Advice on shooting flower fields
LeftCoast C.C.
We have a humongous amount of tulip fields in this area (so much so that
this week starts the "Tulip Festival") and I'd like to take my S10 out to
some fields for shots of tulips and daffodils.
Is there anything I should keep in mind re: the Canon S10 and/or digital
photography with floral subjects in general??
Thanks in advance :)
--
"The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case." -
Gov. GW Bush, Pella, Iowa, as quoted by the San Antonio Express-News, Jan.
30, 2000
Marcel Cossais
Thanks for rubbing my nose into it.
Here (Ottawa, Canada), we still have snow on the ground ;-(
Cheers,
Marcel
___________________________
Marcel Cossais
mcos...@home.com
mcos...@canada.com
http://members.home.net/mcossais/
"LeftCoast C.C." <left...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:NT_z6.2580$3J2.6...@dfiatx1-snr1.gtei.net...
LeftCoast C.C.
> Here (Ottawa, Canada), we still have snow on the ground ;-(
Hey! But you guys have your own Tulip Festival. I know because I wrote an
article about the Canadian Tulip Festival's executive board, many of whom
came to our festival a couple of years ago to see how we do it :) They gave
me a splendid book on the Ottawa event.
Now, having said that, you need to realize that even though the festival has
begun, we still have not seen tulips arrive en masse. They can often be late
guests of honor to their own party.
--
"The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case." -
Gov. GW Bush, Pella, Iowa, as quoted by the San Antonio Express-News, Jan.
30, 2000
"Marcel Cossais" <mcos...@home.com> wrote in message
news:zu%z6.177960$A6.40...@news4.rdc1.on.home.com...
Marcel Cossais
You're right on that score. Our tulip festival starts in May. Beautiful.
I'll make a point to take pics this year and put them on the net.
Have a great day!
Marcel
___________________________
Marcel Cossais
mcos...@home.com
mcos...@canada.com
http://members.home.net/mcossais/
"LeftCoast C.C." <left...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:W90A6.2749$3J2.6...@dfiatx1-snr1.gtei.net...
jam
flower photography...
Due to spiky reflection spectra at visible wavelengths, and perhaps to
strong near IR and UV reflectivities (this remains controversial),
flowers are tough subjects for any camera, film or digital. Different
tri-stimulus color systems--say, your eye vs. your CCD--often disagree
on how to render such colors. Red flowers seem particularly quick to
oversaturate, at least with my Oly C-2020Z.
Below are some guidelines from experience and reading, but I strongly
recommend heavy experimentation with your own gear early in the game:
o Avoid direct sunlight. Pick an overcast day for best color accuracy.
If that's not possible, shoot just before sunrise or just after sunset,
when you'll be working off skylight, or consider shading your subjects
with something that diffuses the light.
o Spot-meter your subjects, then underexpose by 1/3 stop or so to
improve color accuracy. Exposure compensation is handy here.
o Consider recording the flower colors you see in the field against a
color standard like the Kodak QM-60 card. This will teach you where your
eye and camera disagree about color and will guide your color
corrections at post-processing. Note that it's often impossible to
correct =all= the colors at once. Since spiky flower spectra interacting
with the camera's color rendering system produce nonlinear results that
aren't always amenable to simple color balancing maneuvers, you'll
generally be better off getting colors right the first time--hence the
importance of the first 2 items.
o To control motion, use good camera support (I have good luck with a
monopod) and avoid windy conditions--you many need relatively long
exposures. In hilly areas, mornings are usually calmest.
o If you can't effectively blur the background to emphasize a certain
subject flower, consider carrying a black posterboard to block out the
background.
o If shadows become problematic, consider an external flash unit set
up about 45° from your camera.
o Use a polarizer to suppress bright reflections off leaves and
petals. Blown-out highlights are fatal flaws with no known
post-processing cure. Simply orient the polarizer's blocking direction
parallel to the offending reflecting surface as seen from the camera. No
real need for TTL control here.
