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Calidaphotography

Sunflower petals

Sunflower petals
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Canon EOS 6D Mark II

settings

Aperture 71/10 ISO 1250 Shutter 1/100 Focal Length 105/1

location

Mechelen, Antwerpen, BE

upload_date

Jan, 2024

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Awards

People's Choice in Yellow Captures Photo Contest

Top Ranks

Top 20 rank

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 30 rank

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 30 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken indoors in my home on an improvised setup: a camping table with a black background (mildly reflective for the light effect) and a black bottom layer (matte).

Time

This was taken during the afternoon. We have a flower shop nearby that opens around midday. I regularly plunder the shop for my photos. The owner has seen my pictures and is always so enthusiastic that I get a few additional flowers for free. This sunflower was a freebie!

Lighting

Oh lighting is difficult. My house doesn't allow for much natural light. I didn't use a flash, but two led lights on tripods to evenly distribute the light.

Equipment

This was shot with a Canon 6D mark ii, with my favorite lens: the Sigma 105mm f/2.8 1:1 macro lens. The shot was handheld , which can be a challenge with a macro lens. I used two tripods with soft yellow light for diffused light.

Inspiration

Flower photography, and specifically macro and closeup photography, are my favorite. Working with a macrolens has its challenges, but when it works out, it's amazing. I choose a black background to offset the vibrant colors of the flower.

Editing

For flower and macro photography, my postprocessing is usually fairly limited. In this case, I worked on the RAW file to eliminate some dust and speckles. I also increased the level of black to stress the distinction between the background and the yellow color.

In my camera bag

I just switched to mirrorless! So now I carry around a Canon R6 mark ii. My favorite go-to lens is the nifty fifty. The new R glass of the 50mm is amazing. For macro shots, I use an EF-RF adapter ring. I travel light so I usually don't have more with me than that. Well, except for spare batteries and about 7 SD cards..

Feedback

Play with contrasts! Light versus dark, shiny versus matte, color versus black. Don't immediately attempt the perfect picture. Test, adjust position, adjust light, .. you'll have so much to choose from!

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Calidaphotography

Calidaphotography

Sunflower petals