After putting away the view camera, there was a time for experimenting until the technology caught up with my needs. With a Sony 850 I because enchanted with the colors of mums at the local nursury and attempted some very wide images composed of dozens of exposures.The rig (minus camera) was something like that to the right. The flowers were on a trundle that could move under the camea. The results were mixed.
However, my wife Susan was a very avid gardener and our home was surrounded with day lilies, hydrangras, etc. One day, with an empty trundle I asked her to bring me a basket of flowers, which she did. A large basket, at which instant I realized I hadn’t a clue what I was going to do withm them. Dozens of small vases popped into my head and immediate I recognized as impractical. So with essentially no thought I began, to Susan’s horror, pulling petals off the flowers and tossing them into the trundle. She soon realized that this might work and I asked her for another basket.
I arranged the blossoms only to keep form any area standing out enough to draw the eye. Then I began photographing.
I divided the length into 6 segments and did focus stacting on each segment resulting in about 100 exposures.
Lighting was another story altogether. My studio spaces are all equipped with overhead flourscents of a special kind made by Plilips in Holland. The color temperature is a very accurate 5000°K (daylight) with a color rendering index of 98, the best available. With white wallls and floor the effect is that of shadow free daylight, something one would never experience in the real world. When illuminated with 5000K light the effect is quite starteling.
Melangés No. 2 was done the following year with full blossoms, and No.3 again with petals. The maximum practical size of a print is 44" x 120". At this size all the flowers are in perfect focus.
