Photographing orchids

[gonewild]

Gonewild and NYEric, it's called white balancing. This is done with all cameras and video equipment before shooting any sort of footage/pictures. You might want to look at your camera's instruction manual to see if they have a section on white balancing to help you find the proper buttons in your specific models.

No not "white balance". Don't confuse white balance with exposure.

White balance is different. White balance is when you adjust (correct) for the color of the light source. The +/- is exposure compensation.

When you adjust the white balance the color tone of the picture is changed in a red or blue direction to give your image the color as if it were in natural daylight.

If you adjust the exposure compensation the intensity of the light is changed. Moving in the "-" direction makes the image darker and moving in the "+" direction makes the image lighter.

It the case of a light colored flower against a black background the camera light meter wants to adjust everything in the picture to a medium grey color. That means it tries to make the blacks lighter and the whites darker. Since the black background occupies a larger percentage of the area of the picture the camera thinks it is more important so it adds light to the picture. This added light causes the flower to become too bright and blown out. The solution is is use the "-" button to tell the camera to remove light. You control the amount of light removed until the flower has the correct exposure by darkening the flower. When you darken the flower you also darken the background at the same time. (a darker background is what you wanted in the first place).

 

[Erythrone]

A tripod would help you immensely, Eric. Seriously.

Maybe Santa Claus could help ?

 

[Erythrone]

No not "white balance". Don't confuse white balance with exposure.

White balance is different. White balance is when you adjust (correct) for the color of the light source. The +/- is exposure compensation.

When you adjust the white balance the color tone of the picture is changed in a red or blue direction to give your image the color as if it were in natural daylight.

If you adjust the exposure compensation the intensity of the light is changed. Moving in the "-" direction makes the image darker and moving in the "+" direction makes the image lighter.

It the case of a light colored flower against a black background the camera light meter wants to adjust everything in the picture to a medium grey color. That means it tries to make the blacks lighter and the whites darker. Since the black background occupies a larger percentage of the area of the picture the camera thinks it is more important so it adds light to the picture. This added light causes the flower to become too bright and blown out. The solution is is use the "-" button to tell the camera to remove light. You control the amount of light removed until the flower has the correct exposure by darkening the flower. When you darken the flower you also darken the background at the same time. (a darker background is what you wanted in the first place).

I am glad you wrote this message since it is so difficult for me to write something like this in English.:sob:

 

[gonewild]

I am glad you wrote this message since it is so difficult for me to write something like this in English.:sob:

It was not easy for me to write it in English either!

 

[Erythrone]

So you are far better than me in this language!

 

[gonewild]

So you are far better than me in this language!

Yes but English is my first language!

 

[cnycharles]

sometimes it's hard to keep the +'s and -'s straight in your own head when trying to explain 'light' to someone else. I believe eric said that he uses 'smart' phones to take pictures, so there won't be any true buttons, just menus to search through until the right 'screen' comes up, if there is one for adjustment on those things. too bad the phone isn't 'smart' enough to figure out what the right light level should be

 

[gonewild]

too bad the phone is 'smart' enough to figure out what the right light level should be

Yeah if it really was smart it would know flower was what is important!
But then what does a phone care about a flower anyways?
Phones really do love the darkness of cyberspace, that is just the nature of their species.

 

[jblanford]

Well for what it's worth, this is what I do for my pics. I have a cheap P&S camera, I'll post a picture of my setup, didn't cost much at all the tripods are from Goodwill at about $4-$5 each, the side clip lights have CFLs daylight 60w. the top&back light is a daylight fluorescent which I rase or lower depends on the plant, the black BG is felt from a craft store. So what I do is compose my shot then I have my wife place a white card behind the plant I press the shutter button half way down the camrea sets the exposure & focus then I have her drop the card I take the picture. Then I have a cheap Microsoft Digital program where I sharpen, lighten, darken, crop, and add a border. I hope this is of some help, I find it fun and not to expensive.... Jim.

 

[Paul Mc]

LOL... Ok, forget what I said! Thought I understood white balancing, but apparently I had a wrong notion of it after all. My bad.

 

[Paul Mc]

Jblanford, now that's the set!!!! WOW!!! I'm totally bowing to the master!

 

[SlipperFan]

Jim, you might try diffusion screens in front of your lights. They will cut down on glare. (You'll also have to increase exposure a bit.)

@ Lance -- good explanation.

About smart phones and their photos: Most don't have the close-up capability that is required for good flower photography. And the screens are so small it's hard (at least for me) to critique what I see on that screen for appropriate sharpness. But the good thing with any digital cameras vs. film cameras is that you should be able to see fairly well whether the exposure is good or not. Or at least close.

 

[Ozpaph]

No not "white balance". Don't confuse white balance with exposure.

White balance is different. White balance is when you adjust (correct) for the color of the light source. The +/- is exposure compensation.

When you adjust the white balance the color tone of the picture is changed in a red or blue direction to give your image the color as if it were in natural daylight.

If you adjust the exposure compensation the intensity of the light is changed. Moving in the "-" direction makes the image darker and moving in the "+" direction makes the image lighter.

It the case of a light colored flower against a black background the camera light meter wants to adjust everything in the picture to a medium grey color. That means it tries to make the blacks lighter and the whites darker. Since the black background occupies a larger percentage of the area of the picture the camera thinks it is more important so it adds light to the picture. This added light causes the flower to become too bright and blown out. The solution is is use the "-" button to tell the camera to remove light. You control the amount of light removed until the flower has the correct exposure by darkening the flower. When you darken the flower you also darken the background at the same time. (a darker background is what you wanted in the first place).

Excellent explanation. Thank-you.

 

[The Mutant]

Wow, thanks for all the information! I didn't realize I have one of those +/- buttons, or rather, that I could do more with it than just delete pictures. :rollhappy:

I'm now having fun playing with exposure, colour balance, and white balance. Maybe my camera isn't as crappy as I've accused it of being, but it's more of an owner/technological impaired idiot issue.

Dang, there goes my easy to take photos... One shouldn't start caring. :wink:

 

[NYEric]

I can sympathize with your explanation!

 

[The Orchid Boy]

Great tips and thanks for sharing your pictures. I'll have to post a few of my better shots.