DSLR and flower macros

[Johnboy2978]

I don't frequently do macro or close up shots of flowers, but when I do, I'm quite disappointed with the initial result. I shoot w/ a Pentax k10d and am proficient with using it in any mode, 99% of the time it's in manual. I recently shot a nice sunflower, and in natural soft light, it had many rich different hues of yellow and gold. Regardless of the settings, it came out looking flat. I finally broke out my strobes to try and capture it, which worked better, but still was lacking. I finally resorted to strobes and HDR treatment to try and pull out what I could see w/ my eye. It still took quite a bit of PP, curves in PS, etc. to make it vivid at all. I'm at work and can't post the initial disappointing results. Is this any better w/ other brands, or does my Pentax just have poor IQ when it comes to flowers? I'm generally pleased w/ the IQ with other subjects, but it's always been sub-par in trying to reproduce the hues in flowers. Any thoughts?

 

[mishele]

Post some examples so maybe we can help ya out.....=)

 

[Garbz]

Does your workflow include RAW processing?

 

[tirediron]

Post some examples so maybe we can help ya out.....=)

^^ This!

 

[cidrmakr]

To get good flower shots: no direct sunlight (use an umbrella / shade / etc.); use a strobe with camera set on rear sync; if possible determine the correct color temp; use a color chart to calibrate (Passport works well); shoot up and down one f stop and pick the best one; if macro use a tripod.

 

[D-B-J]

:addpics:

 

[Foxx]

DBJ, that picture is older than the internet...I seriously have not seen this in at least 5 years

 

[Johnboy2978]

Does your workflow include RAW processing?

It does, but SOOC the image is rather flat. I'll try posting an example later. I was just asking, in general, do you get good IQ with just natural light? I have strobes which I used. I have PS which I used. Ultimately I got a decent result, I just felt that it should've come closer in camera w/o all of that. That's all.

 

[Overread]

You can get great shots right out of the camera and you can get shots that need work (from RAW) to get the final result you want. Where gear and lighting are the limits between these two states is hard to say without seeing specific examples

 

[Garbz]

I was just asking, in general, do you get good IQ with just natural light?

Depends on the natural light. The sun is a perfect black body source (missing a few tiny bands due to helium and atmospheric conditions) but otherwise it is every bit a high quality light source like a flash. That said it's harsh. The clouds cease being a black body, the sky / shade ceases being a black body, and you may find that in general when doing things such as matching paint.

I painted over a scape in my bumper one day on a cloudy day in the afternoon (still plenty of light there), and I thought it looked perfect. Next morning with the sun out I realised just how very different the paint colours actually looked because the brain at the local shop didn't match it properly.