Lighting Experiment

Last fall I built a new family room and installed a Garden (more like greenhouse) window. It stands out about 18 inches, three sides glass including the roof. Over the course of the winter it's been a fun staging area for shooting in natural light. I took the below shot today, the back window was slightly covered by my highly techical background (black placemat from the diningroom table). It's more of a snapshot (handheld at 1/30th using my 55-200) would have been sharper and had much more detail had I used a tripod. I think the natural lighting makes a huge difference.

You have the makings of a stunning photo here. Nicely done! Flowers against a black backdrop make for some awesome photos! I'd say try it again with a tripod so that you get tack sharp focus. Also, there are some spots on your makeshift backdrop that are not 100% black, so keep an eye open for little details like that as well.

Consider alternate angles for your next shot. Get lower and shoot up for example. Views that we don't normally see with our own eyes almost make for interesting photos. An outstanding effort here!

Thanks for the input Anthony! One of the many things I need to learn is to slow down and think through my shots more. I tend to get an idea and jump in missing something important along the way, but I guess that's part of the learning curve.

Ditto on everything that Anthony recommended. I would also try a vertical shot with tulips.
I absolutely love the color and the natural light. It's beautiful as is and with a tripod will be spectacular!

cnyram said:

...One of the many things I need to learn is to slow down and think through my shots more. I tend to get an idea and jump in missing something important along the way, but I guess that's part of the learning curve.

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We all suffer from that affliction, Rick. Sometimes we get excited and just start shooting, which can lead to missed opportunities or the mentality that we can just fix it later in Photoshop. I'm notorious for the latter myself on many occasions.

Tripod or not you got a great exposure. The softness and color is outstanding. Helene is correct. The lines of the flowers are vertical and the framing should also be vertical. The horizontal framing gives it a cut off look. Also some of my best shots I can blame on my mistakes.

wow, great shot you got there

Definitely a nice shot. And again, not to sound like a broken record, this shot would have been better shot in vertical mode. Great colour and light, though. Nice work.

Thanks for all the comments!, lots of good advice. Perhaps I will develope a checklist to keep myself in line Nothing worse than taking a shot and realizing later that you forgot to change something like resolution.

Great shot. I don't mind the softness at all. I think it gives the flowers more feel. The light is just splendid. The crop, I agree could be made different.
When you take time to do shots like this, take a little more time and do more (different distance, vertical, etc.).
But it is a good shot that keeps my eyes on the picture.

Definitely like the softness. That and the black background really makes the flowers pop.

A beautiful shot. I love how the light illuminates the beautiful colors against the black background. Well done !!!

Thanks for the feedback!

I like the shot.

I appreciated the comment about cropping it as a vertical instead of a horizontal. That's a great idea.