Purple Flowers and Bees

I spotted these purple flowers growing in the ditch on one of my afternoon “photography drives”. The internet tells me that they are Symphyotrichum, commonly known as New England Aster. I’m not a flower expert, so if you have better information let me know. Anyway, as setup my tripod close to the flowers, I noticed a lot of bee activity. I’m usually not that concerned about bees - unless one bothers them they stay busy at work. (Wasps, on the other hand…)

When I opened this photograph on my computer I was ambivalent about it. I loved the purple flowers and the bee activity, but the background really cluttered up the picture and competed with the main subject. I wanted the subtle purple of the flowers to “pop”, so I tried a Photoshop technique I hadn’t used before. I masked the flowers and converted the background to black and white, as you can see. Yes, the results are unnatural, but the technique allows the viewer to experience the subject in a new way. The purple flowers and yellow bees really pop against the grey background.

Nikon D750 w. Micro Nikkor 105 f/2.8; ISO 100 - 1/750 @ f/5.6