Longwood Ladyslipper

[Roman Kurywczak]

Sometimes it is hard to get good backgrounds in Longwood gardens.....that is why I often use a BG i brought with me. This time I had some interesting ferns behind the ladyslipper.....so I tried to isolate it against the vegetation.
Canon 1D Mark lll with the Sigma 180mm macro for 1/100 sec at f16 and ISO 800 with the MT 24 twin flashes at minus 1&2/3 HH. Had to work the angle to find a BG I liked.

[Anita Bower]

I think you did a wonderful job! Beautiful Orchid. The bg works for me. I know how difficult it is to find a good bg with the Orchids at Longwood. I love the angle--it shows off the beauty of this flower. I also like the subdued colors. Beautiful work!

I might mention that there were green leaves in the bg of my Calla Lily image that I darkened. This image of yours has me wondering if my image might work better with some of the green showing.

[Roman Kurywczak]

I think you did a wonderful job! Beautiful Orchid. The bg works for me. I know how difficult it is to find a good bg with the Orchids at Longwood. I love the angle--it shows off the beauty of this flower. I also like the subdued colors. Beautiful work!

I might mention that there were green leaves in the bg of my Calla Lily image that I darkened. This image of yours has me wondering if my image might work better with some of the green showing.
Hey Anita,
one bonus of going to f16-32 is the Bg's go dark pretty quickly.....flash helps bring up the flower. I am partial to dark green BG's with a bit of detail in them.....just not too much. So instead of going totally black....try going very dark green with a bit of detail. Distance to the BG will play a key role!

[Anita Bower]

Hey Anita,
one bonus of going to f16-32 is the Bg's go dark pretty quickly.....flash helps bring up the flower. I am partial to dark green BG's with a bit of detail in them.....just not too much. So instead of going totally black....try going very dark green with a bit of detail. Distance to the BG will play a key role!

I will try it. In a few days I will post one of my Calla Lily photos with more green around it--not quite what you did. I don't use flash, so that changes what I can do.

[Norm Dulak]

Very nice Roman! Your background is fine, and I can't find anything that I don't like about this image.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Roman. This is a beautiful specimen and you captured it well - nice comp and good overall sharpness. The flash created a subtle light without a lot of specular highlights - though if this was mine, I'd probably clone a few of the small white specs, but that is a very minor point. The flower stands out well from the background - but for me, there is just enough detail in the ferns to draw my eye away from the flower to try to figure out what is back there (looks like a minority opinion :S3:).

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hey Roman, nicely done. Beautiful blossom! Slipper orchids are the best!

[Randy Stout]

Roman:

Subtle flash work, which I value, lovely flower, and I do like the subdued, but not black BG.


I would be interested if you have the canvas to recrop it so that the upper leaf is pointing more towards the LUC, without destroying the balance or introducing bad background elements.

Cheers

Randy

[Ken Childs]

Hey Roman, I'm with Steve on the BG. The flower looks awesome but that little bit of detail in the BG is drawing my eye. The flower has nice even edges so blurring the BG just a bit would be relatively easy to do. :S3:

[Brendan Dozier]

That is a wild looking flower, first time I've seen one of these. I think you showcased it very well considering it has a lot going on. Nice work, Roman!