Hosta Intent

[drg]

I've been working the past week or so on some ideas for contest pieces for the next year.

This is a view of one type I've been exploring. The physical real world frame is a half tube spray paint dusted aluminum. The frame here is entirely a product of my graphic (don't laugh too loud, I've got one or two) skills.

The subject is a tracing crop of a potted hosta, surrounded by saturation separations and inverses. This and some other similar work came about while trying to find better B/W conversion actions.

Let me know what you think. Thanks in advance and I'll respond eventually (day or two certainly).

Larger Gallery Version

[Steph_B]

This is pleasing to the eyes, even though I am not too sure about what you were trying to do (separation..?....). maybe you should put this post in the Art section as well?

I found the main axis of the leaves not to be perfectly vertical. There is a slight tilt which appears to be distracting. But then, your subject was not perfectly symmetrical either...

Cheers,

Steph.

[Trevor Ash]

Honestly, I think this would be much more effective without the smaller versions surrounding the large one.

[jar_e]

Honestly, I think this would be much more effective without the smaller versions surrounding the large one.

I agree, just the main leafs in the middle on black would look better in my opinion. I'm also not big on the colors with this one.


Just my 2 cents,

Jared

[drg]

First, Thanks for the comments and taking time to view this.

Secondly, it has been posted in several different places on PR to get some varying ideas and feedback.

The color in the main element is as it was originally photographed. It stood out when running through the libraries and was pulled to use as much for its intensity as its garishness.

An important point has been raised, if it is a Hosta (type of plant). I'll say this, I'm not sure now, as this certainly isn't my area of knowledge much more than, "look at the great colors!". It came from a shoot at a nursery and the notes indicate it was one of many different plants in that ?variety?

IT does seem on reviewing that the other Hostas appear to be radically different, yet we were viewing many genetic variation of all kinds of plants and flowers. This one was potted if that's any help and I'll post the whole photo if someone wants to see it as this is an extract of the leaves.

The idea behind this and some others under construction, is to produce varying color like a palette or a "separation" in the form of a color wheel or again palette. These were done by picking bands or spectrum ranges and increasing saturation for each range or "bandwidth of color temp actually" and removing the remaining ones. There is a full spectrum inversion of color at the top and a major primary color inversion at the bottom of the color wheel/palette.

As you can see the colors in this plant actually fall into a very narrow range. Each of the small component color pieces are different upon close inspection. I've also played with sizing them as function of their total contribution to the whole but haven't found the right way to do this and not have widely and unpleasant sized pieces.

If someone can tell me what this is, I'll be quite appreciative and can get a better title.

If more comments come in I'll do my best to answer or comment!

Thanks again - CDP

[jar_e]

Congratulations on getting this pic chosen as the featured picture!

[drg]

THANKS for the featured picture recognition!

I'll try and do better the next time.

There are two more to come in this "series". I do appreciate and value any and all comments and feedback, particularly with this set of work.


-CDP (Dr G)

"Create artist, don't talk!" - Goethe.

[JK_Photo]

My feeling on this one is that I'd prefer to see shots concentrating on the main subject in the middle. It all seems too contrived in its present form and the colour combination doesn't turn me on.

I realise from your post explaining the reasoning behind this that perhaps it was not meant so much as an art piece but more as a learning tool.
In that respect I'm sure it fulfills its purpose.
Posting it here has elevated it to a higher purpose. All of us viewing it are detached from its original purpose so have to judge it for what it is visually.
I'm a little confused by what you say here "It stood out when running through the libraries and was pulled to use as much for its intensity as its garishness."
Do you mean you took a picture of a plant you saw in the library? Or is it a stock photo from your own library of images?
Was it a work project? Just curious. Hope it doesn't sound like I'm giving you the 3rd degree.

[drg]

My feeling on this one is that I'd prefer to see shots concentrating on the main subject in the middle. It all seems too contrived in its present form and the colour combination doesn't turn me on.

I realise from your post explaining the reasoning behind this that perhaps it was not meant so much as an art piece but more as a learning tool.
In that respect I'm sure it fulfills its purpose.
Posting it here has elevated it to a higher purpose. All of us viewing it are detached from its original purpose so have to judge it for what it is visually.
I'm a little confused by what you say here "It stood out when running through the libraries and was pulled to use as much for its intensity as its garishness."
Do you mean you took a picture of a plant you saw in the library? Or is it a stock photo from your own library of images?
Was it a work project? Just curious. Hope it doesn't sound like I'm giving you the 3rd degree.

What higher purpose do you seek?

