[weakhead]

MC Helios 44K-4 + Raynox DCR-150 combo.
Lights are blown, I know. They can't be recovered any further, unfortunately.
Picture was taken in cemetery, during day. Black background is an effect of blending desaturated layer in multiply mode + slight correction in exposure and tonal curve. I was surprised with the effect (the background, or lack of it).



I will be happy with honest comments.

[smf]

I like it very much.
I confess that I don't know what this part of your explanation means, and I'd very much like to know: "Black background is an effect of blending desaturated layer in multiply mode."
The reflection is gorgeous.
Also, I don't know why, but there's an area below and slightly to the right of the right flower which is slightly lighter than the black background. It almost looks like a wet spot of substantial size. Another such area — but very narrow — is on part of the right edge of the photograph, starting at a point approximately even with the top of the petal at right rear of the bloom at right.
Best wishes.
Stu

[weakhead]

Thank you.
As for my explanation... to develop RAW file I've used Darktable. One of it's features is an ability to blend effect of each plugin with image before using it. It works just like blending layers in PS or GIMP. So, I've used plugin to make monochrome image, and blended the result with non-monochrome version in "multiply" mode (directly in Darktable).
Indeed, there are areas slightly brighter than pure black. I think I need to fix it with GIMP.

[stephography]

Looks great, looks just like you shot it in studio with creative lighting. From first glance I would've never guessed that you shot it in broad daylight and outdoors!

[MSL]

Beautiful image and good to learn some of the tricks behind it. The only thing I'd do is crop to remove as much of the dead space on the right while still keeping the same aspect ratio - so you'll be limited by how much you want to take off the top.

[Na Horuk]

Hm, I might crop it so that there would be less empty space above the flowers. But other than that its nice, sharp, okay lighting. Not really much to say, other than maybe the lens you used is very specific and has its own character, which can make it hard to take sharp, well-exposed closeup shots.

Also, nice reference in the title

[emalvick]

I like the composition. The imbalance (or perhaps it's balance) provided by the flower on the left and the negative space on the right seems nice. The only thing I don't care for much is what feels like a slightly shallow depth of field. The brightest flower seems a little soft compared to the other two.

I've obtained shots like that using flash, but it sounds like you didn't? Impressive work.

[MSL]

I like the composition. The imbalance (or perhaps it's balance) provided by the flower on the left and the negative space on the right seems nice.

I agree with the need for the imbalance, but I think there is too much negative space at the moment. Cropping is also so easy to do, it is worth the time to try many different crops to see which is the optimum (as opposed to the other transformations the original poster has done, which I'm still trying to wrap my head around)

[weakhead]

Thanks for your comments.
Indeed, this shot was made in exterior and the only light source was the Sun.

Here's the original (developed with defaults):

[amoringello]

...
Indeed, there are areas slightly brighter than pure black. I think I need to fix it with GIMP.

Even with a profiled monitor some will show blacks as brighter or darker (same for whites). If some areas are not quite at 0 or 100%, some might see spots you did not.

If you're intent is to go completely black/white, it can help to add a temporary Levels Adjustment layer.
Turn it all the way to one side so the blacks start going white. :-)
As you get there, you'll quickly see areas that are not quite black that probably should be. You can then go back and paint in these light areas with black on the original (or even better, on a separate layer).
Then finally remove the temporary levels layer and your background is perfect. :-)

I often have more problems with whites than blacks. Sometimes quality prints will show the higher shades of near-white when my monitors did not.


Anyway, I like the image.
I would probably have put a reflector underneath to the left to open up the shadows a bit.
A little spot cleanup of the dirt and debris on the petals would be good too.