Prestidigitation
Pressed digitalis flower.
Last week I was rummaging in parts of my study that haven’t been delved since the Balrog was wakened. I discovered a folder which contained some flowers that I pressed quite a few years ago.
Flower pressing is something of a lost art these days which I think is a shame. Not only are they pretty in their own right but they give a unique perspective on the structure and delicate forms of plants and flowers.
Several of the pressings were of foxgloves, and I thought they were really quite interesting to look at.
One of the things I like about foxgloves is the pattern of spots on the inside throat of the flower which are there to guide flying insects to the nectar. The pressed flowers revealed the whole patterns of the individual flowers. You can’t normally see these without dissecting the plant.
The patterns are very variable, and the arrangements are curious. I like the way the splotches get smaller nearer the nectar.
The Macro Mondays theme this week was on patterns in nature. It’s a theme made in heaven (almost literally :) ) because there are so many interesting things you could take. I thought though it would be a good opportunity to share an image of one of my pressed foxglove flowers. I thought it would be a bit different…
The dried flower is two inches long. Yey!
Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the image, and the pattern. Happy Macro Mondays :)
[Tripod mount, delayed shutter, single image. Backlit using my cheap and cheerful LED lightbox (second time it’s been out this week :) ).
Quickly developed in Lightroom for colour and exposure with noise reduction but no sharpening.
In Affinity used Levels to make the backlit pure white, and used Curves in LAB mode to get the exposure more even and to emphasise the colours a little using steepened ramps for the colour channels. Sharpened with Unsharp Mask and that was it.]
Prestidigitation
Pressed digitalis flower.
Last week I was rummaging in parts of my study that haven’t been delved since the Balrog was wakened. I discovered a folder which contained some flowers that I pressed quite a few years ago.
Flower pressing is something of a lost art these days which I think is a shame. Not only are they pretty in their own right but they give a unique perspective on the structure and delicate forms of plants and flowers.
Several of the pressings were of foxgloves, and I thought they were really quite interesting to look at.
One of the things I like about foxgloves is the pattern of spots on the inside throat of the flower which are there to guide flying insects to the nectar. The pressed flowers revealed the whole patterns of the individual flowers. You can’t normally see these without dissecting the plant.
The patterns are very variable, and the arrangements are curious. I like the way the splotches get smaller nearer the nectar.
The Macro Mondays theme this week was on patterns in nature. It’s a theme made in heaven (almost literally :) ) because there are so many interesting things you could take. I thought though it would be a good opportunity to share an image of one of my pressed foxglove flowers. I thought it would be a bit different…
The dried flower is two inches long. Yey!
Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the image, and the pattern. Happy Macro Mondays :)
[Tripod mount, delayed shutter, single image. Backlit using my cheap and cheerful LED lightbox (second time it’s been out this week :) ).
Quickly developed in Lightroom for colour and exposure with noise reduction but no sharpening.
In Affinity used Levels to make the backlit pure white, and used Curves in LAB mode to get the exposure more even and to emphasise the colours a little using steepened ramps for the colour channels. Sharpened with Unsharp Mask and that was it.]