http://www.digitalcameraworld.com MARCH 2021 DIGITAL CAMERA^55
8
‘Raindrop’ by David Bywater
“The garden of one of my neighbours was
starting to look like a paint factory explosion, but
this flower caught my eye. I enjoy the chase and
practice of the ‘authentic image’ but also like
to dabble with post-production and different
effects on the original photo. In this case I had
to eliminate the peripheral debris and nearby
distractions – hence the black to emphasise
the white. I also added a little punch to give
the image a little more body... but let’s face
it, nobody can improve on nature! I called it
‘Raindrop’ as I only really spotted them
after I took the photograph.”Digital Camera says: Another reader making
full use of a back garden – but this time someone
else’s! One thing you’re guaranteed to find in
gardens is colour. We’re not sure if you have
desaturated any other colours from this flower,
or just increased the saturation of the magenta.
But this edit has given the feel of a ‘colour pop’
or selective-colour image.
A very tight crop seems to give the flower a
bold and upfront feel for the viewer. Although
it’s very clear what you’re looking at, it somehow
also has an abstract feel to it with the bold
framing and darkened edges. This might also
look great as a square crop, with the main
head towards the top in a central position.7 ‘The Footballer’ by Kate Parmaku
“This was taken in my back garden using
smoke matches in front of a flashgun – I got the idea
from some previous experimentation with smoke
matches. My children are a bit bored of posing for
photos, so I have to find ways to get them interested!
Fortunately Sonny loves playing with smoke and is a
keen footballer. We were in the back garden and he
was positioned in front of the single flashgun, wafting
the matches around so the flash could illuminate the
smoke. Sonny and I were really pleased with the
results. I did a small amount of editing on my phone
with Snapseed, but have since purchased Lightroom,
so I’ll probably see if I can improve on the editing.”Digital Camera says: It’s good to see another
reader making the most of their back garden space,
Kate! It’s really difficult to balance an exposure when
you’re only using either end of the spectrum of light,
but you’ve done a great job here. The very bright but
not overexposed white background has just enough
detail in the dark areas so that we know what we’re
looking at. We could imagine seeing this as a
promotional image on a computer game or
movie poster. We’re sure your son must
enjoy showing this to his school friends.