Floral photographer Leah McLean has been an active member of our Sony Alpha Universe Community Forums. We’ve loved hearing her thoughts, insights and ideas as she chats with other creators. Leah is the Featured Photographer for the month of October in the forums and we sat down with her to learn more about how she creates her stunning floral images. Continue reading to learn more about this story behind the shot, and to join conversations with other photographers and filmmakers, head over to the Sony Alpha Universe Community Forums. Who knows, you might be featured next!

Product Preview – In This Article You'll Find:
–Sony Alpha 7R III
–Sony 55mm f/1.8

I'm Leah McLean (@TheSaltedImage), the creative force behind The Salted Image, where I weave my passions for art, light and flowers into detailed floral compositions. Alongside managing my own floral fine art studio, I educate others through various platforms like Skillshare, my personal website, and BloomTV. My work is also represented by an art licensing agent, Artfully Walls Artists, Mixtiles Art  and I've recently ventured into a fabric line through RJR Fabrics.

Floral photographer Leah McLean shares how she used her Sony Alpha camera paired with a sharp prime to create this fall-inspired scene.

Welcome to the captivating world of floral still life photography. In this edition of Behind The Shot, join me as I share my complete process in creating this fall-inspired scene. Drawing inspiration from the amazing works of 17th-century Dutch masters Jan Van Huysum and Rachel Ruysch, I set out to capture the natural beauty of early fall. The arrangement was a harmonious blend of my late summer and early autumn blooms, especially selected to showcase a variety of color, texture, light and shadow.

Photo by Leah McLean. Sony Alpha 7R III. Sony 55mm f/1.8. 1/60-sec., f/14 and ISO 100.

The majority of my images are created in my humble basement studio, I have a small corner of the room to work in but it's ample space for a small table, backdrop and light setup.

Preparation – A Labor Of Love

Crafting my floral arrangements is a labor of love that begins months in advance. I plan out my color schemes and flower varieties at the end of the previous growing season, often sourcing seeds from trusted suppliers like Eden Brothers and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds as well as collecting seeds and tubers from my own garden. Each element is selected to ensure a rich tapestry of shapes, sizes, textures, and colors, mirroring the picturesque complexity found in the works of my artistic muses.

With summer drawing to a close, I knew that I wanted to create a scene featuring my late summer and early fall blooms. I still had some beautiful dahlias in cream, orange and red hues as well as my favorite late blooming David Austin roses. I had recently visited a local flower farm and purchased a beautiful bouquet of Zinnias, Lisianthus and Sunflowers. I thought these would pair well with what was left in my garden as the colors were very “autumn”, with lovely shades of orange, yellow and red.

Taking a cue from the Dutch masters, I also decided to feature a variety of fruit. I visited a local supermarket for pears and persimmons and combined those with some dogwood seeds that I had collected. I used a draping piece of fabric to anchor the arrangement and add some smooth texture to balance out the multitude of petals. When building an arrangement I look to use a variety of differing shapes, sizes, textures, and colors for visual interest.

Gear That Brings The Scene To Life

To bring this arrangement to life, I relied on my off-camera-flash lighting setup which is a mix of lighting gear. I really love the using a softbox as a key light for my larger arrangements like this one. I prefer to create my own light as I can shoot at any time of the day and do not have to rely on the position or qualityof natural light. I try to mimic light from the classic paintings and tend to favor Rembrandt light with an added slight fill to the shadows. I spend a lot of time on my light and making tiny adjustments so that I can accentuate the natural beauty of each element within the frame.

After a few years of consideration, and constantly battling with focus issues, I finally switched to Sony and purchased the Sony Alpha 7R III. This change has made a massive impact on my workflow, canceling my focus issues overnight. The Sony 55mm f/1.8 has become my go-to lens, allowing me to capture the delicate details in my limited studio space.

After arranging my scene, I set up my lights with my large Apollo Orb Softbox, camera left, in a classic Rembrandt light position. I had a white board to the right in order to reflect a bit of light into the shadows. I used a second light to illuminate my backdrop and separate my subject from the background. My camera settings were 1/60-sec., f/14 and ISO 100.

The Edit

Editing is my least favorite part of the entire process and I try to get the picture perfect in-camera. However, for this image, I did a heavier edit than normal to give the picture a fall feel. The original fabric was a soft blue and by using the brush tool in Adobe Lightroom I changed the blue to other colors. I ended up choosing the yellow hue as it felt very fall-ish and went well with the other colors. I also increased the red hues and toned down the magenta in the entire image. After making those tweaks, I took the image into Photoshop for a final polish.

See more of Leah McLean’s work on Instagram @TheSaltedImage and on her website thesaltedimage.com. 
https://www.instagram.com/thesaltedimage/ 
https://www.thesaltedimage.com/ 

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