Camera Tips?

[Ross]

How about http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ts-thread.html

[DasEmpress]

Originally Posted by rsfrid

How about http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ts-thread.html

We'd l-o-v-e you to do that very thing! You read our minds!!

Someone said, "Don't ask Ross, he's too shy", but I somehow didn't believe it!

[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?

[quiltergal]

Learn how to use the macro feature for those really up close, in your face pictures.

[Ross]

Originally Posted by quiltergal

Learn how to use the macro feature for those really up close, in your face pictures.

I had really hoped to see folks post to the original thread and maybe see that set up somehow as either an article or how-to or something. With helpful posts like these posted in random threads it would be hard to gather them together in one spot. Let me ask the mods/admin what could be done?

[Ross]

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?

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

[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.

[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.

[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.