John Chardine
05-14-2009, 08:35 PM
This is my wife's Epiphyllum (note wrong spelling in the subject) or Orchid Cactus. The plant produces these huge blooms once a year and they stay fresh for only a few days. Making the image was quite a challenge. Anyway this is a try at one of the best blooms open right now.
I used a shoot-through umbrella with flash for back-lighting and flash reflected off a white card for main light. I purposely decided to clip some of the petals for a more intimate look. The back-light lit up the centre of the bloom which was an added bonus. Manual exposure with a high shutter speed was used to totally underexpose ambient light and produce a dark BG. Flashes were set to ETT-L with 2 extra stops given to the back-light. The image is a sandwich of two with slightly different front lighting. I blended the two layers using the opacity tool until I had the desired balance between the two. (boy, it's a lot simpler just going out and making a bird photograph!).
Comments welcome of course!
Canon EOS 5D, 100 mm f2.8 Macro
capture date: 14 May, 2009
exposure program: Manual
ISO speed: 400
shutter speed: 1/200
aperture: f22.0
exposure bias: +0.0
metering: Pattern
I used a shoot-through umbrella with flash for back-lighting and flash reflected off a white card for main light. I purposely decided to clip some of the petals for a more intimate look. The back-light lit up the centre of the bloom which was an added bonus. Manual exposure with a high shutter speed was used to totally underexpose ambient light and produce a dark BG. Flashes were set to ETT-L with 2 extra stops given to the back-light. The image is a sandwich of two with slightly different front lighting. I blended the two layers using the opacity tool until I had the desired balance between the two. (boy, it's a lot simpler just going out and making a bird photograph!).
Comments welcome of course!
Canon EOS 5D, 100 mm f2.8 Macro
capture date: 14 May, 2009
exposure program: Manual
ISO speed: 400
shutter speed: 1/200
aperture: f22.0
exposure bias: +0.0
metering: Pattern