The neighbor’s magnolia tree hangs into our backyard, and the flowers are in bloom right now. I’ve been looking at the flowers for a few days trying to figure out how to make an image of these flowers that will really make them pop. Above the tree are some rather unattractive utility lines and the density of other trees makes for a not-so-clean background, from any angle.
Inspired by several of William Neill’s outstanding flower images made in a home studio (see some of my favorites here, here, and here), I decided to take a few branch clippings and try it myself in my garage.
The real challenge was mounting the clippings; I used “C-clamps” and a step ladder to stagger the branches on the left, and another clamp on a spare tripod for the branch on the right. I used a piece of white foam core to bounce the my flash for some side lighting.
These blooms are from a ‘Japanese Magnolia’ (Magnolia liliiflora), which is different from the species that’s much more common to North America.
Magnolia Blossoms, January 2011
Just goes to show that if you put an interesting subject in capable hands, you don’t need a lot of fancy equipment to come up with some fine work.
Very nicely done Greg.
Makes a nice photo, but do you think you could put a large black board behind the blossoms while still on the tree and get the same effect?
That’s probably a good idea, David, but the lowest blossoms were at least 15 feet off the ground…
What did you use for the background in these shots?
My wife got me about 2 yards of black velvet at the fabric store…works perfectly!
Fantastic image, well worth the effort. Beautifully done.
Just wanted to say I am a huge fan of your photography, you’ve got a gorgeous portfolio. I am following you on Twitter, please add me @NYC_photography 🙂
Have a great weekend.
Thanks, Alex, both for the comment on this image and my portfolio! Much appreciated.