Flowers + Flash = Black Background?

[jmtonkin]

Hey everyone!

I was outside working in the garden, getting ready to plant the lilly I bought my mom for Mother's Day, when I though, "This would be a great plant to practice on!" So, I quit working, went in the house and grabbed my camera and flash. I really have been trying to figure out this black background concept and I think I've finally figured it out!

CC would be greatly appreciated so I can practice this technique a little more!

Thanks!

Here is the SOOC shot:

I wasn't too thrilled with the background...I still didn't get it completely dark while I was shooting, but it was a lot closer than before.

This is the PP'd one:

I did a painted over the random stuff in the background and sharpened this one a little bit. Thoughts?

Both of these were shot at the following settings:
​
ISO 100
f/29
1/250s
46mm

Thanks!

 

[jwbryson1]

How did you position the flash for this image? Are you using on camera flash?

 

[jmtonkin]

I had my SB-900 held off camera a little camera left and above pointing down to the flowers.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Nice, how far away was your background

 

[jwbryson1]

I am no expert, but it appears that you are getting the general idea of the black background shots. The way to black out the background is to underexpose them by 3+ stops which will kill the ambient light. You kill the ambient light primarily by increasing your shutter speed (and at 1/250 of a second you are probably at your max flash sync speed), so that's good. To really separate your subject from the background (and get solid blacks without much PP) you need sufficient distance from the subject to the items behind the subject. If the background objects are close to the subject, you may get some flash exposure on them and have to work on the image in PP.

In the shot below, I believe I was at 1/200 or 1/250 of a second and around f/11 (best guess), but you can see the backgrounds are completely blacked out. I used 2 flashes sitting on stands on both side of the flower and pointing up at the petals. This backlighting really brings out the colors in the petals.

In terms of PP, on your image I would try to separate just one or two of the flowers and push up the contrast a bit. I would also try to backlight these in your original shots. I'm sure others with more experience than me will add to this discussion.

My example:

[/URL] Tulip 2-1 by jwbryson1, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[2WheelPhoto]

^^^^^^^^^^^ nice

 

[jmtonkin]

Here is a phone picture of the set up. I'm getting ready to head into town and don't have time to take a decent shot. The lilly was planted on the corner of the deck. The hand railing is about three feet behind the flower and as you can see, everything else was closer.

For some reason almost all of the flowers fell off yesterday...

As for the shot in general, I would love to get a second flash and some stands, but unfortunately, as a broke college student, that isn't in the budget right now. I agree, isolating the one flower would be ideal, but it was planted already and I didn't have enough hands to try to hold it away and the camera and the flash. (I don't have a decent tri-pod yet either :/ )

 

[jwbryson1]

As a broke college student, that isn't in the budget right now.

A broke college student with a $2,500+ camera set up? :er:

I shot my image with a D90 and 2 Yongnuo 560s triggered with Cowboy radio triggers.

These YN 560s are dirt cheap: Amazon.com: Yongnuo YN-560 Speedlight Flash for Canon and Nikon: Camera & Photo

And these Cowboy radio slaves are even cheaper: Amazon.com: CowboyStudio NPT-04, 4 Channel Wireless Hot Shoe Flash Trigger Receiver: Electronics

 

[jwbryson1]

You want your background to be 10 feet at least from your subject. 3 feet is too close as you found out.


EDIT: I took my shot hand held. A tripod is great, but not always necessary for these types of shots.

 

[480sparky]

Welcome to the world of Inverse Square!

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Here is the same very simple light principle controlling ambient background except playing with different toys and adjusting for a "desired" background:

How I Got the Shot: Michael Thompson from LightenUpAndShoot Does an Outdoor Portrait | BH Insights

 

[jmtonkin]

As a broke college student, that isn't in the budget right now.

A broke college student with a $2,500+ camera set up? :er:

Touche...I used my left over grant money to purchase the camera though, so it wasn't real money...

Here is the same very simple light principle controlling ambient background except playing with different toys and adjusting for a "desired" background:

How I Got the Shot: Michael Thompson from LightenUpAndShoot Does an Outdoor Portrait | BH Insights

I just read though this article...very helpful! I stopped down to f/29 on this shot. If I had used a higher sync speed for my flash, I would have been able to shoot at a narrower depth of field, correct?

 

[jwbryson1]

If I had used a higher sync speed for my flash, I would have been able to shoot at a narrower depth of field, correct?

No, your camera's maximum flash sync speed (without having to push it to a high sync speed which results in a significant loss of flash power) is probably about 1/200 or 1/250 of a second. Somebody correct me if that is wrong, but I'm pretty confident about that.

And you were already shooting at f/29 which, to be honest, is already a bit too tight. You don't kill the ambient light with a small aperture. You kill the ambient light with shutter speed, and as I indicated above, you were already at your max flash sync speed.

If the background is far enough away (10 feet at least), then you should be able to do this at around f/11 or f/16 if not wider open, and still get the results you want.

 

[480sparky]

..............No, your camera's maximum flash sync speed (without having to push it to a high sync speed which results in a significant loss of flash power) is probably about 1/200 or 1/250 of a second. Somebody correct me if that is wrong, but I'm pretty confident about that.........

Not always. Some cameras can synch at much higher shutter speeds with the right flash. My D7000 can synch with my SB600 at 1/8,000 when both are set properly.

 

[Frequency]

A beautiful gift