Day 63: Buttercup With Studio Lighting

2026-04-10

Back at the university garden...

Hello!

It looks like I've sent up to one hundred emails out to each newsletter subscriber (one each day with the regular photo, as expected, and an additional daily email with the Originals for those who have supported me). I archive all my emails now, and going back, it's surprising how consistent I've been. I hit the ground running and I'm still going.

(I say this to convince myself that I'm still doing something of value here.)

I don't have a specialty in macro photography or close-ups; my shots tend to allow for lots of room rather than having the subject fill the frame. But I've seen those images where a spotlight beam seems to fall on the flower, while everything else fades to black. I wanted to give that a shot.

This was taken outside, under tree cover. A thin beam of sunlight shone on this flower, but the rest was done in editing. After taking the photo, I made it black-and-white; I think it emphasizes the texture better. It also makes it easier to cover the background in black, so I just added gradients to the sides that lowered the exposure by four stops — very dark.

The next few posts will be pretty short as I take more time off the internet.

Finally, the concept of the small web confuses me. Someone out there (or, more likely, a computer program) has listed me on several search engines like Google, Bing, and... Kagi Small Web? Along with 30,000 other sites, my website shows up on this random feed of personal blogs. I'm going to assume that's a good thing, and I hope that anyone finding me through the outside internet is friendly.

Cheers,
David