Vacant fruit

When we see these seeds/fruits in spring, they usually have a wasp in residence. This one was vacant, making it a candidate for an indoor portrait. I used three Canon 600EX-RT (radio controlled flash units that can be positioned almost anywhere) to highlight as much texture as I could, as well as showing the microscopic fibers around the stem.

In the first shot, I allowed a slight depression in the front to drop into shadow.

In the second version, I went for a graphic look, using high contrast and an angle that made the most of a two dimensional shape.

For variety, here's a monochrome version, with a fingertip for scale.

The final image is a focus stack of six shots. When magnification is high, it isn't possible to get much depth of field. Flat objects like postage stamps are relatively easy to render with fine detail, but something with depth comparable to lateral dimensions is not likely to be manageable with a single shot. I focused first on the nearest point, then gradually focused farther out for successive images. I then opened the six shots in Photoshop CS6 and allowed the program to blend them, using the sharpest portions of each.

By the way, the background was a very high tech piece of equipment: a black sweatshirt.

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Things to Photograph When the Weather is Ugly

Many times, nasty weather enables the most striking landscape photos. All you have to do is protect your gear and be sure you yourself aren't threatened by lightning or high winds. That's all! Easily said, but sometimes not easy to do. And what about when it's just a harmless but boring rain, no unusual light to go along with it, and you're almost home already?


When the rain is relentless, the light gives out and there's nothing interesting to see outside, you can always call it a day and make a cup of tea. If you "cheat" and steep leaves that come in a bag, there might even be something worth a photo. I usually drink actual tea, whether green, black or white, but this was a lemon ginger herbal concoction, and I noticed that the colors were surprisingly close to the ceramic counter tile underneath the glass saucer.


Out came two speedlights (flash), one on the left bounced off a white plastic card, and one on the right diffused and flagged (prevented from hitting the camera lens) with a folded paper towel. The cross lighting helped emphasize the textures of herbs, spices, paper, and glass.

I wasn't the only one who chose to hunker down indoors.

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Tulips

As you've seen if you've followed this blog, I've been known to hunt up flowers pushing their way through winter weather, even ice and snow. Today I took advantage of cultivated flowers, a lovely group of tulips that were a gift to my wife Pam from our friend Maki. Pam allowed me to borrow them and photograph the arrangement in my studio, where I could use a plain background and controlled lighting. Using fabric scrims, I set up a kind of diffusion tent around three sides, so there was mostly soft light from behind, left and right, as well as a broad source in front of the subject and a bit to camera left. I wanted enough cross lighting to show texture and shape, but an overall look of surround lighting to bring out the delicacy of the tulip blossoms.

  Here is the whole, in a vase.

I got in a little closer and experimented with character and implied movement.

In this one I was aiming for depth.

This angle yielded an apparently linear array, though all I did was rotate the vase.

Tulips in "fog", thanks to lighting, contrast and perspective:

All of the photos were done with a 70-200 mm zoom on a full frame camera (Canon 5D Mk II).

I would love to be able to visit a field of tulips someday. Until then, I'll content myself with an occasional play session with indoor flowers.

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