Lotus and Water Lilies at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens - 2015 /  by Todd Henson

Dark pink lotus blossoms just opening

Opening lotus blossom covered in rain drops

It’s that time of year again when lotus and water lilies are in bloom at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Washington, D.C., when they hold their annual Lotus and Water Lily Festival. The day started with rain, leaving us wondering if it was worth the drive if it was going to be a wash out. But the rain was forecast to clear up so we made the trip and it was well worth it. The rain left water droplets on all the flowers, naturally saturated all the colors, and honestly, kept some of the early morning crowds a little lighter than they might have been otherwise, though the crowds did grow as the rain stopped. It’s fascinating all the different people who show up to view these flowers. One day perhaps I’ll photograph some of the people as well as the blooms.

Bumble bee above dark pink lotus blossom. There are several streaks of rain on the left side.

One thing I noticed this year was some of the ponds contained lotus blossoms that were lighter in color, a very pale pink that almost seemed to glow. The overcast day was perfect for photographing these, no harsh light, no hard shadows. Just an evenly lit glowing lotus blossom. Other ponds held lotus blossoms of a much darker, deeper pink. These had beautiful color, but didn't glow quite like the paler blossoms did. I love the variety.

Bumble bee above a lotus blossom

Small green insect on lotus blossom

Six-Spotted Fishing Spider (Dolomedes Triton)

As with last year I found myself looking for insects to add some extra interest to the photos. This year there were very few dragonflies because of the rain, though they did begin coming out after the rain ended. I did manage to capture a couple bumble bees, as well as several other small insects. The most distinctive insect (arachnid, actually) I photographed was a fishing spider. I believe it was a six-spotted fishing spider (Dolomedes Triton), if I've identified it correctly. I found it on a lily pad. When other folks walked closer it dove into the water and disappeared. Fascinating.

Pink water lily and a small insect

The lotus blossoms draw the largest crowds, but if your timing is good you can also view some of the beautiful water lilies in other ponds. Kenilworth has a nice variety of water lilies. Some are very simple white flowers, in fact, my favorite photo of the day is of a white water lily. Some of the water lilies are similar shades of pink to those of the lotus. And some of the water lilies are amazing shades of purple, though I don't have any photos of those in this post.

White water lily, my favorite image of the day

The photograph, White Water Lily, is available for purchase as wall art or on a variety of products.

We usually arrive early in the morning and continue photographing and walking around until we get comfortably tired. But this means we often don't spend a lot of time around the festival events. This year was no different, but we did see the tail end of a presentation by and about Cindy Dyer, an Alexandria-based photographer who was recently honored by the United States Postal Service by having a series of her photographs used on a set of Forever Stamps. She's a very talented photographer and has produced some beautiful images. She is well deserving of the honor.

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Focus Stacking Flowers /  by Todd Henson

The final image, after focus stacking 9 images in Photoshop. Notice how each foreground flower is in focus.

I’ve just begun experimenting with the focus stacking technique in Photoshop. Focus stacking is used when you’re not able to capture everything you desire in the photo in sharp focus. To get around this limitation you make multiple exposures with identical settings, shifting the focus in each exposure. For example, if you have a landscape photo of a shell on a beach very close to the camera and a cliff in the far distance, perhaps you can’t get both shell and cliff in sharp focus. So you take at least two photos of the scene, one with the shell in sharp focus and another with the cliff in sharp focus, and then merge those exposures in Photoshop. Photoshop will allow you to combine the most in focus parts of each exposure into a single image.

In this particular experiment I was attempting to capture a number of small flowers in the forest, having each flower in focus but keeping the background out of focus. On my camera I set the ISO to 400, the aperture to f/5.0, the shutter speed to 1/40 second, and made sure the white balance was not on auto. I wanted the same settings for each exposure. I chose an aperture of f/5.0 to have a little depth of field in each exposure but keep the background blown out nicely. Then I focused on the closest flower, made an exposure, set the focus a little deeper into the frame, made another exposure, and continued this until I thought I had captured detail in all the flower parts of the image I was interested in. I made a total of 9 images.

From Lightroom I selected all 9 images, right-clicked and chose Edit In, then selected Open as Layers in Photoshop. This imported all the images into Photoshop as separate layers.

