white on white

[chauncey]

Allow me to preface this by saying that I am cheap in that I never use the real thing when artificial is cheaper.
Here is a white rose on a white cloth in the morning sun perched atop my brand spanking new utility cart.



Does it work?

[Shadowman]

If does, nice image.

[Mike Buckley]

I'm so disappointed to learn that your white cloth is fake.

Very nice lighting on most of the rose. Unfortunately, the hard shadows on the cloth and the rear, lower petal of the rose are distracting. If you place diffusion material between the sunlight and the scene, that issue would definitely be improved if not completely solved. You also might have to rearrange the cloth to avoid the dark patch in the lower right corner of the scene.

[Mike Buckley]

What is creating the strong blue tones in your white cloth (on my calibrated and profiled monitor)? I wasn't going to ask, but the more I look at the photo the more they bother me.

[tao2]

What's a utility cart...?

[IzzieK]

William -- if you did not include the stem of leaves at the back and just concentrated on the rose, and if you did not mention your cheap rose, you could have fooled me. I grow roses and there are times I have some that doesn't look real...how about blurring the green. Then there will not be any question about your rose.

Anyway, it works for me -- apart from the green leaves...

And Boab... a utility cart is a tray, like a TV tray with wheels. I use mine for bringing dishes to the dining table or when we have visitors, it is where the drinks I serve get the lounge room. There are other uses for it too. I don't know what men do to theirs so mine is a woman's version of using it. Men probably uses their to put screws and nails and putty cans along with other tools they use around when they are trying to fix broken things women ask them to do...

[chauncey]

Part deux...

Aside from the fact that it's fake...this was done late afternoon with sun directly behind the camera, as the morning one was.



Were I to use a real flower, in natural light only...would side lighting work better and maybe use a diffuser?
Currently, my only lighting consists of a couple shop lights, what should be done in an indoor scenario?

[Shadowman]

You could try using both lights and eliminate all shadows.

[chauncey]

Will try that...does the white on white even work, from an artistic viewpoint?

[Mike Buckley]

White on white is a fabulous concept! If you plan to consistently make still life photos (actually, any photos), I strongly recommend the fourth edition of Light: Science & Magic. Aside from tons of great information, the book even devotes a section to photographing white on white. There is no question that the cost of the book is far less than the cost of your utility cart.

By the way, the shadows in your second photo prove that the sun could not have been directly behind the camera as you explained; it was mostly to the left side (unless you flipped the image, in which case it was to the right ).

[Shadowman]

Will try that...does the white on white even work, from an artistic viewpoint?

Yes, look up Avedon lighting.

[jcuknz]

My secondhand copy of Light Science and Magic cost me less than $10 hough it is written for film users rather than digital.

When I was into photographing flowers my diffuser was some muslin sewn in a ring of spring steel obtained by ripping off the rubber of a bicyle tire ... being spring steel meant I could fold it into a quarter of its working size to fit in my camera bag. Long time ago now when I used film and carried a large bag of gear ... was fit in those days

On my uncalibrated screen which I know is too bright both shots are dreadfully blown and need the diffuser to help in the harsh sunlight.

[chauncey]

I've got that book, perhaps...perhaps it would be a good thing to actually read it.