DLFC Christmas Cactus

[Jerry van Dijk]

Not very dramatically lit, but a first experiment for me using different light sources.
The cactus was lit from the right by natural light from the window and from the LL with a small led flashlight to get light on the stamen and a little glow in the reds. BG is my old piano. I would have liked to stop down to get more of the petals in focus, but that would have ruined my BG.

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Bilora tripod, 18 mm (108 mm eq.) w. Suntec 4+ closeup lens, ISO-100, F/3.6, 1/6 sec, automatic shutter release, EC -1, pattern metering, aperture priority.
PP in ACR 5.0 and CS4. Basic levels and sharpness editing. Small vibrance adjustment to bring out the reds. Selectively reduced the exposure of the BG to hide bright spots and create a nice black BG.

[Colin Driscoll]

Very nicely done! The yellow on the anthers looks a bit blown and I remember that I had great difficulty with my FZ18 and yellow flowers. Love that pink stigma.

[Ken Childs]

You've got a nice array of colors here and the black BG sets them off nicely! The comp looks OK although I would consider cropping a small amount from the left. The anthers are a bit hot but the shallow DOF is giving me the most trouble. I know you were concerned about the BG....this is where having your own portable BG's can really help. A sheet of black foam board or construction paper propped up behind the subject would have allowed you to stop down as much as you wanted to. Good for you for experimenting with the light....I've tried some pretty crazy things with lighting and occasionally one of them produces something that works! :bg3:

[Dave Leroy]

I like the lighting and really nice contrast with bg.

Perhaps it is my eyes but dof did not seem to be a problem, but again it could be my eyes.

Composition looks good but I keep wanting to turn my monitor cw to see what flower would like like as a vertical.

Nicely processed.

Dave

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks for all you comments!
Colin, I actually have a lot of trouble with red flowers with the FZ18, this one is a first where the reds weren't blown. I've shot some yellow flowers like dandilions and daffodils and didn't have too much trouble.
Ken, I haven't found a material or fabric yet that doesn't show any texture and that is black enough when I use it as a BG. Most of them actually still reflect a lot of light. Btw your experiments with a LED flashlight actually put me on to this experiment!
Dave, it's especially the upward petal that's OOF, as well as the tops of the petals pointing towards us. I also think it may work well as a vertical. This was the natural position of the flower on the plant.

[Ken Childs]

Ken, I haven't found a material or fabric yet that doesn't show any texture and that is black enough when I use it as a BG. When I use black foam board, I have to angle it away from the light to get it looking nice and dark and even then, it make take a little curves adjustment to get it completely black. When I use white, I angle it towards the light.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Ken, thanks for the tips! Makes a lot of sense.:S3:

[Brendan Dozier]

Very cool looking composition, Jerry! Love the black BG, really makes the colors pop. Almost looks like a ribbon. Well done!

[Jerry van Dijk]

Here's a version with a little crop from the left, as suggested by you. I put the purple stigma on the LL ROT hotspot. Much better I think! :S3:

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jerry,
Been traveling so a bit late! Repost corrections work for me and everything else covered........so here is a BG experiment for you to try. Take an image with the piano as your BG......the note how far away you are from it........take the same image at a f/stop givning you more DOF, keeping in mind that light falloff is very quick in macro......does it introduce too much of the BG.....yes......move the flower further away from that BG and try it again. Distance to BG and the light falloff will probably make it the same tone as the original! That is why using black matte paper.....placing it further away from the subject usually keeps the BG nice and black. Distance to BG is the key to better results! Hope this helps and makes sense!

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Roman, thanks for your elaborate response. I actually experimented a little along your lines (although much less structured, I must add :w3) within the limted space of my living room. The trouble I run into is that my camera has a relatively large DOF compared to DSLR, and seems to combine this with a relatively large field of view. This poses the problem that light falloff is also less strong and that it's very easy to get other BG elements in view. Added to that is that my piano has lots of ornaments that reflect light at different angles. With an artificial BG (foam board or paper), especially that wide field of view is a problem. But I'll keep experimenting and one day will undoubtedly switch to a DSLR with a nice macro lens!
Thanks again for your input!