but it didn't turn out that way.
I took pictures of a potted plant.
I haven't done a photo like this in a really long time. I've done macros recently, but those where uber sharp, subject specific photos. This is something completely different.
As I was setting up for a portrait, I had to move around some furniture, and that's when I saw a little potted plant just sitting there. There aren't a lot of plants in my dorm, so this was a special plant. Miracle it is still alive.
So anyway, I just pulled the umbrella over and slapped a 10x macro filter on. At 1/128 power, the 560 in the umbrella was the perfect exposer. The macro filter made for a really soft and distorted effect, which I thought not only looked cool, but embodied the organic nature of the plant.
I was shooting at f1.4, 1/125, and ISO100. f1.4 gives the super soft focus because 1. it already has super shallow depth of field and 2. the macro filter basically eats focus sharpness alive.
Here's the final result.
It's not the best photo in the world in any sense. It's a bit dark, there's no whites, and it's really noisy and soft. But that's exactly how I wanted it. Lately, as with my "Imperfection" post, I've been fascinated with the imperfect and just down right wrong things. Many people tend to over look the ugly and ordinary, instead of stopping and taking a closer look.
This photo is my expression of taking something that people normally don't even notice, much less take a closer look. It's a plant stuck in a artificial environment filled with unruly college boys and yet it's still alive and thriving. It's not that attractive of a plant either, just a little nubby thing in a plastic pot you'd buy for 5 cents at Home Depot.
Taking all this into account, the soft focus, horrible noise, and lack of rich contrast serve to capture the plant as I see it.
Short post today, gotta a lot of reading and emails to answer...so see you tomorrow.
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