Macro flower photographs

Peter said:
Finally spring seems to be arriving in my garden. The first flowers appear and I am really happy to try out the 105mm macro lens on these. Much better quality than what I got with the Ricoh GX200 (but a lot heavier and more difficult to keep still of course ).

I feel that it is going to be a good spring and summer for me macro-wise.

Dag Peter,
Een leuke verrassing een Nederlander met mooie opnames in deze forum te mogen ontmoeten.
Ik heb in mijn Haagse tijd voor 1981 ook altijd met Nikon gewerkt in een foto club van een amerikaans bedrijf.
Vandaag aan de dag met Canon en ik woon sinds 1981 in Glendora, een plaats van 53,000 inwoners ongeveer 30 km oost van LA. Ik ben wel 75 jaar oud, maar ik werk als photograaf om makelaars hun huizen te fotograferen. Prive doe ik ook close-up and macro werk. Je heb mooie opnamen van bloemen met voor mij en mijn vrouw hele bekende namen.
Sorry folks, but I felt the need to answer and intro myself to Peter, being also a Dutchy, in the Dutch language.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ronny

Peter said:
Finally spring seems to be arriving in my garden. The first flowers appear and I am really happy to try out the 105mm macro lens on these. Much better quality than what I got with the Ricoh GX200 (but a lot heavier and more difficult to keep still of course ).

I feel that it is going to be a good spring and summer for me macro-wise.

Dag Peter,
Een leuke verrassing een Nederlander met mooie opnames in deze forum te mogen ontmoeten.
Ik heb in mijn Haagse tijd voor 1981 ook altijd met Nikon gewerkt in een foto club van een amerikaans bedrijf.
Vandaag aan de dag met Canon en ik woon sinds 1981 in Glendora, een plaats van 53,000 inwoners ongeveer 30 km oost van LA. Ik ben wel 75 jaar oud, maar ik werk als photograaf om makelaars hun huizen te fotograferen. Prive doe ik ook close-up and macro werk. Je heb mooie opnamen van bloemen met voor mij en mijn vrouw hele bekende namen.
Sorry folks, but I felt the need to answer and intro myself to Peter, being also a Dutchy, in the Dutch language.

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That first post feels like a long time ago when I look at how this thread has grown since then. I enjoy all the flowers we get to see and I like the fact that people from all over the world can share a common hobby.

'Dutch on'
Ha Ronny, leuk om te horen dat je de thread leuk vindt. Ik doe mijn best (meestal met hulp van mijn vrouw) om de juiste namen bij de bloemen te zetten. Goede oefening voor mezelf en hopelijk blijft er iets van hangen. Het is altijd grappig om te bedenken dat je in een forum als dit contact legt met mensen wereldwijd en in dit geval bijzonder om te horen dat je 30 jaar geleden vlak bij mij in de buurt woonde. Ik studeerde toen in Leiden en woonde in Haarlem (waar ik nog steeds woon). Tegenwoordig reis ik zelf heel vaak naar de VS, meestal naar de oostkust. Geniet van de thread.
'Dutch off'

http://www.singhstylestudio.com/flow...wers_00102.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6170/...44da78a0_b.jpg
Still having trouble with the name of this little flower...

This is an african violet plant that happily grows in a window in my studio. It is my go to subject when it is snowing and blowing outside. This is a 20 image focal stack. http://i42.tinypic.com/143ovq1.jpg

Overall, I like the wonderful detail you achieved through focus stacking, but I found the overall image to be too bright. Not sure of your PP program, but in this edit, using CS5, I used a slight curves adjustment where I reset the black and white points and a levels adjustment to enhance the shadows. I tried to maintain the luminosity in the flower and stems by using the layer adjustment panels and painting out those areas at 7, 17, and 27%. This is obviously much harder to accomplish on a copy instead of the original.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6114/...65e2f04b_z.jpg

thank you I see improvements I can make in my work flow

A couple of close-ups.

1.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-R...05_0007-nf.jpg

2.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-K...05_0016-nf.jpg

3.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-E...11105_0066.jpg

4.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-i...05_0141-nf.jpg

5.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Y...11105_0355.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7...1_Nov_1677.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3...1_Nov_1667.jpg

http://i44.tinypic.com/2h2eatu.jpg

If you look at the face in the photo it's easy to see why this Iris is called a wild Iris.
Photo taken with a Nikon D200 and Sigma 105 f2.8 macro lens.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BJ Denning

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7...1_Nov_1677.jpg

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I have made some photos like this one and most of the time they are a bit boring. This one though, due to the colors and black background looks very good I think.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by terry j

http://i44.tinypic.com/2h2eatu.jpg

If you look at the face in the photo it's easy to see why this Iris is called a wild Iris.
Photo taken with a Nikon D200 and Sigma 105 f2.8 macro lens.

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Great colours Terry. I have to get a black sheet to use as background. Noticed that a few people have black backgrounds and they do look good with some flowers.

[IMG]http://i43.tinypic.com/2py1hlz.jpg[/IMG]

Picture was taken in Nikon D90 70-300 MM VR lense at 300mm at 1/13s and F22 hand held

Those focus stacked images are amazing - how is a shoot conducted?

Thanks.

[IMG]http://i41.tinypic.com/30wnn1u.jpg[/IMG]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Letrow

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6170/...44da78a0_b.jpg
Still having trouble with the name of this little flower...

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Can't say for sure, but it looks like Lobelia

Wendy

http://i42.tinypic.com/2ij3hc5.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Letrow

I have made some photos like this one and most of the time they are a bit boring. This one though, due to the colors and black background looks very good I think.

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Thanks. This was shot at the local botanical garden. The dark background was achieved though apeture/shutter

First visit to this thread - I take flower photos a lot and am awed by what I see here. Here are a couple of mine:

Camellia
http://i42.tinypic.com/hv70br.jpg

and Plumeria
http://i41.tinypic.com/k9zyag.jpg

Feedback appreciated -

Peter just for information. As it was very windy while the flower was in bloom I had to cut the flower and photograph it in my homemade light box with the black background. The lighting was natural light.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Letrow

Great colours Terry. I have to get a black sheet to use as background. Noticed that a few people have black backgrounds and they do look good with some flowers.

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