Description: Prairie dock plants are unique residents of mesic prairies in the Midwest. Their paddle shaped leaves are huge and form a rosette around the 6 foot flower stem. I snipped one of the branches from the plant and brought it indoors for some studio work. I chose a high key background because yellows look very nice on white.
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Pertinent technical details or techniques: D850 200mm f4 Micro (1.3 sec at f25, ISO 80) Lightbox illuminated with three flashes set at different power. I slightly underexposed the image to prevent edge blow out from the background light. Topaz DeNoise was used eliminate some subtle noise. Levels, Brightness & Contrast, crop and rotation of frame for the finbal presentation…Jim
Is this a composite? (focus stacks or exposure blends are not considered composites)
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Jim, excellent work here on the studio setup & portraiture of this prairie flower bloom. Your high key backdrop fits the floral arrangement perfectly…
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Very nice. The placement of all the individual elements is perfect. That can be one of the most difficult parts of building an image such as this.
I think I know what you mean about [quote=“Jim_Zablotny, post:1, topic:24112”]
edge blow out from the background light
[/quote].
I’ve found that when using a rear lightbox, the more distant the box surface is from the subject, the less the problem. When the lightbox is close, the far edges of the box become sidelights, and the sides of the subject are blown out.
Moving back makes the lightbox closer to a point source, and there is far less edge overexposure.
Of course, there are trade-offs. The lightbox area is less, and getting the subject to fit on the white is difficult. Also, the intensity of the light from the flash decreases, and balancing exposures can be difficult.
Otherwise, very nice.
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