Daisies and “The Golden Hour”

Posted on June 12, 2009

I know that daisies are a common flower, found scattered in practically every field from east to west.  I love them for their simplicity and for the way they bring back memories of childhood.  I love how they seem to last forever, even after they’ve been sitting in a vase for days.

As a photographer, I have become aware of light in ways that I never was before.  I am especially attracted to the light that shines during the golden hours of the day – around dawn and dusk.  The different seasons have their own special light, and believe it or not, I find late winter to have some of the most spectacular light.

The following images are certainly not from winter, but just from a few days ago.  And they are daisies, illuminated during the golden hours.

These are not daisies but I couldn’t resist!

A Field of Lupines

Posted on June 8, 2009

Utilizing available light is one of the most precious joys I find in photography.  Normally I prefer to shoot pictures during the two different “golden hour” times of day, which are early morning, just after sunrise, and evening, before the sun sets.  Yesterday, however, I was at a friend’s house in the afternoon while the sun was blazing high in the sky.  They have a magnificent field of lupines and I just couldn’t resist photographing them.  I adjusted my camera settings to ‘spot metering’ and I decided to shoot towards the sun so the lupines were back lit, creating a magical feeling with the glimmering light in the distance.

The following images are from the lupine field.  The first one I did a color treatment called Golden Vintage.  I really like the effect – very ethereal.

This next image is the original, which I also love.  The colors are more true, but I like the above image for its magical qualities.