Situated in a flower bed along one side of our home, a Calyanthus bush with bright red flowers has flourished. The bush is probably eight feet tall now and was filled with these deep red flowers all summer. This Fall I have had to do some strategic pruning for next Summer because it is getting a bit out of control. 

Photographed handheld with the Canon 7D Mark II and the Canon EF 135MM F/2L lens, the photo above is of a opening Calyanthus flower and a new bud that was taken in direct sunlight. Exposing for the flower, the deep green leaves and shadows combined with the shallow depth of field of the 135MM lens offered the opportunity to isolate the flower in a black and white conversion in post.

First using the Luminar plugin in Photoshop 2018 to color correct the image, the black and white conversion was completed using a combination of a color gradient and black and white layers.

Thanks for stopping by today!