A photo both set up shot

[ChasWG]

Connie, and others,, you should check out this web site. If you really love photography and even if you don't own a Canon camera (film SLR, DSLR, P&S or others) this is an amzing webs site and community. Much like OB, just a great place to learn about photography. Newbies are always welcome and not treated too harshly, unless you post up a really bad image to be C&C'ed.

Canon Digital Photography Forums - Powered by vBulletin

Check it out. I go by the same user name there as here. I post in all sorts of different forums there, lots in the Sports, Urban & Travel and Nature forums.

[Connie Star]

I read about the focus stacking on another thread on orchid board and tried it and love it. You can theoretically do it with a program such as photoshop which I have but it requires working with vectors and I don't have the skill level in photoshop for that. Google combinezm and then you can download the program. I took the pictures with a tripod and a preset exposure. As you change the focus the image changes size every so slightly. There is a work around for that, but so far I'm pleased enough with the results as is. I find 4 images the max, and it takes quite some time to run thru the program (my computer is 3 years old).
I got into orchids in part to have something to photograph between trips.

[Bloomin_Aussie]

CombineZM does a really good job as long as you have taken a consistent set of shots to begin with. If you're photographing outdoors it gets harder because the slightest breeze can move things out of place between frames.

I would also recommend the Canon Digital Photography Forums. Although they are oriented toward Canon users there is a substantial amount of general photography knowledge to be had there.

[DelawareJim]

Chas;

Thanks for the info on the booth. I'm looking at setting up my first booth and have a few questions.

I noticed your panels are not perfectly vertical. Is that intentional or more a factor of just propping them against something?

Also, what do you use for your black background? And how do you get it so uniformly black? I've tried different types of fabric and spray painting a sheet of cardboard, but the background details always appear in my shots.

Thanks.

Cheers.
Jim

[ChasWG]

Jim, sorry it has been sooooooo very long since I have visited this site. To answer your questions: Yes, the back ground is simply propped up against a chair. It wasn't intentional at all.

It's simply a 2' x 3' piece of black foam core board that I got from a hobby store (Michael's). It's a very simply and easy BG to use. Some times you have to flag off any light that spills onto it if you really want the BG to go black, but otherwise its very easy to use. Getting a bigger piece is a great idea, that way you can back it off from the flower and not get any light spill.