Tickseed

[Ed Vatza]

OK, I cheated a little on this one. My wife and I are slowly replacing a lot of ornamental but very sterile looking grasses and such in our small backyard with flowering native plants to make the yard more bird- and butterfly-friendly. This morning we went to an annual native plant sale and picked up several more to work on some other areas. Among this morning's purchases were three of these Tickweed plants. Since they were flowering, I brought one into my studio, make that dining room, and made some images.

Rebel XT, Sigma 70mm Macro lens, Canon 430EX Flash w/ LumiQuest Softbox all tripod mounted with a Novoflex Focusing Rail.

2.0 sec at f/22; ISO 100; +1/3 EV; FEC -1

[John Cooper]

Very nice composition Ed with excellent detail !!
I think the yellow is a little under exposed here, and I wish for some BG detail but thats a personal taste!!

[Robert O'Toole]

Nice one Ed, I like the comp and the design with the bend in the stem.

More room on the left and less to the right would be preferred. As it is now the space to the right is too large.

Also your information is very strange Ed and points to some fundamental problems. You are using flash and photographing a light subject on a black background but you are shooting at 2 sec at F22? Basically this means that any more time than the 1/8000th of a sec flash duration was uneeded as the BG was not lit by the flash nor ambient light. So the shutter stayed open for no reason. So chances are 1/60 @ F22 would have given you the same results as 2 sec @ F22 with the flash.

Robert

[Ed Vatza]

Nice one Ed, I like the comp and the design with the bend in the stem.

More room on the left and less to the right would be preferred. As it is now the space to the right is too large.

Also your information is very strange Ed and points to some fundamental problems. You are using flash and photographing a light subject on a black background but you are shooting at 2 sec at F22? Basically this means that any more time than the 1/8000th of a sec flash duration was uneeded as the BG was not lit by the flash nor ambient light. So the shutter stayed open for no reason. So chances are 1/60 @ F22 would have given you the same results as 2 sec @ F22 with the flash.

Robert

OK, maybe I am thick as a brick here. :confused: This image was not cropped at all. What you see is what I shot. If I had recomposed with more room to the left and less to the right, the flower would have ended up almost dead center in the frame. I wanted the flower off-center and I liked the bend in the stem. So I set up composition as you see it here. If I understand your comment correctly, you are saying you would prefer the image more centered?

As far as flash, I don't know. I am no flash expert that's for sure. Most of my flash "experience" is with fill flash outside where I am using high-speed sync and an occasional indoor shot where I am using Program mode to keep it simple.

What I did here was set up the image in AV mode setting it to f/22. The "correct" shutter speed was then 2 seconds. I had the flash set to (I am blanking on the name) but the slow speed/trailing shutter function. And this is the set up I used for these images. It may have be all wrong but it seemed to work - at least in a controlled environment. Next time I will use Manual mode and set it to f/22 and 1/60 sec with the flash and compare.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Ed,
That's what Robert is talking about..........you didn't need the 2 second exposure at f22...........you probably would have gotten the same results with manual setting at f22 and 1/60th of a sec................then adjust the flash output with minus compensation (in most instances).........................Extremely fortunate on no movement at 2 seconds...............that being said.............I like the comp and BG very much!

[Robert O'Toole]

OK, maybe I am thick as a brick here. :confused: This image was not cropped at all. What you see is what I shot. If I had recomposed with more room to the left and less to the right, the flower would have ended up almost dead center in the frame. I wanted the flower off-center and I liked the bend in the stem. So I set up composition as you see it here. If I understand your comment correctly, you are saying you would prefer the image more centered?


Sorry for responding so slow Ed I was leading 2 workshops that just ended Monday night :)

I like the flower and the stem, but to me the flower is "looking" out of the left edge so I would rather see it looking into open space. Ideally I wish the comp would be the same only that the flower was flipped cause I like the stem also.




What I did here was set up the image in AV mode setting it to f/22. The "correct" shutter speed was then 2 seconds. I had the flash set to (I am blanking on the name) but the slow speed/trailing shutter function. And this is the set up I used for these images. It may have be all wrong but it seemed to work - at least in a controlled environment. Next time I will use Manual mode and set it to f/22 and 1/60 sec with the flash and compare.

Oh okay that makes sense now. Since this shutter speed is so slow the flash really is the only light on the subject since it is overpowering the weak ambient light. Next time just set the SS to anything, 1/60th, 1/30th it doesnt matter and set the aperture to F22 and let er rip. I would recommend setting the flash in manual power so you dont even have to mess with FEC or exp comp, just try 1/8 to start and adjust the power up or down in 1/3rd stops to get the image exactly how you want it. Give it a try :)

Robert

[Robert O'Toole]

Hi Ed I left out one thing!
With the suggested technique you can handhold the set up no problem since the SS is 1/60th but the flash duration is probably 1/1000th or more. The ambient is so low there is no danger or ghosting. If you try the same technique outdoors you might get a little image ghosting if the ambient light leve is high, so just go up to 1/250th or so to get rid of the ghosting/image smearing.
I really enjoy handholding my macro set up.

Robert

[Mike Moats]

Hey Ed, I like the comp and the way the stem curves in to the frame. Well done.

[Ed Vatza]

Roman, Robert and Mike,

Thanks for the additional feedback and flash primer. I will keep your suggestions in mind while out in the field. I feel like I am taking a crash course but I think my images are getting better along the way. That's what counts.

Again thanks.