Looking for tips

[jendra]

Indoor flower photographing is really difficult because lighting is the essential for flower photography.Not only is the camera's flash too bright at such a close distance, but it is probably in the wrong position to actually light up the flowers properly. We prefer daylight balanced compact fluorescent bulbs for lighting. Not only do they provide nice natural colored light, but they produce very little heat so they can be left on for long photo sessions without over heating the flowers, the camera or the photographer. Compact fluorescent bulbs fit in standard light fixtures, so a simple adjustable pair of clamp-on lamps fitted with a daylight balanced compact fluorescent bulb makes an acceptable (and very low cost) light source for flower photography.

 

[pmsnel]

My setup for good indoor photo's of flowers:
Tripod
Camera with automatic stabilizer turned of
Remote
Flowers
Window facing north (at least not letting direct sunlight in) preferably very dirty!
Or a white shower curtain in front of window facing other than north.
Neutral background (neutral coloured wall, showercurtain, piece of paper, all depending on the size of your flower arrangement)

And those are just the ideas of taking nice flower pictures of a NOOB
Good luck!

 

[pbelarge]

You should link to some images you like and we can all figure out the lighting used. : )

Seems like a good idea. I hope it is okay to link other's images.

They are all crap so you should have no problem getting the same or better results

I am glad I am not the only one who feels this way about those links.:thumbup:

 

[ifi]

Thank you!

 

[kkamin]

I need to kindly disagree with this.

Indoor flower photographing is really difficult because lighting is the essential for flower photography.Not only is the camera's flash too bright at such a close distance, but it is probably in the wrong position to actually light up the flowers properly.

The camera's flash is never too bright if you can adjust f/stop, shutter speed and ISO to bring the image to a proper exposure. (think about a macro ring flash where the flash is on the barrel of the lens and actually closer than if mounted on the hotshoe) I also doubt they will be using a bare, unmodified compact flash to light.

The OP is also probably going to move the flashes off camera since they mentioned their camera can trigger the flashes remotely.

We prefer daylight balanced compact fluorescent bulbs for lighting. Not only do they provide nice natural colored light, but they produce very little heat so they can be left on for long photo sessions without over heating the flowers, the camera or the photographer. Compact fluorescent bulbs fit in standard light fixtures, so a simple adjustable pair of clamp-on lamps fitted with a daylight balanced compact fluorescent bulb makes an acceptable (and very low cost) light source for flower photography.

The color temperature of the daylight fluorescent bulbs and a compact flash should be pretty much the same. There is no such thing as a 'natural' colored light--it matters if you are trying to match the ambient light in a daylight light studio, but otherwise you perform a white balance in camera and in post to neutralize color casts.

IMO, the hurdle with your DIY approach is that you need to rig modifiers to the clamp lights somehow that can be tricky. Just pointing a clamp light with a fluorescent bulb doesn't produce anything special photographically other than fairly hard light. The bulbs tend to stick out from the reflector and it needs cinefoil or tin foil to reduce spill and possible lens flare.

I do like your idea on this level. If the OP is new to lighting, it can be very instructive to see what the light is doing while it is being adjusted. If they were in a pitch black room and were using continuous lights of some sort, that experience far exceeds firing off camera flashes and constantly chimping.

 

[ifi]

I took some photos of that place using my BlackBerry (wish I had my camera with me).

#1 is the entry hall with the bar, the center piece plant will be replaced with a large sized floral arrangement. Other tables and bar will have smaller floral arrangements and candles.

#2 will have flowers on the tables as well.

#3 is the ballroom, it will have flowers and candles on all tables. Plus the windows on both sides will have more flower arrangements as well.

1:

2:

3:

 

[kkamin]

It seems like you might be taking photos of rooms with flowers in them, rather than images of flowers. I don't know how close you are going to get to the flowers, but I would get as close as possible. The rooms don't look particularily supportive of acting as flower backgrounds. A famous photographer once said, "If you pictures are boring get closer." I'm not saying your pictures will be boring, but I see that as a real danger. If you shoot really wide and include a lot of the room, much of the flowers detail and beauty will be lost; it won't translate to a photo very well. It'll be like watching a play on TV where the camera is wide the entire time; it is so sterile in feeling and 95% of the power of the play is lost. That's why cinema is so powerful. It can be shown on the same TV, but with the language of close-ups, lighting, depth of field, processing, effects, etc. it can pull you in.

I think what separates a snap shot from a photograph is crossing that threshold from simply pointing at something and hitting the shutter to really thinking about what they are trying to capture and how do they want the viewer to feel. If you look at great photos, you can get a real sense of perspective, purpose, unity and feeling. What do you like about flowers? What do you like about the flowers you are shooting in particular? What is the best way to show people how you think and feel about the flowers? Show us how YOU see these flowers and making them look beautiful is a good idea too. This isn't as easy as saying it. In order to express yourself well you need to learn the language. But it's good to practice as much as you can all the time and reduce arbitrary elements within your photos. I'm rambling. Good luck!

 

[ifi]

Thanks again for your tips!

There won't be anyone there beside the decorator so I will be able to get as close as I want.

 

[ifi]

Indoor flower photographing is really difficult because lighting is the essential for flower photography...........................

.........................Good luck!

Thank you guys. I won't be able to stage the photo shoot.

Thanks

 

[ifi]

Here are few shots, please let me know what you think:

1:

2:

3:

4:

5:

 

[KmH]

Only one close shot of the flowers is in focus.

 

[ifi]

1, 2 and 3 were taken with Sigma 50mm @ 1.4.

How do we focus #5?

 

[pdq5oh]

If you're shooting from too close with the 50mm lens, depth of field will be too shallow, IMO. The backgrounds are too distracting. Closing down the lens should help eliminate that & make the flowers stand out more. If your 17-50 will focus close enough, you could stop down to bring the whole flower arrangement into focus (increase depth of field) and darken the background. Be more aware of the background to eliminate the distractions. Since the flowers aren't moving, have you tried longer exposures with available light?

 

[ifi]

Since the flowers aren't moving, have you tried longer exposures with available light?

I did then the flowers started moving - well, actually it was me moving because I had no tripod at that time

Thanks so much for your response - I appreciate your input !

And welcome to the forum

 

[KmH]

I had no tripod at that time

The single most common mistake amateur shooters make when attempting to take photos in less than adequet light, and/or trying to do critical work at the limits of handheld shutter speed.

Using modified, strobed lighting would have solved numerous problems.

The problems are:

#1 - The ambient light is from a bad angle and leaves hard, sharp edged shadows.

#2 - a large portion of the background is badly blownout. Close the drapes.

#3 - Blownout windows and the tops of the tables closest to the windows. The blurred foreground is very distracting. (The scene is a good HDR candidate.)

#4 - The best of the photo's posted but poorly composed (background)and the green ©..........

#5 - Looks like a little motion blur, and insufficient DOF. With the correct DOF, you focus about 1/3 of the way into the scene. There is no EXIF data with the photo to bas a recommendation on, but you can go to www.dofmaster.com and plug in the appropriate numbers into their Online DOF calcualator.