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Roman Kurywczak
06-04-2009, 07:57 PM
I have to admit that I have a very hard time venturing from f32 and this is no exception. I have been doing a lot of studio work....AKA.....indoors and my wife has been the beneficiary of all my purchases and I will post a few later.....but this is the end of my Columbine here in my NJ garden. I decided to try out somtething that my friend Darrell Gulin showed me......using an image.....printed on matte paper....as a BG. We had a beuatiful day in NJ a few days ago.....with lovely clouds and blue sky....so i took a picture......that is the BG for my columbine.....about 12 inches away. Canon 1D Mark lll with the Sigma 180mm macro and the MT 24 twin lights at 1/32 power in late afternoon overcast light, outdoors(too dark in the house), silver reflector, for 1/6 of a sec at f29 and ISO 800. I always manually focus and expose my macros.....just what I'm used to.

Julie Kenward
06-04-2009, 08:24 PM
Roman, I do believe this is my favorite. The BG really puts it over the top! I love seeing flowers surrounded by sunny blue skies and this one really works well together. The best part is that you can almost feel the softness of the purple petals - they look like they are flying in the breeze and loving every minute of it!

Amy DeStefanis
06-04-2009, 08:26 PM
Hi Roman,
This works for me. It's just lovely. Before I read the explanation of the background, I had thought you got the shot lying on the ground and shooting up - but either way, it is a great image. It almost looks like the flower is face into the wind - like a weather vane.... Beautiful.

Take care,
Amy

Charles Wesley
06-04-2009, 08:39 PM
Roman,

This is most beautiful. Agree with Jules I like the clouds and sky in the BG which helps to make the columbine really pop.

Thanks for sharing...
______________
Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL

Steve Maxson
06-05-2009, 01:12 PM
The way you've set this up it looks like a wide-angle closeup rather than a macro shot - very interesting and nicely done, Roman. At 1/32 power are you using your MT 24s just as fill flash? (I'm still trying to get a good handle on macro flash so the image doesn't have that FLASHED look.)

Roman Kurywczak
06-05-2009, 01:17 PM
The way you've set this up it looks like a wide-angle closeup rather than a macro shot - very interesting and nicely done, Roman. At 1/32 power are you using your MT 24s just as fill flash? (I'm still trying to get a good handle on macro flash so the image doesn't have that FLASHED look.)
hey Steve,
That is exactly correct. I used the correct ambient light exposure and then used the low flash output to pop it a bit. I did try 1/64 ....too dark....1/16.....a bit bright. The closer you are to the correct exposure.......the better the flash usually looks.....only fill. I did a bunch today of different flowers with same BG and no flash. Will post one later if I get a chance. I too was surprised at the WA look.

Bryan Erb
06-05-2009, 02:26 PM
Great idea, and great looking image. Looks very natural.