 Karthik Devarajan |
How to shoot close ups of flowers? I would like to know what kind of film is best suited for shooting close ups of flowers (a) under warm indoor lighting and (b) outdoors Under what conditions is the use of flash recommended and/or required? I use a Nikon N80 with 24mm & 28-105mm AF Nikkor lenses and Nikon SB80-DX flash. I've had some good results (at least I think so!) with outdoor shots (taken mostly without flash) but am having difficulty with indoor shots. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
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Ricky Lloyd |
My Personal favorites for outdoor flower shots are Fuji Velvia a nice slow 50 iso slide film, or Fuji superia 100 for negative film. I always use slower films when I can as they have less grain and I prefer Fuji film for its blue base rather than kodak which has an orange base (good for outback Australia but not flowers). For the indoor shooting of flowers you probably have tungsten lights which therfore need tungesten film of a filter to blance this (normally an 80a) This is to do with colour tempreture. Daylight film is set for 5500k (kelven), a flash is slightly warmer than this about 5700k and up which means a bluer light. Tungsten lights however are only at 3400k or 3200k which means a yellower light. Therefore shooting under house light means the colour renditions will not be accurate. So for indoors try using a flash to help balance this or move plants outdoors if possible or use tungesten film (which is rather costly) or get a filter to help. A general flash is fairly harsh for shooting flowers, and when shooting on Marco mode it is hard to use an non marco flash. But I would recommend using a diffuser which fits over the flash head, this will soften the light and if the flash can use a sync cord run it seperate from the camera body pointed at the object you want to shoot (to use a sync cord with the N80 you will need a hotshoe attachment) A flash really helps to fill out any annoying shadows and can add some nice extra colour to a flower. The other option is to use refloctors (such as white card or mirror) to fill the shadows. With all things photography its a matter of shooting and testing various things Hope that help
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Karthik Devarajan |
Thanks very much for your response. It's quite helpful. I have one other clarification: I was at a flower show in Boston recently and I was recommended to shoot with ISO 800 film for warm lighting conditions indoor. What's your take on that? I did'nt achieve the results I expected.
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