How to photograph orchids at a show

Hi, I have been asked by a local Orchid Society to photograph their

winning orchids at their annual show. I have photographed orchids

in the wild with some success, but have never photographed them

inside. Could any of you give me some suggestions on getting the

best out of my equipment: Canon EOS3 and a 550EX with canon 28-235

& 100-400 lenses. I plan to use Fuji 100 Sensia (RA 135-36) film.

I hope to be able to use natural light, but have been advised that

that might not be possible. Appreciate any suggestions you might

have. Thanks,

Tim

Timothy-- If I couldn't bring in a monobloc strobe and an umbrella or a small softbox, here's what I'd do to shoot quick and soft--

 

First, get yourself a small circular translucent "reflector" (the one I use is a Photoflex Lite Disc white/translucent about a foot in diameter). These fold down to about 1/3 their open size and can be purchased at most good photo stores. Then get a flexible grip with a flash shoe on one end and a clamp on the other, along with a cord that will allow you to use your flash off-camera. Attach the flexible grip to the flash, grab the translucent reflector with the clamp, and bend the flexible shaft until the translucent circle is about six inches to a foot away from the flash. If the flash has a wide-angle setting use that. Basically, you are using the translucent disc as a circular soft box without sides.

 

From here you can proceed two ways--manual or automatic. I suggest manual, unless you will be shooting at very high magnifications. For automatic, if you have a dedicated TTL flash cable, just use that as you normally would, letting the camera figure out how much light to use.

 

However, the camera can get fooled. What I would personally do is put the flash on full power manual, take a flashmeter reading, and set the aperture to that. However, if you do not have a flashmeter, run a test to determine exposure at several distances. The translucent disc will probably drop your flash at least two stops, so you can work from there. USE TRANSPARENCY FILM FOR THE TEST. Negative film will be next to useless for this purpose unless you have a densitometer.

 

If you are shooting just a few flowers at almost macro distances, hold the flash up and to one side a bit (perhaps 40 degrees off camera angle), and about 18 inches from the subject. If you are going to need to take pictures of big masses of flowers, you will need to back off further.

 

Test the light output and determine your readings at one foot, 18 inches and three feet BETWEEN FLASH AND SUBJECT (in this case, the surface of the lite disc would be considered the front of the flash). I'd use the smallest aperture possible (that would be the highest number), unless you are getting something like f32, then back off your power. Note that backing off power may be preferable to putting the flash back further, since the closer the flash will be the softer the light.

 

Using manual and the distance/exposure technique, your exposures should hold relatively even up to about a magnification of 1:4. If you are shooting single flowers, and you know that at one foot your exposure with the kit is f16, just get a little one foot piece of string and tape it to the disc. Stretch the string between the flower and the flash and bingo, you have an f16 exposure. Note that as long as the distance between the flash and subject is the same, the camera/subject distance is mostly irrelevent.

 

Here are some things to watch out for:

-I'm not completely familiar with the Canon system. Many dedicated flash extension cords have an additional shoe mount on the bottom, and those are the ones I am use to using. Other flashes have their dedicated cords plug into the side and not use the hot shoe. If yours has neither of those features, you may not be able to use the dedicted off-camera cord and hook the flexible shaft up to your flash unit via the shoe.

 

-If your zooms are variable-aperture--meaning the aperture changes as the flash is zoomed--and your camera has no way to override this (some do), you may be better off going automatic. Print film has more latitude than slide film, so the Sensia will help.

 

-If you don't have a dedicated sync cord, you will have to use a simple PC cord and manual flash exposure control. Even if the flash has built-in automatic exposure control through a sensor built into the front of the flash, DON'T USE IT! The reflection of the light against the disc will throw it completely off.

 

-Draft an assistant to hold the flash, or develop a strong left arm, or build a custom bracket for the contraption. For less than ten or fifteen flowers, your own arm should suffice.

 

Best of luck. Let us know how it goes. -Bill C.

What Bill said :-)

 

I usually ask a passerby to hold the flash for me while I take a pic. Then ask somebody else for the next pic and so on.

 

Composition can be tricky. The owners of the flower in question generally prefer to see the entire plant, including pot, in the picture. But they do _not_ want anybody else's plant, or parts of the booth, in the picture. They also get very nervous about some photographer carting off with their winning entry to take pics of it. The ideal situation is to build a "portable backdrop" on a wheeled cart so you can ask the owner of the plant to move it from the booth to your backdrop. If your cart has handles then you can clamp the flash and not need assistants. Ideally, you don't ever want to touch the plant, as that makes for happy owners.

 

Be sure to take a picture of the owner's buisness card. If you can get a smiling owner holding up the plant and ribbon, all the better. Also get closeups of the ribbon and any certificates that go with it.

 

Backlit orchids can be wonderful. The owners won't appreciate those, but they're great for stock and for your portfolio. You can see one of mine at

 

http://www.platinumlegacy.com/index.html?tp=2&id=2

 

Evan :-)

Bill & Evan: Thanks for the advice. This has really helped. I will go for the softbox approach and see how that works out. Have ordered a canon off shoe cord for the flash so I can use it off the camera. Have also ordered a medium softbox. Should have enough time to make several roles of test shots. Thanks again, Tim