--- David Brooks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Last week i caught the tail end of a local cable
> show, in wicth a local photographer was giving macro
> flower shooting tips.I missed most of it but did
> manage to
> hear 1-2 of them.
> He was obvioulsy in a large green house doing this
> and it
> got me a thinkun.
> We have several large green house's in the area and
> was
> wondering if any of the macro shooters on the list
> ever contacted a facility like these and get
> permmisson
> to shoot for an hour or so at a not to busy for them
> time.
>
> Thanks
> Dave Brooks
>
______________________________
All you usually have to do is ask. Ask the florist
which is their favorites and shoot a 1/2 roll just on
them. When you come back, give them prints and they'll
invite you back to see new flowers/blooms as they
arrive, especially rare items like flowering
bromeliads. A working relationship (sucking up to) the
director/manager of the local greenhouse or Botanica
can be a boon to those who shoot flowers.
Make friends with your local Florist**.
**With the caution that many of them are Gay and may
take your approach as a come-on. Keep it business-like
inthat case or just back-off.
1. Be sure to have at least a 500FTZ flash for your
macro TTL shots. You will find that TTL shots on
isolated flowers/clutches of flowers will blow out the
background, isolating the flower/blooms in a field of
dramatic blackness. Even better for this job,
especially for close ups, is an AF400T "Broomhandle"
flash because you have the flash head over and to the
side of the bloom, giving you a little contours and
shadows and you can depress the head for
close-ups/macros.
2. Shooting flowers sometimes take two people: one to
shoot and one to position the flash just so. You could
try (try) to talk them into letting you set up two
flashes, one on a tripod but warehoused flowers
usually are tightly spaced on the floor, making
setting up a tripod a PITA.
As you familiarize yourself with the process, you'll
want to shoot two flashes, one held just so by that
assistant (whoever). You could use two AF500FTZ
flashes using the remote slave capability or wire in
the off camera AF400T through via hotshoe grip and
sync cords.
Warning: people (women) don't like to see distorted
flowers in photos. They like to see as accurate a
presentation as you can produce. The distortions
produced by wide to ultra wide angle lenses are not
pleasing to women. Remember, women stick their noses
directly into flowers to smell them. Thus, they like
to see the photo represent the flower as they would
see it in their hands.
3. You will see that one bloom you want to shoot but
if you are wedded to prime lenses, you'll often find
composing to also be a PITA because that bloom is just
outside>>> the range of the primes you bought along.
An F 2.8 zoom (or two) will stand you well in that
case.
4. Watch the hell out for Bees! Don�t panic if one
approaches too close. Stand still or back away slowly,
remebering not to swat atthem. Remember, you�re
standing in his/her feeding grounds and all they want
is flowers, not you.
But p*ss them off and� you know the rest of the story.
Matt
I get it done with YAHOO! DSL!
>
=====
Matt Greene
I get it done with YAHOO! DSL!