FWIW, I haven't seen any visible benefit from UV or IR cut filters in
the flower context.
--
Jeremy McCreary (remove the zero before replying by e-mail)
jer...@cliffshade0.com
www.cliffshade.com/dpfwiw/
Most problems are multifactorial and most solutions incremental.
"LeftCoast C.C." <left...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:NT_z6.2580$3J2.6...@dfiatx1-snr1.gtei.net...
Robert E. Williams
2.0 Remember that when using your viewfinder to compose Macro shots, you
can have some serious parallax.
(The viewfinder is about 1" above the lens, so WYSIWYG...Not)
3.0 In bright sunlight, your LCD screen will not be terribly useful.
4.0 Remember to hold the camera as still as possible for 2 seconds when
pressing the shutter.
(There is at least a 0.5 second delay between pressing the shutter
and taking the picture.)
5.0 Use a tripod whenever it is practical to do so.
6.0 Fully charge your battery AND A SPARE before leaving home.
7.0 Bring any spare CF memory cards with you.
8.0 Let the beauty of the moment and the locale permeate your entire
being.
Wish I were with you on this shoot.....Bob Williams
ChG
last spring I visited my brother and his family in
Kanata, Ottawa.
I have some pictures from the Tulip Festival on my
homepage. Just if somebody is interested.
http://www.zenitex.net Look under Photo
Stock/Tulip Festival
/Christer
"Marcel Cossais" <mcos...@home.com> skrev i
meddelandet
news:Dp0A6.178668$A6.40...@news4.rdc1.on.home.c
om...
LeftCoast C.C.
--
"The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case." -
Gov. GW Bush, Pella, Iowa, as quoted by the San Antonio Express-News, Jan.
30, 2000
"jam" <see_m...@home.com> wrote in message
news:FR0A6.2488$ix4.2...@news1.rdc1.sfba.home.com...
LeftCoast C.C.
--
"The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case." -
Gov. GW Bush, Pella, Iowa, as quoted by the San Antonio Express-News, Jan.
30, 2000
"Robert E. Williams" <myt...@home.com> wrote in message
news:3AD09BC2...@home.com...
LeftCoast C.C.
Ottawa's event. I remember also that they have the largest *festival* (in
terms of attendance), and we have the largest per capita field ratio.
Literally thousands upon thousands of acres. The tulip is this county's
leading cash crop.
Here's a web page from the daily paper. There are fields just like these
photos all over the area. The color arrangements are spectacular.
http://www.tulipfestival.org/phototips.htm
The only problem with this year's crop is our drought: It's made the stems
shorter.
Oh well!
Thanks for everybody's help.
--
"The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case." -
Gov. GW Bush, Pella, Iowa, as quoted by the San Antonio Express-News, Jan.
30, 2000
"ChG" <XXchrister...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:mi1A6.3758$sk3.1...@newsb.telia.net...
jam
o If you need to use your internal flash to fill shadows, try taping
half a ping-pong ball or some other diffusing material =loosely= over
the flash tube. (Avoid trapping heat inside the tube housing.)
o Take Robert E. Williams' warnings about macro mode to heart. I can't
tell you how many shots I've ruined by failing to pay sufficient
attention the viewfinder parallax and the limited depth of field, and by
forgetting to take the camera out of macro mode when I'm done with it.
Have fun.
--
Jeremy McCreary (remove the zero before replying by e-mail)
jer...@cliffshade0.com
www.cliffshade.com/dpfwiw/
Most problems are multifactorial and most solutions incremental.
"LeftCoast C.C." <left...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:Sp3A6.3156$3J2.7...@dfiatx1-snr1.gtei.net...
Marcel Cossais
--
___________________________
Marcel Cossais
mcos...@home.com
mcos...@canada.com
http://members.home.net/mcossais/
"ChG" <XXchrister...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:mi1A6.3758$sk3.1...@newsb.telia.net...
