Requiem (Re-post from October 21, 2011)

My last image for the week before I head off to my imperfect solitude where the sunshine of my mind will never die. Okay that may just be the worst first liner in prose writing history. I know – I know… I should stick to photography. But I love commenting on my own work. I see this image and it beckons me. I don’t know why. Somehow the mood evokes melancholy with a vibe of eeriness. Maybe this is not an appropriate photo for Friday. Anyway, hope you like it. Enjoy your weekend. Cheers.


For the techie: The image was taken some time ago and was my first attempt at HDR. I think it stands for High Dynamic Range. I usually don’t like the HDR look as it seems to always make the photo appear artificial. I’ve re-processed this image the other day and tamed the obvious HDR artifacts as much as I can. I’m happy with the results here.

Rach: Exactly my thoughts - I am like "what 'never die'?????" "Whateverrrr." Okay, now that we have that taken care of. Was it really a white rose?

Juzno: Yea, that rose used to be white. Now it's olive green as in dying. Kidding. The yellow cast is actually the result of the lighting.

Annie: "... imperfect solitude where the sunshine of my mind will never die" this line is just too poetic for me. Very cryptic. I am trying to understand it. I don't know if I know what imperfect solitude is. Sunshine of my mind, will that be God? You made me think what is the sunshine of my mind...hmmm....????

Juzno: Try 1Peter2:9.

Annie: 1Peter2:9: "....so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." Thank you.

L: I do like this tamed version. It's very good. I can feel the eeriness in the photo. It looks like from the blackness comes forth beauty. Because of the HDR it looks like some of the pedals are in a state of brittleness; like they are frozen still but if you would touch them, they could easily fall. Yet some of the petals are still subtle and soft and they are hanging onto life. You can see the texture in the pedals; especially along the edges. It's beautiful. Excellent! Did you have a light on the rose or did you add that in the process?

Juzno: It was kind of dark when I took the picture. No flash here. I believe each exposures where about 10 seconds more or less. That's one reason I HDR'd it. I noticed that the initial image was flat when I saw it on the LCD screen. So, I thought to add some range to it. I used a free HDR called Picturenaut. Then I exported the image in PS and blurred out some of the petals to give it a softer look.
 
Swil:  One should always follow their gut feeling ... it is indeed too melancholy for a Friday !