Ghost Flower Techniques
The scanner has a different range of color sensitivity than the camera, so the details
and coloration of the blossom images often looked very different than what the
human eye (or camera sensor) records. Details that are invisible to the human eye
popped out in the scan at 1200dpi. Veins of color ran through what were apparently
pure white petals. Whites turned rich gold. Tiny grains of pollen that appear as dust
specks become vibrant yellow, red, and orange structures. Even previously unnoticed
aphids and their kin popped out from the petal’s intricate field of textures and
gradations of colors, where they stalked their world’s landscape.
The scanner also has a narrow depth of field, as well as a shallow range of light that is
recorded by the passing sensor. This results in an image that has a very specific focal
plane both in terms of sharpness and lighting. Depending on the structure and depth
of the blossom, multiple points of interest are in sharp, very detailed focus, while the
rest of the structure falls away quickly into shadows and mystery. Colors go from
vivid to subdued within a few millimeters, giving the subject all the more ability to
invoke yugen. A crisp petal catches the eye while the fading light of the interior draws
the viewer in, searching for details that may or may not be revealed—the inner yugen.
Altering the position of a blossom on the scanner bed often reveals nuances that
were hidden by shadows cast by petals, or textures change as a petal bends inward
to the center or curls around its neighbor, thus creating a new reveal of the same
blossom.
Garden Dragon Princess
Yugen means “what lies beneath the surface, the subtle
as opposed to the obvious; the hint as opposed to the
statement” — Arthur Waley
Verdant Green Glads Triptych 20x30