110mm RobertBurnsPhotography.com