Burning rose
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by skewsme:
y'all be careful now ;-) (poof)

Burning rose
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by purpleflutterby13:
skewsme, thanks for the pictures and comments. Those flowers are gorgeous!

Actually, I might try it again after all - I've recovered from the first rose-burning trauma, and I've got 2 more roses leftover to burn within the next couple of days...

A bit more background: the pink rose was a tester one - I wasn't sure if it would burn, how quickly, how well, etc. I've got 2 red roses left which I was going to use for the intended final shot. I might try a radical hue shift on this one - yeah, red would look better.

It's a nightmare getting the thing to burn. First I tried setting the flower on fire - didn't work. I soaked the flower in paraffin for a while and tried to light it - still didn't work. In the end, I had a paraffin-soaked piece of paper in the middle of the flower, and that's where the flame comes from. The reason for the POV was that the paper thing was done quite clumsily, so you can see it sticking out in all the shots I took from above.

Alcohol might work, but doesn't give off a very bright flame. The latest suggestion I heard was to cover the thing in lighter fluid, I might try that...

The things we do to entertain ourselves :)

Burning rose
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by skewsme:
Hi Purple! I came here to say something similar, before I even saw his comment. But I was thinking about radical color changes. Like, keep the flame color, but make the rose gray and black and red - kind of like a charred ember. Or simply do a dreaded selective desat leaving the flame colored (so you know what it is). It sounds like you won't try this again, but heck, I thought it was a good idea. (But them I would, look here, here, here and here.) If you do it over, though, maybe try with a perspective from above so that you can see the swirls of the rose petals. A dried rose might burn better. Or, (and this might be a little psycho, so use caution) maybe a little brandy swabbed in a couple of places in the bloom might give you a more interesting flame. Well, thanks for the fun thinking about this!

Burning rose
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by purpleflutterby13:

Originally posted by posthumous: The only problem with this photo is that the rose is so purply pink (and veiny) it reminds me of something that I don't want to imagine burning. A color adjustment would improve this tremendously.

lol you know, that's one association that never would have come to mind. However, now you've pointed it out, I can so see it.

However, you really want me to alter this marvel of radical feminism that randomly stumbled into my portfolio? Think of the layers of meaning this has created! Symbolising the male gender with a pink rose, then burning it - it's challenging sexual stereotypes and expressing the rebellion against male repression all at once! And you want me to change it?! Tsk, I bet it's because you're male! I''m being repressed!

lol :D

Burning rose
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by kashi:
Cool !

I love the colours.

Meditation
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by levyj413:
So, the bubbles contribute to the photo how, exactly? This is a shot of someone stretching with bubbles thrown in just to meet the challenge.

Meditation
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by tnun:
Quite wonderful. Strong composition (rule of thirds, too).

Burning rose
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by posthumous:
you (or somebody) must suffer for art!

The only problem with this photo is that the rose is so purply pink (and veiny) it reminds me of something that I don't want to imagine burning. A color adjustment would improve this tremendously.

Burning rose
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by JerseyGenie:
wow.

Burning rose
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by klstover:
Oh oh.... that is sad.... but it is a good picture though!!!

I think... maybe it wasn't sad at being burned... it was happy to give you such a great picture, and after it was done, sad that it could no longer provide good photo opportunities for you.