Just for interest really, a few of these Bird's-nest Orchids grow in beech woodland behind my house through May. I've not done much in the way of plant photography, so any advice welcome. I realise its a little large in the frame, but I wanted to show the structure of the flowers better at this size, I have others with more room. This image was taken at 700mm, I'm guessing something like 300mm would be better, but I currently don't own one.
That looks spot on to me . Good use of the big lens and great lighting- I must try it !
Not seen these for a few years but we used to have them. Never seen them in two's before either.
Good stuff.
JohnR
Thanks for the quick response. They seem to grow in little clusters in this wood, there is a group of three together which I tried to photograph, but they don't quite line up in the plane of focus, so had to settle for these two nearby.
Graham: why would you only use a 1.4x on moving subjects? It just increases focal length. With just the 500 the orchids were small in the frame at the minimum focus distance, I also took images at this length though.
Excellent result. It was a good decision to settle on the pair so that both were in focus, rather than the group of three with some out of focus elements.
I'm definitely in the camp of those that like their subjects big in the frame, but the only thing that I might change in your image is leaving just a little more room at the bottom of the frame.
A couple of other things to consider also. You might know this trick: place a small heap of leaves half way between the camera position and the subject to get a softly out of focus foreground at the base of the plant. And although there is nothing in the image that suggests it is necessary, and the shutter release/return on the 5D2 seems very soft, you might consider using mirror lock-up CFnIII (6) instead of the cable release to avoid any possibility of vibration from the mirror movement, and also because its another thing you don't have to remember to bring with you
I don't claim to know much about flower photography either, Lewis. I do, however, think you have a superb result here and the only additional thing I would like to see is a tad more space at the bottom of the frame.
Cracking shot! I sometimes use my 500mm for flower photography, but I tend to use extension tubes to enable closer focus, rather than a TC to increase magnification. Same (ish) final result, but there is less light loss, and no chance of image degradation caused by introducing the extra glass. Just thought I'd mention it!
(The vegetation-in-water and Early Purple Orchid shots on my blog were taken with a 500mm with tube(s) - http://jeremyinglisphotography.blogspot.com/).
All good points and nits covered above Lewis and to my eye ...... someone who wouldn't know an orchid from a daffodil..... this looks like a lovely image .
Discussion
14 repliesHi all,
Just for interest really, a few of these Bird's-nest Orchids grow in beech woodland behind my house through May. I've not done much in the way of plant photography, so any advice welcome. I realise its a little large in the frame, but I wanted to show the structure of the flowers better at this size, I have others with more room. This image was taken at 700mm, I'm guessing something like 300mm would be better, but I currently don't own one.
Thanks for looking,
Lewis.
Canon 5D mkII
Canon 500mm + 1.4x
Tripod + cable release
ISO 400
f10
1/4
DPP & CS3.
Not seen these for a few years but we used to have them. Never seen them in two's before either.
Good stuff.
JohnR
Hi John,
Thanks for the quick response. They seem to grow in little clusters in this wood, there is a group of three together which I tried to photograph, but they don't quite line up in the plane of focus, so had to settle for these two nearby.
Cheers,
Lewis.
Not sure why you needed the 1.4x though on a static subject ?
Thanks Sandra and Graham.
Graham: why would you only use a 1.4x on moving subjects? It just increases focal length. With just the 500 the orchids were small in the frame at the minimum focus distance, I also took images at this length though.
Cheers,
Lewis.
Dale
I'm definitely in the camp of those that like their subjects big in the frame, but the only thing that I might change in your image is leaving just a little more room at the bottom of the frame.
A couple of other things to consider also. You might know this trick: place a small heap of leaves half way between the camera position and the subject to get a softly out of focus foreground at the base of the plant. And although there is nothing in the image that suggests it is necessary, and the shutter release/return on the 5D2 seems very soft, you might consider using mirror lock-up CFnIII (6) instead of the cable release to avoid any possibility of vibration from the mirror movement, and also because its another thing you don't have to remember to bring with you
David
(The vegetation-in-water and Early Purple Orchid shots on my blog were taken with a 500mm with tube(s) - http://jeremyinglisphotography.blogspot.com/).
Thanks all for the tips, much appreciated.
Cheers,
Lewis.
Ian