Peter Bell
I'm not much worried about color accuracy, since I have a good memory for
what the shot really looked like, and it's usually easy enough to tweak in
Photoshop. If the fix turns out not to be easy, a well-composed shot
generally still looks good with whatever colors actually came out, and
nobody will know the difference. Not a big deal unless you are shooting for
a reference book.
As for lighting, I'd rather use bright sunlight to add depth and detail
(with sidelighting of course, at midmorning or midafternoon) and fix the
colors later. This also lets me use shorter exposure times (decreasing
problems with wind) and gives more flexibility to reduce the aperture to
increase depth of field. Flash tends to flatten the image, unless you have
an external flash as recommended below.
I agree about the oversaturation problem. Strangely enough, the best fix
I've found for oversaturation on my Casio QV-3000EX is to set Contrast to
Low and leave Saturation at Normal. Go figure.
Finally, I've gotten the best results by focusing on a single flower and
letting the colors in the field be in soft focus in the background. Attempts
to shoot "rainbows of color" often just look boring, since there's nothing
to capture the viewer's eye. As usual, shoot tight.
- Peter
jam
Your points are all well taken.
The "nobody will know the difference" take on color accuracy is spot-on
most of the time, but my flower colors (reds mostly) come out so fakey
at times that anyone would know the difference. This almost always
occurs in direct sunlight and seldom if ever in indirect light.
I also agree that fast shutter speeds can save the day when the air's
not still.
On balance, I find direct sun the bigger problem, and the air's seldom
still here in the SF Bay Area. But on any given day, it could go either
way. That's part of the fun in photography--you have to be ready for
anything.
--
Jeremy McCreary (remove the zero before replying by e-mail)
jer...@cliffshade0.com
www.cliffshade.com/dpfwiw/
Most problems are multifactorial and most solutions incremental.
"Peter Bell" <pe...@peterbell.com> wrote in message
news:B6F7E47A.7A5%pe...@peterbell.com...
LeftCoast C.C.
As to the oversaturation, don't worry. I have a Canon.
:)
--
"It's going to require numerous IRA agents." -- Candidate G.W. Bush, on
his opponent's tax plan, Greensboro, N.C., Oct. 10, 2000
"Peter Bell" <pe...@peterbell.com> wrote in message
news:B6F7E47A.7A5%pe...@peterbell.com...
Stan Peters
Lars Clausen
<left...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>I've had an S10 for about three months now and have used it only indoors.
>
>We have a humongous amount of tulip fields in this area (so much so that
>this week starts the "Tulip Festival") and I'd like to take my S10 out to
>some fields for shots of tulips and daffodils.
>
>Is there anything I should keep in mind re: the Canon S10 and/or digital
>photography with floral subjects in general??
>
>Thanks in advance :)
Keep your eyes open for interesting close-up subjects. I was shooting some
early daffodils when I noticed a ladybug crawling up one. After many
attempts, I got
<URL:http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause/Nature/photo-041b.jpg>.
Also, be careful to get the right exposure. Large uniform fields of
flowers can trick the metering. When in doubt, bracket .
I'd say it's difficult to get interesting pictures out of just flowers.
You'll need to think about composition a lot.
-Lars
--
Lars Clausen (http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause) | Hårdgrim of Numenor
"I do not agree with a word that you say, but I | Retainer of Sir Kegg
will defend to the death your right to say it." | of Westfield
--Evelyn Beatrice Hall paraphrasing Voltaire | Chaos Berserker of Khorne
Baseball
This works... http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause/Nature/
"Lars Clausen" <lrcl...@cs.uiuc.edu> wrote in message
news:m3u23u2...@shasta.cs.uiuc.edu...
Lars Clausen
> There's a "typo" in your link...
>
> This works... http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause/Nature/
>
Or <URL:http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause/Nature/photo-014b.jpg>.
