Flower ID

[Don Jacobs]

I shot these using the 7D, 100mm f/16.0, ISO 100, 1Sec. Flash was used along with tripod. I'm not quite sure of the name of the flower so I apologize in advance. C&C Greatly appreciated.

http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww103/deerlvr_2009/627a0fbf-3828-451b-b82e-31deac1aade3_zpsbf7e16ac.jpg (http://s710.photobucket.com/user/deerlvr_2009/media/627a0fbf-3828-451b-b82e-31deac1aade3_zpsbf7e16ac.jpg.html)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Are they fressia?
Very well lit, good exposure and colours along with DOF. I am wondering if the left flower could have been turned clockwise to make it a little more symmetrical - probably not. I think the black background works for this image.

[Ron Conlon]

They are alstroemeria, always photogenic, coming in a wide variety of startling combinations of colors. Can often purchase them from the grocery store as cut flowers here, and they retain their freshness well. Among my favorites for those reasons.

I see some shadows in the back petals--I think if you get your light box setup working you will be able to eliminate those, and get a somewhat softer lighting overall.

I would be interested in the comments of others on how to deal with gamut and color space for flowers like these. These flowers, as many other with the extreme reds/yellows/magentas that we love, end up partly or entirely outside of sRGB color space. Does one dull down (and despite our best efforts distort) the colors to fit sRGB?

[Diane Miller]

Often colors will show significant areas of the gray preview in PS's View > Gamut Warning, but when actually converted to sRGB it is difficult to see a big difference. (We're stuck with sRGB for a general web audience.)

In some cases it may help how the colors are dealt with early in processing, so appearance can be dramatic without the gamut being pushed so far. With LR or ACR, I'll look at the various camera profiles and find one that doesn't oversaturate colors or loose detail in them. Then boost in RAW conversion from there, but not with Saturation. In PS, Selective Color can work wonders.

[Mitch Haimov]

Nice subject, Don. You have plenty of negative space up top and are tight on the bottom-- I would recommend including enough space below the blooms to show the Y of the stems a bit below that (I'm assuming they were on the same stalk; if not, then enough room on bottom to not feel tight).

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Don. These are striking flowers! The lighting, colors, sharpness and DOF look very good and the black background "studio" look works well here. Like Mitch, I think a little more room at the bottom would improve the comp. Very well done!