Welcome to the warmest season worldwide!
To celebrate summer, I am opening my transient gallery “SUMMER,” where all images are available for purchase in both paper and metal in standard print sizes.
While I love portraying botanicals in high-contrast black and white on black background, summer calls for lighter tones. This season, I will focus on high-key photography.
Although high key has not been absent from my collection and from this blog, as illustrated by my posts “Celebrating the sunflower season”, “Celebrating the sunflower season in 2023 with an image from 2021” and “Photographing Datura: A Mystical White Flower Important to Pollinators”, I have not made a concerted effort to explore this tonal range in more depth.
Producing black and white photographs on a black background effectively emphasizes light and contrast, as shown in several of my previous posts. In contrast, highlighting light in high-key photography is challenging and can often be counterproductive. High-key images create a dreamy atmosphere, emphasizing shape, form, and detail, often appearing more abstract and unreal.
The FEATURED PHOTOGRAPH, repeated below for convenience, is an experiment in both botanical and abstract photography. It’s a high-key version of the pistil and stamens of a lily flower. The pistil and stamens are the flowers’ sex organs. The pistil is the female organ and the pollen-carrying stamens are the male organs. My image emphasizes the radial arrangement of the stamens around the pistil, and the detail of the tip of these structures against a white, dreamy background where the shape of the petals is suggested, yet somewhat faded.
![](https://alessandrachaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc7556-gigapixel.jpg?w=1024)
Wishing you all a fun, light-filled summer with plenty of rest!
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