Fading Beauty

Another grey, routine day and no inspiration, so I spent about 45 minutes this afternoon playing around with this dead rose, trying different backgrounds, shutter speeds, apertures and experimenting with shooting in mono.

Typically, the one I liked best was the first one I took, against a background of some old wrapping paper, particularly the way something (presumably the flash reflecting off the silver paper) has given a sharp black edge to the petals.

Other than that, it was a day of visiting Tess's Dad, shopping and watching FA Cup football on the tele.