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help: advice needed on how to shoot flowers
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Not sure where to post this… need some tips from the PI gang.
Picked up some gorgeous calla lilies at the farmer’s market yesterday and have been trying to take a good shot. Failing miserably….
:-(
I’m using available light, with various backgrounds (a piece of crushed velvet; a couple of different colour posterboard).
Biggest problem: soft, soft, soft, esp. around the edges of the flower. Do I need to try and light the background to bring the some contrast to the edges? (I seem to remember that this is something portrait photograhers do…); so, do flowers need it to? (PS – yes, I’m using a tripod). How far away should the flowers be from the background. I tried anywhere from about 4 inches to about 10 inches. More??
Next problem: how to get ’em to stay in position. Tried two in a vase … get ’em all groovy looking, let go and poof, they wobble over. Short of duct taping them into position what can I do? Any way to dangle ’em sideways?
Third problem: shooting digital, at ISO 100, but getting a fair bit of noise on the background, and soft washed out bits on the white.
You might shame me into posting some rejects… but only if totally necessary!
Thx in advance,
CatherineGo ahead, post some rejects! :wink: It’s the only way that anyone can offer you some specific pointers! Another tip is to do a Google Image search (I’ve done one for you here), just to get some ideas. Personally, I take the view that flowers are best photographed with a natural background, but I also think something like lilies work well against artificial or black backgrounds.
(Web-friendly version)
(Closeup of non crispy type area … top back of flower)
Above: ISO 100, F4.5, 1/60th, lens at 65mm
Above: ISO 100, F5.6, 1/15th, lens at 95mm
No sharpening; no noise reduction applied (didn’t want to “erase” any of the out of camera problems). Background darkened on a sep. layer on top image. Lens is Canon 28 to 135mm.
Thx in advance for looking.
Cath.Good advice from Thorsten there; post some of the images,
that way people will be able to see the issues you’re having and
advise accordingly.Rob.
Thx, Rob… posting seconds ahead of you!
Needed an espresso – or two – to revisit the dreaded liliesGood morning to you!
:-)
Catherine
The first suggestion I would make is to bring up your ISO and bring down your aperture. At the close distance that you’re working at, and aperture of f/4.5 is too small to get the back of the plant sharp, particularly if you have focussed on the front of it. If I’m not mistaken, the particular lens you are using has a variable max. aperture of f/3.5-5.6, so you’re using it at it’s widest aperture. There aren’t too many lenses around that will perform their best when wide open, so quite apart from the depth of field issue, using this lens at its widest is likely to introduce an element of image degradation across the entire field, but in particular at the edges.
Don’t be afraid to crank your ISO up to 400 in order to gain a couple of extra f-stops. If it’s properly exposed, like these appear to be, the additional noise introduced by increasing your ISO is a lesser problem than the softness introduced by using the maximum aperture. So give that a try and see how you get on.
Cant give you much advice on the technical side, but for holding them
in the position you want try using a block of florists foam or oasis promise
you they wont move, just make sure you anchor the foam securely a small
piece of wood with nails sticking through works well.Isn’t that what’s great about PI Catherine? Not only do you get some sound technical advice..but you get flower arranging tips as well in with the bargain!! :D :D
A few things that might help:
1 – how are you focusing? Put your camera on a tripod and focus manually.
2 – to get an acceptable depth of field (DOF) , try your camera at around F8. If you’re fairly close (say 30cm – not sure how close you can get with that lens) and using it at say the 100mm focal length or there abouts, you’ll still get a narrow DOF, but with a sharp image where it counts due to the aperture being used.
3 – you say you’re using available light. How much? There doesn’t look to be a great deal of highlight or shadow on the image you posted, suggesting that you’re shooting in the middle of a room, rather than for example next to a window. I little extra directional light will give you more tonal range, giving the flower more shape.
4 – distance to background is fairly irrelevant. say 30cm? Too close and you’ll get a shadow, or get it in focus.
Any help?
I do a fair bit of macro work with flowers, so if I can help, just ask!
Tim
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I appreciate the time you took to look and help me think through what are probably pretty obvious issues!
I will be back on the case tomorrow.
I am using a tripod and manual focus (anything else and I’m pretty much guaranteed to be out of focus…)
Yes, I was in the middle of the kitchen – on the floor actually, with diffused light coming from two windows.
I think that among the problems (other than Fstop) on the first try I was way underexposed on some of the shots. The dark background was throwing me off… and I was in a rush… and blah blah blah. In converting I created oodles of jaggedies.
I found some of the foamy stuff from the florists (my sister had some).
Now I just have to keep the cat from eating the flowers! He’s ever so curious.
Stay tuned for round two!
Catherine
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