Dandelion

[kipper]

This was taken about the same time that I took the photo of the Cabbage White Butterfly. Again this was shot with the 70-200VR with TC1.7IIE handheld.


Focal Length: 340mm
Shutter: 1/160
Aperture: F/11
ISO: 200
Metering Mode: Spot


<img src="http://www.morganpost.com/Dandelion.jpg">

[dooda]

Excellent Excellent. It works really well on the black backdrop. Great detail, good DOF (I get a little tired of stuff being purposefully out of focus, eventhough I often get seduced by the temptation). This is quite a nice photo. Good job.

[stubbsy]

Darryl

Great shot with THAT lens. What was the light source?

[kipper]

Have to check what day it was but it was taken on Friday at 5.38pm. Think we had something like 32degC down here in Melbourne on that day. So it was very sunny in the backyard. Sun, no clouds, blue skies. At that time of day the sunlight falls into the back of the yard and sets at the back. So the light would have been behind the subject slightly.

[stubbsy]

Have to check what day it was but it was taken on Friday at 5.38pm. Think we had something like 32degC down here in Melbourne on that day. So it was very sunny in the backyard. Sun, no clouds, blue skies. At that time of day the sunlight falls into the back of the yard and sets at the back. So the light would have been behind the subject slightly.

Thanks for that. It had me intrigued because the dandelion is so wonderfully lit and I hadn't figured on mother nature being so obliging -esp. in Melbourne

[kipper]

Well we're on our 3rd or 4th day of 30degC+, so we don't always have rain. Just a lot of the time

[sikx5]

Wow nice picture there, Really like that one. Did you go blow it out afterwards?

[Killakoala]

Very nice and sharp. I like the lean it has too, just enough to add a bit of interest and cancel out the 'i've seen one before' negativity. Beautifully done. Quite arty.

However, there is a bit of chromatic abberation on the edges of the seeds, especially at the top. There's no known cure for that except shooting on film

[Nicole]

Really nice pic. I also like the composition and the background really sets it off.

[kipper]

Thanks. I setout to take a few test shots with my relatively new lens, saw the dandelions and started shooting. While I did intend to get the shot of the dandelion from this perspective, the black background was a total fluke. I'm not entirely sure how you get these sort of effects as I've seen them many a times before. What I believe it has to do with is the small apperture not allowing much light in and having nothing behind the subject for quite a distance. In this case the closest thing to the subject given the perspective I was shooting from was grass, a path and a fence. However I think the path and fence were a good 3-4m away.

Can anybody else give us some insight on what causes it, and how to repeat the effect everytime when shooting a subject like this?

[Nicole]

According to this book I've got on macro techniques (I'm a book freak) it says that black backgrounds are created as light falls off rapidly. If you want to include the backgroun in this situation it says to use a TTL flashgun linked to the others.

[kipper]

K, I didn't use flash at all in this shot

So if I wanted to include the others in this shot I should of put a flash targetted at them?

[Nicole]

It also suggests another option. Putting a clump of grass, rocks etc far enough behind the object to create a blurred background. I think some people also put pieces of white/coloured paper or a cloth in the background too. Maybe these options would be preferrable but I guess it depends on the situation...

[Matt. K]

Nicely controlled Kipper! Lots of impact from a low key subject. The D70 rocks!

[sirhc55]

Nicely controlled pic Kipper, although it looks to me as if the light is coming from the right ude to blown areas in the dandelion and the light on the stalk.

A technique I use to knock out a background to black in macro photography is to use f/32 and flash - does a marvellous job.

[mic]

Hmmmmm This black background in great, well done Kip I love the shot.
Going to have to experiment with this Black Background.

Well done, even if it was a fluke getting it.

Something so simple can be so interesting.

Gees, I better have another Red, I'm getting excited over a Dandy Lion

Mic.

[kipper]

Yep, that's right sirhc. It's behind and bit to the right.

[Gordon]

....the black background was a total fluke. I'm not entirely sure how you get these sort of effects as I've seen them many a times before.
Can anybody else give us some insight on what causes it, and how to repeat the effect everytime when shooting a subject like this?

I like to have black backgrounds on my macro shots if I want just the subject and nothing else to show. It is generally just a matter of making sure your backgound is at least 5 or 6 stops below the illumination on your subject. This can be by having the background in heavy shadow, and sunlight on your subject as you did, but that can be hard to control sometimes.
Using a flash will give you more control, and as was posted earlier, using a small aperture does work, but more importantly is to make sure you have nothing close behind the subject. You can have a white wall back a few metres when using flash for close up macro, and the background will still be black, just make sure the wall or other objects are far enough back to be at least 5 or 6 stops underexposed.

One important thing to remember when using flash in these circumstances is that if the subject does not fill an reasonably large part of your frame, then you will need to use exposure compensation for auto flash (TTL with the D70) metering. Anything up to 4 or 5 stops for a very small subject. The camera is assuming a subject of 18% grey filling the metering area, so if you only have a small fraction of that area illuminated and the rest of the scene is black, then the camera will tell the flash to pump out more light to give the "correct" amount of light refected back to the meter. You then end up with the subject blown right out, overexposed by several stops. Using spot metering will sometimes help a bit, but the largest part of the subject is not always in the centre of the frame, epsecially with some insects! Check out some of the pics I posted in the "why I bought the 105" thread.
Of course manual flash and trial and error works very well too, having instant access to the histogram takes the guesswork out of it

Gordon

[mic]

Thanks Gordon for explaining that,
Sounds like you have had a bit more trail & error at it than me.

Cheers,

Mic.

[Matt. K]

Thanks guys! I'm starting to learn something about this "velcro" photography.

[flipfrog]

i like ur style kipper!

great shot

[Onyx]

Nice one kipper, very artisitic with black background. I didn't know it could be achieved without a flash (usually a fast shutter and small aperture would be enough to knock out everything but what the flash lights up). It certainly looks like you knew what you were doing!