Paphiopedilum Shirley Amundson

[canadacarol]

Very nice Todd..I like the last pic the best.

Carol

[Ross]

Originally Posted by cb977

Great job Todd

I love the colors on this paph and your photography makes those colors truly "pop"!

I'm still trying to master the black background thing. The black background in the pics I've been practicing with always comes out looking kind of gray. I have some learnin' to do!

It's actually not that hard. Let me try to break it down for those wanting to try this.

1) Have a black background (not really necessary, but the easiest way)
2) Provide more light to the subject than the background. This is easiest if you can control how your camera takes exposures. If a point-and-shoot, then you need very bright focused light. You can use dedicated photo lights, but you can also use desk lights or something similar, as long as the strength of the primary light is high. Here Toddy used a single strong focused light (am I right?)
3) Make sure no light is hitting your background. Also you have to be able to light meter the highlights. Many point-and-shoots cannot do this and will attempt to make the scene over-all gray. If so, you may be out of luck.
4) If the above pointers are outside your control, not possible, you may be still able to do this, but it becomes more difficult. Ever take a flash photo of someone and background gets all black? Come on - tell the truth. Use the same process. Get the background so far behind the subject it gets "out of range" for the flash.

[Toddybear]

My light source was the sun shining through the window. I use a piece of panelling that is painted black. However, if the light does shine on the board, the background becomes grey. It takes a bit of manipulating but I try to have the board in the shadows while the sun or bright light is on the subject. That allows the background to stay black. Sometimes I use Ross's suggestion of having the black board far enough from the subject that the board is out of focus and stays black. Ideally, if the light is from more-or-less above or at least a high angle, I place the board between the light source and the subject. That way the board is in it's own shadow and stays very black. It is easiest for me to do that outdoors in summer when the sun is high....trickier in the winter when the sun is low.