Posted June 30th, 2013

Stardust

Dyea , Alaska has become an annual field trip destination for our photography club to photograph the wildflowers that bloom profusely there each June. The tiny Dodecatheon (shooting stars) arguably are the prettiest of these blossoms. For this image I made two exposures, one in sharp focus and the other a completely defocussed blur of colour. My original intent was to combine the two using an "Orton image" or "dreamscape" technique to produce a soft, dreamy result. However, once I had them layered in Photoshop I tried experimenting with different blending modes. The dissolve mode is one I rarely have any use for, but in this case I quite like the effect and I think it suits the subject and the star analogy.
Pentax K-5, Kiron 105mm f/2.8 macro