Cymbidium Orchid

[rudi]

Trying to find my way in indoorphotography/ligthning, I shot more Cymbidium orchids ...

Here I used one speedlight with a Gary fong diffuser, off camera, shot into a homemade 'softbox',
in combination with reflectors.

I am interested in any lightning advice, but off course all input/comments are welcomed and appreciated !!

[Rebel]

I'm no expert on this type of photography but these look really good to me Rudi!

They are so sharp and the detail is brilliant.

[DanK]

Very nice.

I'm looking at these on an uncalibrated monitor during my lunch break, so I am not too confident that I am seeing them the way they would appear on a better monitor and at a larger size.

I like the lighting. I assume it is your use of reflectors, but you have managed to avoid the flat lighting that you sometimes get with a single source.

I have only one suggestion. It's hard to see at this size, but they seem a tad oversharpened to me.

[ashcroft]

Very good, Rudi. You have a good lens there, I have one myself. Did you just do one shot at f/22, or is it stacked? You seem to have got very good DOF, even for f/22. The lighting is fine. Good shot.

[deetheturk]

Never tried this before Rudi, so I can't give any advice on lighting but both images look great to me

[Shadowman]

Nice captures.

[rudi]

I'm no expert on this type of photography ....

Thanks Matt, so that makes two off us...

[rudi]

Very nice.

I'm looking at these on an uncalibrated monitor during my lunch break, so I am not too confident that I am seeing them the way they would appear on a better monitor and at a larger size.

I like the lighting. I assume it is your use of reflectors, but you have managed to avoid the flat lighting that you sometimes get with a single source.

I have only one suggestion. It's hard to see at this size, but they seem a tad oversharpened to me.

Thanks Dan. About sharpening. After downsizing for webdisplay I used the Nik Sharpening tool and dialed the opacity back to
abt 35% I think, but I will look again.

[rudi]

Very good, Rudi. You have a good lens there, I have one myself. Did you just do one shot at f/22, or is it stacked? You seem to have got very good DOF, even for f/22. The lighting is fine. Good shot.

Thanks Rob. Only one shot at f22 this time. I did some stacks, not yet processed...

[rudi]

Thanks David and John for comments.

[IzzieK]

Rudi, why is your cymbidium pinkish red? The one that I bought recently has greenish flowers...anyway, I like #2 best even if it is softer on the red dots of the flower. The first one I like the red dots because it is more sharper...( must my my eyeglasses...)

[DanK]

Hi Rudi,

I am now at home and looked with a better monitor. I don't know whether what I saw was a sharpening artifact. It might just be the way that flower is. The edges of the petals in some places seem to show very thin halos, which can arise from too much sharpening, particularly if a large radius is used. However, this might not be from sharpening at all. I can't tell from this.

Dan

[ashcroft]

Hi Rudi,

I am now at home and looked with a better monitor. I don't know whether what I saw was a sharpening artifact. It might just be the way that flower is. The edges of the petals in some places seem to show very thin halos, which can arise from too much sharpening, particularly if a large radius is used. However, this might not be from sharpening at all. I can't tell from this.

Dan

That might possibly be the structure of orchids. I have noticed this when shooting some orchids. They can have a whitish crystal effect on the petals, and in the past I thought I had over-sharpened.

[Stagecoach]

Very good Rudi. Your lighting has worked well with no glaring shadows.

I too think this is a bit too sharp but I also have a preference for not seeing every bit of a close up of orchids with all edges like a razor so I'm biased

[rudi]

Rudi, why is your cymbidium pinkish red? The one that I bought recently has greenish flowers...anyway, I like #2 best even if it is softer on the red dots of the flower. The first one I like the red dots because it is more sharper...( must my my eyeglasses...)

Sorry to disappoint you but we have only this pinkish red, a completely red and a pink Cymbidium .

Thanks for the comments. Hope all is well with your eyes...

[rudi]

Hi Rudi,

I am now at home and looked with a better monitor. I don't know whether what I saw was a sharpening artifact. It might just be the way that flower is. The edges of the petals in some places seem to show very thin halos, which can arise from too much sharpening, particularly if a large radius is used. However, this might not be from sharpening at all. I can't tell from this.

Dan

Thanks Dan for pointing out the thin halos, much appreciated. I must admit I had not noticed them before, I guess I was too busy with my lightning things.....
I took a closer look to see iff I could determine what has happened.
As Rob pointed out, it might be the structure of orchids. In real life the edges of some petals have a narrow distinctive white edge.
For this shot, I carefully placed black cards between the flowers (the big chief was watching..).
In post I darkened the background a bit more. This, the black cards and the flash might have 'enhanced' the white edge even more.
A little sharpening after downsizing, and this was what I got.....Just my thoughts...

[rudi]

Very good Rudi. Your lighting has worked well with no glaring shadows.

I too think this is a bit too sharp but I also have a preference for not seeing every bit of a close up of orchids with all edges like a razor so I'm biased

Thanks Grahame for your comments, Always appreciated.
Lucky me I didn't cut myself

[chauncey]

FWIW Rudi...when I macro-shoot my orchids for the purposes of stacking and photo-merging for
extra large images:
I only sharpen in LR...when your that close, the petals do take-on a crystalline look that gives the
appearance of high noise levels, lending to an over-sharpened "look" to the flower, especially when
viewing at 100%.

Tis the nature of the beast!

[DanK]

FWIW Rudi...when I macro-shoot my orchids for the purposes of stacking and photo-merging for
extra large images:
I only sharpen in LR...when your that close, the petals do take-on a crystalline look that gives the
appearance of high noise levels, lending to an over-sharpened "look" to the flower, especially when
viewing at 100%.

Tis the nature of the beast!

If you sharpen in LR, which is how I also do most of my flowers, it can help to apply a fairly substantial masking, e.g., >50%. That will reduce the crystalline, noisy appearance, but it won't of course make much difference for the edges, which is what caught my eye in this case.

I have recently started playing with PS smart sharpen for some macro work, but frankly, I don't feel I understand it well yet. I have do more reading about it and experiment more.

BTW, I find that stacking itself sometimes can create a crystalline appearance, along with false specular highlights. That is one reason I often use Zerene DMap for flowers. It seems to do better at preserving textures, at the cost of a tad less detail (not always noticeable) than PMax.

[chauncey]

Thanks for that info Dan...makes sense!