Once in Photoshop I needed to align the images. I had the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod and was using a cable release, but these were close-up images taken with a macro lens and I had no way to stop any swaying of the flowers that might occur. Thankfully Photoshop is really good at automatically aligning images. To do this I selected all the layers then clicked Edit and Auto-Align Layers. I chose the Auto setting in the Auto-Align Layers dialog. This took a bit of time. When it finished I cropped in just a little to assure I had clean edges.

The next step was to stack the images and have Photoshop choose the portions of each image that were most in focus, hence the term focus stacking. Once again I selected all the layers, clicked Edit and Auto-Blend Layers. I chose Stack Images and checked Seamless Tones and Colors in the Auto-Blend Layers dialog. This step took some time and was where most of the magic was performed. When Photoshop was finished I had a layer mask associated with each layer. It was interesting to click on each layer and see which portions of the image Photoshop chose to include. I saved the image and moved back into Lightroom to perform a little more tweaking.

I did notice that, as good as Photoshop is at choosing what to keep in the image, it is not perfect. There are some strange blurred areas on the petals at the top of the image, and the spider web with dew on the left side has a distinctly darker area around it. I don’t yet know how to fix these small areas, but will eventually. I’m always trying to learn more. Overall, I’m pleased with the process. It did a good job of allowing me to focus on multiple flowers, something I might not have been able to with a single image straight out of the camera.

Give focus stacking a try sometime. It can be one more tool to help you realize your creative vision.

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National Gallery of Art - West Building /  by Todd Henson

A statue of Mercury atop a fountain at the center of the West Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Today I’m going to depart a bit from nature and outdoor photography. Earlier this year my brother and I visited the West Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The museum contains such a large number of works of art, I could spend the entire day in that one museum and feel I still hadn’t seen everything. And with so many other museums close by there’s that itch to keep moving, to see more. I don’t get out to museums often enough.

Viewing artwork and a visitor through an entryway. The painting on the left is Saint Benedict Orders Saint Maurus to the Rescue of Saint Placidus by Fra Filippo Lippi. On the right is The Healing of Palladia by Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian by Fra Angelico. In the center is The Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi.

Through the archway is a painting by Leonardo de Vinci called Ginevra de' Benci. I love the layout of the museum, how archways become frames into works of art.

I think seeing all this artwork can help inspire creativity. You see how other people have interpreted their world, or expressed their emotions. I’m mostly a photographer, but I love seeing paintings from such a diverse group of painters, so many different styles and subjects. I don’t necessarily enjoy all the paintings, but there’s alway something there to learn from. Seeing how different artists handled light and perspective. A docent showed us one painting where the artist was able to beautifully capture perspective. As you walked along the painting it was almost as if the perspective changed. Fantastic.

A visitor viewing Leonardo da Vinci's Ginevra de' Benci. On the left is Madonna and Child by Sandro Botticelli. On the right is The Adoration of the Child by Filippino Lippi. Again, I love the layout of the museum. I consider that artwork, as well.

The museum is also full of statues and other objects, something I don’t think you can really appreciate except in person. You might be able to view a painting online since a painting is mostly a two dimentional form of art, though there can be some limited three dimensionality with the volume of paint the artist applies to different areas. But with statues you can’t beat seeing them in person. I love photos of statues, and I love making photos of statues. But you really do have to see them to fully appreciate them, the play of light and shadow, the form and texture.

Another example of framing the artwork using the museum archways. Here a visitor studies Saint John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz) by Francisco Antonio Gijon. I like how the visitor has his leg out, just as Saint John, and how they both seem to lean in the same direction.

This is another photo of Saint John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz) by Francisco Antonio Gijon, but this time without the viewer. Here you can see the entire statue, but I prefer the image with the viewer.

Looking through the photos I made at the museum I realize I’m also drawn to how the museum chooses to display the artwork. There is an art to display. And of course, it’s always fun trying to capture people while they view the artwork. And finally, there is the architecture of the museum, itself. The craftsman that built it were themselves artists.

I love the enormous variety of objects in the museum. Here is the Ciborium for the Sacrament by Desiderio da Settignano.

Winged Victory by Antonio Canova is a magnificent piece beautifully lit such that shadows of the statue float on the wall just behind it. Amazing.

Take some time and visit a museum once in a while. It’s well worth it.

A Morning Stroll By The National Gallery - The West Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. This view is from across Madison Drive.

Fine Art Prints by Todd Henson

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