When ever I set up to make a photograph I always ask my self "How am I making the subject separate from the background" (unless I'm doing abstract work, which is a different ball of wax as far as creative process goes) In this case I had the idea that the blossoms would be the brighter tone relative to the background on the right side of the image and then on the left the blossoms would be darker than the background. I got a Polaroid that worked great but of course my negative, once scanned had lost almost all this effect so I then proceeded to do my normal umpteen adjustment layers. Added some washi paper texture and its cookin' again.
The blossoms here are light and pink and in the color shots stand out great from the white, but in Black and White the pink goes very close to the background color. Later this evening I'm going to use my gray background and see if I can get the branches and leaves to go darker than the b.g. and the blossoms to go lighter, another strategy for the same idea of achieving separation.
This photograph was taken with a 4x5 camera using Polaroid55 film. The film as the unique ability to provide both a positive and a negative. The negative, though a bit fragile, is also quite sharp and of high quality. I'm saddened though that Polaroid is going out of the polaroid business at the end of the year. Its not really clear if anyone else will pick up the torch.