Picture A Day Project
For my new years resolution I thought that I would try to take at least one good, or at least well thought out, picture each day. It can be anything, whether around the house or outside or whatever, but the idea is put some serious effort into each one. Maybe a study of how lighting affects a particular subject, the use of different lens, composition or whatever. I thought that this would get me more into being constantly aware of the oportunitys for photos and thinking more about the various aspects of any such subject.
It having been a very rainy, cold day monday in DC I decided to look around the house and wound up taking these of an orchid my SO had on our kitchen counter
the first is with a flash, the second a close up of the stiemen and the thrid without flast. taken with my new D80 and a 90mm macro lens.
any input on how to improve would be welcome.
RM
It having been a very rainy, cold day monday in DC I decided to look around the house and wound up taking these of an orchid my SO had on our kitchen counter
the first is with a flash, the second a close up of the stiemen and the thrid without flast. taken with my new D80 and a 90mm macro lens.
any input on how to improve would be welcome.
RM
http://roadrunes.com
"It's better to bite the hand that feeds you, than to feed the hand that bites you" - Me
"It's better to bite the hand that feeds you, than to feed the hand that bites you" - Me
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Are beautiful -- but photographing them isn't always as simple as one would expect :-)
Instead of a flash, pull out a halogen desk lamp -- and a tripod! Use your remote, or the self-timer on your camera and experiment with long exposures. I usually just play with the light, moving the lamp around, putting it on a flat surface pointing up, pointing it away from the subject, holding it above, further back, closer and will run thru a hundred or so photos to see the effect of the light.
Another fun thing to do is to "paint with light." Set up the orchid in a dark place, leave the lights on to focus the camera and set a nice long exposure time. Then turn off the lights, push the shutter and use a flashlight to highlight parts of the orchids. Some people get some pieces of colored gel to put in front of the flashlight...
Or, use candle light as the main source of light -- another great experiment in learning about light. Put the candle behind the orchids and use a white sheet of paper, foam, or cardboard to reflect some light on the front of the orchids. Or light 3 candles to put behind the orchid, and use one candle in front...
For daylight -- put the orchid in the sun -- but grab some translucent material to filter the sun (netting, pillow case or sheet, bubblewrap, etc.) and experiment. You can have the orchid in front of the direction of the sun and experiment with different apertures, etc., use a white reflector to reflect light back onto the orchid... on in this case experiment with bounce flash to use it as a fill...
I much prefer natural light but sometimes it's just not "available."
Once you are done playing with different light sources, collect some backgrounds for the orchids -- black, white, purple, a crumpled up paper bag that you smooth out, etc.
By the time the year is up, you'll have quite an collection of props and hopefully a collection of really neat photos.
http://www.twitter.com/deegolden
welcome to the club
www.capture-the-pixel.com
all are one single shot, with the middle being a crop of the first. They were taken at about 3 feet, just far enough to fill the imager with the flower.
RM
"It's better to bite the hand that feeds you, than to feed the hand that bites you" - Me
What!!?? You mean I'm not the first to try this??!!:D
Kool site, guess I'll have to join in.
RM
"It's better to bite the hand that feeds you, than to feed the hand that bites you" - Me
thanks for all the tips, that will keep me busy on this one subject all year!
I much perfer natural light myself, one thing I have found with flash and flowers is that sparkle you get on the pedals, even with just using some artificial light from the overhead recessed lighting in the kitchen I still got that. The other thing I've found with flower shots up close is not to try to sharpen them, they are by nature soft. you just don't notice it untill you see one blown up bigger than life.
RM
"It's better to bite the hand that feeds you, than to feed the hand that bites you" - Me