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Did some experimenting in a friend's garden with some late afternoon flash photography. The idea was to separate the flower from the background using the onboard flash so you'd focus more strongly on the flower. All images with 24-120 VR. Too much or just right?

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#3 (Flower #3) - This one works well brings out the flower nicely

#4 (Flower #2) - The best in my opinion, love the different in the pink and blue flowers

#2 and #1 Don't work for me, sorry.

I like #2 Peter, looks surreal

I'm a big fan of vivid colours and all these exhibit that.

However, the obvious presence of bright flash detracts

Bounce it/diffuse it - just make it look natural

Cheers

Peter - I agree with Barrie on these photos. #3 holds more attention due to lack of flash hot spots. A diffuser would work well

Thanks guys. Back to the drawing board. Next time I'll take my SB800

Hi Peter, I think flower #1 and #2 work well. Maybe using your SB800 you could diffuse the light a bit to get rid of the flash reflections. Also with the SB800 you can get a whole lot more control of the amount of light on the flower and the background.

The other thing that I find works is to increase shadows when you convert from raw. I've done some like that and produced an almost completely black background. That makes the flower really stand out. Almost like being in a light box.

Cheers
John

Peter

The last is the only one that really works.
is separate from the background bu virtue of the darker background and red colour that hasnt been over flashed

Steve

Nice flowers, Peter! I just would like to see bit brighter white parts of the flower #3 BTW, I seems to be missed something while I was traveling .... You were going to switch to Canon 5D ... But in your profile I see D70 and "lusting D200"

Peter
My thoughts....

Flower #4:
Really nice seperation from background, however I feel the angle chosen doesn't do justice to the flower (IMO).

Flower #1:
Great composition on this one. I find the OOF green leaf and orange background a touch distracting (could possibly be burned or cloned out).

Flower #3:
Very nice image. My preference would be to have it slightly off-centre, which might be a bit more visually pleasing (in my eyes anyway).

Flower #2:
The contrast in this one is really great. Again, I'd prefer to see it slightly off-centre.

My favourite would be Flower #1. Looking past the distractions, I feel it has the most interest whilst also showing good seperation from the background.....which I believe was the idea you were striving for.

This would certainly be a tough task using the onboard flash. With your SB800, this would be so much easier.....but perhaps less challenging !

If you do try it with the SB800, have a go putting the SB underneath or behind the flower (pointing in the direction of the camera). The translucent effects & weird shadows you can achieve make for interesting images.

Thanks for sharing....

good one but flash light is too harsh,i will also suggest bounce flash or diffuse it more,although natural light will be best for such photography..

Thanks for the comments. Definitely SB-800 next visit.

Dave Thank you for the detailed analysis. I'll see if I can fix #1 a bit as suggested.

Mikhail - switch to Canon was a setup by the mods here as an April Fools Day joke (more details HERE)

Peter
#1,#2 and #3 are very strong images. Your eye continues to develop.

Lovely, rich colors. Very nice. All of them are good.

I wish my flower pics turned out half as good.

very nice, 1,2,4 are my favorites, 2 doesnt have enough pop for me, but it well composed!
~William

Thanks for your comments gentlemen. I'm not normally known for my flower pics, so this was a gfood chance to stretch my style. I'll go back in spring and see what I can get with my SB800 and Lightsphere II

I really like 1,2 and 4. They do stand out from the background for me - almost a 3d affect. Pretty cool.

Love the colour of #1, it's got a lot of 'pop'