Day of Spring Photo

Photographer’s Note

The Spring Equinox occurred on 20 March at 0548 GMT, which means it occurred in San Francisco the night before (19 March) at 2148 PDT. Confused? So were the cherry blossoms, which have been blooming in our yards for close to two weeks now, and are at their peak.

Technical: In RAW, Clarity set to 51, Vibrance +13. In CS3, High Pass sharpening, and Levels to brighten the shadows and midtones a bit, since it didn't look right in the browser.

Side Note: Auto-focus doesn't work well in this kind of situation. But when I used manual focus, I could not move the focus ring if the zoom was at full extension. I thought I had had this fixed, so it may be a feature of the lens.

feather, Cretense, Waylim has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

feather (49864) 2008-03-22 5:20

Looking upwards and placing the cherry blossom against the sky works particularly well, both for the elimination of distractions and the wonderful colour contrast. You're so lucky; we are in deep dark winter with arctic temperatures and gale force winds.
Kath

crckt (7076) 2008-03-22 19:30

Hi Daniel,
WOW! Cherry blossoms are here already! I think not in NY though. Fantastic shot. Love your POV.
Regards,
Shaeri

Cretense (56298) 2008-03-23 8:56

Hi Dan!

Excellent "macro" photo, great focus,, great framing and beautiful colours! Trully a "portrait" of spring! Congratulations!

Hercules

Waylim (10873) 2008-03-28 13:07

Dan,
really great beautiful image of the blossome, great clarity and sharpness. Light and colors are very well balanced. the only thing is why is there shadow around the bloomsome. I wonder if it has anything to do with PP work, or the blue backdrop is not sky but a wall or something close by where the object can cast shadow.
Way