[Biff]

Greetings-

I've decided to make a project of photographing flowers in our yard as a challenge to better my macro photography, and make what could be considered decent if not attractive and compelling flower images, which I'm finding much harder than I thought.

Key of course is lighting, and I know this is a very broad question, but what essential lighting gear do you use, even one or two things, not complicated. I have a macro lens, tripod, 360II flash, one small reflector. I'm wondering if, say, a reflector kit or additional fill flashes would get more going faster. . .

Maybe this should be in technique or macro threads, but I'm thinking mainly about lighting gear.

Apologies If there is a thread on this already. I'm searching for one.

Thank you.

[Adam]

I've found natural light to produce the most pleasing macros. Shoot at a time when it's easy to reflect sunlight onto your subject with something as simple as a gold / silver reflector. Then, set the self-timer or use a remote and keep playing with the light until it looks perfect

Before doing that, play around with the composition (live view works wonders) to make sure you get an interesting macro, rather than a "documentation" of the flower.

This is just one of many techniques. Good luck!

[jatrax]

Agree, a reflector is all I use.

[esrandall]

I generally shoot flowers with natural light, but when the flower is shaded, or the light is starting to bail out on me, I'll use something as cheap as one of the $7 diffusers for the onboard flash -- and get great shots with that setup. I did it with my K-3, and now I do it with my D610. The cheap diffuser takes away the harshness, and is really portable. For composition, I just get an unobstructed shot, and the "create" with teh cropping tool in LR. I know that's frowned upon by a lot of people, but 24MP is a lot to play with, so the quality is still there after I chop a bunch away, and I usually "see" what I want much better after the shot has been taken, and I can see it on a big screen.

[Bruce Clark]

Nearly always natural light. Morning or afternoon, never full sun, light overcast in the middle of the day is good. I do mostly hand held with Sigma 105mm Macro Lens. Being hand held, I rarely bother with reflectors or diffusers. A bit of cloth behind the flower can often hide a difficult background. The times I use flash are rare but mostly a camera mounted Yongou manual flash on low power, with diffusing cap does the job. I hear of others using an old translucent film canister slotted over the on board flash.

Camera K-7 or lately K-5 IIs set on TaV. f11 @1/250th as a good starting point. Yes the ISO creeps up a bit at times but the resultant noise can be usually be dealt with. Manual focus at a distance to fill the frame and move the camera back and forth to fine tune the focus.

Hope to see some of your flowers soon

[Biff]

Thanks everyone for the varied and straightforward ideas. I think I'm ready to get after it with what I already have, maybe supplement additional reflectors or diffuser at some point as needed. Looking forward to trying off camera flash and the TaV approach. I'm after "interesting" and art, not documentation. . .

I always appreciate the time and quality replies from folks at this great forum.

[Digitalis]

I've decided to make a project of photographing flowers in our yard as a challenge to better my macro photography, and make what could be considered decent if not attractive and compelling flower images, which I'm finding much harder than I thought.

If you are having a hard time coming up with ideas: you are overthinking it. Photographing flowers* is very easy. As i'm sure you know there are plenty of techniques: wireless flash, fill reflectors etc, etc, so on and so forth. I'll mention Light painting as another technique you might want to look into:


Pentax K10D - FA*200mm f/4 ED Macro ISO 100 10s f/11



Pentax K10D - FA*200mm f/4 ED Macro ISO 100 10s f/11

Both of the images above were taken moments apart, but with light painting you have the ability to light parts of your subject as broadly or as selectively as you want.

Painting with light is technically undemanding, all you need is your camera set up on a tripod, a remote release( self timer will work too), a suitable cut flower, a darkened room, a good flashlight ( preferably with an adjustable beam angle), some black velvet for a background - or you can create a white background by simply overexposing some grey card. Painting with light can let to get really creative.

what essential lighting gear do you use, even one or two things, not complicated. I have a macro lens, tripod, 360II flash, one small reflector. I'm wondering if, say, a reflector kit or additional fill flashes would get more going faster

I avoid using reflectors if I can: they are often a pain to position and on windy days using them is categorically not-an-option. I prefer flash for multiple reasons - motion stopping ability, flexibility with light quality, and convenience. Unfortunately Pentax P-TTL isn't anything like Nikon CLS, so you will want to work manually with reliable flash triggers. Working with wireless manual flash with the Pentax system is a bit of a pain as you have to manually input your lighting ratios on each flash unit - so the more of them you have: the longer a shot will take to set up. I prefer to keep it simple, and often one light is all you really need.



