when a "just for the heck of it" pic turns out really nice

[ravenmore]

Hey all,

I was walking out my apartment door to go take pics of something else, when I noticed these flowers blooming next to the walkway. I thought they were kind of nice so I grabbed a few shots. I don't do macro photography much and don't have a true macro lens, but the Nikkor 18-55mm kit lens actually can focus pretty close. I stopped it down as much as a could and used the on camera flash. I didn't think much of it and didn't look at the pics until later. When I downloaded them later and started playing with them, I was blown away at the potential of the images. I think it could be improved on though. The sharpness overall isn't quite there - esp. on the edges. I'm going to try and reshoot, so any tips would be appreciated. I loved how the high aprerature combined with the flash dropped out most of the ambient light and the flower appears to emerge from the shadows. Dang, a ring flash would be cool on this shot. Here are the two best ones I thought:

[photophorous]

Hi Ravenmore,

I'm no expert on macro or close up shots like this, but here's what I think. It appears that your sharpness problems are due to the shutter being a little too slow. To make these sharper, you really should use a tripod and stop down pretty far. Make sure the flowers are still. At the angle you shot these, you probably don't need maximum depth of field, but in general you need to stop down as far as possible for macro shots. I would try several different apertures between about f8 and f16, to see which one comes out best. I doubt you'd get better results at f22, but it might be worth a try if you're not satisfied with f16.

If you want to duplicate the separation between the flower and the ground that you got in these shots, you'll probably have to use your flash again. Or, you could darken the background in photoshop. A ringlight would help, but you might be able to rig up some sort of diffuser for your on-camera flash.

For your B&W conversion, did you use the channel mixer? It appears that the 3 small petals in the middle of the flower are a different color than the bigger petals. I would adjust the colors in the channel mixer to try to bring that out more, and add a little texture if possible.

I would also try other compositions. Try not to center the flowers as much. Add some other interesting elements like stems or leaves. Just experiment. You're off to a good start.

Paul

[ravenmore]

Thanks Paul - my plan was to try a tripod next. Keeping the flowers still is a problem as Texas has seemingly incessant wind this time of year. The flowers are all one color actually (kind of a light yellow.cream color with dark almost black spots). The high aperture was mainly to eliminate the ambient lighting as well as get DOF. I figured the shutter speed was kind of a non-issue since I'd be using the flash exposure to freeze the subject?

[photophorous]

That's a good point about the flash freezing the subject. So, I'm not sure why these aren't sharper. Maybe the focus was off slightly or maybe you were just a little too close for your lens. If the wind is blowing the flowers, you should still try to keep the shutter at 1/125 or 1/250...possibly higher. A fast shutter will block out the ambient light just as well as small apertures. I've seen macro kits that attach to your tripod and have an arm that extends with a clip on it for securing a windblown flower/object. You might be able to make something similar. Or you could use some kind of wind screen to block it.

Good luck. Let us see what you come up with.

Paul

[ravenmore]

Hmmm - have to look up what the flash sync speed is on my D80. I'll just put it in manual mode instead of aperture priority (which is what I think I was using on these shots).

[photophorous]

Hmmm - have to look up what the flash sync speed is on my D80. I'll just put it in manual mode instead of aperature priority (which is what I think I was using on these shots).

I think it's going to be 1/500, but I'm not sure. On my D70s, when you put it on Aperture priority and use the flash, it sticks the shutter speed at 1/60. You have to go manual to change it. Might be different for the D80.

[livin4lax09]

1/200. The newer cameras have a lower sync speed. If you have an external flash you can set it in high speed sync mode to fix that problem.

[ravenmore]

Thanks guys - the flowers weren't cooperating at lunch. They close at night and open during the day. I guess because they were in the shade they weren't open yet. I'm going to try some shots in full manual mode - probably start out at 1/200 and f16 and see what I get.

Paul - just noticed you're here in Austin too. Cool. ;)

[ravenmore]

Well, 1/200 at f32 is better:



Having a hard time finding a "perfect" flower though.

[ravenmore]

finally - some more. I'll stop after this.



redid but tried to control detail in the highlights somewhat:

[KyRain]

I love the 3rd pic down, I really like the grass or stalks that show in the background, it is very interesting bg against the b/w and helps the flower really stand out. I like the overall composition of the shot, it is elegant. Also, I think that it is the imperfectness of nature that makes it perfectly beautiful....