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Amy DeStefanis
08-09-2008, 11:55 AM
Well, it's rainy here, so the light is low. I put the camera on a tripod to slow down the shutter speed, and of course, the wind started blowing.

The more this ginger blooms, the more amazing it gets, so I wanted to share. The little purple flowers also grow out of the pink "main" petals, which, I guess are actually technically leaves.... This is shooting down into the flower from above. I know the "fill flash" overwhelms it, but I couldn't pick up more ambient light and still have any DOF.....

Nikon D80
60mm macro
ISO 400
1/30th @f/13
built-in fill flash @ -1 EV

A 2nd bloom is starting, and I've moved it out of the sun, so hopefully the next bloom will not have the burnt spots.... We'll see.

Alfred Forns
08-09-2008, 01:09 PM
Hi Amy I like the flower very much and the nice composition Do feel this type need lots of dof which as you say its difficult I was working with a program to bracket the focus ... would be perfect here !!!

I'm having trouble finding the sharpest point The colors and selected bg are really good !!!

Ed Vatza
08-09-2008, 01:21 PM
This is a fascinating flower, Amy. I think the biggest "problem" with this flower is that there is so much going on with it that it is hard to figure out what to look at. The solid background is great and in my opinion is absolutely necessary. The last thing we would need is another component competing for attention. Given all the activity, I think you did well. But keep working the subject and I'm sure you'll come up with other images that you will like even more.

Amy DeStefanis
08-09-2008, 01:23 PM
Bracketed focus.... Interesting. Unfortunately, the wind was doing that for me.... 1/30th is actually sped up from prior settings once the wind picked up.

I'll give it another try when the weather is more cooperative.

Thanks Alfred!

Amy DeStefanis
08-09-2008, 01:39 PM
I think the biggest "problem" with this flower is that there is so much going on with it that it is hard to figure out what to look at. The solid background is great and in my opinion is absolutely necessary.

Ed, I think you nailed it exactly. All of the different things going on are what make it so interesting, but also make it difficult to show just how interesting it is. In my earlier post of just one purple flower's detail, it was difficult to tell that it was all one flower....

Yes - the background is simply a few yards of double black velvet hung up on the lanai. It's great stuff for backgrounds because light simply can't escape from black double velvet (ever try to photograph a black cat?).

Any color velvet is pretty good for getting a solid, non-reflective background. Black is just my favorite.

Thanks for the C & C.

Amy D.