White Azalea

You have chosen a very difficult subject that requires great care and skill. Photographing white petals and white detail requires special attention to lighting to bring out the detail. Try using a reflector and experimenting with a screen to contol and balance the light. Reflecting light from behind often works. It can also give a lighted fringe to the petal edges.

I thought I would try to work on shooting pictures of something more

white. Since I have trouble with always making the white in a photo

look washed out, I thought it might be something to play around

with...as if I don't have enough photographic issues I could play

around with...anyway, I shot this image early one morning in our

backyard. I am not sure if I should have positioned myself

differently with the sun coming in from behind me. Also, I have

noticed that with the 90mm macro that I have trouble getting it to

focus where I would like for it to. Since it is AF, and I use the eye-

start function, I have noticed that it will, on these flowers in

particular, change the focus back and forth between the pistols and

the actual center of the bloom. It is as if the lens can't make up

its mind. This shot did not give me as much trouble. Maybe it was the

time of day I was shooting. Anyway, your comments and suggestions

would be great. Thanks.

Lisa: You may have to resort to manual focus for close in shots like this as the camera will hunt forever at this range. Autofocus is wonderful until you get into near-macro territory. There are too many things for the camera to separate without hunting for focus.

 

The white is just a bit too light here. As Mr. Bruce said, this is a difficult shot and diffused light is preferable to direct light from the sun. The range of values becomes too great for the film to record. Some flower photographers have made small diffusers from thin white polyester cloth stretched on a frame to hold between the sun and the subject of their photography. It works very well and is an inexpensive item to make. This is how movie companies create nice soft light sometimes when filming in bright daylight. The diffuser can also be used as a very good reflector to direct extra light into the shadows if you want a harsher look to the light.

 

There is some sort of pattern in the background in this image. Is it a fence or some other type of netting? It makes for a mild distraction.

Royal Gold 200 has a pretty good dynamic range, but this may well be too great a range even for it. This is a shot that could benefit from bracketing, then if none of the frames have all the tones you want you can "borrow" from one to add detail to the other in post processing.

 

I think the flower is too centered in this image, especially since its companion flower is cut in half. This would have been better if the camera were moved just a little to the right, and the picture cropped on the bottom.

Fred: shooting pictures of a subject which is white in nature is something I find very difficult. It seems I always get it too bright and it looks washed out...like snow pictures. I was attempting to get the shot from a different angle, which was something Jim had mentioned on an earlier flower post. I never could really find a good angle, and maybe at the time there wasn't. At least I know what will help now. And yes there is a pattern in the bottom right...our fence which has the rest of our property further into the woods on the other side. I wasn't happy about that either. But I am learning.

 

Michael: I didn't want to center this picture at all, but trying to find an angle that would give me the best shot didn't want to work. I wish I could have gotten the other bloom in the shot, too. As for cropping, I did not crop any more off the bottom because I thought it would make the image look more centered. It was all experimenting. I had fun doing it and awaiting all the great suggestions, and help I always get from you guys.

 

Thanks to both of you, and Mr. Bruce for the feedback.

Check your Maxxum 5 manual and see if it has an automatic-bracket shot setting. If it does, give that a try on the next white flower. You could also use the exposure correction setting (if they call it that on the M-5) and set the exposure to underexpose by a half stop or so.

 

The only problem is that when they make the prints or the CD they tend to correct them so they all look alike. They darken the light ones and lighten the dark ones so it's hard to tell if what you did really made a difference. For all we know the exposure was perfect and the processor underexposed the print image to make up for the dark background. What really makes color negative film difficult to judge is the fact that someone else (actually a machine) messes with it before you ever see the results. The machine makes the decision and what you see is what it gets. I would be inclined to think this could be made to print because color negative film has so much overexposure latitude. The only way you'll ever know is to shoot transparency (slide) film because it's more accurate and nobody or nothing translates it for you. You get to see the final result without any meddling. The problem with transparency is that it really can be overexposed so you have to bracket your shots so as to get the right one. Bracketing, by the way, is taking the same shot with different exposures so as to get just exactly the right amount of light on the film for at least one frame. It's the only way you can be sure you get the correct shot exposure with slide film.

 

I don't know if they will do CDs from rolls of slides but I think they do so you might check into it. If not, you would have to scan them which is a lot more work than the CDs.

Fred: This is a Kodak Picture CD. That is the one thing I hate about getting my film developed. I never really know how much the processor adjusts the prints. I have read something in the manual regarding bracketing and asked my Dad about it. He still has his Minolta XD MF camera...rather I do...but he explained how he would bracket certain types of shots depending on what it was. I think I am going to get him to help me out a little with this...he has too much time on his hands to be retired for a year and half and only 58 years old! LOL! So, I think I need to borrow some of his time and experience, however minimal it may be. He has actually started shooting more with his old camera here recently after I showed him some of the work from our group. I think he found it rather interesting. Wish me luck! LOL!

Keep trying different things. If your film feedback isn't what you want, try something else.

Fred, this group has been a great learning experience for me, and I think my Dad is seeing that I am really wanting to learn as much as I can about photography. That is a big plus. If it weren't for everyone in this group offering me the feedback, I don't know if I would still be as excited as I was when I was placed in this circle. I am constantly looking for something interesting to shoot even if I don't have a clue what I am doing. It makes it fun. I just have to learn not to be afraid to take a shot of something I find interesting because I feel others will find it boring. On the other hand, I still feel a little more comfortable shooting subjects like my dogs because I think I have a better grasp on those types of shots. If I can work past that and the entire processing issue I won't feel totally clueless. I value each and every member in our circle and what they have to offer...I just need to learn that it is okay that not all of my shots are going to come out the way I want them to, or expect them to. With that being said, I am heading outside with my Dad to shoot some pictures! Unbelievable! LOL!