Description: My wife has a fairly large dahlia collection they provide some interesting material for flower photography. I set up my light tent with a black BG on our deck as the sun was setting. I cut the flower and placed it in a water filled beer bottle with some paper towel to hold the flower in position. I set up 4 flashes to light up the scene, but my macro flashes refused to play nice with the master flash hooked up to a Godox trigger. So, two flashes provided the light with the master set at 0ev and a second flash at -1ev… I played around with the position of the flashes and liked the results with the stronger flash diffused through the light tent from above right and the less strong flash from the left and slightly behind the subject. I wanted the stem to show, but not too bright to reduce the prominence of the flower. The variety is called Double Shine and I chose to show it from the side which reveals the bright yellow bases of the petals.
Specific Feedback Requested:
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
D850 200mm f4 micro (1/100 sec at f20, ISO 400) WB set to Flash, slight crop for comp, Levels for black point, linear curves adjustment, Brightness & Contrast, Rubber stamp tool for removing som e insect bites in petals.
Is this a composite? (focus stacks or exposure blends are not considered composites)
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Woah. I love this and that you explained your technique. The way you’ve put the light together is wonderful and reveals the intense color in a soft way that complements the flower itself. The gentle shadows reveal texture and depth to an amazing degree. That you didn’t stack some images is amazing as well. The DOF is spot on. There is something down at the bottom of the petal that is a little fuzzy…if you were to print this I’d consider removing that.
All of the correct technical decisions together with a great choice of composition comes together to create a great flower image! Even if a detail, I like how you have handled the steam.
Wow, this is awesome, Jim. thanks for sharing your technique and processing. I love the black background. And the positioning of the Dahlia is perfect. Well done.
Yes, it is getting to Dahlia season. Looking forward to shooting some dahlias at a nearby farm here.
Jim, this is beautiful! I love all the colors and especially the peek at yellow between the petals. Thanks for explaining how you took the photo with the tent outside and your processing. It is interesting to me to see how you got such good focus with the 200mm lens.
Excellent work Jim, this image has a lot of impact for me. The colors are gorgeous. But what I like most about this image is the angle of view, I think it creates a wonderful sense of depth that you just see in a lot of flower portraits.
