A few from today.

[David A Sercel]

I found this flower while hiking this afternoon. They're all over right now but I'm not really sure what they are.

David

 

[clarinetJWD]

That flower shot is amazing, please let me in on the secret: how do you get that lovely black background and well exposed flower in the wild?

 

[David A Sercel]

I use a small external flash unit that is held about two feet away from the flower, positioned so that it does not illuminate the ground or anything else other than the flower (I purposefully choose a flower that is not too close to other objects so that I can illuminate only the flower with the flash). Then I use a very fast shutter speed, a small aperture, and a neutral density filter so that all natural light is blocked out and everything that is not illuminated by the flash appears black. So nothing illuminated with natural light appears in the photo but only the things that I have the flash on - everything else appears black.

David

 

[karissa]

It really looks like you know what you are doing with the flower and still life type shots. However the landscape shots look like you are suffering from "high noon sun". The trouble with shooting at High noon or anytime when the sun is out full is you have no shadows. I would love to see what you could find to shoot if you went out about an hour or so before sunset when shadows are long and well defined.

I think.. and I'm not a flower expert but I think the flower you have is some sort of a tiger lily maybe.... *shrug* Does look beautiful however.

 

[clarinetJWD]

Thanks a lot for the tip, I shall try it soon!