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[OM] flower photography tips

Subject: [OM] flower photography tips
From: Joseph Albert <jalbert@xxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 23:43:36 -0600 (MDT)
I am much more interested in the photographic image and aesthetics of
photography than I am the technical aspects of it, despite impressions
to the contrary that you may have gleaned from some of my recent postings.

In the last few years I have taken up flower photography as a significant
part of what I like to do.  I live in Portland, Oregon, and find flowers
are the perfect subject for a rainy day (we have lots of those).   WE also
have a flower blooming season that lasts from Feb. to Oct.  So, it was partly
a practical choice, but also something I enjoy alot, and in fact I started
it before I moved back to Oregon in Dec. 96 after being gone from the state
for 8 years.

I thought I would share some of the things I have concluded from
the experiences I have had so far with it.

1. choice of film is very important.  different films have different
   color pallettes (I haven't been inspired to do flower photography
   in B&W!).  I find that it is not always easy to predict which I
   will like better, so I usually shoot most setups in two emulsions.
   right now, I am using Velvia and Provia.  I find that more often
   I prefer Provia and so this is what I would shoot when I am only
   carrying 1 camera body.  Sometimes, flower portraits are really
   beautiful shot with Velvia, but frequently I find any leaves to
   be too bluish for my taste, and Velvia isn't neutral enough for
   white flowers for my taste.  But sometimes I am surprised
   when I shoot both and expect the Provia image to be much preferred.

   I will be trying out Kodak's new E100VS soon, and probably E100S
   as well.

2. you can do alot without flash, but it would be really nice to have one.
   I have been shooting without a flash that does TTL AE and so I'm
   looking forward to soon getting a connector T20 that I can use with
   with a flash that does TTL AE (but lacks a chord connection to be moved
   off camera).  with a flash, you can freeze action when depth of field
   requirements would otherwise require shooting at a slow shutter speed
   on a tripod.  I still use a tripod with flash, but on a breezy day,
   a flash is a godsend.  flower pics look best in early or late daylight,
   so it is not easy to freeze action with the shutter at these exposures.
   in bright sunlight, a flash can help fill in the shadows that can be quite
   harsh in flowers.  however, the slow sync of OM cameras is a big 
   disadvantage in bright sunlight.  A reflector is a better bet for
   fill-in-- just set it to reflect the sidelighting from the sun back
   at the other side of the flowers.  Generally, flower images work best
   on overcast days or late in the day when the sun is low, so the slow
   sync usually isn't a problem, but sometimes I like to make an image
   with a brightly illuminated flower in bright sunlight.

3. Backgrounds can be quite difficult to manage.  A telephoto zoom that
   has close focus capability and can crop the background to be just so
   is a big help.  An even better trick is to carry pieces of colored
   posterboard to place strategically behind flowers being imaged.
   I haven't run into a background problem I couldn't solve since I
   started doing that.  I carry both a sky blue and medium green piece
   as those look like natural colors of sky or grass etc.
   Place them far enough from the plane of focus in the subject so that 
   they are out of focus and the viewer of the image will never know they
   were used.

4. Flowers are very difficult compositionally.  It is really easy to fire
   off a beautiful flower image only to have it ruined by a tiny yellow
   thing you didn't notice in the corner in an otherwise red and green
   image.  they really demand sitting on one's hands and checking all the
   compositional details carefully.  A tripod is indispensible.  I prefer
   a 3-way panhead also.  At the higher magnifications of macro shots,
   the slightest movement radically changes the composition.  It is a big
   advantage to be able to make small adjustments in 1 dimension while
   holding the others fixed.  I also use a vari-magni or other right-angle
   finder which permits lower camera positions (and a shorter and lighter
   tripod-- I use a bogen 3221S with 3030 panhead).  At high magnifications,
   a focusing rail is also very useful, but most flower shots are in the
   1:10 to 1:3 range, so a rail is a luxury if you are trying to keep
   the gear lightweight.

If anyone else has flower photography experiences to share, I'd be delighted
to read about them.

Cheers,

Joseph Albert

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