Friday, July 25, 2008

Common Tansy...


Here is one of my favorite photos I took last Sunday. Sometimes you just get lucky, the ladybug makes the tansy photo a lot more interesting. I've been doing this wildflower series for a little over a month now so I wanted to share some of the things every single photo I've posted has in common. All the photos were taken with my 180mm Sigma macro lens, thats how I get the nice soft backgrounds, I don't do any blurring in Photoshop. Depth of field is limited when you're shooting close up so the background naturally falls off. Another thing all the photos have in common is the lighting, I only shoot flowers when it's overcast, soft lighting is best. Like I mentioned the other day the conditions were perfect on Sunday, it was a bright overcast and there was no wind. I've used my foil reflector to add fill light to every single flower picture posted here. The last thing for every photo, my camera was on a tripod, not one was taken handheld.

7 comments:

The Birdlady said...

Beautiful, John. And I feel a little better, knowing you don't hand-hold them...I can't get anything decent anymore without a tripod - just not steady enough.

Mary said...

That is not only beautiful, but "cute" :-) I love the little lady bug and how she echoes the roundness of the flowers. Your photos are always so perfectly set up that I feel you must have a highly trained bunch of bugs and butterflies that you pay high wages to, to pose so beautifully while you photograph them. I wish I had the patience to mess with tripods and foil and all that stuff for such beautiful results, but I know my limitations and my attention span. I'll just keep enjoying the fruits of your labors!

Adrian said...

Hi John

Lovely shots. I couldn't agree more about shooting in overcast conditions - bright sunlight always seems to do nsaty things to the coulours, particularly whites and yellows. You seem to have many of the same flowers that we have in England - Tansy, purple loostrife etc. Not thought to use a foil reflector though.

Adrian

Eve said...

I really need to get the tripod out too! Seems I'm always running from one thing to the next...I'll have to make a point of it. Just wish the wind would stop blowing!!
The picture is beautiful and very lucky to have the little lady show up!! Blogger wouldn't work for me earlier!!! I'm late on my posts!!

Louise said...

They're all beautiful, and thanks for sharing your secrets!

Anonymous said...

I don't do much with a tripod. Anything I've tried to shoot won't sit still enough or I haven't felt like carrying one with me. I'm starting to notice I have to reall fight to keep the camera steady. Great shot and I love the ladybug!

Kathryn and Ari said...

I love it. We have tansies all over our property, but none as lovely as one seen through your lens.