Flower Photo Help Request - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

03/31/2003 10:30:24 AM · #1

Greetings...

I'm not much of a flower photographer, but I bought this orchid ove the weekend:

Temptation

I would love to have some tips or ideas about how I should approach a subject like this... This one was done with natural light from the window with a black card behind the blossom... Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated....

John Setzler

Ricky Cleave

Canon EOS-450D Rebel XSi

03/31/2003 10:37:02 AM · #2

John, you don't want tips. You just want to boost your over inflated ego even more than it already is. I tried to take picture of one of those flowers, it didn't turn out half as good as yours.

alanfreed

Nikon Z9

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

03/31/2003 10:42:52 AM · #3

John,

The only thing that seemed a little strange to me in this shot is that there appears to be a little blue "halo" along the right edge of the flower. Is that intentional?

scab-lab

Canon EOS-D60

03/31/2003 10:44:53 AM · #4

Looks good John. Only suggestions that Im sure you are aware of are: tripod, mirror or white card for reflecting light into shadow areas, and use the greatest DOF you have. I typically use F32 with a several second exposure. I always bracket also. The shot looks good, nice color saturation.

Alecia

Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon

03/31/2003 10:45:00 AM · #5

this is just gorgeous john--beautiful framing and focus--lighting is wonderful too. i assume maunal WB? the only thing that bugs me is the blue outline--but i have no idea how this could be avoided. if *i* were taking the shot i could blame it on the tungsten setting! ;)

Kavey

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

03/31/2003 10:56:48 AM · #6

It's a really nice photograph and I should preface my post with the comment that I couldn't match it let alone better it in a million years.

That said,

I personally don't like the black background.

I also find the lower half much darker than the top, and I'm not sure this quite works for me. Would a little fill in light in the lower area help or would it remove so many shadows that the whole thing would look flat? Not sure.

Certainly the yellow centre bit seems hidden in the shadows a little.

Like I said, just my tuppence.

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Nikon

03/31/2003 11:03:25 AM · #7

Ok...

this shot was done with the max depth of field i had available in the macro mode of the camera... maybe i need to back up from the subject a little and then make a crop from the photo to get more depth of field...

The blue halo was not intentional and i don't know where it came from. I think that when i try this again, I'll use the warming filter to see if I can improve that some.

I may be able to use some reflector cards to add some light as well... i'll need three hands to do that :)

Thanks for the tips... I'll try to shoot this one again soon and see what happens...

John Setzler

joanns

Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro

03/31/2003 11:16:43 AM · #8

John, I ran across this tip for photographing Orchids a while back. Orchid Photography Tip. I'll admit I haven't tried it but that's because I didn't want to spend the money on an orchid :).

blemt

Nikon D70

03/31/2003 11:17:48 AM · #9

It might also be interesting to shoot the flower with a light misting of water applied. When I think of orchids, I tend to think of tropical and humid. That might add something more to an all ready strong image.

Just .02 from one of the newbies. :)

03/31/2003 11:18:53 AM · #10

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

Backing up may help with both the DOF and the blue halo. I see a similar blue halo on my '707 with some subjects, which I think is CA introduced when the lens is at full wideangle (or close). Moving the camera back and zooming in a bit ought to minimise it.

You probably already know this, but a close-up filter should allow you to pull further back but still maintain the magnification.

Personally, I'd be pretty pleased with this shot. I think a bit of fill-in light from a reflector would help, though.

Looking forward to seeing your next experiments.

Message edited by author 2003-03-31 11:19:37.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM

03/31/2003 11:20:34 AM · #11

A closeup filter is absolutely useless on the 707...

welcher

Canon EOS-5D

03/31/2003 11:22:06 AM · #12

Not that I'm any kind of expert on flower photography, but it seems to me that 1 problem with your otherwise excellent photo is somewhat inconsitent lighting: harsh in some areas, and a little low in others.

The "painting with light" method I used on my "Petal" shot might be helpful here.

