One of the rarer orchids in my region, although at the only site it can be found it could be can now be locally abundant!
This shot is slightly "fussy" but clearly shows the fused sepals forming the hood which is supposed to be like a helmet giving the orchid its name. It is very similar to the monkey/lady hybrids but the hood is much larger in relation to the petal "body"
Olympus E-3, 50mm F2, iso 200, 1/1000s at F5.6, tripod and gold reflector. Again not the ideal shooting conditions, but my first visit to this location so nice to get these into my portfolio. The orchid was in full sun and I could not use a diffuser without the background being too bright so opted to fill out the shadows with the reflector.
Posted by David Sewell on June 18, 2013 at 11:51 AM
I find flower photography difficult, Mike, so am probably not the best person to comment on this. I do, however, like the explanation of the name as I had always wondered why it was called "military".
Having spent a bit of time trying to hone my flower photography skills this last week or so, I now recognise the weather conditions need to be flat overcast light and windless, we should have plenty of the former but not much of the latter in a typical English Summer!
When the sun shines its really difficult to handle cross lighting - one side of the plant tends to burn out whilst the other side will be quite dark lacking detail - see my early purple orchid image a few weeks back as an example. You can't always position yourself with the sun behind you especially with these rarer orchids where access is fairly limited.
This image uses a gold reflector surface to fill out the shadows, it screws up the colours slightly making the shadows a touch warm - noticeable here on the flower stem, but a silver reflector can be far too harsh and a white reflector rarely has the oomph.
...and here is the same orchid but using the diffuser to try and control the lighting , whilst the lighting through the plant has evened out much better the background just isn't right for me - in open field situations where you are shooting parallel to the ground you would need to cover a huge area with a diffuser which just isn't possible.
Yep I find slightly overcast to be the best light for botanical subjects, I have and still use a box diffuser made out of translucent envelope stiffeners and will often shade bright backgrounds with my camera backpack or my jacket and fire the camera via a wireless remote and of course a longer lens to narrow the amount of bg included... There is still lots you can do to control the light in the field...
Composition wise I feel that you need to include the base of the orchid or concentrate more on the flower spike as for me it feels a touch uncomfortable with the bottom of the image cutting through the leaves and stem...
Nice picture, although the background is a bit busy for my taste. I agree with Phil regarding the composition.
Thanks for explaning the name. Very informative.
I think you have done a good job and I prefer the lighting on the first shot. Agree about the difficulties when photographing flowers, that is probably why I very rarely do it
What I struggle with at present is balancing whether to photograph the entire plant when it is reasonably tall and the usual result of reduced flower head impact or to go in much tighter eg Twayblade I automatically want to photograph the diagnostic twin basal leaves but that leaves an insignificant flower spike - I am too much half way house at present but will get the the hang of it/my eye in eventually
It is difficult and finding specimens suitable is equally hard, I have searched a large meadow full of Green Winged Orchids just to find one suitable... The best thing with digital is that the images are cheap so photograph your specimen in as many ways as is possible, often the most comfortable composition will leap out at you later whilst viewing on the computer...
All good stuff Mike. I think the way you approach flower pics depends on what you need them for or what they will be used for.
Arty stuff for one - and a tighter, closer view for ID books etc. Just my take on it.
JR
Posted by Nick Mckeown on June 22, 2013 at 6:55 AM
First image for me. Interstesting discussion here and I am with Andy on the flower photography comment. Tricky stuff.
Discussion
16 repliesThis shot is slightly "fussy" but clearly shows the fused sepals forming the hood which is supposed to be like a helmet giving the orchid its name. It is very similar to the monkey/lady hybrids but the hood is much larger in relation to the petal "body"
Olympus E-3, 50mm F2, iso 200, 1/1000s at F5.6, tripod and gold reflector. Again not the ideal shooting conditions, but my first visit to this location so nice to get these into my portfolio. The orchid was in full sun and I could not use a diffuser without the background being too bright so opted to fill out the shadows with the reflector.
David
Having spent a bit of time trying to hone my flower photography skills this last week or so, I now recognise the weather conditions need to be flat overcast light and windless, we should have plenty of the former but not much of the latter in a typical English Summer!
Keith.
When the sun shines its really difficult to handle cross lighting - one side of the plant tends to burn out whilst the other side will be quite dark lacking detail - see my early purple orchid image a few weeks back as an example. You can't always position yourself with the sun behind you especially with these rarer orchids where access is fairly limited.
This image uses a gold reflector surface to fill out the shadows, it screws up the colours slightly making the shadows a touch warm - noticeable here on the flower stem, but a silver reflector can be far too harsh and a white reflector rarely has the oomph.
Composition wise I feel that you need to include the base of the orchid or concentrate more on the flower spike as for me it feels a touch uncomfortable with the bottom of the image cutting through the leaves and stem...
All the best
Thanks for explaning the name. Very informative.
Bob
I think you have done a good job and I prefer the lighting on the first shot. Agree about the difficulties when photographing flowers, that is probably why I very rarely do it
Andy...
What I struggle with at present is balancing whether to photograph the entire plant when it is reasonably tall and the usual result of reduced flower head impact or to go in much tighter eg Twayblade I automatically want to photograph the diagnostic twin basal leaves but that leaves an insignificant flower spike - I am too much half way house at present but will get the the hang of it/my eye in eventually
It is difficult and finding specimens suitable is equally hard, I have searched a large meadow full of Green Winged Orchids just to find one suitable... The best thing with digital is that the images are cheap so photograph your specimen in as many ways as is possible, often the most comfortable composition will leap out at you later whilst viewing on the computer...
Best wishes
Keith.
Arty stuff for one - and a tighter, closer view for ID books etc. Just my take on it.
JR
Nick.