Red and Plastic

[danic]

So it's plastic....I figured I shouldn't buy the real deal until I'm confident with my setup. Let me know I can improve.

The main thing I am looking at is isolating my background even further. I've used a black cloth, but you can still see it. Any tips?

[Sushigaijin]

Move it back?

[danic]

Move the background further away from the flower?

[jetrim]

You could try making up a grid for your light source. Doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something to get most of the light pointing toward the flower instead of all around.

[danic]

You could try making up a grid for your light source. Doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something to get most of the light pointing toward the flower instead of all around.

What do you mean by a grid?

[jetrim]

I hate to post links to outside sources but this video explains the principle pretty well:
http://www.ehow.com/video_4411210_ph...phy-grids.html

I've made my own in the past out of parts left over from construction jobs or acquired at Home Depot (not sure if you have these in Australia. The idea is that you want some kind of fins to keep light from expanding out to the sides too much.

[GB1]

Danic - I don't see the cloth, but somehow the background looks fake. It's probably too even, too perfectly black to be real. The scene is way too geometric form me, but good experimental shot as you prep for the real flower.

G

[danic]

Thanks Jetrim, I'll take a look at it. We have a place called Bunnings, which is similar to Home Depot, so I'll source all of my parts from there.

GB1, it looks too fake for several reasons: firstly, I used the curve function to make it a more even black. The shot is geometric as the "rose" is held up by wire in the stem. I want to try and get my lighting and background setup correctly, then I'll worry about the flower

Thanks for all the tips!

[SmartWombat]

I this lit with natural light, or flash?
Looks like it might be a diffused flash from up and left of the camera.

Add something to block the light you don't want.
You can do it for free with cardboard boxes flattened out into boards
And for the cost of a sheet of paper you have a fill light reflector too.

[danic]

SmartWombat,

It's lit from a ceiling light, but it's reasonably soft and yellow in colour. I had a fair bit of tweaking to do to correct, or make it more natural at best.

Good idea on the reflector, I'll have to give it a go.

[jetrim]

Danic,
Wombat's idea will actually do a better job if you are using a ceiling light. I got the impression this was a desk lamp off to the left. In any case, cardboard would work just fine if not left too close to the bulb for too long a time.