Exotica

[John Chardine]

I know there are many wildflowers out right now but one of my wife's hybrid orchids is in bloom and I couldn't resist.

I used thin black material to mask out the background. Then made three images, lit in different ways with a flash. Rig was of course on a tripod. Then combined the three images with different levels of opacity for the desired lighting effect.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Nikon 60mm f2.8D macro with Nikon-Canon Novoflex adapter
Program: Manual
ISO 400, 1/25s, f/22
Flash: on, manual 1/8 power

[Linda Dulak]

John: Lovely! I bought an orchid similar to this last year and found it very difficult to photograph due to all the shadows from the flowers on other flowers. Very nice job with the flash in different directions to eliminate the shadows.

Linda

[Valerio Tarone]

John, really lovely. Very sharp, lovely the effect of defocus BG.

[Dave Leroy]

I bet it really looks great at full size with all the fine detail. Interesting technique which worked very well.
Photo has an Oriental look and fell to it.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi John. This is very cool - your extra effort with the technique really paid off! The end result lighting is superb, you have excellent overall sharpness, plus a pleasing comp. Excellent work!

[Marina Scarr]

Can't deny that the name of the thread from the main page intrigued me. This is a stunning capture, John, and your hard work and ingenuity obviously paid off. The colors of the orchid just pop against that black BG.