Oncidium Firecracker photo
 

I have been playing around with a couple inexpensive daylight CFL's lights. I have been trying to add more depth or 3-D to my orchid photos. They have been rather flat looking. I just did a photo shoot on an Onc. Firecracker today. I used 1 CFL, bare bulb, rather close and at an acute angle towards the subject. This created shadows, but they were too harsh. I then took my other CFL, attached an umbrella, moved it to a more head on position, then adjusted the distance to soften the harsh shadows. The attached photo has more of a 3-D look than most of my orchid photo library.
Joe

great shot!

Don't understand much about photography but I do know I'm liking that bloom. More shots plz!

Use some crinkled aluminium foil to fill in the shadows. Move the light from to slightly behind the orchid. That should stop the overexposure on the lip and the rest of the sepals to show the color off better

Thanks, I'll try that on the next shoot. I don't want to completely eliminate the shadows though, because that is what gave me the added depth that I was wanting.

Joe