Lighting an orchid with two Speedlites

[ChasWG]

So this idea came to me the other day and I thought I'd share it with you. As I was staring at my Blc. 'Rustic Spots' that recently opened and settled into it more "pretty" coloration (it starts off a brownish/orange when it first opens). I liked the background of the older P bulbs and leaves crossing the behind the flower. And then of course the simple lines of this elegant bloom. A lot of Catts. are big and floofy with lots of ruffles. This one isn't like that.

So I settles on a white background, but how to get that? The answer was to place the first sppedlite, a Canon 540EZ set to 24mm zoom and 1/8th power, in a 24" x 24" soft boxe and place it about 18" behind the plant. This does two things, first, it creates the white background I wanted. Second, it acts as a back light for the plant.

The Key light came from plant/camera left, another 540EZ set to 1/4 power and zoomed to 24mm and shot through a Wescott Shoot-Thru umbrella at about 4 ft. away from the plant. And then some fill from a white foamcore bounce card on the plants right, fairly close, but just out of frame.

The result:




The speedlites were triggered via a Yongnuo RF-602 system. Camera: Canon 40D Lens: Canon 24-70 f2.8L

A set up shot.


Thanks for looking

[Call_Me_Bob]

Nice! I like the clean white background. I shoot with nikon. I wish I had another ob flash


You can call me Bob

[ChasWG]

Originally Posted by help

I shoot with nikon. I wish I had snotty ob flash

Bob, I'm not sure what a "snotty ob flash" is. I'm thinking this is a typo probably.

[Call_Me_Bob]

Originally Posted by ChasWG

Bob, I'm not sure what a "snotty ob flash" is. I'm thinking this is a typo probably.

Yes that way a major typo!! I'm very sorry. I've since edited my post. I am on my iPod touch. So I get typos from time to time.

I meant to say" I wish I had another ob flash" didnt mean to say "snotty"




You can call me Bob

[ChasWG]

Ha! Apple predictive type strikes again!

On Board flash is cool and it helps a lot, but it causes too many harsh shadows I feel for photographing flowers. I like softer, Off Camera flash much better.

In the set-up shot above you'll see two very large sources used in compairison to the subject matter. That too is a large part of controlling the shadows. Not to say that all shadows are bad, these shots above are pretty flat actually. There is a lot of wrap in that 60" Shoot-Thru umbrella and then adding the bounce board. I tried a few shots without the board and the image lost a lot of what I liked, so I put it back in. I probably could have backed it out a bit to help get less fill and start to create a bit more shadow.

And those Off-Camera triggers (RF-602s) are pretty cheap and very effective. A set of 3 Rx and 1 Tx cost me $78 from an eBay supplier. Get yourself a cheap Yongnou flash unit and you're on you way to Off-Camera flash photography!

[Call_Me_Bob]

when i said OB flash, i meant off body. i have a nikon sb-600. i wish i had another

i dont have a remote trigger ( like a pocketwizard *drool*) but i have a tether i use, so it helps. but i can only use one at a time

[ChasWG]

Here's another example of using two speedlites to light a scene.

Here I used a 540EZ set to 24mm zoom and 1/4 power and fired through a Wescott Shoot-Thru umbrella for the key. And a white foamcore bounce card to the side just like in the above images. Except for this one I didn't use a speedlite blasting into a soft box as the background. I used another white foamcore board place about 5ft behind the plant and then fired another 540EZ set to 105mm zoom and 1/64th power at the bottom of the board. The light feathers upward to a light gray.

Neostylis Lou Sneary 'Blue Bird'



Same lighting, but shot a lot tighter.


By just re-aiming the light you can get a different shade for the BG.


Finally a single bloom.