Time to Wake Up Photo

Photographer’s Note

A few years ago Ford started planting acres and acres of sunflowers in the center of Dearborn at the end of summer. They open in time for early Fall and the first field has opened already, although there are still a few sleepy heads. Other fields also are still unopened so hopefully in the next few days they will reveal themselves.

Ford is able to plant all these flowers because they own much of the land in Dearborn. They own perhaps 10-25 per cent of the land of Dearborn. Much of it is undeveloped open field that splits Dearborn into a dense east and west area. This makes Dearborn easy to spot from airplanes since it is one of the few open areas in the middle of the sprawl of Metropolitan Detroit. I don't know if it has ever been explained why they started this but it would be nice to think of it as a pleasant gift to the people. It certainly makes a beautiful sight passing along the major highways that pass through Dearborn.

Also various areas have very interesting backdrops such as modern mid-rise buildings including the sleek, modern, glass box of the Ford Headquarters and the brand new "environmentally friendly" Ford assembly plant. So in the next couple weeks I will probably be posting shots of these fields with these backdrops.

This is my shallow depth of field shot for the "Turning Fall" scavenger hunt. It is difficult with a digital camera sometimes. For this I set the camera to macro mode, went to full focal length and the maximum aperture for that focal length and got this. I was able to achieve even shallower looks using this method.

Endy, Zanni, Spoony, supereira, jhm, Guenther, elihesamian, carper, kajenn, ale, Kenny10pin, bpelvan, nwoehnl, phi729, sn00zie, Beckii, CoolDan, robyrad has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

danielswalsh (13295) 2004-09-27 23:48

Great shot Paul!

Fantastic detail in this colorful macro shot. Well managed DOF, really does make this shot in my mind.

Cheers!
- Dan

Endy (1025) 2004-09-28 0:03

It is a splendid macro Paul, your first one. The contrast between the yellow flower and the sky strikes me, it is very strong. The details of the flower are impressing from the stem to the petals.

Well done Paul and thanks for sharing!

Zanni (5885) 2004-09-28 0:32

COlorfull picture with very fine details but what I really like is your choice to show a sunflower still closed (insomma non sbocciato) while the other flowers behind it are awake. This makes the difference.Very good also for the theme.

orme (6741) 2004-09-28 0:35

A very bright composition, Paul, and a good macro shot. Beautiful colours and nice sharp detail. Well done.
Thank you for the information in your note. I was wondering how to get a 'shallow depth of field' shot.

bebel (7337) 2004-09-28 2:03

Bonjour Paul
toujours éclatantes de vitalité tes photos. Rien à redire techniquement, c'est du bon travail. Je préfère les formats horizontaux mais celui là convient bien au sujet. Good job !

Ps, the note is too long for my english too little... and the translater too bad and funny

Zepi (22848) 2004-09-28 2:19

OH que c'est beau! Superbe piqué,les couleures sont magnifiques,la compo intelligente et la compression en jpeg très très travaillé!
J'adore!Bravo!

Spoony (3539) 2004-09-28 4:10

Funny and adequated choice about title... ;)
Photo is great. Colors, light and composition are wonderful.
Very well done.
Spoony.

supereira (9576) 2004-09-28 5:27

Nice photo.I like very much the colors and the contrast between them.Great POV and prespective.

jhm (81589) 2004-09-28 7:10

Excellent macro shot Paul, the different colour tints are lovely, the details of the flower are impressing from the stem to the petals. I like it.

harold (2271) 2004-09-28 8:06

De belles couleurs bravo, beau travail.

Guenther (6567) 2004-09-28 8:32

Wonderful colours and the shallow depth of field works wonderful here, it allows a perfect view of the details down to each single hair without the background beeing disturbing. Thanks for your very informative note, both geographically and technically, perfect for TE!

elihesamian (26091) 2004-09-28 9:14

Beautiful,very beautiful,with an excellent title,like waking up ,her face,...
Paul,as beautiful as it gets,...tech matters controlled in a great way,and colors...

Congratualtion for this admirable result.

wilkinsonsg (8644) 2004-09-28 11:48

Great composition (I like the off centre approach) fantastic colours and sharp where it needs to be - what more can you ask - well done :)

carper (63877) 2004-09-28 11:57

Paul is a really nice one to wake up,
The colours are so friendly, the macro is very nice with a good dof

kajenn (2323) 2004-09-28 15:31

Splendid, Paul, just splendid! Wonderful shallow DOF and amazing colors, plus a great composition and a well chosen idea/title. Being Swede I find the combination between blurred yellow and blue sky very appealing. And I think you used the ultimate method for shallow depth of field shots and - as you write in your excellent note - that you'd be able to go even further. Well captured and very well done!

Apropos of 'being easy to spot from airplanes', all buildings at Malmö-Sturup (where I used to work) were painted yellow, in order to make the airport easy to spot from above. But in May/June most of Scania is covered by flowering rapeseed fields making it really hard to locate.

ale (1819) 2004-09-28 15:39

Hello Paul,
this shot is very full of life and joyful! I like it very much and I'd like to be in summer again. Bravo!

Kenny10pin (19301) 2004-09-28 19:41

very nice focus ont he back of the sunflower, very rich colours captured here, very nice and grat framing too, well done

bpelvan (3786) 2004-09-28 19:57

A wonderful shot Paul,

Very very good shallow DoF sample is this pic. It's awakening, as if, with stretching movements. A very good macro with alive colors. Congrats and thanks for sharing.

ma-tibou (4566) 2004-09-29 5:04

Une très belle macro haute en couleur du très beau travail, bravo.
Amitié.

nwoehnl (118) 2004-09-29 14:40

All has of course been said by now about this one, Paul - it's wonderful. Very good and appropriate use of shallow DOF here (sunflowers were my original idea for that hunt category as well), and the colors are unique and so well saturated. Impeccably presented, and I appreciate this touch of summer after more than a week of genuinely hideous and rainy fall weather over here. Well done.

naxius (16679) 2004-09-30 8:18

This is an excellent work Paul. I am clearly astonished to see such nice colors, very contrasted. The DOF is also very good; the background is blurred so the sunflower has all the focus; very neat and detailed.
Well done.

Alexandre

phi729 (2099) 2004-10-01 17:44

Wow! What a colors festival, Paul! The DOF is perfect to highlight the sunflower in foreground. The brightness, sharpness, and the crisp colors render this macro really tonic. The title is perfect to summarize my feeling about this composition. Weak Up, Phil! Again Well Done, Paul.

sn00zie (2384) 2004-10-02 6:38

amazing shot Paul. fantastic details and the colors are absolutely stunning. a cheerful picture:)

hdl (6733) 2004-10-03 17:49

Great colours on background and foreground that are contrasting and complementary at the same time!! I love the sharpness and detail you have here and the blurry background. Very good work!

Beckii (60) 2004-10-06 8:56

Wow, this shot is very impressive! I love shots like this, usually flower shots like this are taken with perfect fully opened flowers, this is a fresh and interesting perspective, great texture and colour - the blue sky contrasts perfectly with the yellow and green of the sunflowers, your composition is wonderful, I like the fully opened flowers in the background - great depth of field! :-)

CoolDan (2490) 2004-10-07 11:46

Magnifique composition Paul. La position de la fleur, les détails et les couleurs tout est superbement réalisé. Great shot.

robyrad (610) 2004-11-28 7:57

bellissima questa foto! i colori sono fantastici e la messa a fuoco perfetta, così come la qualità dei dettagli.
veramente un bel lavoro, mi piacciono molto queste foto ravvicinate, complimenti.

ricopin (561) 2004-12-04 11:50