Camera Tips?

[DasEmpress]

Originally Posted by Flowers

If you ask me, aside from focus, background is the most important. A nice neutral background, like a white wall or black velvet fabric, makes the bloom stand out the best. The light background is the best for a darker bloom, and the dark background for a lighter one. Make sure to put the plants far enough from the background as to make it blur. The less you can see in the back, the more you will see of the subject.

Also, what camera did you buy?

I bought the cadillac of point-n-shoots...a Kodak! 8MP, 2 GB, & it even came w/a tripod so someone won't know I've been drinking when I shoot!

[Ross]

Originally Posted by DasEmpress

I bought the cadillac of point-n-shoots...a Kodak! 8MP, 2 GB, & it even came w/a tripod so someone won't know I've been drinking when I shoot!

Cool! I expect nothing but the best out of you now

[Ross]

By the way, Marty has set up a new sub area under "Off Topic" for photos and I hope to see a couple threads moved over there to make it easier to find stuff. Way to go Marty.

[Lin]

Originally Posted by rsfrid

Cool! I expect nothing but the best out of you now

Gee Rhonda, no pressure now

[Flowers]

Originally Posted by rsfrid

Great comment! Background is most important. I'm not a fan of black, but it has it's uses.

I don't like black so much myself. If I can get away with white, I'll use it. Sometimes, though, a white background will drown out the photo subject, such as an alba/white flower, or one with lighter coloring, like Phrag. wallisii or besseae flavum. Black also works well with plants mounted on tree fern, and the dark color of the mount blends well with the black background, causing the leaves and flowers to stand out.

Ambient light is also something that must be taken into account. If you take pictures of a white flower indoors, and the walls of the room are a yellow, or light green, the light from the walls will effect the color of the flower in the shot. Camera flash can also have adverse effects on a shot. When I take flower shots, I never use one.

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Flowers

I don't like black so much myself. If I can get away with white, I'll use it. Sometimes, though, a white background will drown out the photo subject, such as an alba/white flower, or one with lighter coloring, like Phrag. wallisii or besseae flavum. Black also works well with plants mounted on tree fern, and the dark color of the mount blends well with the black background, causing the leaves and flowers to stand out.

Ambient light is also something that must be taken into account. If you take pictures of a white flower indoors, and the walls of the room are a yellow, or light green, the light from the walls will effect the color of the flower in the shot. Also, bulb type can effect color.

In studio photography (the subject we have here) the idea is to pick a background complimentary to your subject. Keeping in mind that most camera light meters will try to make white and black into gray, you will usually end up with one of two situations. If the flower is very light (say white or light cream, etc.) against a black background it will almost always be "blown out" or way white. If the flower is a dark color against a white background, it will often be "blocked up" which means too gray or too darkish. This has to do with light meter trying to make a "perfect" scene.

A lot of pros get around all this by picking backgrounds that are pretty natural. In the case of orchid blossoms, that would be green vegetation. Then you need to focus on the flower and let the background go completely out of focus.

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Flowers

Camera flash can also have adverse effects on a shot. When I take flower shots, I never use one.

Actually I am getting to like the affect fill-flash has with certain flower shots. It can correct a lot of harsh lighting problems.

[DasEmpress]

Originally Posted by Lin

Gee Rhonda, no pressure now

[Flowers]

Originally Posted by rsfrid

In studio photography (the subject we have here) the idea is to pick a background complimentary to your subject. Keeping in mind that most camera light meters will try to make white and black into gray, you will usually end up with one of two situations. If the flower is very light (say white or light cream, etc.) against a black background it will almost always be "blown out" or way white. If the flower is a dark color against a white background, it will often be "blocked up" which means too gray or too darkish. This has to do with light meter trying to make a "perfect" scene.

I haven't notice any of those problems with my camera. The only time I get blown out or dull colors is when using a flash. It might just be the environment I take my pictures in, but I've found ways around colors being too intense or too dull by tweaking shutter speeds and aperture sizes. A lot comes down to the camera one uses, too.

What I've found to be a problem with using a white background with a light flower, is the margins of petals, sepals, etc. blending in with the background, and making it hard, or impossible, at times to determine where the flower stops, and the background begins. Not to say you can't have fun with that, as I have, but if you're trying to capture the flower it's self, it can be a problem.

[cneos]

If I want to focus on a single flower, a piece of gray carpeting does the trick. Photo-gray doesn't confuse the light meter and white out a white or light colored flower and there's usually enough contrast with colored flowers.
For a natural background, I'll bring a plant outside and set it in front of the Alberta spruce or Rose of Sharon near the greenhouse and shoot in the morning, before the sun casts harsh shadows.
The attached photo of Red Pepper was taken in natural light at about 8:00 am.