Sunflower Droste
How it’s done: Starting with a sunflower photo with a nice plain sky background I used the select by colour tool to select the background. Then by promoting the background layer to a proper layer I cut out the sky to leave the sunflower on the transparent checkerboard. On the first go with Mathmap I found the petals still had bright edges because they used to be against a bright sky, which looked wrong against the dark flower centre. So I went back so the selection stage, grew the selection by 3 pixels so it cut off the edges of the petals and then feathered it by 3 pixels. Then I cut the sky off. Now I had just the flower with gradual transparency around the edge. I grabbed a nice brown from the middle of the flower using the eyedropper and created a new layer under the flower layer filled with that colour. Then I flattened and again cut out the flower from the background using fuzzy select this time. Now at last I had a flower with a brown fringe around the edge.
Finally I stuck it in Mathmap, selected Droste and turned on ExternalTransparency because that’s what it has. Tweaked the parameters and here is the result.
Parameters: InnerRadius 29.56 OuterRadius 91 Periodicity 1.02 Strands 1 XCenterShift 2 YCenterShift -4 StartingLevel 5 ExternalTransparency on
| Make | Canon |
| Model | Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL |
| Exposure | 0.008 sec (1/125) |
| Aperture | f/9.0 |
| ISO Speed | 100 |
| Date and Time (Original) | 2006:09:05 15:07:40 |
| Exposure Bias | -2 EV |
| Flash | No Flash |
| Focal Length | 31 mm |
| Quality | Fine |
| Metering Mode | Evaluative |
| Lens Type | Unknown (-1) |
Sunflower Competition - day 94
1: 221cm 2: 250cm 3: 249cm 5: 194cm
I’m measuring from the ground to the highest point on the stem, where it bends over for the flower head. Two and three are very close, but three’s head is not fully formed yet so that may change.
| Make | Canon |
| Model | Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL |
| Exposure | 0.003 sec (1/400) |
| Aperture | f/16 |
| ISO Speed | 1600 |
| Date and Time (Original) | 2006:09:05 15:06:55 |
| Exposure Bias | -2 EV |
| Metering Mode | Pattern |
| Focal Length | 43 mm |
Sunflower Competition - day 84
2: 246cm 3: 232cm 5: 174cm
| Make | Canon |
| Model | Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL |
| Exposure | 0.008 sec (1/125) |
| Aperture | f/7.1 |
| ISO Speed | 100 |
| Date and Time (Original) | 2006:08:26 11:03:05 |
| Exposure Bias | 0/3 EV |
| Metering Mode | Pattern |
| Focal Length | 18 mm |
Sunflower Competition - day 72
2: 210cm 3: 190cm 5: 137cm
They’ve started growing flower heads, so probably won’t get much taller.
| Make | Canon |
| Model | Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL |
| Exposure | 0.013 sec (1/80) |
| Aperture | f/5.6 |
| ISO Speed | 200 |
| Date and Time (Original) | 2006:08:14 16:33:41 |
| Exposure Bias | 0/3 EV |
| Metering Mode | Pattern |
| Focal Length | 22 mm |
Sunflower Competition - day 63
2: 179cm 3: 160cm 5: 116cm
Been a while since the last update and they’ve kept growing apace. Number 2 is now taller than me and still no sign of a flower head.
| Make | Canon |
| Model | Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL |
| Exposure | 0.02 sec (1/50) |
| Aperture | f/4.5 |
| ISO Speed | 200 |
| Date and Time (Original) | 2006:08:05 19:39:10 |
| Exposure Bias | 0/3 EV |
| Metering Mode | Pattern |
| Focal Length | 22 mm |
Sunflower Competition - day 44
2: 108cm 3: 96cm 5: 58cm
| Make | Canon |
| Model | Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL |
| Exposure | 0.017 sec (1/60) |
| Aperture | f/5.6 |
| ISO Speed | 100 |
| Date and Time (Original) | 2006:07:17 14:47:42 |
| Exposure Bias | 0/3 EV |
| Metering Mode | Pattern |
| Focal Length | 25 mm |
Sunflower Competition - day 37
2: 76cm 3: 66cm 5: 43cm
| Make | Canon |
| Model | Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL |
| Exposure | 0.017 sec (1/60) |
| Aperture | f/6.3 |
| ISO Speed | 200 |
| Date and Time (Original) | 2006:07:10 13:00:50 |
| Exposure Bias | 0/3 EV |
| Metering Mode | Pattern |
| Focal Length | 27 mm |
Sunflower Competition - day 30
2: 54cm 3: 43cm 5: 32cm
| Make | Canon |
| Model | Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL |
| Exposure | 0.006 sec (1/160) |
| Aperture | f/7.1 |
| ISO Speed | 100 |
| Date and Time (Original) | 2006:07:03 12:17:52 |
| Exposure Bias | 0/3 EV |
| Metering Mode | Pattern |
| Focal Length | 21 mm |
Sunflower Competition - day 25
2: 32cm 3: 25cm 5: 22cm
| Make | Canon |
| Model | Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL |
| Exposure | 0.005 sec (1/200) |
| Aperture | f/8 |
| ISO Speed | 200 |
| Date and Time (Original) | 2006:06:28 13:39:54 |
| Exposure Bias | 0/3 EV |
| Metering Mode | Pattern |
| Focal Length | 21 mm |
Sunflower Competition - day 16
2: 13cm 3: 9cm 4: n/a 5: 10.5cm
4 and 5 were eaten. Number 2 had a spare which was donated to 5. The culprits were identified as slugs and snails, so preventative measures have been taken. The clear plastic bottle guards were upgraded and spikes added to the tops, ash and crushed egg shells surround each plant and there is a milk/beer trap.
| Make | Canon |
| Model | Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL |
| Exposure | 0.013 sec (1/80) |
| Aperture | f/5.6 |
| ISO Speed | 400 |
| Date and Time (Original) | 2006:06:19 17:34:26 |
| Exposure Bias | 0/3 EV |
| Metering Mode | Pattern |
| Focal Length | 18 mm |