Rich got me an ArtOGraph Lightpad for Christmas, after seeing me drool over some of Denise Ippolito’s flower shots.  I infuriated Squirt by photographing some pansies on the Lightpad out on his porch, where he sat waiting to devour my subjects as soon as I finished photographing them.  Whiskey was right there, too!  At our house, flowers are meant for eating…at least according to my favorite felines.

I had a great time with the lightpad.  The lightpad provides a bright even white light to use as a background for high-key images.  It was a cloudy day, so I used my flash on my 5D III to throw some extra light on the flowers.  I had fun in post-processing, trying different effects with the colors and details.  The first image is just the flower lying on the light pad.

I really like playing with close-ups of flowers, so after I did a few shots of the whole flower, I put the extension tubes on my macro lens and started focusing on the center of the flower.  I really liked how the high-key background brought out the whites of the flower.

I kept focusing closer and closer until finally three extension tubes wouldn’t let me get any closer! :)   The yellow center is so pretty with the purple and pink tones.  Those little white tendrils are tiny, and they make you appreciate how the flower grabs on the pollen when a bee pollinates the flower.

It was a fun afternoon with my new toy.  I’m looking forward to using it more this spring with other types of flowers.