Thank you. I only seem to make the typos when I don't check the URL:(
LeftCoast C.C.
I was wondering about that ... if I'm up to the task. Sure could produce
some great shots.
--
"How do you know if you don't measure if you have a system that simply
suckles kids through?" -- Gov. GW Bush, explaining the need for educational
accountability in Beaufort, S.C., Feb. 16, 2000
"Stan Peters" <spe...@kdsi.net> wrote in message
news:3ad4f283...@news.kdsi.net...
LeftCoast C.C.
--
"How do you know if you don't measure if you have a system that simply
suckles kids through?" -- Gov. GW Bush, explaining the need for educational
accountability in Beaufort, S.C., Feb. 16, 2000
"Lars Clausen" <lrcl...@cs.uiuc.edu> wrote in message
news:m3u23u2...@shasta.cs.uiuc.edu...
Larry Richards
>On Sun, 08 Apr 2001 14:49:17 GMT, "LeftCoast C.C."
><left...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>
>>I've had an S10 for about three months now and have used it only indoors.
>>
>>We have a humongous amount of tulip fields in this area (so much so that
>>this week starts the "Tulip Festival") and I'd like to take my S10 out to
>>some fields for shots of tulips and daffodils.
>>
>>Is there anything I should keep in mind re: the Canon S10 and/or digital
>>photography with floral subjects in general??
>>
>>Thanks in advance :)
>
>Keep your eyes open for interesting close-up subjects. I was shooting some
>early daffodils when I noticed a ladybug crawling up one. After many
>attempts, I got
><URL:http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause/Nature/photo-041b.jpg>.
>
>Also, be careful to get the right exposure. Large uniform fields of
>flowers can trick the metering. When in doubt, bracket .
>
>I'd say it's difficult to get interesting pictures out of just flowers.
>You'll need to think about composition a lot.
>
>-Lars
Lars, slight swap in file name letters, should be:
http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause/Nature/photo-014b.jpg
____
Larry
--
"POP"! Oops! There goes another synapse!
http://www.uncle-larry.com
http://personal.bellsouth.net/~larryric/
Capturing the world with my Minolta RD 3000
Do not e-mail me with spoofed return addresses.
Do not reply via e-mail unless previously arranged.
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------------------------------------------------//
LeftCoast C.C.
--
"How do you know if you don't measure if you have a system that simply
suckles kids through?" -- Gov. GW Bush, explaining the need for educational
accountability in Beaufort, S.C., Feb. 16, 2000
"Lars Clausen" <lrcl...@cs.uiuc.edu> wrote in message
news:m3u23u2...@shasta.cs.uiuc.edu...
Lars Clausen
> In article <m3u23u2...@shasta.cs.uiuc.edu>, lrcl...@cs.uiuc.edu
> says...
>
>> I'd say it's difficult to get interesting pictures out of just flowers.
>> You'll need to think about composition a lot.
>
> Agreed; either great composition, or post-process the heck out of them.
>
> Original: http://www.firelily.com/nirvana/image/glass.lilies.orig.jpg
>
> After Photoshop: http://www.firelily.com/image/glass_lilies.jpg
That's pretty neat. Is that the result of a single plugin, or did you do
it with the generic tools (or even by hand!)? IMHO, it could do with
having the original blurred somewhat, stained glass paintings don't show
that much detail.
Big Bob
> > After Photoshop: http://www.firelily.com/image/glass_lilies.jpg
>
> That's pretty neat. Is that the result of a single plugin, or did you do
> it with the generic tools (or even by hand!)? IMHO, it could do with
> having the original blurred somewhat, stained glass paintings don't show
> that much detail.
>
gives you something you normally wouldn't see.
