“First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won’t. Habit is persistence in practice.”
― Octavia E. Butler

This is where it all started, my work with black backgrounds, and it has taken me till now to finally photograph these wheat stalks.

I had envisioned doing this several months ago. I went out and purchased the black velvet I use for the background, stopped in a local field to pick a few stems of ripe wheat, set up my lights and made some photos, and was hugely disappointed.

So, the wheat got placed in a vase and I started photographing flowers, with much more pleasing results, and the wheat remained in the vase, till today.

Perhaps I have built more confidence in my skill at producing these images or perhaps it’s my recent acquisition of a 90mm macro lense that has given me better control over my depth of field than I have using my extender rings. In any case, it’s still not exactly as I wanted it, but I’m pleased enough with the outcome. After all, this idea of photographing last year’s wheat has opened up a style of photography that I would not have considered, had it not been for the initial failures.

Nikon D800
Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro @90mm
0.4 sec, f/29.0, ISO 200

Hi Resolution image on 500px

For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/EdLehming
or my website (some images available for purchase)
http://www.edlehming.com