hi all,

Recently I've been contacted by a company, they've seen 2 pics of mine that were displayed a couple months ago at an exhibition in Paris.
The pictures in question were flowers with vivid colors and a dark background, very contrasty look. They were shot in nature, not in studio though, quiet a long time ago.

They are looking for some prints of this kind, explicitly asking for "Flowers or things related to flowers, with this dark background and saturated colors type look".
For the last 2 weeks I took weather opportunities to shoot some pictures with that in mind, I've got until July 2nd to provide at least 6 pics.
So basically today they are asking for Letter size prints (non framed) and a short bio.

They have asked a couple photographers to apply for this job they told me.

I intend to shoot more flowers next week, if weather permit, and make my selection by next thursday, print and send via post office by friday.
Here is a couple photo I already processed with this job in mind.

They were shot with the Tamron Macro /f2.8 or the Pentax SMC M 28mm /f2.8 lenses.
I've been using a Godox AD200 flash with Rogue Lightingfilters with mainly light blue or light green gels.
All PP in Lr CC, no external editor so far but I want to try the newer ON1 2018 version for theses shots as well.

[photomax7]

Most, if not all would be great blown up large...nice captures DimC.

[DimC]

Most, if not all would be great blown up large...nice captures DimC.

Thanks Mate, so far I've printed all of them on my Selphy1200 printer
It's 10x15cm size but gives an idea of composition at least.

I will have to print them in Letter/A4 size to send to the company and Im curious to see how it looks at that size.

Out of the 7 pictures above, I think 3 are keepers, so I hope to have some nice weather next week to be able to get another 3 nice shots of different flowers.

[bertwert]

Very nice, this is quite an artistic look

[DW58]

You're definitely nailing it with the dark background and vivid/saturated colors. Nice work. I especially like the last one with the flower encased in "bug stuff."

[mcgregni]

Great results! The clarity and DOF separation on the stamens is very impressive. For those of us who can use flash, would you be able to take a quick photo that shows your flash and diffuser and the positioning?

[SJM]

All nice . like the last one best.

[DimC]

Great results! The clarity and DOF separation on the stamens is very impressive. For those of us who can use flash, would you be able to take a quick photo that shows your flash and diffuser and the positioning?

Sure, Ill try to do that later.

[DimC]

My selection is close to be ready, in the meantime here is the basic setup Im using.

First of all Im using the Tamron Lens, it's my only "modern" Macro lens and it's an amazing lens, actually it was the first lens I bought after my K20D and the kit lens. It's my oldest lens, she deserve some respect
To trigger the Godox AD200 flash, Im using the Cactus V6 II that allows HSS sync, and Im using the Godox FT16 to control the flash power.

You will see in the pics below my Flash placement on the tripod, with a diffuser.

My idea is to have the flash to illuminate only the area I want to shoot, not the surroundings, and I want the background to be dark.
Usually the flash is 30 to 70 cm from the flower and it is set between 1/128 and 1/32 power.

My first goal is to have the flash light to illuminate only the tip of the subject, I use the Flash power to control the area of brightness (once set I dont move the tripod) when my camera shutter speed is set to 1/250, my minimum shutter speed because of the wind.
From now on I raise my shutter speed until the subject is underexposed by 1 stop approx, this give me a fully dark surrounding area and a slightly underexposed flower.
On the shot below my Shutter speed is 1/400, which was a minimum considereing the wind, I made most of my shots at 1/640 on that day.

All this is mainly guessing because I dont have any posemetre to measure the light.

I was using AF to get the basic focus then manual focus via Quickshift feature of this lens. Most of the time I was very close to minimum focusing distance (not on this shot though).

[DimC]

This damn red color....and the jpeg small size didnt render justice to this shot unfortunately.

[DimC]

another flower, another color.

[DimC]

Last one for tonight.

[mcgregni]

Thanks for the extra explanations and the pics showing the flash and it's positioning. Very nice additional flower photos too!

[babywriter]

Lovely detail and contrast.

[DimC]

Thanks for the extra explanations and the pics showing the flash and it's positioning. Very nice additional flower photos too!

Your Flash guide was so handy that if I can thank you by showing how I produced theses image Im happy.