Quote:
Originally Posted by Ross
New post: information on lighting control that you can carry with you in the field (so to speak) 
Reflectors - used to bounce natural light into shadow areas of blossoms. These will work even if the sun is not shining as the sky is usually very bright compared to the shadow areas.
LiteDisc
Screens - used to reduce the contrast of bright sun-lit plants down to a range the film or digital camera can handle.
These are available as translucent LiteDiscs from Photoflex as well. The idea here is colors always appear more saturated when direct light is not hitting them. Ever see the bright reds of fall color leaves right after a rain or in a mist and the sun isn't shinning? They are much redder than when the sun is shining. You (or an assistant) can open one of these discs and hold above the plant, between the plant and the sun, and it will reduce the strength of contrast between highlights and shadows. The closer the screen is to the plant, the brighter the light will be.
Most of the better-equipped local camera shops carry or can order these discs. I personally have discs from 12" up to 60" size in many combinations of reflectors and screens. They collapse down to 4" to 24", depending on full size. |
I agree with Ross on the lite disks; I own a couple of 5 in 1's. For people who don't know whether this is really worth it, here's a suggestion to improve your plant pictures by a big leap for next to nothing:
Find a white piece of cardboard. Hold it on the opposite side from the light source just outside frame next to the plant/flower. This will brighten up the shadows and make the lighting softer. Once you see what a white piece of card board can do, then you may be ready to shell out some $$$ for a lite-disk.
I ALWAYS have two pieces of 6x8" card board in my camera bag, and some masking tape, with which I tape the white cards temporarily to whatever is available: sticks, tripod, lens, camera. for close ups, the cardboard is much easier to position than the lite-disk. Often I diffuse a flash through the diffuser of the 5-in-1, and use one or two cardboards on the opposite side. This makes very nice soft light, but still is not flat.
For those interested a bit more, read Hunter & Fuqua "Light: Science and Magic". It explains lighting contrast, subject contrast and the various effects very nicely. Highly recommended.
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