Stop and smell......

[ronlane]

Or at least photograph the roses. Relaxing way to spend a little time on Sunday morning.

 

[jeffashman]

Nice shot!

 

[ronlane]

Nice shot!

Thanks Jeff.

 

[Robshoots]

Very pretty! I can almost smell it from here.

 

[Jeff15]

Beautiful shot.....

 

[ronlane]

Very pretty! I can almost smell it from here.

Thanks.

Beautiful shot.....

Thanks.

 

[oldhippy]

Beautiful Rose, great light. Good shooting.

 

[ronlane]

Beautiful Rose, great light. Good shooting.

Thanks Ed. Kind words to receive from the flower guru of the group.

 

[NS: Nikon Shooter]

-

I called my daughter: "Look sweetie, this one is for you!"
She had a big smile and… a comment that girls usually don't make
(but then she's a photographer's favourite daughter!) that triggered
this OK to edit. I hope you like it.

 

[K9Kirk]

Nice shot.

 

[Space Face]

My wife often says that to me. I generally decline.

Nice flower. Reminds me of my dad and I used to work on a rose plantation.

 

[smoke665]

Nice one Ron. Red (especially in flowers) is difficult to photograph. A little background on the rose for those who don't know this, the highlights will over saturate/over expose easily causing a loss of detail. Rose petals aren't smooth, they have a velvet like surface of microscopic bumps and folds, that's "superhydrophobic". A material with a contact angle that is greater than 150 degrees. This means that a water droplet will ball up on the surface instead of spreading out. So great is the attraction, that you can put a drop on a petal, turn it upside down and it won't fall off. The downside of those microscopic bumps and folds is they wreck havoc with light refraction. Using a very large/soft light source will minimize the disparities between the highlights and shadows.

 

[ronlane]

Nice one Ron. Red (especially in flowers) is difficult to photograph. A little background on the rose for those who don't know this, the highlights will over saturate/over expose easily causing a loss of detail. Rose petals aren't smooth, they have a velvet like surface of microscopic bumps and folds, that's "superhydrophobic". A material with a contact angle that is greater than 150 degrees. This means that a water droplet will ball up on the surface instead of spreading out. So great is the attraction, that you can put a drop on a petal, turn it upside down and it won't fall off. The downside of those microscopic bumps and folds is they wreck havoc with light refraction. Using a very large/soft light source will minimize the disparities between the highlights and shadows.

Thanks Smoke. I have always had issues with oversaturation on red flower petals. I actually desaturated these a little in post and was using a 38" octabox for diffusion when I took this.

 

[smoke665]

Thanks Smoke. I have always had issues with oversaturation on red flower petals. I actually desaturated these a little in post and was using a 38" octabox for diffusion when I took this.

All in all your shot isn't bad. Red can be the most beautiful color and the most exasperating to render correctly, and sometimes you just have to compromise with the saturation. Some cameras (my Pentax for example) tends to give the Red and Green channels more prominence, which also adds to the problems. A 38" octabox should have been large enough for the flower assuming you didn't have it far away? One thing that's important to remember on shots like this is the histogram is your friend. Underexposing can be just as bad as overexposing. In your image there's a significant lack of any data from the high midtones to the highlights.

I will sometimes underexpose a 1/2 stop to protect my highlights, then raise post if needed, but I've never been pleased with the results below that. Are you using an incident meter to set your light?? Also just like shooting any other highly specular subject, changing your light position or using cross polarized lighting can make a big difference. An intro if you're not familiar. Crushing hotspots, an introduction to Cross Polarization - Beverage Photo . The other thing I've done in studio with success on flowers is to add balanced backlight in the mix. Putting a main light off camera axis and your fill on the same side rear can really help add luminosity to petals without causing them to oversaturate. I posted one on here sometime ago with a vase full of irises, another color that will go funky.

 

[ronlane]

Thanks for the information. I am happy with that photo but did get my stuff back out again this afternoon as I ALWAYS forget to spray them down with water.