white to me is more difficult than red.

[JBW]

I was given excellent advice re sharpening and merging. What do you think of the new and improved(?) version.

[Steaphany]

Instead of relying on your camera's meter, why don't you consider getting a hand held and metering by incident light ? Incident light metering will set the exposure independent to the color and brightness of objects in the scene. Whites will stay white while being properly exposed.

Sekonic has a nice comparison of Metering Techniques

[JBW]

Instead of relying on your camera's meter, why don't you consider getting a hand held and metering by incident light ? Incident light metering will set the exposure independent to the color and brightness of objects in the scene. Whites will stay white while being properly exposed.

Sekonic has a nice comparison of Metering Techniques

I am a very clumsy person and also one with a temporary cash flow problem

[Shadowman]

Nicely done, white is always difficult to photograph whether in shade or direct sunlight, perhaps a bit of improvisation is needed with a reflector.

[Wavelength]

Very nice

[DanK]

Brian,

Which aspect of this do are you finding difficult?

The exposure looks fine to me. I opened it in photoshop and saw no clipping. You could bring the whites down a tad, but basically, I think it's fine.

If you are referring to the difficulty in bringing out detail in white flowers: assuming good metering, which you have, this is usually a matter of the angle of the light and postprocessing. I agree with John--using a reflector could help, as you could direct some light from one side, which would bring out textures and lines. You can also do this with diffused flash. I do most of my flowers indoors, and partly for this reason, I almost always have at least one light coming from the side. I'll post below an example that shows how light that is not straight on can bring out details in white flowers. I took it outdoors, in our garden.

You can bring out the textures more in postprocessing, if you don't overdo it. In Lightroom (you don't use this, but a lot of folks on the forum do), you can do this with the clarity slider. With other software, you can make a local contrast adjustment. See this post for an explanation of how to do this with unsharp mask sharpening.

I disagree with Steaphany. Flowers are one of the main things I do, and I don't even own an incident meter. You can meter this well with the reflective meter in your camera, but if you goof, you will see it, and you can just re-shoot with a changed exposure.

Dan

[JBW]

Nicely done, white is always difficult to photograph whether in shade or direct sunlight, perhaps a bit of improvisation is needed with a reflector.

I actually now have a bag to carry some accessories into the garden. I really do need to remember to take it out.

[JBW]

Brian,

Which aspect of this do are you finding difficult?

The exposure looks fine to me. I opened it in photoshop and saw no clipping. You could bring the whites down a tad, but basically, I think it's fine.

If you are referring to the difficulty in bringing out detail in white flowers: assuming good metering, which you have, this is usually a matter of the angle of the light and postprocessing. I agree with John--using a reflector could help, as you could direct some light from one side, which would bring out textures and lines. You can also do this with diffused flash. I do most of my flowers indoors, and partly for this reason, I almost always have at least one light coming from the side. I'll post below an example that shows how light that is not straight on can bring out details in white flowers. I took it outdoors, in our garden.

You can bring out the textures more in postprocessing, if you don't overdo it. In Lightroom (you don't use this, but a lot of folks on the forum do), you can do this with the clarity slider. With other software, you can make a local contrast adjustment. See this post for an explanation of how to do this with unsharp mask sharpening.

I disagree with Steaphany. Flowers are one of the main things I do, and I don't even own an incident meter. You can meter this well with the reflective meter in your camera, but if you goof, you will see it, and you can just re-shoot with a changed exposure.

Dan

Sony Express comes with a clarity slider. Perhaps it is time to learn how to use it. Your post is definitely what I would like to be able to do. A little more from the side, maybe a bit of flash and the clarity slider. Lots to work with. My problem with my shot is the dirty look of the bottom of the flowers.

[DanK]

My problem with my shot is the dirty look of the bottom of the flowers.

I think that is just lighting

[Geoff F]

The potential problem with white flowers is that as you increase brightness you lose fine detail; which is why I tend to make merges of two different Raw conversions or better still shoot with different settings for a merge.

But this has worked well for a single shot where you have managed to keep the highlights just below the over exposure point.

[JBW]

The potential problem with white flowers is that as you increase brightness you lose fine detail; which is why I tend to make merges of two different Raw conversions or better still shoot with different settings for a merge.

But this has worked well for a single shot where you have managed to keep the highlights just below the over exposure point.

I have started to have the in cmera histogram on the screen. That plus the here's what I shot histogram is helping me with the finer brightness details.