Basically, get your camera focused on the subject with all the lights on, and set it for a 5 second (or so) exposure. Then turn out the lights, trip the camera, and "paint" the flower with a flashlight, taking care to put light where it's needed, but never too much in one place.

This produces pleasing, soft light that might benefit your image, and, if done in a 100% dark room with nothing immediately behind the flower, obviates the need for a black background, since the empty, unlit space will appear black in your capture.

Most flashlights are kinda yellow, so some post-processing white balance adjustment will be necessary. That shouldn't be too difficult, though.

03/31/2003 11:27:26 AM · #13

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

A closeup filter is absolutely useless on the 707...

Hmmm. Why do you say that?

03/31/2003 05:52:15 PM · #14

Thanks for the comments... I have done a few reshoots and I didn't realize how bad the first image was... The warming filter (Tiffen 812) really fixed the blue cast nicely...

//www.pbase.com/jmsetzler/orchid

03/31/2003 05:53:02 PM · #15

Originally posted by pinback:

Originally posted by jmsetzler:
A closeup filter is absolutely useless on the 707...

Hmmm. Why do you say that?

The Sony 7x7 series will focus at 2cm. How much closer do u need to be? :)

scab-lab

Canon EOS-D60

03/31/2003 05:56:54 PM · #16

I like Orchid5407-m1-640.JPG the best out of the series, nice.

03/31/2003 06:07:25 PM · #17

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

The Sony 7x7 series will focus at 2cm. How much closer do u need to be? :)

The 602 will focus at 1cm but this week my closeup set arrived (a few hours after the macro challenge was announced : ) not that it's helping my score!). You would be amazed at how much 'closer' things can get, plus the lens doesn't need to be on top of your subject so lighting is much easier.

I'll post some comparison shots as soon as I get round to doing something non challenge related.

Edit: Very nice shot btw, I'm in the same boat in that I'm making my first attempts at flower photography this year too.

Message edited by author 2003-03-31 18:08:45.

03/31/2003 06:17:36 PM · #18

I'm not sure i understand... maybe we are talking about two different things....

My closeup ring set that I use on my film camera does NOT magnify the image i'm viewing at all. It simply allows me to get inside of the camera's minimum focus distance, which, in turn, gives me a magnified image.

I have a set that has a +1, +2, and +4 ring... Maybe I'm lost :)

joshua

Canon EOS-500D Rebel T1i

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

03/31/2003 06:23:14 PM · #19

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

that is the most sexually provocative flower i have ever seen

03/31/2003 06:27:14 PM · #20

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

Heh, then I'm lost too! I have the same set.
I don't know much about the technical side so I can only go on experience, but what I take from 6 inches away with the closeup rings on is *much* closer than what I can take from 1cm away in super-macro mode.

Maybe they work differently on digital?

03/31/2003 06:28:56 PM · #21

I tried the closeup rings on the 707 and couldn't focus on anything... maybe i'll play with them a little more later...

03/31/2003 06:34:14 PM · #22

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

I tried the closeup rings on the 707 and couldn't focus on anything... maybe i'll play with them a little more later...

It took me a while to figure them out - I started out trying to shoot from the usual 1cm away :-/
They have a *very* tight area in which they will focus. Start off around the 6in mark then move the camera back & forth slowly, you should see it snap into focus at some point.

Go play : )

Update: Forgot to mention ... macro mode OFF, full optical zoom.

Message edited by author 2003-03-31 18:57:05.

04/01/2003 03:16:20 AM · #23

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

I tried the closeup rings on the 707 and couldn't focus on anything... maybe i'll play with them a little more later...

I have a +4 dioptre Hoya filter and it certainly does magnify the image given a fixed subject distance (I checked this last night after your post to ensure I wasn't losing my sanity :-).

I find it particularly useful when photographing insects, as you can get as much of the frame filled from a greater distance = less chance of the subject flying/running/crawling away.

04/01/2003 03:16:53 AM · #24

Aarrgghh. That sig's still not right! I'll get it one of these days.