C&C on a flower shot

[iBats]

Just a quick shot of an arrangement at my friends house, had her hold up a black background for me, what do yah think? I think it might be a bit underexposed but im not sure

 

[gsgary]

Yes it's a bit underexposed, have a play with levels in PS

 

[iBats]

yeah thanks for the tip, i was a bit worried about that

 

[iBats]

new version:

 

[Overread]

Its got more impact to it now, the brightening is helping to lift the flower out of the black surroundings more, but be carefull of the stem leading up to the flower. It's a little too dark and under exposed there to really bring it up into detail and in the second version its starting to show grainy noise. Personally I would try to keep that area as it was in the first - a suggestion there of a stem - so that the flower is not totally alone.

However for me I would (personally) feel that the larger downside in the shot is the second flowerhead in the background - it just feels that its not contributing to the shot overall on its own. I think if there were afew more like it in the shot (background elements) to suggest a bunch or if it were not there at all (thus leaving the main subject to dominate) it might be better - but that is just a personal feeling

 

[iBats]

yeah i noticed that, im not really sure how to get rid of the noise, other than is PS which didnt really do much

 

[Overread]

Sadly adding light to underexposed areas is going to give you a lot of noise increase, even if you get to shoot at lower ISOs. Shooting in RAW mode can give you a bit more give on how much you can boost brightness/exopsure in those areas, but overall the best measure is to ensure that they are exposed correctly when you take the photo. If you are using a black background for a shot like this you could use reflectors (even just some white paper will work for small subjects like flowers) to direct light onto key areas

 

[bigtwinky]

i had the same feeling as Overread with the background flower. There isnt enough to seperate one from the other clearly.

With the two flowers as is, I'm not keen on the empty space at the bottom, and how it pushes the flower to the middle of the frame. Maybe cutting this down, and having both flowers on the right hand side, the main flower being more right hand lower side, might help. Would also leave some nice empty space upper left for some text on a card

 

[iBats]

yeah thanks for that, but im also limited in my flash options a.k.a. pop up flash

 

[iBats]

ok so, big is this what you're saying: "move the flower down in the frame, and more towards the right?"

im a bit confused

 

[Guinness Man]

How about this:

 

[Overread]

Reflectors work well with just natual lighting as well - just angle them to direct the light onto the subject area. You can get some good 5in1 reflectors in smaller sizes (around 30cm) but white paper still works decently well for the smaller setups. You can also read up on the use of a lighttent/box which is another good way to get images like the one you have taken here even with limited equipment (since you can use ordinary stand lamps for lighting the sides instead of other flashes

 

[iBats]

yo Guiness, no offense but

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[iBats]

looks good though, green is a bit over powering

 

[gsgary]

This is how it's done
The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation - Flowers