Pentax K10D - Pentax FA*200mm f/4. ED [IF] Macro 1/180th f/5.6 ISO 100 wireless AF540FGZ + Sto-fen diffuser.

With reflectors you don't have the issues you have with flash but they have their own set of annoyances, you need stands** to hold them, and prevent them from becoming airborne, and packing them up can be tricky*** but the principal advantage of working with sunlight is that is costs practically nothing, but you are a slave to the weather. I'm all for using available light: it is just that some flowers are at their best during certain times of the day - but sometimes that time of day the lighting is flat,uninteresting or simply not working with the subject. It is in those situations where flash can really come in handy.


Pentax K5IIs - SMCP-K 50mm f/1.2 @ f/1.2 1/6400th ISO 80


*Also some plants have really interesting foliage - don't neglect it.
** Having voice activated light stands A.K.A photography assistants are very useful.
*** In my collection there is a particularly over engineered metal rimmed reflector that folds out rather energetically, one of my assistants put a sticker on the cover saying "warning: decapitation hazard"

[BrianR]

If your reflector is one of those 5-in-1 versions that has a diffusion option, I'd say you have everything you need. But I would probably want to add:

• a way to fire your flash off camera
• a small diffuser to attach to your flash (can be homemade)
• a small light stand for the flash
• spring clamps so the light stand or your tripod can perform double duty stabilizing your plant in a breeze (poor mans version of a "plamp"). Also great for holding back obstructing foliage or clamping a reflector/diffusor to your lightstand/tripod.
• various coloured backdrops (I have a collection of 25 cent 12"x12" coloured cardboard from a scrapbooking store)
• long term, but potted plants are easier to work with, you can divide some of your garden stuff
• spray bottle and glycerin if you want to cheat yourself up some water droplets
• small pair of shears for clearing errant foliage
• small paintbrush and/or bulb blower if you want to clean dirt or debris off the flowers

This small (and pretty inexpensive) box of tools will give you a ton of lighting options.

A big diffuser on a sunny day is a pretty safe bet (natural light only here):




Here's a lone off-camera flash in a little softbox:




Off camera flash w/softbox + sunlight + artificial background + plant in pot and easy to move around:




Another plant in a pot and easy to move to some fall foliage for a backdrop. Good size crocosmia bulbs will bloom the first year you transplant. Cutting the flowers to move them is also an option in your own garden, but destructive for ones that don't last long in a vase afterwards.




Here's a bare flash on a plant in the shade, with the hope of mimicking morning sun so I can sleep in until 4pm (ambient light is providing the fill):




I think it's important to practice a variety of lighting options. There's no one way that works for everyone and having options to work with is always good. Have fun!

[Biff]

Wow, fabulous images with the light painting, I have to try that. Thank you. It should keep the neighbors guessing what the heck is going on in the yard too.

Thank you BrianR, those are stunning images and incredibly valuable tips.

I have to admit I kind of hit the gold mine of great responses, thank you everyone. I plan to try it all.

[Digitalis]

various coloured backdrops

If I need a coloured backdrop I use a grey reflector and simply gel my flash - overexposure lightens the colour, underexposure darkens the colour, also gels are more compact than pieces of card and you don't have the issues with keeping them clean.

[BrianR]

If I need a coloured backdrop I use a grey reflector and simply gel my flash - overexposure lightens the colour, underexposure darkens the colour, also gels are more compact than pieces of card and you don't have the issues with keeping them clean.

Definitely another handy option for the toolkit. You do tie up a flash for the background this way, so that does take away some of the compactness advantage if you end up carrying an extra around.

Most of my inserted backgrounds happen in artificial gardens (near the parking lot), or in my living room, so having a little backdrop collection handy isn't much of a burden, nor is dirt - at 25 cents each I keep spares of the colours I use most often.

Thank you BrianR, those are stunning images and incredibly valuable tips.

Thank you! Glad it was helpful