Big Bob
Lars Clausen
That's true, I guess. So how *did* you do the stained glass frame?
grasshopper
On Fri, 13 Apr 2001 09:33:11 -0400, Diane Wilson <di...@firelily.com>
wrote:
>In article <m3u23u2...@shasta.cs.uiuc.edu>, lrcl...@cs.uiuc.edu says...
>
>> I'd say it's difficult to get interesting pictures out of just flowers.
>> You'll need to think about composition a lot.
>
Big Bob
something I'm adding to my collection.
Big Bob
"Diane Wilson" <di...@firelily.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.154155858...@news.mindspring.com...
> In article <m3lmp4t...@shasta.cs.uiuc.edu>, lrcl...@cs.uiuc.edu
says...
> > On Fri, 13 Apr 2001, Big Bob wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > "Lars Clausen" <lrcl...@cs.uiuc.edu> wrote in message
> > > news:m3zodkx...@shasta.cs.uiuc.edu...
> > >> > After Photoshop: http://www.firelily.com/image/glass_lilies.jpg
> > >>
> > >> That's pretty neat. Is that the result of a single plugin, or did
you
> > >> do it with the generic tools (or even by hand!)? IMHO, it could do
with
> > >> having the original blurred somewhat, stained glass paintings don't
show
> > >> that much detail.
> > >>
> > > But then it would just look like a photo of stained glass...this way
it
> > > gives you something you normally wouldn't see.
> >
> > That's true, I guess. So how *did* you do the stained glass frame?
>
> To work on pieces of the photo separately, I cut each piece and pasted it
> back in on a new layer. Each time I did this, I kept the selection path
> (or just ctrl-click on the new layer in the layer palette), went to a
> separate layer where I accumulated the glass frame, and stroked the
> selection path in black, 4 pixels wide.
>
> When it was all done, did select-all to get the outside frame, enlarged
> the canvas about 20 pixels in each direction, then went to the layer with
> the accumulated selection paths, and stroked the "outside" frame the
> same way.
>
> When you have all the "leading" accumulated, duplicate the layer and work
> on the copy. Hide the original. Do a Gaussian blur, by about 4 pixels.
> Add a layer below this, fill it with white, and merge these two layers.
> Adjust levels to narrow down the tonal range back to black/white. By now
> the joints should look nicely "gobby" and sharp corners will be rounded.
> You can also control the width of the line to some extent here. Basically
> the three sliders under the histogram will be close together, with the
> middle slider almost on top of the left slider. Now use select color to
> select highlights, and delete.
>
> Duplicate the layer two times. Hide the upper layer. On the middle
> layer, do another Gaussian blur, again about 4 pixels. Emboss it, then
> render lighting effects with a light crossing from upper left. Adjust
> the light so it illuminates the whole frame area without burning out
> any part of it or leaving any part in dark shadow.
>
> With image->adjust curves, set the curve to an "M" shape.
>
> Select the transparency mask for the layer below, invert the
> selection, and on the layer that's been blurred heavily, delete
> the selected area. This will trim off the blur.
>
> Go to the layer above. Select the transparency mask, fill with
> white, and set the layer blending mode to exclusion.
>
> With the transparency mask still selected, add a color adjustment
> layer above this. Set the color to a nice gun-metal blue-gray.
> --
> Diane Wilson
> http://www.firelily.com/
Lars Clausen
> In article <tde8rgl...@corp.supernews.com>, rober...@geocities.com
> says...
> This is indeed a large part of the fun, to do something that looks like
> it ought to be real, but can only exist because of image manipulation.
>
> Here's another one: http://www.firelily.com/image/mosaic_lily.jpg
>
> This was done in a program called Painter, which has tools for
> recreating natural media effects. Yes, the tile mosaic is a built-in
> tool. It creates tiles wherever you drag your mouse, and can clone
> color (with variability) from another image. If you have a drawing
> tablet, the tool is pressure sensitive, so that the width of the tiles
> varies with pressure.
Wow, that's nifty. I never thought of doing tiles that way. Great picture!