Backlight Flash

[Loose Canon]

Including my pet ant who I let go for a walkabout on the bloomer while I was shooting for the bug shooters! Not often I let him off the leash but I decided what the heck? Let him run amok!

f/22
1/200 second shutter
ISO 640
100mm macro
One shot, one frame.
Two lights fired.
One wearing a snoot and fired through a diffusion panel. Another wearing a grid and fired through a diffusion panel.

[bnnrcn]

IMO this one looks better than the previous one Terry Is there a way to lighten the bottom part of the flower which still looks muddy.

BTW, I didn't know you had a pet ant. What is his/her name? And how old ?

[IzzieK]

NO! NO! NO! Terry...don't give in to Binnur's plea of naming your ant!!! Once you name that thingimagig, you will be responsible for it for the rest of its life....!!! Thanks for the morning laugh Binnur... I fell for that one once and couldn't get out...

Anyway, Terry...I like the effect of the last shot with the light in the middle...this one to me has a lot of water drops. You over did spraying for one but the ant is a good touch...

[Shadowman]

Nice emphasis on the dew drops.

[Loose Canon]

Thanks for commenting guys!

I could brighten the lower part of the flower in post Binnur and it’s a good suggestion. In fact, I actually think the shot could use a bit of a boost on overall levels. I wonder though if the muddy look of which you speak is a product of the variety of flower and its propensity to backlighting. I really don’t have a clue since I don’t do a lot of floral shots and have no idea what flowers shoot better. I really wanted some gladiolas but couldn’t find any and didn’t want to special order. So I went with these because we have some in our beds at home.

Oh, and the ant’s name is Adam of course and he’s just a puppy still so he likes to frolic and play a lot! I’m still working on housebreaking him!

I’m with you on this Izzie. I liked the last one better myself. I think the reason why is that I think it has more dramatic lighting and that’s not what you see so much with floral shots as Binnur rightly mentioned. I’m not a huge fan of evenly lit flowers. To be honest, I remember why I don’t do a lot of this. Its fun to do something you don’t do much of photographically, but it just isn’t something that I could see myself doing a lot of. I think next time, if there is one, I’ll place the water drops individually rather than use a mister! I had one more idea about lighting that I wanted to try but floral photography isn’t anywhere near messy enough!

I kind of liked the drops too John. I liked the highlights they produce. I thought it added interest and I see why the flower shooters do it. I found it interesting how differently they rendered on the backlit petals as opposed to the front-lit drops on the base of the flower. On the petals they just appear as spots!

Thanks again for commenting guys! I gotta run and let Adam out to pee before he goes on the floor!