This isn't a portrait or a flower shot. It is an expansion of one part of the idea of a color wheel or a mandala or a spectrum. The leaves are a mechanism of the that expression.The whole of the plant in its pot, is a Very Different photo and thats not what I was looking for. If you want to discuss it as art, go for it and maybe some of my comments here will put it in a different perspective for the viewers and get it started along a relevant path.

This whole concept came about from exploring better ways to produce monochrome or black and white images from color originals. There are tremendous gamuts available and merely desaturation or standard spectrum mixing in monochrome modes is lacking for some images. Obviously it has become something else as these are not grey scale or monochrome images. But they are photographic in origin.

Sometime a dichotomy occurs and you wind up with the exact opposite of what you started out looking to acheive.

Whether we want to admit it or not, so much of photography has become about color and variations in the past decade, that this becomes a prime consideration in developing display, contest, or ad/marketing pieces.

I was seeking an eye grabbing shot! Obviously from some of the comments it certainly has grabbed some peoples attention. And yes this is an exploration or learning piece, but as a large finished work (the physical one is about a meter square) it probably comes off entirely differently.

This was one image from about 30 rolls of Velvia that was shot for a greenhouse catalog, it came from my stock library (this wasn't an image submitted to the customer). The film chromes were scanned and stored digitally in a "library". I could resent the other suggested origin, but perhaps my other posts weren't clear.

I think it stood out because it [if the notes are not ALL wrong (see notes in the gallery about what this plant actually IS)] was such a different part of a landscape setting/display. I took several images of the setting to perhaps use as example photos, backgrounds, covers, and so forth.

And yes, it is artificial, who ever saw a real flower or plant growing out of black background? The red and green central plant leaves are very real.


I look forward to more on this topic as I'll be posting probably two more pieces that are part of this same concept in the near future. I had no idea that this would wind up a featured photo but I again thank those who made the selection.

-CDP

[PlantedTao]

It is not a hosta - it is a coleus. A type of perrennial that has many, many different types of colors and shapes. This is the most common.

In all honesty, I'm not a fan of this picture as it does not have any interest to me. (Maybe because I seen this plant a lot?)
I do like how the plant is centered on the black background, this makes the color (all natural) of the plant really stand out.
IMO, It would be more interesting if the coleus took up more of the picture and did not have the little plants around it. The composition seems too manipulated as it stands now...I believe this is what bothers me the most.

I like where you are going with this picture and could see a lot of potential with different subjects and compostitions.
Cheers

[Photo-John]

This image really jumped out at me whenI first saw it on the gallery. And when I saw that it was also posted here, I was excited, since I had to choose the Featured Photo this week. This animated discussion confirms my decision. One of the main reasons this interested me was that it's so different from what I usually see on this site. Perfect or not, successful experiment or not, it shows a different kind of process and creativity than is usually displayed here. And for that reason alone it's worth some extra attention.

I also happen to like looking at it. I like the combination of the abstract and literal and I love the way the colors and texture jump out of the deep black background. I don't think it's perfect - it doesn't feel complete to me. But it suggests better things to come. I like the mandala reference and I can see some wonderful potential in that respect. I hope you keep playing with this and share more with us. I want to see the perfect one

[opus]

I really like this and totally "got" the color wheel reference on first glance. My only problem with it is the harshness of the edges of the plants. It distracts me from looking at the purpose of the work. The mask looks quickly cut and not feathered enough, giving the connection between the plant and the background too much of an artificial, "jolting" feel.

[drg]

Thanks to Planted Tao, I now know that this is a Coleus! I didn't write any captions for, nor did many other photos get taken of the coleus section of the nursery. I thought at first this might have been out of sequence, and thus the notes were bad. . . But thanks, I learned something else from this posting!

I certainly appreciate all the feedback and John thanks for the selection of this image. Perfection is certainly a hard goal to attempt but I've certainly got some additional ideas along this same line.

Kelly, you're right that its rough around the edges. Part of this probably is as much from reducing the original file down to this size as much as anything. There's quite a bit of detail and leafy edge (natural feathering) detail that got blurred or the pixels just diappeared when it was resized. The Unsharp Mask did the rest I believe.

Color has always been important to me, and as a lot of my normal work is more shape and form oriented (I shoot a lot of architecture, construction, and the like), chances such as this are lots of fun and enjoyable.

Oh, by the way I'm posting the second in this conceptual series tonight - its not a color wheel so don't be too disappointed. I'll get back these sooner hopefully rather than later.

Thanks and more comments on this are certainly welcome and appreciated.

-CDPrice [ Dr G]