Canon Powershot ELPH 320 HS, Flowers, Photo Challenges, Photography

Weekly Photo Challenge: Orange

In terms of this week’s photo challenge, orange, I guess I just got lucky.  Today was the start of Art in Bloom at the St. Louis Art Museum. The challenge for local floral gurus in the area is to create a floral arrangement that represents a piece of art work they are assigned.  It is a fun and very crowded exhibit to see.  For this blog post I chose to show the floral arrangement of Catherine Thoele who was assigned Octagonal Jar with Design of Cherry Trees, Peonies, and Chrysanthemums.

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Of the ones I saw, this was my favorite interpretive arrangement.  I loved the orange of the flowers, but one of the details that I appreciated was the leaves that had blue paint flecks on them, it was a nice tie-in to the original art work.

The challenges as a photographer to get these photos included low light, no flash allowed, and the crowds.  I chose to take my point and shoot, it is easier to handle in a crowded situation.  I used two different settings to get the photos.  One was Auto.  The other was a program mode that allows me to shoot macro.  I got some nice close-ups of individual photos in that mode.  As far as post-editing, I have kept that to a minimum. I did some cropping on a few.  The biggest adjustment I made was on the vase photo, where I applied an Iris blur filter.  I made that choice because the background was truly distracting.

I think it is because I enjoy looking at interpretations of art that this is one of my favorite exhibits of the year at the St. Louis Art Museum.  What do you think? should interpretations like this be featured in museums? Also, it was mentioned in the challenge to try a different gallery format for the photos.  I generally insert my photos one at a time in a fairly large format, so this gallery is a change for me.  What do you think of the format?  I think I can get away with it in this post, but I don’t think I be changing my normal format any time soon.  Your comments are welcome below.

Cheers!

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41 thoughts on “Weekly Photo Challenge: Orange”

  2. I was there this afternoon. We may have passed each other. That was a spectacular arrangement, but there were so many others. This is the first time I have ever been to Art in Bloom. I will certainly try to make it a regular thing. Rosemarie

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  3. Pingback: weekly photo challenge: orange | Musings of a Random Mind

  4. Lovely orange photos, Amy. It can certainly be challenging shooting in low light but your photos turned out great. I like the third one best, you really captured the detail in that one, leaves and all with your point and shoot. I personally don’t like putting my images in a gallery unless I have a ton of them. I prefer having one or two photos and seeing if anyone reacts to them (then again, my blog is a writing blog and I’m not too fussed if no one comments on them) 🙂

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    • Yes, I guess that is the thing, you use the features of WordPress that are helpful to you and leave the others behind. I’m glad you like the photos, the thing with shooting with low-light with a hand-held point and shoot is that you can get a lot of blurry photos. That is what the trash bin is for, however, I did get one blurry photo yesterday that actually looks good that way in my opinion, I’m holding on to that one!
      Cheers!

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      • It’s true. Some blurry photos can look good depending on what you want the photo to say. I usually find turning the not-so-clear, fuzzy photos into B&W makes them look nicer – then again getting the shades right can be a bit of work. Love your photos, Amy, and I trust you that your blurry photo was stunning!

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      • Yes, it is one of those photos that I will tuck away for awhile and come back and see if I still like it. I’ve found that sometimes right after you take photos you are enamored even of shots that aren’t so great. A great shot will stand the test of time.

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  6. Bravo Amy! A colorful interpretation of the theme. Blurry photos may be considered the bane of many photographs. I also use a point and shoot Canon Power Shot SX400 IS 30X zoom lens. The fisheye spec 4.3 is “fast enough” to capture low light situations without the use of a flash or tripod.. I capture the initial shot then snap off a few more from differing angles to be used for later cropping sessions in the dark room. Try to remember NOT to place the subject in the middle of the frame and switch between Auto and Live camera control. This is a new camera for me and I am still trying to steady my telephoto shots as best as I can. Keep up the good work. 🙂

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    • While I understand the “rule” of not placing the subject in the middle of the frame, I would argue that in this case I did actually want a photo like that of the vase. In shooting this event I wanted to have several shots that I would refer to as “catalogue”, shots that would be a reference of what I saw. I find the camera you are using intriguing, are you enjoying it so far? has the learning curve on it been steep, or not so bad?
      Cheers!

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      • I have had the camera for a few months. The fish eye to zoom feature is great for a taking a variety of shots. I am still in the initial stages of my learning curve. The Auto feature is informative and you can increase the zoom ratio by a few per centage points. So far I am enjoying the camera.The AF helps to leassen the learning curve. The “camera shake” that I mentioned in the previous comment can be compensated for in the list of options the menu offers. All in all it is a well-balanced and sturdily constructed camera with a sturdy rubber grip and wide viewing screen .The mini flash if attached to the unit. A joy to use. 🙂 Good luck with your cataloguing efforts.

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  9. I like the format of the 4 photos in a row – and in this case – it allowed me to compare and feel the similarities and diffs of each one – I also like the leaves that had blue paint flecks –
    oh – and I peeked at the comment share with mabel (and a few others) but I really agree about how we like so many pictures at first – but later the good ones (to us at least) really stand the test of time…. so true…

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    • Thanks, it was interesting to me that the suggestion to use a gallery just so happened to intersect with a post where that format would actually work for me. As for the test of time, it is something that I really believe is true, sometimes when I go through photos that I have let sit for awhile I find myself really wondering why I saved some of them in the first place.

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      • and it was also good timing that the show featured some orange – such a nice entry for the orange challenge – and this particular one has been so fun with the different takes – ya know?

        and regarding the time thing – someone once told me that same idea as a tip for getting rid of kid’s stuff.
        you know when we were new moms – it was easy to want to keep everything – like certain memory items and even clothing items – and well, the tip was to put it away and go thru it years later – and it worked – by waiting – it was be very easy to get rid of stuff.
        I did that and it has always been easy to get rid of things and know what to keep…..

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      • We move every few years and so usually that is a time to reevaluate everything we own and decide what to get rid of. To me that is one of the best parts of the move 🙂
        Also, I agree, this particular challenge was fun to look through the entries. Turns out I like orange more than I knew.

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      • I like orange more than I knew too – ha! but still not a color I would personally wear too much – I think I prefer earth tomes (and actually have a boring color scheme – but it is what I like) hope u have a great weekend 🙂

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      • ha! we have that in common – I prefer to call it simple – ha – even though at times i find pieces I love – but also I think you are right – orange has to go with a certain skin tone – and I once bought a bright orange sleeveless shirt on sale at Marshalls – had cute little belt – and whew – horrible and even my son asked “who’d you buy that for – cos that does not seem like you…” hah

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  12. Just beautiful. I love the blue, orange and white vase – the first photo, and the third photo with the orange flowers, blue and white vase, and blue painted on the leaves. That orange is a beautiful pop of color. Lovely, Amy. 😉

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  13. Thank you for this look into St Louis Art Museum. What a great idea to recreate an piece of work inspired by an original piece of Art. The pop or orange is superb. Lovely start to Easter holidays too.

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