new to all this! my first flower shot

[peckman]

just got my hands on a nikon D40 and trying to take some flower shots

what do you think?

[Frog]

Great color.
I'm guessing large aperture without the aid of a tripod.
Depth of field needs to be greater but that might just be my taste.

Welcome!

[peckman]

thanks for your reply!
i am new to all this what do you mean about depth of field?
what difference would a tripod make?

thankyou
greg

[AgingEyes]

Great color.
I'm guessing large aperture without the aid of a tripod.
Depth of field needs to be greater but that might just be my taste.

Welcome!

I think he used flash.

It looks a bit dark on my monitor though.

[peckman]

i did use a flash it was tacken in a low light room is useing a flash not good?

[AgingEyes]

i did use a flash it was tacken in a low light room is useing a flash not good?

No, using flash is not not-good.

[Xia_Ke]

Hi peckman, welcome to PR I disagree with AE about flash being bad. It's not the using of flash, so much as how it is used. In this case, the direct use of your pop up flash creates some harsh contrast and shadows. Your composition on this is nice but, I think you would have been much better off using a tripod and taking a longer exposure.

[peckman]

ok thanks for your advice.

Is the photo worth keeping then, in your opinion?

[jorger101]

Hi peckman, I am also a newbie here, but I have some photographic experience as an amateur. I like your photograph as a first attempt of capturing the beauty of a flower. I too like photographing flowers and I agree with everyone here that a tripod is a must. To get greater depth of field in your pictures you have to use the smallest aperture possible in your lens. With the smaller aperture in your lens the shutter speed is ussually longer and that is why you need to use a tripod. Further when photographing flowers the closer you are to the flower focusing becomes very critical. A tripod will allow you to focus very carefully after you compose your shot thus allowing you to shoot the flower without moving the camera in any direction.

[AgingEyes]

Hi peckman, welcome to PR I disagree with AE about flash being bad.

C'mon Aaron, did I say using flash is bad??

Take a look at what I wrote:

No, using flash is not not-good.

See? It was "not not-good". If we substitute "bad" for "not-good", it becomes : "No, using flash is not bad."

Hope that clears it up a bit

[AgingEyes]

To get greater depth of field in your pictures you have to use the smallest aperture possible in your lens.

I noticed that some people interpret smallest aperture as something like f1.2, f2, f2.8 and the like, which don't give you good depth of field. I know you don't mean that though.

[jorger101]

I mean the bigger number. Maybe F/22 . In photography the smaller aperture is achieved with the big numbers. It is the opposite numerically.

[Xia_Ke]

Hope that clears it up a bit

I apologize AE. Nothing personal was meant by it. I misunderstood what you wrote

[peckman]

this is my attempt with out a flash why does the flower look red? (it is a pink flower by the way) i have a tripod

[AgingEyes]

this is my attempt with out a flash why does the flower look red? (it is a pink flower by the way) i have a tripod

Two words: White Balance.

[peckman]

what about iso?

thanks for your help

[peckman]

is this any better

[jorger101]

Hello Beckman

The shot is a lot better. If your white balance is off when you took the picture, it can be adjusted in Adobe Photoshop. Hope this helps.

[yairh20]

No, using flash is not not-good.

Using Newspeak are we? :smilewinkgrin:

I disagree and think that when photographing flowers one should use a shallow depth of field

[freygr]

C'mon Aaron, did I say using flash is bad??

Take a look at what I wrote:



See? It was "not not-good". If we substitute "bad" for "not-good", it becomes : "No, using flash is not bad."

Hope that clears it up a bit

No "not not good" = "good", my English teacher always said that two negatives ( the word not) cancels out, to a positive and that was almost 50 years ago. So you just said flash was good

Flash can be used for micro work but you have to use other equipment to get a soft light from the flash.

[Xia_Ke]

Great, now I'm going to be up all night with nightmares of Miss Glazier's English class :cryin::cryin::cryin:

[Dylan8i]

well this has been confusing thread to read and probbably hasn't helped the noob at all.

first i would try to decide what you want to show in the shot.... do you want the whole flower to be in focus, or just the upper petals (with the spots), of just the stamens?

next if you want the whole flower use a high f number (smaller appateure) because this lets less light to the camera you will either need to use a tripod or a flash either one will work depending on what you want the picture to look like (this is where experience comes in to play so experimenting would be your friend). Make sure you have correctly focused on the part you want to be in focus if your using a small f number

then if the color of the flower is off you would need to
adjust the white balance, if flash is being used the flash wb is usually fine, if not then you have to manually set it.


i personally usually prefer the entire flower to be in focus, unless you are zoomed in real close and just have the stamens in focus or somethign more artistic like that.